v Maidstone

[Reading Rebel]

Massive test tomorrow to keep our excellent home form going.

[Irishadrian]

Will be a very hard game but in this league arent they all? Maidstone are riding high but have faltered a little recently Their last 8 away league games have resulted in 1 win 3draws and 4 losses I dont think we have reason not to hope for a good performance.

[Irishadrian]

Also they have an FA Cup tie on 27th against Ipswich. Will they play their optimum team against us? And will some players be giving less than 100% to avoid injuries and miss the cup tie?

[Reading Rebel]

17 minutes ago, Irishadrian said:

Also they have an FA Cup tie on 27th against Ipswich. Will they play their optimum team against us? And will some players be giving less than 100% to avoid injuries and miss the cup tie?

Of course they'll be playing their 1st 11.

I'm sure their priority is to get promotion and any manager worth his salt will be picking the team to play Ipswich based on tomorrows performances.

Edited January 19 by Reading Rebel

[Curtis]

2-1

[Irishadrian]

Well done Curtis. An excellent result an d one that went exactly as form would suggest Thats now 9 away games with just 1 win for Maidstone More importantly for us we are up to 11th and just 3 points more would have us in the playoff group Scott and his team must be congratulated for holding their nerve when relegation was the main theme on this forum and for installing belief in the players imo!!

[Kaiser Gibbs Batman (KGB)]

23 hours ago, Curtis said:

2-1

Is the right answer. 

[Stan]

Leaving aside Maidstone’s current away form I would still say that is One of our best performances. 
After the early goal I think we controlled the game nicely , never felt in any danger till the penalty and  responded well after it . The sending off obviously helped but it would have been gutting not to get 3 points out of today. 

[Reading Rebel]

Not a game for the purists but who cares it's 3 great points in the bag 

Maidstone are a big physical side with some quick front men which is why they're towards the top of the division going for promotion.

It was a close game with few chances created but over the 97 minutes I'd say we were the better side and deserved the win.

It looked like we picked up a few injuries so we can expect a few changes for what will be a mammoth task at Worthing on Tuesday.

I'd bite my hand off right now for a point.

 

Edited January 20 by Reading Rebel

[GlenSTFC]

Excellent result and one I wasn’t expecting. Really disappointed with Maidstone as I felt they offered very little but I’m not sure how strong their team was today and you can forgive some of their players for not being totally focused on this one… Slavi was an inspired sub and had a big hand in our winner. Shame we now play 1st and 2nd away in our next 3 games!!! But we’re now just 3 points off a play off place with a game in hand, massive congratulations to all who have contributed to this outstanding turn of form. Lastly a very encouraging attendance of 1,054 which was boosted no doubt by the lack of local games plus around 150 Stone fans but hopefully these are the games we can build our fan base.

Edited January 20 by GlenSTFC
I made a boo boo…

[Reading Rebel]

Sometimes a team can only play as well as a team lets them play.

We have built up a great home record and have become a very difficult side to play and beat at AP so full credit and deserved plaudits to the team. 

[Reading Rebel]

 

[Curtis]

I thought we looked good in the first half, seemed to be reasonably in control, and 1-0 at half-time was a fair reflection.

Once again everything seemed to change at the break, and we were forced on to the back foot and were under pressure. The penalty seemed very soft though, and for the next 15 minutes Maidstone had their tails up & I thought they looked dangerous & were going to go on & win the match.

When the red card happened Maidstone didn’t seem to adjust & paid the price conceding a few minutes after.

A scrappy but entertaining match & a great win against a side that will be in a play-off place at the end of the season.

[Curtis]

1 hour ago, GlenSTFC said:

we’re now just 3 points off a play off place with a game in hand, massive congratulations to all who have contributed to this outstanding turn of form.

I was thinking we are just three consecutive wins away from being play-off contenders & then looked at the fixtures & saw all three are away matches & against Worthing, Dover & Yeovil!

[Nathan]

1 hour ago, GlenSTFC said:

Excellent result and one I wasn’t expecting. Really disappointed with Maidstone as I felt they offered very little but I’m not sure how strong their team was today and you can forgive some of their players for not being totally focused on this one…

Are you always surprised when we beat the top teams Glen??? There is no reason why we cannot win any league game (this is NOT to say we have a right to win any game), and I would hate to think that we only won because the opposition were focused on their game next week!

As for the game, I think the result was about right. Maidstone offered very little up front, with the only 2 clear chances falling our way and dispatched well by Jackman and Goddard respectively. Ogbonna was deservedly MOTMN, the only downsides being the injuries to Lench and Lincoln. Hopefully they aren't too bad.

We are now 15 points clear of the bottom four, with a game in hand on them all (except Welling); a phenomenal turnaround from the first 6 weeks of the season (where I admit I was panicking!) and our position only 2 months ago. There's still a long way to go however, so no excuses for complacency, and certainly far too early to be talking of making the play-offs. Nonetheless: COYR!

[C'est la vie]

1 hour ago, Reading Rebel said:

Sometimes a team can only play as well as a team lets them play.

We have built up a great home record and have become a very difficult side to play and beat at AP so full credit and deserved plaudits to the team. 

I don't particularly think it was our play that stopped Maidstone playing today it was more the fact they got their tactics totally wrong. That's not taking it away from how hard our players worked and caused them problems at times, it's just Maidstone's tactics of going direct constantly was a delight for temi and bayliss. They rallied a bit at the start of the second half which was to be expected but don't think they necessarily troubled us. Super sub Slavi was at it again! His first touch resulting in the Maidstone player getting sent off then showing great pace and trickery to set up Johnny Goddard(who I thought had a quiet game) to finish brilliantly into the bottom corner. Onwards and certainly looking upwards.....play-offs, ssssshhhh 😳 lol. COYR 

[GlenSTFC]

27 minutes ago, Nathan said:

Are you always surprised when we beat the top teams Glen??? There is no reason why we cannot win any league game (this is NOT to say we have a right to win any game), and I would hate to think that we only won because the opposition were focused on their game next week!

As for the game, I think the result was about right. Maidstone offered very little up front, with the only 2 clear chances falling our way and dispatched well by Jackman and Goddard respectively. Ogbonna was deservedly MOTMN, the only downsides being the injuries to Lench and Lincoln. Hopefully they aren't too bad.

We are now 15 points clear of the bottom four, with a game in hand on them all (except Welling); a phenomenal turnaround from the first 6 weeks of the season (where I admit I was panicking!) and our position only 2 months ago. There's still a long way to go however, so no excuses for complacency, and certainly far too early to be talking of making the play-offs. Nonetheless: COYR!

I think when you’re mid table or below then yes beating a side who’s joint 2nd, are full time and probably have a budget 3 times bigger then of course it’s a surprise. Not sure many of us if we’re honest had us winning today? But I did expect Maidstone to play better than they did today but I guess it could be a combination of us restricting them plus their part focus on next weekend (players that is).

Edited January 20 by GlenSTFC

[Irishadrian]

55 minutes ago, Curtis said:

I was thinking we are just three consecutive wins away from being play-off contenders & then looked at the fixtures & saw all three are away matches & against Worthing, Dover & Yeovil!

Weve scored more home points than Worthing! 

[Irishadrian]

24 minutes ago, Irishadrian said:

Weve scored more home points than Worthing! 

Although Yeovil will be a challenge. Since the start of the season theyve had a couple of home draws all other games home wins  H owever all runs come to an end  sometime.

[Nathan]

14 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

I think when you’re mid table or below then yes beating a side who’s joint 2nd, are full time and probably have a budget 3 times bigger then of course it’s a surprise.

You speak as if we've just caused an FA Cup upset. We've beaten Maidstone before when all these things were true. 2 years ago we did the double over them, and they won the league that year.