Todays game

[chris blanc]

Great game! cracking first goal and lovely own goal from them that had me in stitches for ages!

Shame about their goal and the lack of Kwashi, but a great game overall and hopefully the first of a long run of wins!

Thought Wilkerson should have been man of the match, he had a great game.

[FleetFanatic]

Tostao Kwashi wasn't needed today - one man doesn't make a team.

 

Onto the game - thought it was a good performance, a couple of heart-stopping moments. Unbelievable error for the own goal but thanks anyway to the Stevenage 'keeper.

 

Must admit I was a bit worried when I heard the ref was a certain Mr. Kettle (his reputation is poor) - he wasn't as bad as I feared, although he gave a lot of free kicks to Stevenage in the 2nd half. Possible penalty claim for us late in the game - but Stevenage should have had one about 5 mins before half-time.

[Stu B]

Im very happy with that,i think the man of the match was chosen correctly by whoever chooses it,mark bentley. Scored a cracking goal,played a blinder. That said i'd have brought on tos,played benno in the centre and brought of ben white(im not to impressed with him tbh). Good to see wilkerson back,he did play very well with some very good saves. Didn't think liam was very good today but i'll forgive him as he only recently got back from quite a long injury. Che played better than he has been and looked lively but for MONTHS now he doesnt seem to have the confidence he started the season with. Generally a good performance. Shame that 2 of the 3 teams below us and many above us also got good results.

[chris blanc]

yeah, I thought the ref was pretty substandard in the second half.

Also whilst talking about officials, I forgot to mention the lovely young lady running up and down the right hand side line today. Cause of many amusing comments.

[Stu M]

Bentley was excellent today, but we certainly did it the hard way! We defended far too deep and there seemed to be a huge gap in front of Skinner down the left. Great own goal, though! About time something like that happened FOR us.

 

A win or two would get us back up the table now - anyone from Southport below could still go down - they're only six points ahead of us! And Margate only three!!

[boaky]

Great result,i think the people who were screaming at Andy to bring Kwashi on need to look at the bigger picture,i dont think he is a 90 mins player and is poor defensively.I disagree about Ben White i think he looks a good player.Benno deservedly mom by a mile.wilkers was where he should be between the sticks.lets get behind the Andy and the lads and support the whole team not just one player.

[Stu B]

i agree that kwashi isnt a 90 minutes player but he is definitely a super sub. I dont understand andy's logic,it is clear to everybody tos is a good player. Therefore why doesnt any play him?Is it to do with the ireland incident?surely if andy hasnt forgiven him he wouldnt have brought him back?i think that tos will leave if he doesnt start to get a game,what harm would it have done to bring on a fans favourite for the last ten minutes? I feel that andy has done a great job with this club and I totally disagree with some of the idiots who were calling him a wa**er today but i think he should have brought on tos.

[Stu M]

We were 1-0 up and clinging on for dear life. Tos is not a defensive player. Maybe he could have come on and scared the daylights out of the Boro defence, but maybe he'd have come on and our defensive formation might have gone up the swanny.

 

Andy played him from the start against Hereford so I don't think there's any ill-will involved. I thought Andy was wrong not to bring him on against Margate, but I thought he was dead right to leave him on the bench today. There was no need for Tos to come on for 10 minutes just to please the fans - three points was more important.

[Stu B]

i see your point but benno was hardly playing defensively today,we were basically playing with 3 up front he was attacking so much,true benno probably gets back more than tos but i think that tos might have got us the 2nd goal so we didnt have to hang on for dear life. Also, the thrase "the best form of defensive is a good offence" comes to mind,with tos on the ball it takes pressure off the defence,but,alas its in the past,we won and its andy's decision to do as he pleases!

[I.C.@G&NFC]

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />At last, a win. Hope this is the start of a revival in fortunes and at least a mid-table finish for the end of the season.

 

Very close for the MoM, Bentley or Wilkerson. Defence looked a lot more solid than it has for a while, though Matt Lee didn't seem to be on form, was he playing in midfield today? If so, he didn't look comfortable. Also noticed that Pennock was captain today, he exudes confidence and relays this to the rest of the defence. This of course gives the midfield the chance to get forward instead of defend. As for Liam and Che, I wasn't impressed at all. Finishing poor and observation worse, both seemed to pass when they should of shot and shot when they should of passed.

 

I agree with 'boaky' and 'Fleet Boy', Tostoa isn't a 90 minute player. In fact I said exactly that to 'Super Daz' just before kick-off. He's a 'specialist' weapon, to be used in small doses. In all honesty, would anyone of taken off Mark Bentley to replace him with Tostao, today? They both play on the right wing and although Tostoa can run and jinx around players, finally getting a cross in. He doesn't have the muscle to be a striker. Bentley has, as our first goal proved. He may not be quite as quick as Tostoa and his football may not be as pretty, but he has the ability to get round, and more importantly through players and still get that vital cross or finish in.

 

I only meant to leave a message to say well done on a hard fought game, as we still look shaky, a better team would of beaten us. So I've said enough for now, a few more wins lads, just to make it safe. Well Done. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[The Truth]

I don't think anyone wants Kwashi on instead of Bentley. Kwashi can only play right wing but Bentley would be quality wherever you play him.

Che still doesn't look to be in good form, I would like to see Chris Giles have a chance up front with Liam especially if Kwashi was supplying the crosses.

I take it Jacko missed out today because of the kicking Margate gave him, any news on when he will be back?

Best news of the day was 3 points second best was seeing the Fridge training before the match, Duku and Pennock....the dream team.

 

[yunggravesendian]

Totally agree about trying chris giles up front. As i said earlier in the week in another thread hes heading ability would be useful if we could get a few crosses in the box, which tostao can provide perfectly.

 

Just glad we got 3 points today. Hopefully it will be the start of a revival which will take us to a comfortbale mid table position

[Dave M]

Well done the lads today. good result and very much needed...The performance a little shakey at times but a wins a win...Can't quite remember the last goal from a striker but hey I'm getting on a bit.

 

Is it me?... All this debate, terrace chants and comments about Kwashi leave me confused, especially when we let Danny Lye go. I am pretty sure who would be a better long term servant to the club and have more heart for a bottom of the table scrap.

[Wobbly Wayne rides again]

I was also confused today about the Tostel chants.

 

I agree it did seem strange that he was not brought on against Margate in midweek , when we were losing and chasing the game.

But today was a totally different proposition.

We were winning and looking fairly solid, albeit at times defending rather deep.

We did not need to bring him on, and to do so, especially in his favoured role on the wide right ,could have unbalanced the team. ( if he was to come on , it could only have been for Che or the Beast, of whom both seemed to lack confidence in front of goal )

 

in my humble opinion, Andy got it right today.. So can we please hear some more of the various 'Andy Ford ' chants..

 

 

With the other results not really going our way today, these 3 points were crucial.. Well done to all concerned..

 

In regards to Danny , I think that we can only afford to have so many central midfield players at the club, and unfortunately Danny was the one to go, however with Plummer not now with us, maybe we were a bit premature.

[kmj]

I agree that the longer the game went on today the more risky it would have been to bring on another substitute just for the sake of it. Changes don't always help eg taking Wilkins off at Hereford last week! Regarding Tostao, I think that it is a myth that he isn't a 90 minute man (if you say something often enough it gains the status of a fact ) but the state of the pitch is a factor in his game. I was disappointed that he didn't play today because he is not only very exciting but the most accurate crosser of the ball that the club have. I agree that it shouldn't be a case of him and Mark being in competition with each other for a place. They should both play if fit. In my view Mark was deservedly the man of the match. I thought that Paul had a good game in goal against his old club and was impressed with the fine reception he received when he came out for the second half from the Stevenage fans.He is obviously still well thought of at the club. Finally, although our first goal came from a free kick can anyone honestly say that the players huddled around the ball for our other set pieces had any idea what to do with it? Wasted opportunities galore. Hurry back Jacko!

[Hirsty]

I liked the lady linesman...oops sorry.... lady referee's assistant...although why she does it baffles me completely...putting up with all the usual verbal !! anyway....a pleasant change from the usual slow bald old [****!!****] that we normally get !!...........

 

Cheers,

 

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[jc]

Quite right Wobbly, bringing on Tostao would have led to a complete tactical overhaul (assuming as one would that Bentley wouldn't have been brought off) that could have been suicidal at only 1-0 up. Those people who were berating Andy (as Fleet Boy indicates, strong language was used) should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves, after all he has done for us. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

 

A vitally important result for us without question, and the returning Wilkerson played a key part in it with some fine saves. I agree that White was disappointing again, but at least Pennock is starting to give us the required stability and experience at the back. Along with Giles, our defence has the potential to be a highly competent one. Such a shame that a clean sheet was denied right at the end (although it was admittedly a superb strike by Wormull).

 

However, we must keep our feet on the ground, especially with Leigh and Kettering both winning today too - there is a long way to go. Look on the bright side though - Southport's defeat to Kettering continues their recent poor form, and we play them next! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

 

P.S. How bad is Wilko's injury? It looked serious (let's hope not).

[CeeJay]

Have to agree regarding Tos, Andy was absolutely right not to use him today. I am a big fan of him but the way the game was going, bringing him on could have unbalanced us defensively. 3 points were far to important to risk. Having said that, I think he should have had a crack at Margate.

 

Also, what on God's earth are we doing with these overly complex free kicks ??? I can't remember any one of them leading to anything positive and seem to remember it was one of these that lead to disaster at Dagenham.

 

[color:"red"] [/color] Come On You Reds !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Alan W (GNFC)]

Whats with all this silly bickering over who should and should not have played today ??

 

Lets enjoy getting 3 important points and simply remember that Andy is the manager and he stands or falls by his decisions.

 

As someone else said, theres no point in change for change's sake & swapping players over when the team were battling away and surviving would have been plain daft.

 

For me, despite getting 20 goals last season, Che hasnt ever really looked at his best since he had his dodgy back early last season. His best season for us was actually 2 years ago in my opinion. His confidence certainly cant be very high either in view of the time since he last scored (Margate FA Cup game, I believe), although he has had injury in the interim.

 

Liam still has to prove himself as a goalscorer - again, its probably a confidence thing as much as anything else.

 

And whilst Liam may not score too many goals, his enthusiasm, and general effort often adds something to the overall team effort, and generally gets the crowd going.

 

He looked somewhat lacklustre today, but on Tuesday against Margate did well during his time on the pitch. Lets forgive him today - no player can be on the top of his game, every match he plays, and Liam is no exception.

 

We didnt play anywhere near as well overall today as we did on Tuesday, but the fact is that we got the 3 points today, and on Tuesday we got none. Given the choice, I'll settle for a scrappy game and 3 points, ahead of a fluent performance and no points, every time.

 

Of course, it would be great to have a great performance and the 3 points, but being realistic, in our position,it's not going to happen too many times in the rest of this season.

 

Lets settle for what we've got and continue getting behind the team. One plus point today was the attendance of over 1300 - alright, Stevenage had a superb travelling support of 200 or so, but our recent crowds suggested we may have had less than 1000 Fleet fans there today, so getting as many as we did was a bonus.

 

 

[FleetFanatic]

Re: free kicks

 

In the good old days, a free-kick just outside the box meant you took a crack at goal.

 

Re: attendance

 

I think the crowd was bolstered by those Gillingham fans who couldn't get a ticket for their big game.