v Maidstone United

[Reading Rebel]

Admission prices are £17 adult and £13 concessions.

It looks like there will be no discounts for buying tickets in advance.

[DonnyNo6]

2 hours ago, Reading Rebel said:

Admission prices are £17 adult and £13 concessions.

It looks like there will be no discounts for buying tickets in advance.

I checked again earlier and nothing had changed, no option to buy in advance.

[Reading Rebel]

The bookies have Maidstone odds on favorites to win at 4/7 with 9/2 for a Slough win. 

[Irishadrian]

There is very heavy rain forecast tomorrow especially around the match time!

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, Irishadrian said:

There is very heavy rain forecast tomorrow especially around the match time!

3 onwards thundery showers and a gentle breeze.

[Irishadrian]

For a while now the Maidstone social media has been discussing how poor their goalkeepers are Today they've signed Lucas Covolan ex Port Vale and Chesterfield keeper

[Curtis]

He received a red card 27 minutes into the first game last season…… 

[GlenSTFC]

No pre match from Scott this season or just this match for some reason?

[Scott Davies]

Something we’ve decided against. We are the only team in the league who names our squad to choose from and I don’t know why we do it, so have chosen not to this season. I don’t think any other club in any level of football does it, so yeah, I’m sure people can understand that any little detail like that helps the opposition. 👍🏼

[3spirit]

Sounds like we didn't get the rub of the green against Maidstone but there was no lack of effort from our lads. Not one team in the National South won away today which is unusual and I believe it was the same in the National League.  First games of the season mean little anyway.

Let's hope for have better luck against Dover.

[Irishadrian]

Almost 2000 attendance today ! Maidstone forum more than pleased since for weeks they've been complaining about poor recruitment and lack of a credible GK Yes we need a good result against Dover another club in meltdown off season but they came back from 0-2 down to take a point 2-2 from fancied Torquay  !

[Reading Rebel]

We started well and in the opening stages I think we were marginally the better side.

We took the lead from a run and shot from Johnny Goddard which was on target before taking a deflection on it's way into the net.

Maidstone then put us under pressure and following a goal mouth scramble the Ref gave a penalty for handball which not even the Maidstone players appealed for.

The game turned on the sending off of Dan Bayliss who was judged to have fouled a player as he steamed into the area.

At 2-1 and with 10 men we huffed and puffed but never really tested their keeper. 

Looking at the three on field sections:

Defensively I think we did well with Scott using his experience to marshal the back line.

Midfield, Matt Lench had a decent game, Nash started well but faded a bit as the game wore on and Johnny Goddard did ok but I think he can do better.

In the striker dept. Tom Mcelroy did ok especially in the first half where he looked lively without really looking dangerous.

Nathan Minhas was well shackled, never looked like scoring and imo needs to improve.  

As for Maidstone, on first viewing if they think they are good enough to reach the playoffs or possibly even challenge for the title they need to think again. 

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

Further to my comments on our midfield and forward line.

In midfield I think we were missing that bit of creativity that Leon and Johnny Giles can give us.

And up front I think we were a bit too predictable making it too easy for the Maidstone defence and we were missing that bit of trickery and spark that an Ogbonna or Abisogun can give us.

 

Edited August 6, 2023 by Reading Rebel

[Ian g f]

How many games will Dan Bayliss miss for a red card?

[GlenSTFC]

9 minutes ago, Ian g f said:

How many games will Dan Bayliss miss for a red card?

I think for a straight red foul 1 match, violent conduct 3 matches.

[GlenSTFC]

I wasn’t there yesterday so can’t really comment but in any game losing a man will make it incredibly hard for any team especially when losing. With so many new players and the majority not having experience at this level we were always going to need time to adjust so I think a fairer reflection on how we may fare will be after 5 games. But I’m confident we can get our first points v Dover and although we may be missing a few players still I hope we have enough still and also hoping we can attract a decent crowd which can spur us on. 

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, GlenSTFC said:

I wasn’t there yesterday so can’t really comment but in any game losing a man will make it incredibly hard for any team especially when losing. With so many new players and the majority not having experience at this level we were always going to need time to adjust so I think a fairer reflection on how we may fare will be after 5 games. But I’m confident we can get our first points v Dover and although we may be missing a few players still I hope we have enough still and also hoping we can attract a decent crowd which can spur us on. 

It was 1-1 when Dan Bayliss got sent off.

[Irishadrian]

3 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

I wasn’t there yesterday so can’t really comment but in any game losing a man will make it incredibly hard for any team especially when losing. With so many new players and the majority not having experience at this level we were always going to need time to adjust so I think a fairer reflection on how we may fare will be after 5 games. But I’m confident we can get our first points v Dover and although we may be missing a few players still I hope we have enough still and also hoping we can attract a decent crowd which can spur us on. 

I don't believe that 5 games will give an idea of our likely season long performance  Our first 5 opponents played out 3 wins and 2 draws yesterday  I would think 8 would give a better picture of progress  and we should be injury and suspension free by then I agree that a great crowd for the first home game is essential imo anything less than a four figure total would be very poor imo

[Curtis]

11 minutes ago, Irishadrian said:

a great crowd for the first home game is essential imo anything less than a four figure total would be very poor imo

Really???

Please tell me what season we last had a four figure attendance for our opening home league match.

[GlenSTFC]

4 minutes ago, Curtis said:

Really???

Please tell me what season we last had a four figure attendance for our opening home league match.

I’d be very happy but doubt we’ll get over 1,000! I hope it’ll be around 800 which should be achievable as we have nearly 600 ‘members’.