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Post by whitesince63 on Oct 3, 2023 20:53:33 GMT
Tremendous battling performance second half from the boys against an ultra physical no nonsense side. Didn’t think we’d get there at HT but well played to all in the second half and what a pass and goal for Joshband what a save from Bax. All in all a really hard earned 3 points but let’s hope there’s no carry over injuries for Saturday.? 3 more points there and we’ll be we’ll set for the 8nternational break and hopefully a few of our wounded warriors back?
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Post by andyl on Oct 3, 2023 20:56:34 GMT
Ugly second half but, referring to my half time post tonight Evatt ticked all my boxes.We needed a fabulous Baxter save and a bad miss by Reid. We were losing the way we were playing but this was our best strategy. They were good and we saw them off exposing ourselves to no more transitions and playing prudently. Jerome will get criticism but he did very well in the last quarter as did Bodvarsson.
Baxter 9 Dacres- Cogley 6 Iredale 7 Toal 7 Williams 6 Forester 8 Thomason 7 Sheehan 8 Dempsey 7 Charles 6 Nlundulu 4.Subs 5 all round,- with the exception of Jerome's calamitous start all played their part in game management.
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Post by Woppy the Italian on Oct 3, 2023 22:18:10 GMT
They threw the kitchen sink too Woppy I reiterate my earlier point, if we win this tonight, how?? That miss from Reid to make it 3-3🤔 Well done Trotters, I’ll take them scrappy 3 points I'll take the 3 points too but it's turning into Groundhog Day every game. Our only goal threat Charles is taken off and we spend the rest of the game defending. Is it me?
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Post by one2many on Oct 4, 2023 7:36:16 GMT
They threw the kitchen sink too Woppy I reiterate my earlier point, if we win this tonight, how?? That miss from Reid to make it 3-3🤔 Well done Trotters, I’ll take them scrappy 3 points I'll take the 3 points too but it's turning into Groundhog Day every game. Our only goal threat Charles is taken off and we spend the rest of the game defending. Is it me? No, it is not only you. I think the statistics back that up, I remember seeing an article about our second half substitutes not scoring, assisting or even having many shots. Last night I could not understand why Jerome was brought on instead of Bodvarson. So I watched Jerome closely to see what value he gives the team. His first intervention was a foul that led to a free kick. From the free kick he hilariously jumped into their player, almost killing him and giving away a penalty. After that, he barely touched the ball until the last five minutes when he competently shielded the ball in the corner to run the clock down. In brief, the only "goal threat" that Jerome brings is to our one.
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Post by davidm on Oct 4, 2023 9:52:45 GMT
What a weird game.
Totally lacking in decent passing or good football.
We allowed Stevenage to drag us down into a physical game which just does not suit us.
You would have thought that we had never watched Stevenage play before because we certainly were not ready to play them.
The first few minutes summed up a lot of the game. Stevenage kicked off and, sadly, I timed us. It was 4½ minutes before we actually crossed the halfway line and got into their half. We just couldn’t get forward. It was also 9 minutes before the Stevenage goalkeeper touched the ball and that was just to take a goal kick. We were just playing walking football from the back and getting nowhere.
We got out of our slumbers eventually and remarkably scored initially from a corner. It has to be praised that we have actually worked on corners as later it worked again. This one was played in low to Iredale who was tripped when he played the ball. An obvious penalty which Charles scored well.
Our lead wasn’t to last long as Nlundulu, for the umpteenth time, lost the ball in an easy position. They played the ball upfield where Toal was marking their sole striker. Toal was poorly held off the ball and their guy easily tucked the ball away. It was really weak defending from Toal who should have easily have handled the situation.
For the rest of the half, Stevenage kept up their tactic of trying to “win” free kicks and launching the ball forward. This gave us immense difficulty as we were completely unable to win any headers. Added to this, both Iredale and Thomason were on a yellow card and Stevenage most definitely tried to get them sent off by diving endlessly. Iredale got away with one push but the rest was down to Stevenage’s dubious tactics.
So 1-1 at half time.
Second half, we got what we wanted – an early goal.
Another corner, Sheehan played it deep and Iredale, unmarked, volleyed it in. Marc Iles says he headed it but I am sure it was a volley.
We then entered the manager’s substitution time and he amazingly replaced Nlundulu (no problem with him being subbed) with Jerome. What Bodvarsson must feel being regarded after both Nlundulu and Jerome, I don’t know. Jerome immediately gave away a foul and from the subsequent free kick caught their centre half with his arm and conceded a penalty which was scored easily. Their manager claimed it was a red card. Rubbish, it was a stray arm not an elbow. Dreadful defending but nothing malicious.
So back to all square and then suddenly a touch of genuine class. Iredale got the ball in the left back position and pinged a tremendous pass into the path on the onrushing Sheehan on the edge of the box. Sheehan brilliantly controlled it, created space and scored more or less all in one movement. An excellent goal.
Stevenage weren’t done though and missed a great chance when their goal scorer shot across goal from an easy position. Baxter made a spectacular save from a cracking shot and, yet again, we were desperately hanging on.
We managed to hold on but it was not pretty. 3 points are 3 points though and we did well to hold off a horrible side whose main tactic was to be physical and bully us.
I don’t want to see Stevenage again – they are the equivalent of Bassett’s Wimbledon and Beck’s Cambridge of years ago. Dark arts and hoofball football.
Their manager claimed we should have been down to 9 or even 8 men – ridiculous. Just pleased that this sort of football didn’t win out on the night.
Hopefully more chance of some football from Carlisle on Saturday.
Marks:-
Baxter - 8 An excellent save to stop another equaliser
Dacres - Cogley - 7 A more difficult match for him with Stevenage’s physical approach but stood up to it OK. A few desperate clearance late on
Williams - 6 Still looks a bit iffy defensively but going forward well
Forrester - 7 Very steady. Difficult opponents meant not winning many headers
Toal - 7 Terrible for their first goal but other than that strong. As with Forrester, trouble winning headers
Iredale - 7 Involved in almost everything. Some good, some iffy. Took his goal very well and made a couple of excellent tackles and a few poor ones!
Sheehan - 7 Quiet in the first half but came into it well in the second half and scored an excellent goal – great control and shot
Thomason - 7 The only midfielder involved in the first half but, yet again, a stupid booking.
Dempsey - 6 Too quiet for me. He is just off the pace a bit at the moment
Charles - 6 Just no service to him. Apart from scoring from the penalty, it is hard to think of much of an involvement
Nlundulu - 4 Terrible. His first touch was abysmal – starting the move for Stevenage’s first equaliser with a dreadful touch. Did not win a header all night. Not worth a start.
Bodvarsson - 6 Showed what a forward should do – won a few headers, held the ball up well and wasted time well at the end. Streets ahead of Nlundulu
Jerome - 4 First touch gave away a free kick; second touch gave away a penalty. After that slowed the game down well.
Ashworth
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