Grrrrr.........

[Rob_the_Saint]

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

 

I'll come back when I've calmed down a bit.

[FleetFanatic]

Was at home, about to leave for work at 2-2 and resigned to The Fleet throwing away a 2-0 lead again.....

 

.....and then the 'get in there moment'.

[jls]

how bad was that ref ?

[mikefleet]

bad at times but apart from the 2 penatlies he gave to the fleet <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[cityman]

I am completely gutted at this result.

 

A pretty even game I felt and the team worked really hard, yes I am biased but the ref was a complete disgrace IMO.

[Rob_the_Saint]

Right, calmed down now. Things we have learnt so far from this division:

1) all mistakes are punished

2) chances must be taken

3) the full-time teams just keep going; Gravesend looked and played as a team, they all knew each others' game inside out and would have kept going for another 90 minutes if necessary.

Having said that, the first half was pretty even, only punctuated by the constant whistling from the Gravesend half and the lino with the luminous lime green flag consistentlyly pointing it in our direction. Clarkey should have scored but was a little casual allowing the keeper to pull off a great save.

 

Now onto the second half. Our new signing was replaced by Wilde and Theo by Elphick and things started to look better. We passed the ball around well but all of a sudden gave away a penalty (handball?). Bazza stood and watched as it sped into the corner of the net. 10 minutes later he pushed over a Gravesend attacker as the ball was going out; penalty number 2. Again Bazza stood and watched as the ball went the same way as number 1.

However, in the last 20 minutes at last the Mighty Saints rallied, and some pressure was rewarded by a penalty given for handball. Davis did the necessary. A few mins later a corner glanced off a defenders head and Paul Hakim added the final touch with his head to make it 2-2. The fans went wild.

Full-time approached and nobody had any idea how much time was added on. It looked like the ref was about to blow when a cross was turned in at the near post to cruelly deny City a deserved point.

In summary, a decent performance by the Saints but we still don't appear to have made the step up required to beat these full-time Conference teams. It will be a long hard winter, I fear.

[David Holden]

Quote:

Rob_the_Saint said:
but all of a sudden gave away a penalty (handball?).

Push in the back on MacDonald!

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

I disagree with a lot of what Rob said, I didn't think we played well at all in the 2nd half until we were 2-0 down, in fact quite a few of them players need to have a look at themselves, they were very pedestrian and some of the new signings can't be bothered. Hopefully we've seen the last of (25) Husnu, didn't even look like he'd fit in at this level, I'm afraid (22) Magnus looks dodgy, it was him putting Bazza under pressure that caused the pen and (23) Batt needs to play like he did in the last 20 mins rather than hoof it upfield.

 

Positives are we've scored 4 in two games now, I suggest a return of the Elphick/Theobald partnership for next game.

 

It was the worst ref I'd seen for a long time, I'd say all 3 pens were dodgy, the 'goal' we scored was clearly over the line as well....

 

There's a lot of work to be done, we were always more likely to lose more than we won this year, maybe lose over half our games, 5th from bottom is our minimum target, I'm just worried that as a young team that thrives on confidence may be hit by a long losing streak!!

[Hatboy]

Seeby needs to play @ right back, NO 1 else plays there as well as he does !

[cityman]

I agree he's good at right back but I also think that the new chap looks really good there and is quicker than Seeby IMO.

[Canary Saint]

Quote:

EFM The Firm, The Voice said:
I disagree with a lot of what Rob said, I didn't think we played well at all in the 2nd half until we were 2-0 down, in fact quite a few of them players need to have a look at themselves, they were very pedestrian and some of the new signings can't be bothered. Hopefully we've seen the last of (25) Husnu, didn't even look like he'd fit in at this level, I'm afraid (22) Magnus looks dodgy, it was him putting Bazza under pressure that caused the pen and (23) Batt needs to play like he did in the last 20 mins rather than hoof it upfield.

EFMTFTV agree with all you say

Rob you need to go back to Specsavers to get those rose tints toned down!

Also agree that Seeby is more suited to full back - he is not the hard midfield ball winner that we need.

Clarke needs to concentrate on the game more instead of upsetting the officials all the time (yes I know he's captain, but he still overdoes it)He also needs to keep his elbows or whatever to himself - he gives away a foul nearly everytime he goes for the ball. Clarkey has the talent he just needs to apply himself better.

I thought Jackman looked lively and was the catalyst for the revival.

Funny you don't realise what a good player Matty Hann is until he isn't there.

There were times during the game when I thought Steve Castle was back in charge (yes it was that bad) but credit to the lads for fighting back as they did.

Hopefully we can get injuries and suspensions out of the way and field our best side for a few games - All is not lost

[cityman]

"There were times during the game when I thought Steve Castle was back in charge (yes it was that bad) "

 

Sorry but this is an incredible statement....we are an amature team playing in a proffessional league so any comparison to teams/Managers in the past just don't make sense.

 

We were playing one of the form teams yesterday and there was not a gul in class they just IMO looked fitter/stronger than us as one would expect.

[Rob_the_Saint]

Now, now chaps, a trifle negative there I think.

 

OK, I meant to say we started to play in the last 20 minutes but the first half was pretty even, and their first two shots on target were both penalties so we can't have been doing that badly.

 

Another day, another Ref we might have won that game. I wasn't particularly impressed by the opposition although they performed well as a unit.

[Canary Saint]

Quote:

cityman said:
"There were times during the game when I thought Steve Castle was back in charge (yes it was that bad) "

Sorry but this is an incredible statement....we are an amature team playing in a proffessional league so any comparison to teams/Managers in the past just don't make sense.

Sorry - I let my frustration carry me away a bit there. We were only truly awful for a few minutes and as I said before due credit for coming back from 0-2 down.

However on the day G&N were no great shakes and I think city missed a chance to pick up a point if not three

[1 F in Fleet]

Observation - from a fleet fan's perspective - before the kick off I said to my son I hope we're playing up the slope in the first half , saving a bit of energy to help ourselves punish saints in the second half ... et voila ? Full time fitness levels do help ... the slight slope doesn't help you playing up it when you're part-time

[Hatboy]

Quote:

cityman said:
I agree he's good at right back but I also think that the new chap looks really good there and is quicker than Seeby IMO.

Batt is very good going forward and would work well as a wing back with Seeby play the right side of 3 centre backs, but is NO good defensively when a ball is played over his head & he has to chase back !

We need JC back in the central midfield roll.

[cityman]

I thought he was outstanding in the lst game, very quick to the tackle.

[Harry J Allstars]

Don't feel too bad guys you all get what you deserve in life and although you may have fell foul of one or two of the referees poor decisions (worst one we've had all season) I don't think you can ever say you deserved anymore than a point. When we were 2-0 up you did very well to fight back but we should never have let you back in, although we got the win Daish can't have been happy with the last 20 minutes. We we're dissapointing in the first half but this must go down to the home work your management must have done to keep our key players quite.

 

You won't go down, not if you put in many more performances like that, your scoring goals but like ourselves are also conceading too many. Credit must go to your goalkeeper who kept us entertained in the second half, although the play was entertaining enough on it's own.

[Boney Maroney]

cityman said:

Quote:

I thought he was outstanding in the lst game, very quick to the tackle.

 

And so did I. He was excellent yesterday and I cannot agree with Hatboy about his lack of defensive qualities. He is a great acquisition. J.C. eh, Hatboy? Now you are talking.

[EFM The Firm, The Voice]

Do we have a slope?