Moonlight robbery

[Hempstead Gaz]

Dunno how we did it, but with our only foray into the box all evening we managed to score with the only shot/header on target all night from the only cross of the night!!

If I were a Crawley fan, I would be gutted.

For 77 minutes we were terrible going forward, midfield created nothing, Chukki and Nade played so far apart it was unreal.

Thank the lord that our back 4 (I repeat our back 4, for those who favour only 3) were superb all game, and certainly snuffed out Crawleys reputed hot attack.

What a clearance from Slasher. Awesome.

 

[Stu M]

Originally Posted By: Chatham Gary

Thank the lord that our back 4 (I repeat our back 4, for those who favour only 3)

Took something away from the midfield though, eh CG...?! They could've done with some more help.

[Hempstead Gaz]

I doubt it, Stu. The midfield weren't creating anything with 5.

In anycase, it seems a good deal - our defence has increased their numbers by 33%, whilst the midfield took a cut of 20%.

By my maths that gives us another 13% , or nearly another outfield player!!.

No wonder our form has improved since changing the line up!!!

[Harry J Allstars]

Chatham Gary - The Special One.

[Graham S]

I'd dispute the fact we won through robbery.

 

Crawley were a strong side, who could be held unlucky to lose, considering how well they kept to their game plan. Their midfield stopped ours performing but, given the possession they had, didn't create enough for their forwards for me to think at any point "Oh God here it comes." Our defence played brilliantly & Sacha thoroughly deserved his motm.

 

I think, apart from the bloody awful attendance (getting boring even mentioning it) we can be positive about tonight. Crawley were miles better than Histon, yet tonight we battled hard, kept in it & always hinted we could do it if we would allow ourselves to keep possession for long enough. Against Histon, it was a very different story.

 

As people have said on here recently, it's easy to knock what we didn't do but there were two teams out there & tonight's opposition made life bloody difficult, without quite succeeding in snuffing us out in the way they intended. 3 weeks ago they'd have stuffed us, but tonight we were up to the challenge & Nade took his chance brilliantly when it came.

 

Graham S

 

 

[Alan W (GNFC)]

Just watched the game back through on video - it re-inforced the fact that we hardly strung anything together and Crawley had much of the possession, In fact we didnt have 1 corner through the game. Mind you Crawley only had 4 or 5, and for all the possession, Lance didnt have one save to make - only the fantastic goalline clearance by Sasha was a real dodgy moment.

 

The TV also emphasized how well Raffa took his chance - it was certainly wider and a tighter angle than I thought at the time, and since Raffa hadnt scored this season, it was an eminently missable chance (a great cross in by McPhee incidentally).

 

Lastly, the TV showed we may have been fortunate not to concede a penalty 5 minutes from time - heaven knows what Stacy was thinking of when he appeared to put an elbow into their guys throat - Paul Parker said he thought it was accidental, but it could so easily have been given & Stacy would presumably have got a straight red.

 

I believe we are now without Bostwick for the Torquay home game on Saturday week as it was his 5th yellow tonight. Whether Chukki will be available for Saturday must be questionable as it was a hamstring problem tonight (a blessing tonight as it turned out as Raffa was apparently going to be the one subbed just as Chukki went down).

 

To sum up - no we didnt really deserve all 3 points on the balance of play, but then again, it offsets one of the last 2 games, where we apparently deserved more than a point and sometimes you just have to win "dirty".

[1 F in Fleet]

I think Crawley were very unlucky - Fleet were definitely second class all over the park , including the defence - Crawley wouldn't have had so many chances unless they created them . They were superior in terms of fitness , speed and strength - we didn't respond in kind , we didn't match their efforts , we were reactive rather than inventive , as so often happens when we watch the Fleet against a physical team . Having said that , Macca was superb , against the very physical Madjo , and intelligent reading of the ball in the air got us out of jail on more than one occasion , but we all know that is what Paul is . And Sacha's clearance was the result of him intelligently covering Lance as he in turn tracked the forward to his right - took the header brilliantly though , as most knew he would , but I for one was grateful he was there nonetheless - good training ground procedure , perhaps . Our awful ball retention I put down to the fact that whoever had it was hassled and harried instantly by whichever Crawley player was nearest , and we simply had no movement off the ball to match that of Crawley's , and so no options . Their's seemed to be a close-up hassle , rather than closing the zone as we do , and mostly it worked due to our unwillingness to move for the player in possession - you spend too much time looking , you forget the ball and the opposition - he's only got you to watch .

Our saving grace ? Hmmm - taking a glance at the programme at Crawley's away games - P5 W1 D1 L3 ,F4 (matched only by Northwich)A9 . So the forwards tend to snatch at a chance away from home ? Or were they overly creative in their passing game , which was drawing comparisons to the Villa game in my mind ( how did they only win 3-0 ). Or is it the belief in team play that we rely on ? No . Actually it's due to my being there - third game for me , three wins - the others being Northwich and Kiddy . Ha !

PS Stood in a different place near halfway last night , thanks to the cameras and the extra ladder to the gantry . To the two old goats who were standing in front of me moaning all night ( until the goal at least ), shame on you both and I hope you're reading this - one said around the half hour mark that Macca should hang up his boots or b*gger off to Margate . I doubt you'd want to watch the Fleet if that were to happen - we have absolutely no answer to a missing Macca . Also shame on me - before last night , I was contemplating a bet on Rafa not scoring before he got injured - glad I was proved wrong .

Fans , players , managers come and go - have your own opinion , but be prepared to be proved wrong - especially on the pitch . Love footy ? You betcha !

[Hempstead Gaz]

Good posting, 1 F, am presently sitting watching the match again on video, luckily Setanta 2 showed the whole game again at mignight, so was able to video it.

As you said, and has been said on the commentary (and is so apparent) we are not clsing down in midfield.

I have started a thread on this subject, so may continue after watching the whole game again.

 

[Bill Kent]

For goodness sake. We won didn't we. Its nice to have a little slice of luck now and again. Did we not see Crawley pumping the long ball upfield for their striker to try and latch on to on a number of occasions. Well done our defence I say. Clean sheet and all that.

[1 F in Fleet]

I don't think anyone on here is doing anything different to what I expect Liam , Alan and the squad to be doing today - talking over last night's game , and making suggestions for improvement . Luck can be your twelfth man , but you can't name him in a starting eleven .

[Hirsty]

A sign of a good side is when you don't play well yet still win.

 

As I have said before, give me a sh*tty 1-0 win every time over playing well & losing !!

 

Cheers,

[Graham S]

Originally Posted By: Alan W (GNFC)

In fact we didnt have 1 corner through the game.

Is that right? I am sure I have a video clip of Rafa heading what I'm sure is a corner & not a cross just over & wide soon after the goal. Will check later, not that it matters. We didn't manage to create much, but we stuck to the task & took the half chance well when it came.

Graham S

[Hempstead Gaz]

Originally Posted By: Hirsty

A sign of a good side is when you don't play well yet still win.

As I have said before, give me a sh*tty 1-0 win every time over playing well & losing !!

Cheers,

Having just sat through the video, we appeared to play a little better than it seemed last night - still thought the defence were outstanding, in particular Slasher and McFee, and both Chukki and Raffa ran their sox off.
Crawley were a slick side, and as has been said, lady luck wasn't in their team last night.

A quick word about the ref - first class display, kept an immaculate control of the game and let it flow whenever he could.
And he got the Macca booking spot on, Slasher WAS the covering defender.

[BustaGut]

we had corners for sure.

ok we did not play well and won, how many times have we hammered away at someones goal to get a draw, or even lose, take the rough with the smooth, we got 3 points, and thats what matters in my book.

The ref only seemed to be able to point oneway, that was the direction crawley were kicking, but there again maybe we are a team of dirty ba**ards.

Why did lance insist on trying to kick the ball down the players tunnel all night, from whatever end he was kicking from ?

[Harry J Allstars]

Must have watched a different game than me Busta, Lance didn't kick the ball down the tunnel all evening, sometimes he rolled the ball out.

 

We were unlucky against Burton and Exeter, it hurts - We WON! Unbeaten in four now.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Moreover, Lance even threw the ball out on many occasions to the full backs, which at least gave us instant possession.

 

Of course, with a big back 3.......................

[behindthegoal]

...I thought that the midfield just did not work with 2 players trying to play in a role that is not their natural one. However a draw and a win with that midfield is a good outcome but I can't see us getting away with it for very long. Its a bit ironic that we have 2 players on loan who could slot in and be playing in the natural position but as a result end up with something that looks pretty makeshift.

I don't understand the logic at all.

I thought it interesting that all stewarding seemed to stop behind the goal last night. Presumably the club did not want any possible ejections etc being shown on the box!

 

 

[jc]

Originally Posted By: Alan W (GNFC)

To sum up - no we didnt really deserve all 3 points on the balance of play, but then again, it offsets one of the last 2 games, where we apparently deserved more than a point

It depends how you interpret those last two games, the patterns of which were nearly identical. Since neither Burton nor Exeter really threatened until about an hour gone, you could say we deserved the three points on both occasions. On the other hand, though, we created very little in the second half of both matches, seemed to reach a point where we settled for a 1-0 win and lost some attacking impetus, and couldn't keep possession well enough to wind down the clock and grind out the victory, so both times the pressure told and perhaps a draw was fair.

Only giving Crawley 12 minutes plus stoppage time to find an equalizer helped avoid these problems this time around. Given the apparent necessity for a frugal set-up on the field this season without Charlie (with not many goals at either end, and the Kiddy game looking more and more like a bizarre anomaly), I hereby decree any goal scored at Farsley before the 75th minute shouldn't be celebrated.

[Stu M]

Originally Posted By: jc

any goal scored at Farsley before the 75th minute shouldn't be celebrated.

I reckon I'd struggle to celebrate in Farsley even if my lottery numbers came up!

[Slartibartfast]

4 matches unbeaten, 2 home wins against very good teams and 2 away draws that any side in the league would be happy with, but are we happy?

I think this is the song that the players should run out to....