Slough 1-0 Salisbury

[GarySTFC]

Movie of Martin Moller's second half winner is now on the Official Site. Played ok, created more than in recent matches, but still sat back and invited the pressure once we'd gone in front. Looked a lot more comfortable though than Tonbridge away and Wealdstone at home.

[Ian]

Not sure we looked at ease or maybe that was just my nerves. Absolutely right we played too deep as we have done for three or four games although this time we managed to get away with it a bit.

 

Credit to Danish for a splendid header for the winner and Haddow for another brilliant performance both going forward and chasing back to defend. Also another great peformance by Jake 'Winky' Whincup who pulled off a breathtaking save low down to his left in the first half.

 

I'm sure Eddie won't be pleased with the possession we conceded but if we can keep this up at home then I'm happy.

 

[Robbie Johnson's Boots]

Thought they looked like a good side that was slightly out of form - very lively up front. I think they may be up there at the end of the season so a great 3 points for us, although a draw may have been a fairer result.

 

For the good of my heart, I wish we could go on and get that second goal to finish sides off. We aren't going to be able to hold on like this and against Wealdstone in every game. And Mets, please please please stop playing those under-hit passes to the back four. Please.

 

Another win and clean sheet at home though and would imagine we have moved up the table again.

[GarySTFC]

It is disappointing to see we've gone from an attacking team last season (over 100 league goals doesn't lie) to a team which plays deep and invites pressure this season. I'm sure Eddie and Micky can see it happening from the sidelines, but seem happy enough with it as there's not much coming from them shouting at the defence & midfield to push up higher, and at the end of the day, they know what they're doing, but from a fans point of view, looking at the attacking options we have in Hakki/Harris, Carbon, Haddow/Steer and Hodges, we should be punishing teams and not allowing them to come back into games and dictate play as we've seen in the last two home encounters.

 

Still, three clean sheets from three, and more importantly, nine 'home' points from nine. The performances will come I'm sure as I'm not convinced the side has clicked yet, but as long as the points keep rolling in, let's keep behind the team for the 90 minutes of play regardless of the performance.

[Paul Stephens]

I think you have to recognise that we played with one striker carrying an injury and one who looked knackered after 15 minutes. They are doing a job for the team, and i'm sure will score more when fitness comes. Having said that there was a huge gap between the strikers and the midfield, and without veli no link man. Of course we could drop down a league and score 100 goals again if you want!!!

On the defensive side we still lost too much posession by giving the ball away out of defence. That puts pressure on us as the opposition just regroup and come at us again. There is a time for the whack to touch, but when we do try to pass out of defence the ball MUST go to or at least near one of our players. The big plus is that this season we have shown we can defend far better than last. To suceed in this league we have to cut out the silly mistakes that led to goals last season, and make the opposition create goals. We seem to have done that far better (with the exception of dover) . Overall I think we should be pleased with the progress so far in a better league, be aware that we will get much less time on the ball, and that opposition sides will be physical. We still have a side with 4 new players in it and as they gell we will get better.

[GarySTFC]

I don't disagree with you there Paul, but there were a number of occasions on Monday where we were defending and we had NOBODY even near the half way line so when the ball was cleared, we didn't even have anyone to put pressure on the defence.

 

I'm pleased that we're grinding out these results without playing particularly well in an attacking sense, but there are times where we're living on the edge somewhat with Jake playing well between the sticks and some last ditch defending. I'm sure we can play a lot better than what we've seen so far, but as you say, that will come with players understanding one another.

[Martin]

Another excellent result and decent rearguard action from the boys. That save in the first half from Whincup was brilliant.

 

Felt we were unlucky not to go in at half time in front given that we hit the post, had one off the line and their keeper was forced into some decent saves.

 

We are developing an alarming tendancy to sit back on a lead though. I think we are getting caught because we have previously been known to concede one immediately after scoring. The impression is that we get a goal and say right we will keep it tight for 5 minutes. We then sit back allowing the other side to dominate and then struggle to get the ball back.

 

But once we do get out of that mindset we are creating enough chnaces to win games comfortably. I thought Hodgey was looking much sharper yesterday and hopefully he is getting over the injury.

 

Matt Murphy looked a decent player with some excellent link up play. He looked strong in the air and was able to hold the ball up well. Clearly potential for a partnership with the Hodge although Matt did look a bit short of match fitness.

 

The points are on the board though which is the main thing.

[Barry Scott]

Now mention of the mighty mullet? As We do sit far too deep when we're in the lead which would be fine if we were more than 1-0 up, but the best way to shut the game down would be to keep the ball in their half surely?

[Martin]

Sorry I don't know what I was thinking. The Mullet was superb and Al did not play too badly either. Boom boom. I thought Haddow was man of the match until he was brutally kicked out of the game. In recent games his work rate has been excellent and he has been going past people and supplying decent crosses. Top notch.

[Barry Scott]

I thought Moller played quite well as well

[Matt]

Three points are three points, I just wonder how much longer we can go on grinding out 1-0 results. Sooner or later we're going to be punished for sitting too deep not killing the game off.

 

Incidentally, one Salisbury fan on their forum reckons they took 200 yesterday... <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

[GarySTFC]

That'll be the one who turned up completely trolleyed then! They had about 40-50 there I think, which isn't a bad turnout, just a shame that they didn't make too much noise.

[Barry Scott]

there were a few in the stands from what i can remember, but not 200