Walton v Slough: MATCH THREAD

[michaelSTFC]

Updates, anyone?

 

Come on you Rebels!

[Tom]

Sorry for late updates.

 

Starting LIne up:

 

Masters, Carbon, Avery, Daly, Ballard, Woodruffe, Moleski, Harris, Hodges, West, Steele.

 

-------------------------

 

36min - 0-1 Harris

[Tom]

HT - 0-1

[epicrebel]

chopper scored it

[Tom]

75min - Penalty save by Masters.

[Tom]

FT - 0-1.

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

Hard fought game with excellent performances by Masters, Avery, Chopper and the rest of the team worked their socks off.

 

Ballard picked up a knock and had to go off and woodruff looked like he also has a knock.

 

Hodges looked like he is still having trouble with the injury he picked up a few weeks ago and this is slowing him down but he still worked hard.

 

A well earnt 3 points - well done the boys!

[Chris]

If you are half-fit you will play!

 

Great result against a team looking for a play-off spot. We bossed the first-half and was probably our best first-half performance of the season.

 

Second-half they came back into it. Woody got a knock and Ballard went off injured to add to the already growing injury list. He was replaced by Leigh Mason who should not even have been on the bench due to his injury.

 

The whole back four and Clark were excellent today, with everyone in the side having good games.

 

Just also wanted to praise Moleski on a good performance as getting released this week must not have been easy for him.

[Ian]

Where are all the people calling for Eddie to go now? All of a sudden they've gone quiet. An absolutely brilliant performance in the face of so much adversity.

 

Woody was tremendous today and played 90 minutes despite carrying an injury for most of the second half. Hodgey lead the line in true Hodgey style despite not being fully fit. Ballard was back to his bustling best in midfield and Moleski showed up well in the middle too.

 

Extra special mentions go to two players however....Clarke Masters was brilliant. Forget the penalty save as they're always a bit of fortune but the rest of his play today was fantastic. He made one outstanding save and his all round handling was exemplary.

 

Even Clarke's performance was overshadowed though by man of the match, Mark Avery. He started the game with one thigh heavily strapped but was awesome at the back alongside the skipper. He has transformed himself into a very very good player over recent matches. Well done to all the boys! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[GarySTFC]

Great battling performance from the lads in which Clark was only troubled once or twice. Have to agree with Ian as well as I've put Avery in as MOTM, and he is improving with each game which is good to see the Daly influence rubbing off and long may it continue!

 

Alan Smith pointed out to me today that with the Bryco semi's, Steve Daly, if he plays in every match between now and the end of the season, will finish up on 301 appearances for the season. Hopefully Steve can stay injury and suspension free and would be duly commended for this at the end of the season.

 

The other thing that Alan mentioned was that todays win was our first in the league at Walton in 31 years. Another 'hoodoo' broken by Eddie and his team!

[Roger Rebel]

Just goes to show what Radders knows about football.

[GarySTFC]

What because he had a different opinion to others? Everyone has their favourites **spencer** and those they prejudice against.

[Roger Rebel]

Could not have put it better myself "prejudice" spot on.

[Reading Rebel]

Quote:

Roger Rebel said:
Could not have put it better myself "prejudice" spot on.

I think this is a bit harsh on Radders because at the time he and the majority of people, including myself, were saying the same thing that Avery was not good enough and the way he was playing I think this was a fair enough comment.

But I'm sure Radders and the vast majority will now concede that he has improved considerably over the last few weeks to the point where he has been vying for mom on each occasion.

Today, Avery came a close second to my mom,
Clark Masters.

The penalty apart, his save in the second half where he got down low and pushed it around the far post was probably the best save I've seen from a keeper in a long time, absolutely magnificent.

[Chris]

Avery's been excellent the last month or so (cue a shocker against Wealdstone!). It's the same case with Ballard really.

 

This is a big step-up in class from Ryman Division One where they both played last season, (in my opinion) as AFC Wimbledon have found out this year.

 

They are just starting to adapt and know the way we play, which was always going to happen.

[Ted]

A battling performance in the second half after being on top in the first. Respect.

 

As for MOM, I'd like to see the video of the foul that lead to the penalty before deciding. Some said it should not have been a penalty, in which case Avery would shade Masters for my vote.

[HorshamRebel]

A good performance and a very deserved win.

 

Clark made a very good penalty save, and a great diving save towards the end of the match.

 

Westy did well to run around for the length of time he did.

 

Eddie told us, in the bar at the end, that Ballards ankle injury is not as bad as first expected. Which is good news, you can do major damage when twisting over the ball.

 

Well done Rebels

[Ted]

Someone who rarely gets a mention is Steele. Our improved defensive performances started when he joined us. I doubt that that is just a coincidence

[Reading Rebel]

I think Steele has stiffened up the defence.

 

The only negative thing i can say about him is that when he gets attacked on the outside he does look a bit one paced.

[Matt]

What an excellent win that was, for so many reasons.

 

I didn't hold out much hope of getting anything prior to the match when you consider who we have available at the moment. Hodgey's clearly only half-fit but lead the line superbly, and lasted 90 minutes. Mark West did extremely well to play for as long as he did. Leon Woodruffe was limping around for most of the second half, but managed to complete the game, get harshly booked for time-wasting, and almost score towards the end. And the very fact that Leigh Mason played the last 10-15 minutes, coming on for Ballard (another injury) shows how badly we're struggling - the man's supposed to be resting with a serious back injury.

 

Overall, a great gutsy performance from everyone. I thought Woodruffe had a good game, as did Moleski, and Masters was assured and made a great penalty save - it surely won't be too long before Brentford recall him for involvement with the first team. But like most people I thought Mark Avery stood out. What an improvement over the performances we saw from him earlier in the season - he's really grown into the team and formed a great partnership with Daly at the centre of the defence. They deserved the clean sheet today, after limiting Walton's chances to a minimum.

 

Well done Rebels.