20 replies to this topic

[blue pilgrim]

Town looked the better side in the opening stages and took the lead from a Richard Halle penalty after Courtney White was felled in the box. They then allowed the Met to come back into the game and Dale Brightly had to make a great save to retain the lead. Town should have increased their lead after great work by Courtney down the left and a cut back to an unmarked Jay May.

Immediately after the break, Town's defence, missing the considerable presence of Rob Swaine, went to sleep and allowed the Met to equalise with a far post header. We then saw  an entertaining counter attacking game with Town getting most of the near misses and the Met  keeper making some good saves most notably after a great run and shot from Harrison Chatting. Just when it was looking like another 2 dropped points, Dave Collis got on the end of a left wing cross with a long range header that left their keeper "flat footed" (sorry for the the police pun there !!! ) .

Summary : The Met are not a bad outfit; I would pick out Dale Brightly and Richard Halle for special mention, along with the Referee, who put in a good shift. I don't think he booked any of our players today, so I guess he will be demoted next week. Courtney gave a positive contribution on his return but he was outmuscled a lot in the second half. We still need goals from our strikers and sorry Craig, we need to think about earlier substitutions when things are not happening, that is assuming our substitutes have their match shirt in the dugout !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Attendance 420 plus

[Brightside Bloke]

Attendance = over 52?
Thought we should have had it "banged up" by the end of the first half but typical old bill coming back for some "seconds"
I agree about the sub's, boot's one week and wrong shirts today tic tic tic. A fixed fine is the order of the day :-)


A win's a win & were still top of the league.

MOM without a doubt (imo) Mr Courtney White. Dale as well as their keeper made some great saves. And a well deserved Player of the Month to Dale.

All in all we got them bank to rights.

Nice to see the trophy out one last time.. Sweet while it lasted.

COME ON YOU BLUES

[tomsootytilly]

I thought we deserved the win although we were sloppy at the back when they scored. Great header to win the game. Still looking for our midfield to start playing well. However a win is a win and we are still top. Well done to the players. Ref actually not bad this week, amazed their number 4 came back after half time, must have been magic water!

[New Lodger]

A good game against a strong side who I'd be surprised if they didn't make the play off's. I thought the side looked better balanced, we defended well, looked strong in midfield and the front two worked very hard. A stand out performance from Harrison but plenty of other notable contributions. 

All in all a good win that keeps us top despite not having a goalscoring striker, a decent midfield and a back four missing the considerable presence of captain Rob Swaine. I'm not sure who Blue Pilgrim would have substituted earlier because the whole side played well and finished the game much the stronger. 

It was a great turnout with well over 500 in, no doubt swelled by the large Police contingent lol

Well done lads unbeaten and only one goal conceded since Tooting and still top of the league. Keep it up.

COYB 

[jl]

I must admit I find myself more in tune with NL's precis rather than some of the rather subdued efforts above it.

I thought we put in out best performance for some time against a pretty decent outfit and were well worthy of the three points at the end.

Good choice by Craig to start with Courteney who I thought was excellent and easily outshone his strike partner. H had his most effective game from the start for some time and I thought his work rate was really good. In some ways I also felt the decision to move Poole inside helped Halle who probably had his best game in a blue shirt for me. It meant that his role in the team was clearly defined and Poole could take the responsibility for moving the ball on.

I disagree that we defended poorly for their goal. It was actually as a result of a really sloppy ball played from just inside their half. They launched a quick counter but despite that Oates got back and put in a really good challenge. Unfortunately, it broke to them but their next effort was headed off the line by Hawes - It was only when it broke to them again after that, that they managed to score.

Apart from the obvious positive of the result, I don't think we had a single player booked and we put on a good display in fromt of a decent crowd - 533 I think.

Much more positive showing all round and I think the crowd responded positively to that.

Well done to Dale for picking up PoTM for December as voted for by the supporters!

Keep that up lads and we won't be far away. Come on you Bluess!!!

[Bill of Shenfield]

Good result against a strong side who did not appear to fall over everytime a player came near him. Their 4 could have walked for his lunge but overall the ref had a reasonable game and would not mind him every game.

The whole team played well and it was good to see Courtney playing, he caused many problems for them and Jay played better than he has of late but I agree with BP about the subs, Jay does seem to tire a lot towards the end of games and has been for some time.

Good crowd, good game and a good day.

[MarkBTFC]

Good game against a well organised team who came looking to play football. Apart from a brief 15-20 min spell at the start of the 2nd half, where we gave away the ball all to easily and stopped playing the easy pass, i though that we thoroughly controlled the game.

Think a special mention should go to Dave Collis who had a real solid game on the right hand side of midfield in an unfamiliar position. Always provided the option and hardly gave away the ball. Popped up in the box at the far side of the area like any winger should do to win the game. Don't think the match report does the goal justice either! Was a great finish, certainly celebrated in style by him and the rest of the team!

More of the same next week please. Well done blues.

[Rick the Dick]

Thoroughly entertaining game & a hard fought, deserved win for the Blues.

Shame there were no points dropped at 'stoft or Hx, but with performances like that we can be satisfied we're doing all we can to stay in the race for the top spot.

Looking forward to Hendons visit next Saturday.  More of the same please!

[blue pilgrim]

New Lodger, on 29 January 2012 - 05:48 AM, said:

A good game against a strong side who I'd be surprised if they didn't make the play off's. I thought the side looked better balanced, we defended well, looked strong in midfield and the front two worked very hard. A stand out performance from Harrison but plenty of other notable contributions.

All in all a good win that keeps us top despite not having a goalscoring striker, a decent midfield and a back four missing the considerable presence of captain Rob Swaine. I'm not sure who Blue Pilgrim would have substituted earlier because the whole side played well and finished the game much the stronger.

It was a great turnout with well over 500 in, no doubt swelled by the large Police contingent lol

Well done lads unbeaten and only one goal conceded since Tooting and still top of the league. Keep it up.

COYB

Not my policy to name names but just felt the game was slipping away from us and certain legs were flagging. Felt two fast attacking players would have caused the visitors back line a lot of of trouble. Whilst our defensive record is good, we need to kill off games when we are in the ascendancy.

[Umbrella Man]

As said as above the plod 4 who just managed to get off the pitch at half time who looked like he was carrying a knock second half as well as being on a yellow a fresh pair of fast legs would have caused him  trouble .

But all's well that ends well 3 big points from a massive effort from the team extra shout for Courtney White who ran his self into the ground top effort that was.

Roll on Saturday when we have an even bigger game v Hendon.

Well done fella's

[New Lodger]

blue pilgrim, on 29 January 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

New Lodger, on 29 January 2012 - 05:48 AM, said:

Not my policy to name names but just felt the game was slipping away from us and certain legs were flagging. Felt two fast attacking players would have caused the visitors back line a lot of of trouble. Whilst our defensive record is good, we need to kill off games when we are in the ascendancy.

Without wishing to sound terse put up or shut up. Who would you have brought on and taken off ? We finished the game a lot stronger than the plod and I didn't notice anyone flagging. You say that our defensive record is good and we need to kill off games but neglect to mention we have scored the most goals in the league, so where do we need to improve ?

[Ryan.c]

Best performance since the Cray away game. Over the two games, I'd put the fuzz down as the best side we've faced so far. Fantastic goal from Collis, sparked a mini-surge behind the goal with multiple injuries! As above, I thought that was Halle's best game in a Blue shirt. Keep it going lads, 14 games from glory!

[blue pilgrim]

New Lodger, on 29 January 2012 - 09:56 PM, said:

blue pilgrim, on 29 January 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

New Lodger, on 29 January 2012 - 05:48 AM, said:

Not my policy to name names but just felt the game was slipping away from us and certain legs were flagging. Felt two fast attacking players would have caused the visitors back line a lot of of trouble. Whilst our defensive record is good, we need to kill off games when we are in the ascendancy.

Without wishing to sound terse put up or shut up. Who would you have brought on and taken off ? We finished the game a lot stronger than the plod and I didn't notice anyone flagging. You say that our defensive record is good and we need to kill off games but neglect to mention we have scored the most goals in the league, so where do we need to improve ?

New Lodger you are being terse. It was a hard match on a heavy pitch and the  use of substitutes later in the game is a recognised tactic, particularly if you have some useful players on the bench. It's a  game of opinions and it's great to discuss tactics but I will not name the players I would have taken off, as that might imply criticism of the inividual, when everyone was working their socks off.

We are in a marvellous position and better than everyone expected. Yes we are the leading goalscorers in the league but since the end of November, we have played 11, scored 13 ( including a 3-0) and only 4 of those were from strikers. Yes , it doesn't matter who scores but if we are to sustain our challenge we need to improve on that ratio in the next 11 games - hence my timerity to suggest the use of 'fresh legs' against tiring defences.

[New Lodger]

I apologise BP, however I am merely asking you to clarify your opinions. You are not naming names because you are not looking to criticise individuals but it is obvious you are talking about the strikers and in turn the management team. As I said we finished very strongly, scoring the winner in the 78th minute. I would presume you wouldn't have taken any of the midfield players off as they were all having excellent games. I think Mica came on with about 20 minutes to go for Jay. Who and when would you have brought on for White ? It would have been pretty negative to take off our two strikers when we only had one on the bench with say 30 minutes to go and the score 1-1.

[The Town Crier]

Its interesting how peoples opinions differ. I was speaking with Craig and Jim Cooper (Met's Manager) after the game on Saturday, and Cooper said "I'm glad you took Jay May off, he ruined us first half"


I cant argue that it would be nice to get a few more goals from our strikers but in reality it doesn't guarantee anything.
Neither ourselves or Lowestoft have a player listed in the Leagues goal scoring chart, but Both Wingate and E thurrock do.

A fine result for us, and it was good to have a game where players did not crumple into a heap screaming with every tackle, I too thought the ref had a decent game, although Plod disagreed.

Did we witness the second coming?...he will walk, and he did!

[blue pilgrim]

New Lodger, on 30 January 2012 - 10:14 PM, said:

I apologise BP, however I am merely asking you to clarify your opinions. You are not naming names because you are not looking to criticise individuals but it is obvious you are talking about the strikers and in turn the management team. As I said we finished very strongly, scoring the winner in the 78th minute. I would presume you wouldn't have taken any of the midfield players off as they were all having excellent games. I think Mica came on with about 20 minutes to go for Jay. Who and when would you have brought on for White ? It would have been pretty negative to take off our two strikers when we only had one on the bench with say 30 minutes to go and the score 1-1.

Apology accepted New Lodger.  At the end of the day we won a tight match against a good team, so there is absolutely no criticism meant towards the management or the players. Trouble is, when you are willing your team on, you tend think "what would I do if I was manager". I personally would have introduced Junior and Emeka at the 65 minute mark and adjusted the formation accordingly - as Umbrella Man pointed out, their no 4 could have been put under more pressure. But hey, Craig is our manager and he got it right,

[Brightside Bloke]

Quote

Craig is our manager and he got it right

That's it in a nut shell.

Edited by Brightside Bloke, 31 January 2012 - 11:11 PM.

[Nitetime Neil]

"It was a great turnout with well over 500 in, no doubt swelled by the large Police contingent lol"

If that's the case then they must have all been working undercover ! ;-)

[GazzaBTFC]

Personally, a good game, our best performance over 90 minutes for 2012, deserved winners. Well done to the players and the management team...Everyone played their part.

...do we need to say anymore?

No...

[The Town Crier]

GazzaBTFC, on 4 February 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

Personally, a good game, our best performance over 90 minutes for 2012, deserved winners. Well done to the players and the management team...Everyone played their part.

...do we need to say anymore?

No...

wot, nuffink at all?