24th Feb Match Thread

[yellow]

Six games in total tomorrow evening.

Alfreton vs Dartford

Big 6 pointer here. A home win sees them move 7 points clear of their opponents, and out of the bottom four for the time being. A draw isn't very good for either side in my opinion, while 3 points for Dartford would open it up for them again.

Bristol Rovers vs Braintree

Rovers can move to the top of the league with a win here, as Barnet don't play tomorrow night. They should win, with Braintree losing 10 of their 15 games on the road thus far.

Grimsby vs AFC Telford

Again, you'd imagine a home win, on paper. However Grimsby have lost 3 of their last 4 at Blundell Park, but confidence should be high after an excellent win at the weekend. Telford haven't won since a 4-0 win at Wrexham 4 games ago. If Grimsby want to push on towards the top 3 they have to be winning this sort of match.

Wrexham vs Forest Green

Wrexham play host to an inform FGR side who are unbeaten in 8, with 6 wins in that run. Rovers are good on the road, picking up 26 points, the fourth highest in the league, while Wrexham are quite average at the Racecourse, though recent results show signs of improvement. Tough one to call.

Gateshead vs Kidderminster

Out of form Gateshead welcome Kidderminster to the North East. The Heed haven't won in their last 7 at home, but Kiddy aren't exactly in a run of form either. This probably won't be on for some reason anyway, and it'll be another for Gateshead to play in the run-in.

Torquay vs Lincoln

We're pretty crap. Lincoln are terrible on the road. I'd like to think we'd win this but with a lot of focus on Saturdays second leg we probably won't. If we are still looking at top 5 then we need to be winning around 10 of our last 13 in my opinion, starting with tomorrow night.

 

[Deuce_Bigalow]

Braintree, Telford and Wrexham wins please.

Think i have a better chance at winning the lottery tbf.

 

[SomeMightShay]

Nice of you to miss our fixture against Eastleigh off the list. You must have seen the evidence.

 

[Luke Imp]

Diagne's the only one that's out for us I think.

Nice, short trip for a Tuesday night!

 

[Clarkey_GTFC]

Absolute top drawer win on Saturday, it's only fair that the universe corrects itself and has us lose tomorrow.

 

[DarkSithLord]

Tomorrow depends on our defending. We seem to have no problems in fromt of goal and cause the opposition problems. We need to go through 90 minutes without any mistakes and preferably a clean sheet but i think thats wishful thinking.
Nothing but three points will do. We dont want to be going in to the final 6 games needing points from Barnet, Grimsby,Wrexham,Eastleigh and Bristol Rovers, plus Welling on the penultimate weekend.

I dont what to think to be honest. But our defendng on Saturday hast left me with little confidence we can do it. but i hope I am wrong!

Oh and Nicky NEEDS to drop Anthony Howell! He had just 5 touches on Saturday including one yes ONE in the second half. Start Thanoj and Tom Shaw from the start instead of giving them the final 15 minutes!

 

[rudebwoyben]

Nice of you to miss our fixture against Eastleigh off the list. You must have seen the evidence.
View attachment 306

Hmmm, which is the worst pitch out of this one, Braintree's and Dartford's?

 

[CrazyImp]

Meh, loss. Who cares.

 

[Harrier94]

Hmmm, which is the worst pitch out of this one, Braintree's and Dartford's?

Ours

 

[Urban]

Braintree, Telford and Wrexham wins please.

Think i have a better chance at winning the lottery tbf.

Yes plz. Come on Lads

 

[yellow]

Didn't even realise Halifax-Eastleigh was scheduled for tomorrow but I'd say there's more chance of us winning 10-0 than a game being played on that pitch.

 

[springerbfc]

I can't see Bristol Rovers slipping up so top spot will be gone, temporarily at least, for the first time in almost six months.

Braintree parking the bus for a 0-0 is about the best we can hope for so all fingers and toes will be firmly crossed tomorrow

 

[rudebwoyben]

Good call! I'd forgotten about yours. Is it solely Worcester using your pitch that's making it so bad?

 

[ComeOnIrene]

Slightly nervous ahead of this one because it represents a huge opportunity to get to where we all think/hope we can finish at the end of April. There is pressure on us in that regard, but if we can win it would be interesting to see what impact that has on Barnet given how long they've lead for.

I love this group of players and our management team and if they feel that love around The Mem tomorrow night I think we can do it. Fingers crossed Matty Taylor is fit to play because I am adamant the little man will go on to grab a hat-trick in a game one of these days.

 

[slaphead]

Nice of you to miss our fixture against Eastleigh off the list. You must have seen the evidence.
View attachment 306

Holy Shit, that's going to need some work on it.

 

[miagsygas]

I feel tomorrow night's game won't be as cut and dry as people are making it out to be.

We're already without Sinclair, in my opinion our best player. That combined with the potential of being without Taylor, in my opinion our best striker in a position we aren't exactly strong in anyways, with Easter out. Harrison & Blissett struggled in ball retention on Saturday in the 2nd half without MT. Braintree also beat us early in the season (although we are a different team now)

I'm sure it'll be a low scoring game. Lets see if we can deal with the pressure of expecting us to go top.

 

[Harrier94]

Halifax game is off no surprises there.

Also can't see our game being on with the way Gateshead's pitch is

 

[Chris FGR]

Do any Wrexham fans have any idea as to how likely tomorrows game is to go ahead?

Would like to know asap if I need to book time off work. Thanks.

 

[SomeMightShay]

Holy Shit, that's going to need some work on it.

A good roll, a weeks rest and some green paint and it'll be reet.

 

[ForeverUnited]

God that picture reminds me of gateshead a few years back.

 

[Greenacres]

I had forgotten the Gateshead pitch, didn't they end up playing home games away until it was sorted out?

The Halifax pitch looks dreadful, makes me realise how lucky most of us are not to have to share a pitch with another team, or even worse a bunch of egg-chasers!

 

[Southern Shayman]

I feel tomorrow night's game won't be as cut and dry as people are making it out to be.

We're already without Sinclair, in my opinion our best player. That combined with the potential of being without Taylor, in my opinion our best striker in a position we aren't exactly strong in anyways, with Easter out. Harrison & Blissett struggled in ball retention on Saturday in the 2nd half without MT. Braintree also beat us early in the season (although we are a different team now)

I'm sure it'll be a low scoring game. Lets see if we can deal with the pressure of expecting us to go top.

Braintree are the biggest bunch of spoilers in the league.

Screams 0-0 that one, especially if you've not scored with an hour gone - crowd getting restless etc.

 

[Vanni]

Unfortunately there's not a lot one can do for these pitches as long as they're used by other clubs or by rugby clubs. It's no use getting some money and buying pitch covers, the only option is not to ground share. But it's easier said than done.

Btw, Gateshead don't groundshare or do they?

 

[Greenacres]

Unfortunately there's not a lot one can do for these pitches as long as they're used by other clubs or by rugby clubs. It's no use getting some money and buying pitch covers, the only option is not to ground share. But it's easier said than done.

Btw, Gateshead don't groundshare or do they?

You are right, we shared with Gloucester City for a season and fortunately it didn't affect the pitch too badly, at least it wasn't a rugby team which really hammers the surface.

I don't think Gateshead groundshare. Their ground is also an athletics stadium, but I guess most people who use it just run round the pitch rather than on it!

 

[Cardsfan]

Gateshead don't ground share, although I think they played 6 games at Hartlepool's Victoria Park last year because they couldn't play on their own pitch

 

[Shotsfan1993]

If Alfreton and Dartford could draw tomorrow night then that would be appreciated

 

[slaphead]

If Alfreton and Dartford could draw tomorrow night then that would be appreciated

A Dartford win wouldn't be the end of the world either, provided we beat them on Saturday.

 

[Pliny Harris]

Even I'm pissed off with our jumped-up egger friends now.

Moved in in 1998 with the promise to spend the Thrum Hall sale money on redeveloping the Shay. Didn't see a bit of it, hence the infamous East Stand building site that dominated the ground for almost a decade.

A couple of years ago one of their current directors tried buying the Shay way under value with the clause that he could then sell it on as he saw fit.

Not happy with destroying Halifax Town that way, they now simply refuse to keep up with the rent because the pitch isn't good enough, and the Council won't sort it out for them, all the while they train on it straight after our Saturday game then have their little eggfest on it the day after with standing water all over the pitch, leaving it in a sub-Prescot Cables state. Meanwhile we pay the rent on time, every time, and are the only party that has paid towards pitch reparations. Do we see any of those reparations? No, because the eggers are too busy chopping the pitch up so it's unfit for football, and I don't doubt we'll be groundsharing elsewhere once or twice in the near future, again.

While the eggers are happy to play their glorified friendlies we have a playoff place to challenge for, that's being ruined by a rugby club still in rent arrears, who only squat, lie and steal. The Council is lead by someone who believes pitch reparations involve installing undersoil heating and therefore they refuse to contribute a penny while wondering why they're making a huge loss on the place, while the only honest and proactive party gets shafted season after season. I wish the rugby directors ill.

 

[Greenacres]

My only visit to the Shay was over 15 years ago, we were stood on a terrace behind the goal that didn't have a roof over it, think the other end might also have been uncovered. What struck me was that the ground seemed to be in a bit of a bowl, which is probably good for holding noise, but it wasn't difficult to see the potential for developing it into a pretty substantial stadium. I watched the Woking game on the box and it looked quite a bit different to what I remembered, with a lot of rusting steelwork in one corner, what is the story with that? Was it a development planned by the rugby team or football, and are there plans to finish the job?

 

[Pliny Harris]

My only visit to the Shay was over 15 years ago, we were stood on a terrace behind the goal that didn't have a roof over it, think the other end might also have been uncovered. What struck me was that the ground seemed to be in a bit of a bowl, which is probably good for holding noise, but it wasn't difficult to see the potential for developing it into a pretty substantial stadium. I watched the Woking game on the box and it looked quite a bit different to what I remembered, with a lot of rusting steelwork in one corner, what is the story with that? Was it a development planned by the rugby team or football, and are there plans to finish the job?

This would've been either prior to the two large terraces being built when we were in the Conference in 1997/98, or towards the end of that season/our tenure back in the football league, as the two new terraces didn't initially have roofs. It's always been that shape by the land: the West, South and North Stands are all on large banks the same size as the stands currently on them. It was logistically weird not to build it to the size it is because of that. And as we needed a new main stand where the tiny Patron's Stand stood on the east (downhill) end, that was built to the same heights. It also made more sense then as we had a few thousand coming in in the football league, and the rugby club actually had realistic expectations to reach the Super League at some point.

During the stadium redevelopment in 1997/98, the two terraces were also built quite poorly and during the rebuild, drainage for the pitch wasn't considered. It's a pretty pre-Agricultural Revolution thing to do, but that's what happened.

Then if the Thrum Hall money hadn't been a scam from the rugby club, we could've built the East Stand to whatever size necessary in time, and the Council wouldn't've ever spent a few million rebuilding it in 2009/10 as eventually happened, meaning there'd be reserves to put a few hundred grand towards overhauling the pitch.

That's my own short history on why we have such an oversized (if wonderful) stadium and a pitch that isn't fit for purpose. Management of HTFC in the final years was pretty abysmal too, but it's the honest lot in charge now who are bearing the load.