NL: Solihull Moors v Torquay United 3pm 17/3/18

Arse, 1 -1, hello Conference South...

88 minutes last week, 82nd today...

Hartlepool get a 94th minute equaliser from 3-1 down. No ground made on anyone and one more game less to do so.

All barring Solihull and Hartlepool surely out of reach now, even with an incredible run of form. Solihull are Home to Bromley on Tuesday. Hartlepool are away to Barrow on Wednesday.

Still disappointed (but yet expected) at yesterdays results and the past week in general. Barrow winning didn't help but the law of averages say they'll win a few games and as we're playing 9 points catch up its hardly surprising that they did.

Last Saturday we couldn't beat a team who hadn't won in 17 games or so and let in a 88th minute sucker punch goal. One point dropped, yet should have had three.

Good result against Orient.

Lest said about yesterdays result the better.

Still over the past week we've dropped three points to go along with the many points we've dropped over the season (that last minute penalty aginst Sutton the other week for starters).

chelstongull  


Yep, how we could have done with the win, and it's painful to dwell on the fact that we only came away with a draw. So if anything is to be said about yesterday's game it's better to take the positives from a decent performance and not mention the result.

Had Chelston decided to tack on some stats, as for the previous Saturday's game at Maidstone, he would have included that Solihull are unbeaten at home since Remembrance Day (11th November) and unbeaten at home ever since Mark Yates became their Manager.

Given the long trip to Maidstone and back, followed by the journey up to London midweek for the Orient evening game, on a poor and strength sapping pitch, and then journeying again, up on the day to Solihull to put in a battling performance in atrocious conditions and producing a decent performance and outplaying the home side for the majority of the game, then we would rightfully be giving some deserved credit to the players, many of whom aren't on the books of Torquay United, played no or a minimal part in us spending most of the season in the relegation zone, but who we are now looking to as the one's we hope can dig us out of trouble.

Listening to the radio commentary from Orient, for one moment in the second half when a 'handbags' confrontation threatened to blow up, I feared Elliott Romain was about to be shown a red card. Just imagine if we'd had a 3 match suspension for Romain to cope with as well ? Given his robust style of play, he's a player who is going to pick up a card or two for certain. Probably a little harshly, after Pitman's late miss at Maidstone, but I feel that Owers has concluded that should Romain or Williams be missing for whatever reason, a goalscoring replacement wasn't currently 'in the building'. And if you wanted to rectify that, we probably couldn't at this stage of the season, have done any better than getting loaned Rhys Healey from Cardiff.

So I'm all for taking a leaf out of Chelston's book and saying and dwelling as little as possible on yesterday's result. And also agreeing with Rob's suggestion that it's now best to view it as a mini league at the bottom; and whoever finishes top survives while the others go down. Our prospects, slim as the might be, are surely best served by a Barrow victory over Hartlepool on Wednesday.

Merse puts forward a reasonable proposition that it might be worth incorporating Healey into a formation that saw him playing just behind both Romain and Williams. The activity on the training ground will possibly lend weight to, or scotch that prospect, and you do wonder whether a midfield of sufficient strength can also be fielded with a more attack orientated line-up ? But if our relative strength is looking as if it's up front, then a Keegan approach of 'If we concede three it won't matter if we've scored four' might suit us more that trying to snatch a goal and try to defend a slender lead for long periods. 

With games running out, we need to gain ground in big three point chunks. And those wins won't come unless we're scoring goals, and that will need to be where the emphasis lies. You can't have your cake and eat it, and we'll see a few more going in at the wrong end before the season is out, but we probably have to gamble and take the consequences now.

It would be an almighty struggle to survive, but there are always unexpected twists and turns towards the end of any season. Let's somehow claw our way to the top of Rob's mini league.

Reckon the only possible escape route now is to at least try and finish in the highest relegation spot and maybe there will be a Hartlepool points deduction or any club below in a promotion position doesn't meet ground requirements for NLP.
Wouldn't wish that on any club though and its a highly unlikely scenario in any case.
Fact is I'm 99% certain now we will be playing in the division below. Its only the maths that's stopping it being confirmed.
I just hope we are better prepared and have some sort of plan in place that at least stops the club slipping further down the leagues.
We will still need better quality players at the next level down to be competitive than we have had this season but I fear the better ones we do have, Dorell, McGinty, Young, Romain will be on there bikes.

It's been a slow process with a gradual degradation of player quality over three or four seasons and it now seems impossible to halt the cycle of failure.

petef 
You never know what straws that haven't even appeared yet, might suddenly spring up for us to grasp, and so we need to finish as high as possible (even if it is a relegation place) just on the off chance. A while back I read on BTPIR that the National League possibly has concerns that Sutton United (currently 2nd) could deprive another club of a promotion spot or a play-off space, but then decline a subsequent elevation to the Football League. This all centres around their plastic pitch which wouldn't be permissible for Football League fixtures. To this end Sutton have signed up stating that they would meet the requirements and avail themselves of a proper grass pitch. Should Sutton clinch a promotion spot and then admit they had been untruthful, the National League has said they would demote them, but by only one division, which would seem nowhere near enough in my view.

Of course Sutton might not win a promotion place, and even if they do, might remain true to their word and to the assurances given. However, if they've been lying through their teeth and signing up to guarantees they have no intention of fulfilling, then they would deserve relegation far more than any club that finished in the bottom four.