Maldon 1-1 Margate. Brief report.

[Chris1]

Egan played in goal without a keeper on the bench. Allman looked as if he picked up a bad hamstring right at the start. We may lose him for a while. Sesay came on and took the left wingback position. Charalambous was given the start over Standen.

 

Once again we had most of the play but couldn’t convert it into goalscoring opportunities. In fact there were only 3 attempts on target all match by either side. We were guilty of missing some good chances, particularly Deen in the first half and Sesay in the second who both blasted over when set up nicely by Brayley.

 

We had by far the best of the first half and when Hilaire’s goal came after good work by Amoako it was no surprise. You would have thought at that point there could only be one winner.

 

After half time was a different story. Maldon must have been given a rocket because they played with much more purpose and started pushing us back. Their goal came after a period of scrappy play in and around our area. After that they sat back a bit but we couldn’t break them down.

 

Amoako missed badly when put through by Charalambous. Our forward pair were taken off towards the end, with McGowan coming on in midfield and Brayley moving forward to partner Stowe. Another 10 minutes and we might have got the winner.

 

My ratings:

 

Defence:

Egan 8. Excellent positioning, calling, kicking. Dealt well with crosses. Couldn’t have done anything about the goal. Shot-stopping qualities untested.

Edwards 6. Pretty sound with good headed clearances.

Keister 4. His passing radar wasn’t working properly today.

Donovan 7. Another good solid defensive performance.

 

Wingbacks:

Oates 8. An excellent game in all departments.

Sesay 6. One or two good runs. Went missing defensively at times, covered by Brayley.

 

Midfield:

Deen 5. I would like to see him imposing himself more in defensive midfeld.

Charalambous 4. Mr Kinnear must see something in him judging by the comments in the paper. He is tireless and gives it everything, but his first touch is too heavy and the ball often rebounds to an opponent. A couple of good forward passes but got skinned more than once in defence.

Brayley 8. A good captain’s game. Always in the thick of it. Superb ball control and read the game very well as always. Created many good opportunities. Looked tired towards the end, but with good reason.

 

Forwards:

Hilaire 6. Looked miles better than whatsisname. Competed well for the ball. Offside too much.

Amoako 6. Played slightly deeper than of late, so saw more of the ball. Lost it quite a bit unfortunately, but made the goal for Hilaire.

 

Subs:

McGowan did well, especially after taking a wicked late tackle that slowed him up.

Stowe managed our only other shot on goal, saved by the keeper. Looks a fair prospect.

 

Good news overall for me was the excellent performance by Egan, and to see Greg back to his best. The bad news might be that Redbridge who looked so good against us last week were done 5-0 at home by Fisher. Please don’t tell me Charlie Taylor scored all 5!

[TonyM]

Very good report Chris,thank-you.

[seasidesteve]

it seems blatently obvious to me that the players we have apart from maybe 4 are nowhere near good enough i recon fishers demolition of redbridge proves that.relegation is not an option. we seem very fortunate that the bottom 3 are also very poor sides so i cant see any of tham winning 4 games more than us.

[Gate Watcher]

Thanks Chris, great report again. From what I've heard and seen from Gavin's sub appearances he could really give us more purpose in midfield. Obviously I didnt see Chara today so I cannot comment on his performance but to me it does seem that it would be worth trying to fit McGowan in the side due to his know how and his form in the minutes he's played lately.

[geoff pay]

great report chris once again. stowe will make a dif believe me!!

[TonyM]

Well thats the good side about it then,lets just stay in this div; build the team as well as the ground,let CK do his job we will do our job in supporting the boys and all we be happy in the end.UP THE GATE. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[MIKE PERRY]

Deen, McGowan and Brayley def our best 3 in midfield if CK persists with the 5-3-2 that seems strangely necessary every match. Hope your right about Stowe Geoff just hope he is given the opportunity to show what he can do by starting a match rather than just limited appearances as a sub.

[Chris1]

I forgot to say the Margate lot (about ½ the crowd) gave good support, and the players all came over and thanked them at the end.

[geoff pay]

great to hear that chris. i liked stowe at hendon very and i repeat very phil collinish.

[Chris1]

Yes I agree. Unfortunately only saw him for 12 minutes today.

[Gate Watcher]

I hope Stowe gets a start soon. Maybe CK has held him back to get him to know his team mates.

[michael]

thanks for report.

 

Does Stowe have a 'physical presence'?

 

Slightly worrying that it could be 4th from bottom who also goes down depending on other leagues !!

 

I am going to sound like Cookie and DS, and whilst i could not agree with his views there, i guess there is always someone who winds us up, and i am astounded and frankly angry that Shambles gets in in preference to either McGowan or Standen.

They must be seething,and from the report above, nothing has changed in his 'performances' from last season.

 

thankgoodness it is a game/forum of opinions , i am sure many see something positive in him and i am missing his qualities.

 

Whilst supportive of CK, i do have trouble in seeing why we have resigned this player, and flirted with the likes of Baxter.

Don't we watch these guys in advance

[Boney Crisp]

Brilliant report Chris, well done to those of you that went up to the game today to support our team on behalf of us that could not make it like myself as i was supporting my dad in panto at the theatre royal. I still believe that things will start getting better for us from now on. Up the Gate

[Gringo]

Well said MM i cannot see why McGowan is left on the bench. And Alexis comes straight in, dont get me wrong he works hard. Although out of position last season his control and distribution let him down. As the many fan's ive spoken to, at the moment we all say the same. WHAT IS GOING ON, we all said we would'nt go down last season. We did, i just dont want to see our club get worse PLEASE.

[Wellsie]

By way of some explanation, the club had not had an opportunity to look at players in the ideal way. We had a short pre-season due to the issues at hand that we are all aware of. That meant CK had little time to look at players before the season started. We are therefore doing the pre-season thing during the season. We have no reserve team this year (hopefully to be re-instated next season) so again the opportunity o look at players and for injured players to regain match fitness is non-existant. As many of you kow, I m very supportive of the club management - both on and off the pitch and wil continue to be so. There continues to be a massive amount of work by everyone at te club to get the infrastructure right, the team right and finally secure the club's long term future and readiness for increasing success on and off the pitch. Frustrating it might be from a fans perspective, but I see this as part of the "invesement" phase - and it is a slowish process. But I do have confidence that the club will get it right, and have an immense amount of admiration for a lot of people at the club - but particulalry CK and KR who continue to work very hard at developing a sucessful team.

 

Of the 34 players that have taken to the pitch for Margate, 14 are no longer at the club - that includes loan signings, players that wanted to move somewhere else and players that we have released. This situation is indicative of the lack of time to plan properly in pre-season (certainly not CK or the players' fault) and the work that is going on during the season to put a successful team together.

 

Lets keep getting behind the team at games and on here!

[Porka]

Quote:

michaelmichael said:
I am going to sound like Cookie and DS, and whilst i could not agree with his views there, i guess there is always someone who winds us up, and i am astounded and frankly angry that Shambles gets in in preference to either McGowan or Standen.
They must be seething,and from the report above, nothing has changed in his 'performances' from last season.

McGowan has been really important for us this season when he has been on the pitch. He is a box to box player and will chip in with a goal or two. Not as technical as Bertie but Gavin knows where he needs to be at the right times.

Quote:

michaelmichael said:
Slightly worrying that it could be 4th from bottom who also goes down depending on other leagues !!

<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bigshock.gif" alt="" />

[Porka]

Thanks to another's site.

 

Quote:

RELEGATION 3 Clubs Relegated from each Division plus the 19th placed club with the worst playing record

[Dutch_Mike]

Thought we put in a lot of effort yesterday, and were probably the better team. But, the statistics do not lie, 1 shot on target all game is not good enough. Can't see why Mcgowan does not play regularly, he is one of the few that deserves to be in the team every week. Brayley again was a different class. Hilaire and Adolf worked tirelessly all game - much credit has to go to them. Donovan, for me, was the unsung hero - had a very solid game. Egan did everything he had to do, dont think he could have done much for the goal. Shame to see Allman limp off, looked like a hamstring injury so could be out for a while. Maldon home support was awful, dont think i even heard one shout of encouragement. Very good away support, yet again. Roll on Staines...