Dave
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Post by Dave on Apr 27, 2009 16:20:32 GMT
After all the would we won't we make it into the play-offs we got our answer on the final game of the season against Burton and what a great day and result it was for not only all who where there, but all TUFC fans worldwide.
After what looked like a worrying dip in form I feel we are now on a crest of a wave and can go into the 1st leg at home to Histon, full of confidence. I know our home form as not been the best, but our team has shown it is a team for big occasions and only playing in this year's final will be bigger.
You can bet Captain Hargreaves will take any painkilling needle they offer him as he will be key to our success, he is our general and leader out on the pitch.
We have no worries if Bevan does not make it back in time, Poke is a good keeper, did feel he should have come for a few more crosses than he did against Burton, but thats just my view.
With Dsane gone it will be Carlisle and Stevens on the wings and I also can't see any changes being made to our defense, so Hodges will I'm sure be sitting on the bench.
The only question is who will be up front with Sills, you can rule Green out for sure so will we go with the more experienced Sturrock, or stick with Benyon who on his day can stick the ball in the net.
I think I would go with a fit Sturrock myself and have Benyon on the bench, he has showed many time this season that coming of the bench he has had real impact on a game.
I do not think we will see as many Histon fans as Burton brought, but I would hope for a near 5000 gate, as If you can't go and support you team in such a big important match, then in my view you need to question your support full stop.
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Post by kevgull on Apr 27, 2009 18:22:53 GMT
We are the form team going into the playoffs, the fear of performing in front of the cameras has diminished and our confidence has taken a real boost since Sunday. Promotion will be secured by playing 2 games away from home and guess what, our away record was the best in the BSP. An added bonus is that we have played at both of these grounds in the last 12 months. We have not lost since are away fixture at Kettering. Our squad is hungry for success and any disruptions within our squad have been removed. Histons last memory of plainmooor was a thumping. They may have both their center backs this time but they have lost their keeper for the playoffs due to a straight red against Crawely. Very unfortunate of them to squander a three goal lead due to this incident.  I can only see one downside and this is where I can agree with PB recent remarks. We need is a crowd with balls! Plain morgue must try and lift the players if they want league football next year. Best supporting area Popside v The family stand 2-0 at home 1-1 away |
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Post by graystar on Apr 27, 2009 18:24:56 GMT
I think the official figure was around 4,500 wasn't it Dave for the Burton Albion game; so hopefully we can top that in the Histon game. My guess is that they will bring around 500+ for the first game. Its a hell of a journey for each team, probably 5/6 hours each way. Maybe their team will be jet-lagged (hopefully) and under-perform. We'll have to arrange a Lear jet for our lads for the return game.
Anyway good luck to our brilliant team. We deserve to go all the way and get back where we belong; in the Football League. Onwards and Upwards as they say!!
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Post by Swanny on Apr 27, 2009 20:25:19 GMT
Histon to bring 500+ on a Friday night ? Unless I'm missing something here I can't see a small club like Histon bringing much more than say 100. As for our home support, it hasn't been great this year and only 3,000+ turned out against Burton. So I can't see that figure improving dramatically. Don't forget the match is also live on T.V. which will attract its share of arm-chair supporters as well. I'll be pleasantly surprised if the gate hits the 4,000 mark. Ofcourse the club deserves 5,000+ but we shall see.
As for the match I'm confident on this one. We've got the experience of these big games whereas Histon haven't and if the right team is selected we should do it. What I liked about the Burton game is that we had a number of fresh players out there bearing in mind our strong squad, such as Benyon and Stevens. The likes of Histon don't have such luxuries, and does anyone know who Histon will play in goal, bearing in mind their keeper was sent off against Crawley ? Or more to the point is he any good ?
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Apr 27, 2009 21:45:55 GMT
According to their website, Histon's reserve goal keeper is Joe Welch and only signed for them last autumn! Made his debut in November and in addition to his sub appearance yesterday has started four matches. (3 league, one Setanta Shield match) Read a comment on another site that he is the "better keeper"  Remains to be seen whether Histon will or even can get additional cover in this area. They do have a forty year old former goal keeper on the coaching staff but he does not appeared to have played for two years. |
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Post by capitalgull on Apr 27, 2009 21:55:41 GMT
According to their website, Histon's reserve goal keeper is Joe Welch and only signed for them last autumn! Made his debut in November and in addition to his sub appearance yesterday has started four matches. (3 league, one Setanta Shield match) Read a comment on another site that he is the "better keeper" Remains to be seen whether Histon will or even can get additional cover in this area. This chap was released by Southend after many years of trying to get him to improve, and was not played against TUFC in the 4-1 defeat around Christmas time because Histon's manager did not have enough confidence in him, preferring to utilise a clearly injured Naisbitt instead. Tomaszewski anyone?? |
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Post by graystar on Apr 27, 2009 22:05:45 GMT
Somebody told me that Burton brought around 900/1000 to the last match! Couldnt really be sure if that was correct. Can the supporters stand hold that many fans? If that was the case, then surely Histon would at least half fill the stand for such an important game even if it is being televised on Setanta etc. As Dave says, true supporters follow their team, especially in the really big games! I will try to be there, if Lewis is fit enough to go as well. I wouldnt want him to miss it if he is OK.
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Post by stuartB on Apr 27, 2009 22:11:16 GMT
Somebody told me that Burton brought around 900/1000 to the last match! Couldnt really be sure if that was correct. Can the supporters stand hold that many fans? If that was the case, then surely Histon would at least half fill the stand for such an important game even if it is being televised on Setanta etc. As Dave says, true supporters follow their team, especially in the really big games! I will try to be there, if Lewis is fit enough to go as well. I wouldnt want him to miss it if he is OK. Lewis should be really up for this, especially if Arsenal beat manure this week, please !!! ;D At least he'll have a long weekend to recover before getting back to the delights of school. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Apr 27, 2009 22:14:02 GMT
Not sure of the exact figure but I believe the away end holds about 1000, sure someone will know, I know Histon are a small club but I just felt that this would be a very big game for them with the prize of league football and that is why I thought they might bring around 500.
Swangull is probably correct and as he says its on TV, plus it is a Friday night and not everyone would finish work early enough to make the trip down here.
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Post by stuartB on Apr 27, 2009 22:21:14 GMT
Not sure of the exact figure but I believe the away end holds about 1000, sure someone will know, I know Histon are a small club but I just felt that this would be a very big game for them with the prize of league football and that is why I thought they might bring around 500. Swangull is probably correct and as he says its on TV, plus it is a Friday night and not everyone would finish work early enough to make the trip down here. Probably be able to squeeze all their requirement into the stands, leaving the away end if the torbay public can get off their arse to support this game. i have taken a day off so we can all travel down early for the long weekend but what effort will the local population make? There were a lot of "johnny come latelies" there on Sunday (you are welcome) but how many more can we count on? Steve Badcott where are you?? there will be plenty who turn up on Friday who we haven't seen all season but the club is right not to make it all ticket because we will not fill the ground. It was 4528 with a good showing from Burton but Friday will not be much higher as Histon will not send many due to it being friday and being difficult to get that far for 8pm on a bank holiday weekend. Only the real dedicated will be there. i predict more like 250. |
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Apr 27, 2009 22:24:21 GMT
Kevgull, did you manage to erase the Crawley defeat from a couple of weeks ago from your mind then?!
Capitalgull, like you I fear a "Tomaszewski situation" - it doesn't seem like 20 years ago that we were facing a young keeper from the Cornish leagues turning-out for his debut for Exeter due to Dave Walter's injury. Kevin Miller was excellent that day and although our young keeper had a game to forget (although try as we might, I don't think anyone who saw that 4-0 home defeat ever will forget it!) Miller stepped-up to produce a fantastic display.
Anyway - of the 4 appearances Welch has made, Histon have been unbeaten and 3 of them were against Cambridge, Kiddy and Crawley. He will be better than Naisbitt was against us when we hammered them 4-1 (and when we beat Barnet 3-2!!).
Teams have been underestimating Histon all season (the table doesn't lie and Leeds will also testify that they were caught-out) and I don't think our team will for a minute believe that it will be anyting less than an incredibly tough two legs.
I think Benyon willl start later his perforance yesterday - although Sturrock looked lively when he came-on. I guess it comes down to who trains the best during the week and how Bucks decides to use our ample squad over the 180 (or even 210!) minutes.
The scorer of the first two goals in our win isn't here any more, but I believe that we have enough firepower with the rest of the team. I must admit that I would rather have seen Christie head-off than Dsane - at least Roscoe can play out wide - imagine watching Christie puffing up and down the flanks?!
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Post by stuartB on Apr 27, 2009 22:27:25 GMT
Kevgull, did you manage to erase the Crawley defeat from a couple of weeks ago from your mind then?! Capitalgull, like you I fear a "Tomaszewski situation" - it doesn't seem like 20 years ago that we were facing a young keeper from the Cornish leagues turning-out for his debut for Exeter due to Dave Walter's injury. Kevin Miller was excellent that day and although our young keeper had a game to forget (although try as we might, I don't think anyone who saw that 4-0 home defeat ever will forget it!) Miller stepped-up to produce a fantastic display. Anyway - of the 4 appearances Welch has made, Histon have been unbeaten and 3 of them were against Cambridge, Kiddy and Crawley. He will be better than Naisbitt was against us when we hammered them 4-1 (and when we beat Barnet 3-2!!). Teams have been underestimating Histon all season (the table doesn't lie and Leeds will also testify that they were caught-out) and I don't think our team will for a minute believe that it will be anyting less than an incredibly tough two legs. I think Benyon willl start later his perforance yesterday - although Sturrock looked lively when he came-on. I guess it comes down to who trains the best during the week and how Bucks decides to use our ample squad over the 180 (or even 210!) minutes. The scorer of the first two goals in our win isn't here any more, but I believe that we have enough firepower with the rest of the team. I must admit that I would rather have seen Christie head-off than Dsane - at least Roscoe can play out wide - imagine watching Christie puffing up and down the flanks?! I'd prefer Green than both of those! |
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merse
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Post by merse on Apr 28, 2009 2:43:13 GMT
Teams have been underestimating Histon all season (the table doesn't lie and Leeds will also testify that they were caught-out) and I don't think our team will for a minute believe that it will be anyting less than an incredibly tough two legs. I must admit that I would rather have seen Christie head-off than Dsane - at least Roscoe can play out wide - imagine watching Christie puffing up and down the flanks?! I think a dose of realism is in order over Histon and like "oh2b" says, "it will be an incredibly tough two legs"..Histon are a very physical "John Beck" trained and coached side who will play for re-starts, which probably means that unless we score early in the first leg the game will be a rather frustrating affair devoid of much fluidity...............the sort of game that can stultify a crowd. But I did say unless we can score early (as we did in the home league game with two in the first twenty minutes) and they CAN be put on the wrack as our 4-1 victory over them ultimately proved. I thought also, that way back at the start of the season , Histon "got out of gaol " rather with that late, late equalizer at their place. A result that brought much unwarranted criticism upon our manager at the time by those foolish enough to disrespect Histon's achievements from the previous season and particularly from those who weren't there at all but merely following the game via HE reports and maybe BBC Devon. The very next home game, Histon went and beat Burton Albion 4-3! The "other goalkeeper" they do have is goal keeping coach Lance Key, who is forty years old now and who was replaced as number two keeper by Joe Welch last October...............so no doubt if it is Welch who is selected then Key will sit on the bench. So who remembers Danny Naisbitt anyway then? Do you realise he was the rather nervy young sub keeper who came on for Tin Pot Barnet after just a couple of minutes in that momentous occasion at Underhill when we sent them crashing back to non league football? As to their projected away following, they're one of these little non league clubs who don't have the culture of a big away following anyway and I would predict 150 maximum. either way it will be a pig of a journey for them on a Bank holiday Friday but at least the May Bank Holiday is the least busy of the three Spring Bank Holidays on the roads. Your comment (and a lot of people's attitude towards) Isleden Christie makes me smile wryly...................over two legs against this lot he could be just the man to utilise his superior body strength and ability to stay on the ball for longer periods than Benyon or Green. He could be just the man to give a tiring Tim Sills a break during the final twenty minutes of a tough, thankless task against their uncompromising defence on Friday. It could well be a case of "cometh the hour, cometh the man" After all, the names "Christie" and "Torquay" are just aching to be coupled by some sub editors aren't they? |
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Post by ospelgull on Apr 28, 2009 6:46:56 GMT
It will be two tough, physical games against a team that have showed they are more than capable to beat any team in this league and above it. And they keep going on until the very end. Click on Histon's statistics for details about Histon. They've scored most of their goals (14) in the final minutes of a match and only failed to score in 9 games. Not to forget they have a decent record against the tophalf teams. |
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Post by chesneygull on Apr 28, 2009 8:44:52 GMT
The HE states that Naisbett is only suspended for one game. I thought a straight red was a three game ban? Is the something to do with the timing of the sending off?
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Remains to be seen whether Histon will or even can get additional cover in this area. They do have a forty year old former goal keeper on the coaching staff but he does not appeared to have played for two years.