Tonights Team

[Jimmy]

Cronin

R Smith

McCarthy

Hawkins

Keeling

DeBolla

Quinn

Long

Opinel

MacDonald

Eribbenne

 

Subs:

Mott

Moore

Coleman

Slatter

Sodje

[Jimmy]

1-0 Ross Smith (17 Minutes)

[Jimmy]

Other Scores Of Interest (as of after about half an hour)

 

Aldershot 1 Exeter 1 (Exeter down to 10)

Stevenage 0 Kidderminster 2

 

Everyone else 0-0

 

 

[Jimmy]

Half Times:

 

Aldershot 1 1 Exeter (Day, Elam)

Forest Green 0 0 Grays

Gravesend 1 0 Halifax (Smith)

Rushden 1 0 Weymouth (Rankine)

Dr Albans 0 1 Morecambe (McNiven)

Stevenage 0 2 Kidderminster (Penn, Christie (pen))

Tamworth 0 0 Northwich

[thatguy]

Fantastic result, and with exeter losing tonight, brings us closer to our play off spot.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Not a trick question, but were we 4-4-2 or 3-5-2 last night, and if we were the former, is that the main reason for our stronger and more solid defence?

[Slartibartfast]

I think we were 4:4:2 and I found it a bit surprising that Keeling played on the right with long on the left, personally I would have played Keeling on the left with either Slatts or Ledgister on the right and Long and Debolla in the middle.

That isn't meant as a criticism of either Keeling or Long but it is meant as a criticism of Quinn.

[DA11]

I didn't realise Quinn was playing.

[John Pearce]

Originally Posted By: DA11

I didn't realise Quinn was playing.

I don't think that Quinn knew he was playing either!

[Andy Y. (G&NFC)]

Your missing the point of having a player like Quinn in the team. His job is to break up the other teams midfield and distibute quickly. Thats why Long and Bollas are able to push forward so much.

 

I would agree that his form has been a bit hit and miss over the past few weeks and a fit Ricketts may well have been pushing for his place, BUT at this stage of the season and in our situation, any criticism of our players efforts is well out of order and some of the stuff I heard from the half-way line area (My lads were cold so I was forced to seek a bit of shelter from that damn wind) was complete tosh. Even when he won tackles and laid the ball off he was being given stick. Our job as "supporters" is to support "our" team and I suspect we have a situation where some people are looking for a scapegoat if we fail to make the play-offs.

 

I seem to remember similar rubbish being thrown at Macca last year (to old, to slow etc.) and by my reckoning he is our player of the year at the moment, so give the guy a break!

[kieronoliver]

It will always be hard for Quinn to win mom awards because of his role in the team (although i do think Ricketts had my performance of the season there against Oxford and should be tried there again) but we did use his height well at corners on Tuesday on the back post even set up Sodje's goal i still think he should be offered a new deal

[Hempstead Gaz]

But if 4-4-2 is working well now, is there room for Quinn, Long and DeBolla in midfield, especially if we play 2 wide men?

[Harry J Allstars]

Quite agree with you there Yerlett, our job is to support the boys, some of the stuff aimed at the team from the terraces is well out of order.

 

Whether your shouting it from the terraces or saying it on here then it's still an opinion with out a face, how can you have an opinion with out standing up and being counted? It's all right for some, like me, as everyone knows who I am so can catch up with me and ask what I meant. However if I don't think someone is good enough or pulling his weight then I won't say so on here, I'll tell him to his face or keep my opinions to myself and my close circle of friends.

 

If you really want to let someone know how you feel you can go into the bar after the match and tell them, with some of you I'd pay to see that. Most of the players are in there after the game so why not pop in there and let your feelings known? Some people think that you're not allowed to do this. They think that if they're playing for this club then they must be treated like some sort of God. So on one side you have people giving too much abuse from behind a mask and on the other you have people afraid to tell the boys what they really think. Why can we not have a middle ground? If you pay your money you should be able to tell the players what you think. They can then either tell you to f*** off or they can stand there and tell you what they were trying to do but at least you've told them.

 

As someone pointed out last season Macca and to a lesser extent Hawkins both come in for some stick whereas this season both have been "immense". Ahh "immense" now there’s a word we haven't used on the forum for a while.

 

[Bill Kent]

I was at the halfway and didn't hear any criticism of anyone close to where I was standing. Mind you a great roar went up when we thought our lads had scored, which I thought was encouraging. As for Quinn, he's playing his part in our late revival and deserves to play his way out of any construed lack of form. We know he can play, but we don't know his current confidence level.

[jc]

Originally Posted By: Slartibartfast

I think we were 4:4:2

In truth it's pretty fluid between 3-5-2 and 4-4-2 with the current personnel, depending on where the ball is on the pitch and who's in possession.

Although Long was certainly playing wider than usual, I thought that he played very well. Keeling, though, does tend to have more joy when on the left.

As for abuse from the terraces, why anyone who professes to be a genuine supporter of a club would feel that abusing one's own players and running their confidence into the ground would be of benefit has always baffled me.