Boxing Day Match Thread

[CTFCfan99]

Well that's about as good as it gets. First half we were quite shaky defensively, lots of chances at both ends and to go in level was about right. Second half we absolutely roasted them and should've scored about five. Special thanks to Torquay, Bromley and Southport for denting our rivals' hopes as well!!

 

[SomeMightShay]

If i was a paying lincoln fan i would be looking at getting a job as a steward next season. They get to watch all the game (I only saw one doing his job of watching the crowd all game) and you can also have a break midway through the second half for a pie. It's a hard knock life.

 

[BarnwoodCTFC]

2-1 was not a fair reflection today as we could have scored five or six and they would have no complaints - their keeper had a worldie today. Now we are seven points clear it's hard to see us not going on to win the league.

Fair play to Kidderminster though not the worst team we have played and with a couple of decent forwards they may have a chance to scrape out of it down there.

 

[GTFCfish]

Cheltenham are 2-1 ahead mate

Lol i realised after i typed it must have missed their 2nd goal!
Delighted with FGR and Eastleigh results though, didn'tsee either of those coming.

 

[CrazyImp]

2-1 was not a fair reflection today as we could have scored five or six and they would have no complaints - their keeper had a worldie today. Now we are seven points clear it's hard to see us not going on to win the league.

You need to be very careful with statements like that. Barnet were 12 clear last season and were one goal from spaffing it away.

 

[Southern Shayman]

You need to be very careful with statements like that. Barnet were 12 clear last season and were one goal from spaffing it away.

Agree - everyone has a bad run at some point so I would be nervous as a Cheltenham fan to be only 7 points clear when they haven't had theirs yet. Especially with a couple of teams having games in hand.

 

[Sparrow]

Some surprising results today but the expected happened in Hampshire, in-form Woking beat relegation bound Aldershot.

A classic derby type of game - scrappy, tight and possession changing hands at every moment. Quality in the final third was poor from both teams, the one time we did put together something promising, Goddard netted. Should have been 2-0 up in the second-half but Robinson missed an absolute sitter.

I wouldn't be surprised if Barry Smith was no longer in charge for our second meeting on January 2nd. They didn't really have a clue what to do and it wasn't like we were amazing. The game was there for the taking for either side if one could find a bit of quality in the final third. For some reason Smith took off Carr who was their best player. Brodie did nothing, apart from argue with Aldershot fans at the end. They could still be playing now and they wouldn't have scored. Confident we can take six points from them, we can play much better.

 

[CTFCfan99]

You need to be very careful with statements like that. Barnet were 12 clear last season and were one goal from spaffing it away.

Agreed, think I and most CTFC fans are staying pretty grounded at the moment. It's looking very promising but still a looong way to go

 

[GTFCfish]

2-1 was not a fair reflection today as we could have scored five or six and they would have no complaints - their keeper had a worldie today. Now we are seven points clear it's hard to see us not going on to win the league.

As CrazyImp mentioned this time last season Barnet looked absolutely home and hosed, before they bottled it bigtime and Grimsby and Bristol Rovers went on fantastic runs which should really have seen one of those 2 crowned Champions, as by the end of the season Grimsby and Rovers were by far the best 2 teams in the league.
Luckily for Barnet they had just enough of a cushion to fall over the line.
We got to within 1 point but then drew with Gateshead which left us too much to do, and Rovers were leading their penultimate game at Dover which would have put them top with 1 game left, before conceding very late on.
In a league this wide open it is still anybodys for the taking.

 

[BarnwoodCTFC]

Agree - everyone has a bad run at some point so I would be nervous as a Cheltenham fan to be only 7 points clear when they haven't had theirs yet. Especially with a couple of teams having games in hand.

I think a few CTFC fans would argue we had a dodgy spell at the start of the season when we were drawing games we would be winning comfortably now. But as I said it's disrespectful to think we have won it already even if it does feel we are becoming uncatchable.

 

[Sparrow]

Good job Lincoln rested those players in the Trophy.



WEVE GOT LOADZ OF GAMEZ COMIN UP 4 OUR FULLTIME SQUAD WAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[GuiseleySteve]

I'm beginning to feel l little nervous for the first time this season. With both Halifax and Southport in a good run of form we simply have to find a clinical finisher in January. Our second half of season fixtures are tougher than the first in that we have most of the top half teams at home.

 

[Back in the DHSS]

I thought the game at Moss Rose was pretty poor today, not helped by the weather conditions or the card happy ref.Tranmere started the game quite brightly but from the moment they took the lead they decided to sit back and invite pressure from Macc who deservedly equalised with a minute of first half stoppage time left. At this point in the game Macc looked the most likely to go on and win it. However at half time Brabin replaced the pedestrian Taylor Fletcher with Tomlinson and Tranmere looked a more solid unit. Whilst continuing to sit back, Tranmere looked the most likely to score on the break with Jalal making several smart blocks with Norwood clean through on goal. Guess Jalal is not so great from set pieces as Rovers scored from 2 corners though. McNulty and Ihiekwe snuffed out everything Macc threw at Tranmere 2nd half. Vaughan and Hill got ran ragged down the flanks all afternoon but fortunately the final balls in were lacking or well defended.

 

[CrazyImp]

Think I backed Woking for fifth in my pre-season forecast IIRC. Looking good at the moment, on the condition they strengthen in January. Would be quite the turnaround.

Our goose is cooked, mid-table for us as stated all along.

 

[EnglishRed]

That Dino Maamria guy must have a big bag of fairy dust.

Incredible turn around. And fair does the better team won today.

We need to improve a lot before the new years game.

 

[B2TF]

I'm beginning to feel l little nervous for the first time this season. With both Halifax and Southport in a good run of form we simply have to find a clinical finisher in January. Our second half of season fixtures are tougher than the first in that we have most of the top half teams at home.

You won't get one. You're in a league now where goal scorers are worth their weight in gold. They won't waste their time at Guisly. who won't pay them what they're worth and will in any case be in Conference North next season. We'll be where you are now by this time next month and you'll be round about where we are now. Hope you've enjoyed your few months in the sun.

 

[Sparrow]

on the condition they strengthen in January.

We'll only weaken if our loan players get recalled when their deals end this month. Imagine if we still had Rendell and Yakubu.

 

[Andy Harrier]

Frustrating game today, as while Cheltenham could and should have destroyed us, they kept inviting us to counter and create chances that we couldn't take. It's the hope that kills you! Cheltenham were the better team and deserved their win, but we weren't that bad today. Defended well, Snedker was once again fantastic and if Ben Whitfield is still playing in this league once his loan expires in January I'll be amazed.

Thought the Cheltenham keeper (Phillips?) was a bit of a prat after the game. Whitfield went to shake his hand, and Phillips walked towards him, put out his hand as if to shake it, and then turned away and walked in the other direction. It was a bit unprofessional of him.

 

[SomeMightShay]

I'm beginning to feel l little nervous for the first time this season. With both Halifax and Southport in a good run of form we simply have to find a clinical finisher in January. Our second half of season fixtures are tougher than the first in that we have most of the top half teams at home.

Boreham Wood, Welling Aldershot and yourselves are now in the seven team race to beat the drop in my view. Port are showing play-off form at the moment so should comfortably pull out of the dogfight. Being 10 points adrift to four (goal differnece technically makes it five) to four and a game in hand in a short space of times is a hell of a turn around in fortunes.

Wrexham on Monday (inevitable pitch inspection permitting) will be an interesting game. We are full of confidence after 6 unbeaten in all comps, and the Taffs likely to have their backs up after losing today. Those around us have difficult looking ties so three points could be a giant leap closer to the target of 20th.

 

[SomeMightShay]

You won't get one. You're in a league now where goal scorers are worth their weight in gold. They won't waste their time at Guisly. who won't pay them what they're worth and will in any case be in Conference North next season. We'll be where you are now by this time next month and you'll be round about where we are now. Hope you've enjoyed your few months in the sun.

Sun!! have you looked out of the window? I've just seen salmon leaping around my garden.

 

[CTFCfan99]

Frustrating game today, as while Cheltenham could and should have destroyed us, they kept inviting us to counter and create chances that we couldn't take. It's the hope that kills you! Cheltenham were the better team and deserved their win, but we weren't that bad today. Defended well, Snedker was once again fantastic and if Ben Whitfield is still playing in this league once his loan expires in January I'll be amazed.

Thought the Cheltenham keeper (Phillips?) was a bit of a prat after the game. Whitfield went to shake his hand, and Phillips walked towards him, put out his hand as if to shake it, and then turned away and walked in the other direction. It was a bit unprofessional of him.

I've seen far worse teams than Kiddy this season, can't believe you are where you are. Your keeper had a blinder and if you'd made some better choices around our box in the first half it could have been very different.

 

[EnglishRed]

We'll only weaken if our loan players get recalled when their deals end this month. Imagine if we still had Rendell and Yakubu.

So sad that they died so young.

 

[Sparrow]

So sad that they died so young.

They didn't die for the rest of the players not to try. Hence why they were all put up for loan. That's seemed to work, hasn't it.

 

[Sparrow]

10 more points and our 'transitional season' is complete. Imagine what we'll be like when we actually try to do something is this league.

 

[The_Boss]

I thought the game at Moss Rose was pretty poor today, not helped by the weather conditions or the card happy ref.Tranmere started the game quite brightly but from the moment they took the lead they decided to sit back and invite pressure from Macc who deservedly equalised with a minute of first half stoppage time left. At this point in the game Macc looked the most likely to go on and win it. However at half time Brabin replaced the pedestrian Taylor Fletcher with Tomlinson and Tranmere looked a more solid unit. Whilst continuing to sit back, Tranmere looked the most likely to score on the break with Jalal making several smart blocks with Norwood clean through on goal. Guess Jalal is not so great from set pieces as Rovers scored from 2 corners though. McNulty and Ihiekwe snuffed out everything Macc threw at Tranmere 2nd half. Vaughan and Hill got ran ragged down the flanks all afternoon but fortunately the final balls in were lacking or well defended.

Sort of agree. I thought we were by far the most adventurous team and looking to play the football, a lot of long balls and set pieces were all I saw from you. Jalal probably made more saves but I'd say your back four made far more telling blocks, tackles and clearances from 5-10 yards out from your own goal due to our dominance, we just didn't put enough quality balls in or find a blue shirt when it mattered. When we did, we scored.

Thought the ref got every single decision correct over the course of the game, just didn't deal with them with the same level of punishment. You could, and perhaps should, have had 5/6 yellows inside the first half for some pretty poor or cynical challenges but the only cards were for time wasting and kicking ball away. Yet we were carded for each of our first 4 tackles of the 2nd half (which were deserved as isolated incidents). What Lewis was thinking of diving straight after Maynard had been done just minutes before I don't know.

I think a draw was the least we deserved but 2 free headers from corners cost us dearly, neither Jalal's fault.

 

[ROBH]

Agreed, think I and most CTFC fans are staying pretty grounded at the moment. It's looking very promising but still a looong way to go

agree with 99, not too many getting carried away. Long way to go yet.

 

[ROBH]

Looking forward to roasting Torquay today. Bit of a stuffing is always nice at Christmas.

ohhhhh dear, unfortunate comment I think

 

[Bluandwite]

Anyone know how Woking got on today?

 

[DarkSithLord]

Tamworth 1-2 Alfreton (Strong 63, Jones 5, Miekle 69)

Hurrah!! Some much needed Christmas Cheer! A precious victory. Didnt travel. (Never do on Boxing day) so cant really comment. Judging by Twitter though we were much like the early season Alfreton Town who competed well and were the better side for the first half and deservedly went in 1 -0 up at HT.. Tamworth didnt leave the dressing room for the first half. Perhaps one too many last night?!

Tamworth improved in the second half as they couldnt play any worse by all accounts.. We showed some fight and held them at bay quite well. We could do nothing though about an absolute screamer from 35 yards which made it 1-1 . Bemoaning our luck again tthe Superb Lindon Meikle popped up with a stunner of his own with 21 minutes to play to bag a vital win.

We really do like to put ourselves through it though! The Hapless Tom Allan gifted them a pen after a clumsy challenge but Matt Duke saved our bacon with a fine save! Keeps Nicky in his job for a while longer. Just.

Unfortunately several others at the bottom won but we move one place to 15th.

Some surprising results. Boston can kiss good bye to the play offs if your losing 3-0 at bloody Lowestoft!

 

[The_Boss]

Anyone know how Woking got on today?

Well you'll never believe this.....