11/02/23 - League 2 Fixtures

[E10rifle]

Beat them because we had the better footballers. Like you said they're nothing but hoof and corners.

Got to match them for effort, though. They are extremely effective at stopping better footballing teams from playing and they’re more than useful in the final third. We didn’t fancy it the other week and got absolutely battered.

 

[E10rifle]

Pleased with the point and performance at Walsall. Starting to look like we’re moving on from our sticky patch either side of Xmas. Hopefully Smyth will be back soon to terrorise the unfortunate right backs of League Two. Going to be a low promotion total this season, so six more wins should do it.

 

[Soup Ladle]

Sutton and their expansive style of football that has seen them score less goals than even us this year and we're the worst team they've played in five years. Laughable to claim otherwise they are a shithouse side. You can take the club out of non league but not non league out of the club.

I'm not rattled by that, it works for them and I'll give them credit for their meteoric rise up the leagues without heavy bankrolling.

But it is amusing how touchy their fans get about it.

 

[THE LAST WALTZ]

Part of having a dodgey stick is listening to bias commentators.

Lapslie should start for you lot quite frankly he creates and scores goals and looked a threat today when he came on.

Just a word on the penalty, they are barely ever given for ‘persistent pulling’ but hopefully referees start too because it’s got ridiculous. Will benefit Gillingham down road because Hawkins always gets dragged about in the penalty box.

I think that’s what most of us found frustrating. Hawkins was being pushed and pulled all game (as he is most games) and got fuck all, then the ref the gives a really soft one for a pen. I agree though, it is something refs in general need to get tougher on as it has got beyond ridiculous.
Anyway, I don’t think it would have made any difference whatsoever as we got what we deserved, absolutely fuck all.
I thought considering their injuries Mansfield played very well, though as has been said, we made it very easy for them.
Hopefully we put this one behind us quick smart as two more massive games for us this week in Grimsby and Rochdale.

 

[Son of Cod]

Outfought by Colchester yesterday. Hurst in hindsight probably got his selection wrong in the middle of the park leaving Holohan out but the way we've looked in the last two matches you wouldn't really have begrudged any of the CMs a start. We definitely missed Green and Taylor though yesterday as Colchester won the physical battle. Colchester aren't winning any awards for beautiful football but they're effective and five away wins since Christmas is superb form. No chance they're in any trouble whatsoever. No qualms about losing that from me, they deserved the win. Ref was shite but he was shite for both sides.

 

[Sestonpoolie]

Think the Hartlepool lads and lasses need another dose of non league. It’ll be good for their ongoing education. Not sure I’ve seen a worse team in the last 5 seasons across the 2 games. Go up to their gaff and as an away side should be 3 or 4 up and they’re picking holes in our style. Without the sending off it’s just a question of how many. Laughable. Forgotten their non league roots already.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1624485809897218048

Oh and here is one of yours putting one of our best players out of the game in the first half.

That was a bad tackle.
He did it out of frustration after being kicked all over & getting no protection from the ref.
A lot of your 'tackles' were dreadful,encouraged by your fat twat manager.
Criticism of us in that respect is quite laughable.

 

[Bone Idle]

The fat c*** as gracious as ever in defeat then.

Well he should blow his load when he leaves Dave on tuesday with his cock wedged firmly between his legs.

 

[AdamStag]

Quite a professional job from mansfield yesterday with a bit of luck on our side.

I’m normally quick to point out when refs have had a poor game and they’ve blatantly favoured the opposition or made a bad decision, so it’s only right when we get a penalty for something as soft as that i also comment and say that was a terrible decision from a gillingham perspective.

Clear to see that gillingham won’t be anywhere near the relegation zone and looked a good outfit, great numbers though very quiet and subdued oddly.

7 points from 9 from doncaster and gillingham at home with a point at away at bradford is a nice little run.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

Sutton and their expansive style of football that has seen them score less goals than even us this year and we're the worst team they've played in five years. Laughable to claim otherwise they are a shithouse side. You can take the club out of non league but not non league out of the club.

I'm not rattled by that, it works for them and I'll give them credit for their meteoric rise up the leagues without heavy bankrolling.

But it is amusing how touchy their fans get about it.

Don,t like drums either, Just weird.

I must say though their players stopped to applaud "TALLA" When they could have taken the throw in.
Well done.

 

[RiftHouseLad]

Literally no one has said that you shouldn’t have been 3 or 4 up, or claims that we are anything other than a poor side, that’s obvious. But that doesn’t change the fact your style of “football” although effective is rancid to watch, and we won’t be the only set of fans on here who say that.

Also.. the irony in you saying we have forgotten our non league roots? You realise we were promoted in the same season, after our only spell out of the football league and for your first promotion into it?

I take it you were one of the 90 something fans there today, to disagree with anything that we have said about todays game?

Sad that they actually think its going to last.

 

[F!RTHY]

One things for certain, there’s absolutely no way Harry Lewis will be here next season - promotion or not.

He’s unreal.

Up the chickens.

 

[Gills4years]

Quite a professional job from mansfield yesterday with a bit of luck on our side.

I’m normally quick to point out when refs have had a poor game and they’ve blatantly favoured mansfield, so it’s only right when we get a penalty for something as soft as that i also comment and say that was a terrible decision from a gillingham perspective.

Clear to see that gillingham won’t be anywhere near the relegation zone and looked a good outfit, great numbers though very quiet and subdued oddly.

7 points from 9 from doncaster and gillingham at home with a point at away at bradford is a nice little run.

If I was a betting man, I would quite fancy Mansfield for automatic promotion. Only Carlisle have scored more but, before yesterday, you had conceded 6 more than us.

That seemed strange considering how well you managed the game. I can not see why you played Hawkins at the back so maybe you have recruited well in replacing him.

Difficult to tell for sure as it was such a tepid performance from us, but if you can pass Stevenage on the last day of the season, nick their third place and they lose in the play offs. Evans' reaction will be priceless, if predictable. Good luck.

 

[Conker]

It be insane to bet on Mansfield for automatic promotion with the amount of injuries we have, think it will show against promotion rivals.

 

[dedwardp]

League Two football is mostly rubbish, and pretty much every side in this league plays crap, physical football - particularly when they are the away side. I'm sure we all have technically decent footballers who are quite capable of playing some nice stuff at times, but most games seem to turn into two groups of physically athletic men who scrap it out and try and stifle the game. Even more so when a side has a lead to cling on to. It's attritional and it's often quite tedious to watch.

 

[AdamStag]

It be insane to bet on Mansfield for automatic promotion with the amount of injuries we have, think it will show against promotion rivals.

Cloughs record against top 7 sides is pretty average (being polite) will get a chance to put that theory to test on tuesday

 

[AdamStag]

If I was a betting man, I would quite fancy Mansfield for automatic promotion. Only Carlisle have scored more but, before yesterday, you had conceded 6 more than us.

That seemed strange considering how well you managed the game. I can not see why you played Hawkins at the back so maybe you have recruited well in replacing him.

Difficult to tell for sure as it was such a tepid performance from us, but if you can pass Stevenage on the last day of the season, nick their third place and they lose in the play offs. Evans' reaction will be priceless, if predictable. Good luck.

That why we are where we are though, when we’ve been infront against northampton crewe and barrow at home recently and only got 2 points when we really should have got 7 or 9, that’s the difference.

 

[Casey]

Just watched the highlights of Crawley v Crewe.

Never a pen and the sending off was ridiculous.

Casey

 

[JaredSUFC]

League Two football is mostly rubbish, and pretty much every side in this league plays crap, physical football - particularly when they are the away side. I'm sure we all have technically decent footballers who are quite capable of playing some nice stuff at times, but most games seem to turn into two groups of physically athletic men who scrap it out and try and stifle the game. Even more so when a side has a lead to cling on to. It's attritional and it's often quite tedious to watch.

There was a very entertaining article by a Rochdale supporter (I think they’re a Rochdale supporter anyways) in last months When Saturday Comes which said pretty much the same thing.

It’s the 4th tier of English football, with some of the lesser quality full-time professional footballers going. To think that all teams can be swashbuckling dandies who never foul, timewaste or employ non-shithouse tactics is fanciful at best.

We all do it. Just some of us are more effective than others

 

[RiftHouseLad]

There was a very entertaining article by a Rochdale supporter (I think they’re a Rochdale supporter anyways) in last months When Saturday Comes which said pretty much the same thing.

It’s the 4th tier of English football, with some of the lesser quality full-time professional footballers going. To think that all teams can be swashbuckling dandies who never foul, timewaste or employ non-shithouse tactics is fanciful at best.

We all do it. Just some of us are more effective than others

Replace effective with blatant, and may just be plausible.

 

[joethegill]

Quite a professional job from mansfield yesterday with a bit of luck on our side.

I’m normally quick to point out when refs have had a poor game and they’ve blatantly favoured the opposition or made a bad decision, so it’s only right when we get a penalty for something as soft as that i also comment and say that was a terrible decision from a gillingham perspective.

Clear to see that gillingham won’t be anywhere near the relegation zone and looked a good outfit, great numbers though very quiet and subdued oddly.

7 points from 9 from doncaster and gillingham at home with a point at away at bradford is a nice little run.

I think you're one of the first Mansfield fans who've acknowledged it was a bad decision, it's amazing how one-eyed certain fanbases can be.

All in we're still 23rd despite the recent positivity regarding our improved squad, but we've not gone out and bought a title challenging squad straight away, it's probably around a 10th placed squad at the moment and needs to perform as such. Mansfield as a squad are ahead of us currently and looked it yesterday - hunting in packs when we had the ball and switched play well while we bizarrely played really narrow. They had a 25 minute purple patch in the middle of the first half which won the game, but it did take a deflected effort off the post and the nonsense penalty for them to beat Morris. Other than that there were a couple of headers from Akins and a rubbish 1 v 1 attempt from Swan at the end that Morris had to deal with and that was the best Mansfield threw at us, certainly not a barrage of top quality chances.

We didn't play nearly well enough in the first half and we were punished for it, but at least we gave it a go in the second half and once we made subs we started to look alright and made a couple of openings for Lapslie and got some decent balls in the box. End of the day though away games against play-off challengers aren't the games that will keep us in the league.

We go again Tuesday

 

[Conker]

I think that’s what most of us found frustrating. Hawkins was being pushed and pulled all game (as he is most games) and got fuck all, then the ref the gives a really soft one for a pen. I agree though, it is something refs in general need to get tougher on as it has got beyond ridiculous.
Anyway, I don’t think it would have made any difference whatsoever as we got what we deserved, absolutely fuck all.
I thought considering their injuries Mansfield played very well, though as has been said, we made it very easy for them.
Hopefully we put this one behind us quick smart as two more massive games for us this week in Grimsby and Rochdale.

Having watch the replay, it was clearly given due to how long it went on but still 9/10 times it’s not given. If they do start to enforce the ‘persistent holding’ more I think it’s a good thing because as you say it’s got ridiculous, Gillingham will do well out of it with Hawkins who gets hard done by it so much due to being a big lad.

Gillingham will pull out of it I’m sure, Lapslie needs to start, makes no sense paying so much for a good player and sticking him on bench.

 

[joethegill]

I think that’s what most of us found frustrating. Hawkins was being pushed and pulled all game (as he is most games) and got fuck all, then the ref the gives a really soft one for a pen. I agree though, it is something refs in general need to get tougher on as it has got beyond ridiculous.
Anyway, I don’t think it would have made any difference whatsoever as we got what we deserved, absolutely fuck all.
I thought considering their injuries Mansfield played very well, though as has been said, we made it very easy for them.
Hopefully we put this one behind us quick smart as two more massive games for us this week in Grimsby and Rochdale.

I think yesterday's ref set the tone early when he gave Mansfield an uncontested drop ball despite our player having it when he blew the whistle for a head injury about 5 minutes in.

 

[AdamStag]

I think you're one of the first Mansfield fans who've acknowledged it was a bad decision, it's amazing how one-eyed certain fanbases can be.

All in we're still 23rd despite the recent positivity regarding our improved squad, but we've not gone out and bought a title challenging squad straight away, it's probably around a 10th placed squad at the moment and needs to perform as such. Mansfield as a squad are ahead of us currently and looked it yesterday - hunting in packs when we had the ball and switched play well while we bizarrely played really narrow. They had a 25 minute purple patch in the middle of the first half which won the game, but it did take a deflected effort off the post and the nonsense penalty for them to beat Morris. Other than that there were a couple of headers from Akins and a rubbish 1 v 1 attempt from Swan at the end that Morris had to deal with and that was the best Mansfield threw at us, certainly not a barrage of top quality chances.

We didn't play nearly well enough in the first half and we were punished for it, but at least we gave it a go in the second half and once we made subs we started to look alright and made a couple of openings for Lapslie and got some decent balls in the box. End of the day though away games against play-off challengers aren't the games that will keep us in the league.

We go again Tuesday

Well i’m very vocal when we’ve had a bad decsion against us, it happens and refs are human, however it’s a bit of a contradiction if you’re going to gloss over it when it goes for you

 

[joethegill]

Well i’m very vocal when we’ve had a bad decsion against us, it happens and refs are human, however it’s a bit of a contradiction if you’re going to gloss over it when it goes for you

That's very fair of you

 

[Richard Cranium]

If that were given against us I'd be more pissed off with the player holding on for so long than the ref for enforcing a rule that they usually don't bother with. Everyone knows how shite the officials are at this level, you can't give them a decision to make

 

[Gills4years]

If that were given against us I'd be more pissed off with the player holding on for so long than the ref for enforcing a rule that they usually don't bother with. Everyone knows how shite the officials are at this level, you can't give them a decision to make

But what about backing in? At the start, Akins was doing that and, although the pictures are not conclusive, it looks like he might have had hold of Ehmer as well. You are entitled as a defender to stand your ground.

What I took from it was that it looked like a typical six of one, half a dozen of the other, incident which ended with Ehmer clearing the ball and Akins staying on his feet (credit to him). Not the usual identikit of a penalty incident.

As has often been said, referees could give a free kick or penalty every time a shirt is held but there would be a dozen penalties a game until the penny drops and they all stop doing it. But what does the ref do if they are both holding each others shirts?

 

[E10rifle]

Never a penalty IMHO.

 

[DearneValleyRover]

None of you have watched enough shit to believe you are watching anything else at this level

 

[gary]

Nah I think it’s total bollocks really. People see what they want to see. We’ve outplayed them in all facets of the game. We can move the ball well. We’re not going to be bullied but we earn the right and can play in the right areas. Our wide boys up there with the most exciting in the league. Never enjoyed watching a Sutton team as much as this one. Though the game at yours was grim (!), I don’t see your style as any different at all.

I'm a Wimbledon supporter and I think it's total bollocks about the way some supporter's go on about a team's style of play. It's league 2 football, it's about being effective. That's it. I've not been impressed by any team in this league. Most league 2 game's are about grinding out a result not about pretty passing.

 

[Chief Rocka]

Birds of a feather flock together who'da thunk it