Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 5, 2009 17:09:12 GMT
Losing Carlisle before the start of the match was not very good news and on a pitch that did not sound to be anywhere near as good as our pitch, it was a big ask to see our team play the high quality game of football they did against Cheltenham.
I always feel teams who have a slopping pitch always have a slight advantage, as they know how to play best on the pitch. That said D.T was impressed with Accrington who on the day were clearly the better side.
We still created plenty of good changes to score more goals, but it sounded as if our defence were not at their best today, while Poke made some very good saves he could not prevent four goals being put past him.
An end to a long unbeaten run, but a run that has failed to get that many points and now we need to put this result behind us and try to get another unbeaten run going, but one where we get more points, as we still are far to close to the relegation zone.
I hope we will get a few match reports later to see if fans at the game felt the game went the same way as we heard it on the radio.
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merse
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Post by merse on Dec 5, 2009 17:21:01 GMT
 I would say a glance at the fixture list and a game such as this would have been just the sort of experience Southampton and Spurs would have been seeking for Adam Smith and Jake Thomson when they decided to loan them to us. Football in the raw, no billiard table playing suface and tiny, spartan facilities and up against a team built heavily on commitment, physical strength, directness and pace. Whilst I haven't seen a game there, I have been in and looked around the Accie ground and it really is substandard and unworthy of League football. However a Football League ground is what it is and just the sort of place where the margins for error are cruelly highlighted. The pitch manages to slope in three different directions so that Smith and Thomson could have taken the ball downhill at an angle then run uphill before getting a cross in whilst playing towards the away terrace. It's high up in the Pennines in the wind and the rain, and a surface (I hear) is one you would keep mountain goats on rather than chose to play professional football on. If you haven't been there yourself, but went to Hinkley the other year, then a like for like comparison wouldn't be far amiss! Whilst the off the field facilities at Stockport on Tuesday will be of a much better standard, the pitch and playing surface will obviously be another huge problem to cope with.....................all part of being a lower level professional footballer, and all character building and character is so important in judging the make up of the complete player. We know Paul Buckle sides are built on character and I would expect them to put this one in the locker and move on and learn from it.
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Post by graystar on Dec 5, 2009 18:15:47 GMT
Just look at the statistics of this years games played so far: Home Played 10 Won 3
Away Played 10 Won 1
The pattern continues, as the team dont seem to be able to get the results needed when away from Plainmoor. Like some bottles of wine, the team doesn't seem to travel well
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Post by jmgull on Dec 5, 2009 18:44:30 GMT
....If we're totally honest, our recent upturn of form has been due to us now looking far more of a threat going forward, even today we scored two away from home and created plenty of chances.
Its at the back where we have not really improved and this is the area we have most work to do with now........even against Cheltenham during the week we allowed them to have 4 or 5 decent chances inside our penalty area, where our defence was slow to react to danger.
I know that we aren't particulary quick at the back.......we're certainly not the slowest i've seen in this league either. I believe our defence should be good enough for this league.
Its all about speed of thought.......we are not reacting to danger quickly enough, if you give players a bit of time in and around the penalty area..........you will be punished.
That is why we're conceeding too many and why Poke is getting so many plaudits.......he's very busy most weeks!
Plenty of work to be done on the training ground i feel....
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Post by petergodfrey on Dec 5, 2009 19:32:42 GMT
My closest away trip, about 15 mins, and another gloomy Accie visit. To be fair 2-4 flattered us if anything. Our penalty was nailed on - great run and cross by Zebs and Rendell clearly hauled down. Great pen by Wroe, was afraid of him slipping and doing a Becks on that surface. To be honest it was against the run of play and for the next 70 mins we were well second best. Accie were quicker to the ball and in attack. We weren't allowed behind the goal at the start but they then had a change of heart and let us move there. Was too far away to see exactly what their pen was for or how they managed to score a second so quickly - gloomy lights didn't help. Whenever we nicked the ball from them and thought we could stroll away with it they were back at us and winning it back. At 1-4 I was afraid of a defeat of Spurs-Wigan proportions but either they ran out of steam or took their foot off the pedal or we possibly got better in the last 10, when we had several chances i.e. Benyon and Hargreaves one-on-ones with the keeper, great Sills header etc, to score a third or even 4th which would have completely falsified the scoreline. Poke not to blame for any of the goals, Smith started really brightly - quite a mature customer that one. I presumed he was injured when he went off but Nico didn't let us down again when he came on. Most of the danger came from their left wing, where Manse had a lot of trouble. I liked Jake Thomson, good to have a quick, tricky winger in the side. Possibly missed the extra width Carlisle gives us. Wroe was doing ok early on and I don't think him going off helped. We looked in trouble in defence any time they flung crosses in, which they did a lot. Charnock looked a tad slow and indecisive at times. Rendell didn't do a lot, Zebs started well but faded second half. Might be a useful wake-up call this, I hope so anyway after the recent positive vibes. I'm off down to Devon tomorrow for mater's 96th but will be conveniently heading back to sunny Lancashire Tues and will call in at Stockport on the way, not that I'm over-concerned about the result, as nice and useful as a win would be. Next Sat is so much more important. p.s. good to see my old friend Terry George at the game today, first time for a few years. Like me, a few years your senior at NAGS, Merse. I hope he hasn't been put off Gulls Lancashire away-days for ever !
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 5, 2009 19:43:19 GMT
Many thanks for your report Pete, is mum really now 96? what a wonderful age she has reached,I remember your mum so well, can you please pass on my best wishes to her, I'm sure she would not have forgotten me  |
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Post by petergodfrey on Dec 5, 2009 22:18:47 GMT
Will do Dave. p.s. Sorry about the lack of paragraphs again Dave - when I read through my report again I got quite out of breath !
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 5, 2009 22:21:50 GMT
Will do Dave. p.s. Sorry about the lack of paragraphs again Dave - when I read through my report again I got quite out of breath ! Don't worry Pete, was pleased to receive your match report |
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Post by chrish on Dec 5, 2009 22:27:58 GMT
I think Pete's post sums it up quite nicely. In short, shit indecisive defending, always second to the ball on a truly awful pitch and another prat of a referee who gave some truly mesmerising decisions. It's a small ground which is barely adequate for hosting league football. Two of the stands are quite modern but quite small. The main vocal support from the home team came behind the goal in the most modern stand which strangely has standing to the rear and seating at the front. We got to the ground early and found that there weren't going to open the main uncovered away block as they weren't expecting many of us, so they showed us into the seating area for away fans which comprises of two rows of seats. Two rows!! Try to imagine the stand at Histon, take out three rows and then age the stand by 20 years. To the rear of the seats was a standing area but you aren't allowed to stand there. Towards the start of the game they then opened up the main away end which makes the ground look much better. The pitch slopes down from right to left and it's higher in the far corner than the other. We just weren't at the races today and with hindsight it's easy to pick a few holes in the performance. I thought Zebroski, Rendell, Thomson (sometimes) and Smith had ok games. Charnock looked short of match fitness after his 3 game absence and seemed to react very poorly. As for the Ref. He gave us a penalty for an offence that wasn't as bad as a challenge on Rendell a few minutes earlier. Then proceeded to let a number of offences committed by Accy go and then gave them a penalty for what looked to be very dodgy foul. He saved the best until the second half though. A clear foul on Tyrone T in the centre circle resulted in the ref awarding the free kick to Accy much to the bemusement of all fans and both teams. Not really a good day to be a Torquay supporter today. 7 and a bit hours worth of driving on the M40, M42, M6 and M65 and then completing the drive home in torrential rain, although I swear I heard the windscreen wipers squeak a couple of times near Warwick! Anyway, some photos.                |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 5, 2009 22:32:28 GMT
Top man as always Chris, great photos and the pitch looks in poor condition I must say, so we go from a bold head to a flask cup  |
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Post by petergodfrey on Dec 5, 2009 22:41:07 GMT
Thanks for the pics Chris. Didn't realise I was stood next to you - nice to meet you chum !
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Post by chrish on Dec 5, 2009 22:46:21 GMT
Top man as always Chris, great photos and the pitch looks in poor condition I must say, so we go from a bold head to a flask cup I always like a couple of aperture priority test shots Dave . At Fulham we had the bald man. Today we have a steaming cup of Bovril from my flask. YorkGull and I got to the game early and at the tender ages of 35 and 34 we sat down with our flasks. Unfortunately YorkGull's easy pour flask nozzle was blocked by the croutons in his soup. Again a case of modern technology defeated by the French. The middle of the pitch looked like it had been attacked by a Challenger 2 Tank driven by Jeremy Clarkson and the wide areas seemed to be very spongey! But I just managed to avoid the main traffic coming out of Ewood Park but I did see 3 Irish coaches full of Irish Liverpool fans who no doubt had spent a lot of cash to see a goaless draw. |
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Dave
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Post by Dave on Dec 5, 2009 22:51:31 GMT
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Post by aussie on Dec 6, 2009 10:27:16 GMT
Weren`t they given 2 seasons to bring their tinpot shit hole up to scratch when they made it back in to the league? Also rather than pay them anything to get in you can go to the pub next door, go out the back to the beer garden and just stand on the outside tables to watch over the fence! I really do feel they should be chucked out the league and let one of the very good outfits from the conference come up ( not Oxford! ), I think they get it easy with the F.A. because of some little Scouse git in a milk advert, the whole nation got soppy about the club when it got back into the league and the F.A. wouldn`t want to upset the nation now would they!  |
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merse
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Post by merse on Dec 6, 2009 11:39:55 GMT
Weren`t they given 2 seasons to bring their tinpot shit hole up to scratch when they made it back in to the league? They were and they have. That's the point, they have fulfilled the minimum criteria based on numbers: Numbers of seats, numbers of entrances and exits, numbers of lux in the minimal requirement for floodlighting, numbers of places in that the capacity barely creeps above the absolute minimum considered "suitable " for Football League status ~ even though such a tiny capacity renders them unable to even once benefit from a plum cup draw at home. The trouble with the Football League is that they lowered the standards some years ago to accomodate the critricism they werer taking over the likes of Kidderminster and Stevenage not getting in and to prevent Barnet being thrown out. Reducing standards does nothing but harm to the overall standards, and do you know that nowhere is there once any mention of standard of playing suface in those regulations? To allow such a joke postage stamp size and multi sloping pitch such as Accies have in the nation's National Full Time competition is a pure farce. Absolute flat crown green consistency of ball travel should be a minimum criteria in my opinion. I know even the old Highbury and Sid James's Park (the real one) slope, as does Leyton Orient; but not that you'd notice with their excellent playing surfaces. I fully agree with Aussie, Accrington Stanley have no place being in the Football League ~ I don't care how warm and friendly their fans are. Their gate potential is a joke being only a ten minute drive from Blackburn Rovers and twenty from another (Burnley) it's what got them into trouble before it does now, and will do for them terminally before long again. If the Conference cannot be trusted to eliminate these tin pot clubs from the equation before they even get anywhere near the Football League, the Conference should pay for that with their two promotion places being revoked. The Crown Ground is little better than Histon's, and the club's gate potential is no greater. It's an absolute farce! Hey, at least we no longer have to put up with that "I support everybody" pratt, Urban Spaceman prattling on to us about Stanley these days.....................what a relief! |
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