Gabriel
New Member
Hi folks,
Written up some thoughts ahead of Crawley against Barnet at the weekend -
"If Crawley and Barnet have proved anything in their first three league games, it is that big budgets aren’t the be all and end all in this division. Their first home matches both saw League Two’s lowest attendances on their respective Saturdays. Half the fourth tier clubs had a higher attendance in their first home game than Crawley and Barnet’s put together. Dermot Drummy and Martin Allen are not working with the biggest budget and so they have had to find a shrewder way of working.
Most of Drummy’s experience has come from youth coaching, so he has gambled on unproven young players. Thus far, he is getting the best out of them. Midfield enforcer Josh Payne has slotted in well, Chelsea loanee Alex Davey looks solid at the back while right-back Lewis Young looks a player reborn. They have only conceded one league goal and even when they are not playing at their best, they defend with a resilience you wouldn’t always associate with a young team.
Barnet are similarly bullish, having let in just two league goals. Against Accrington last week they bullied their opponents and denied them space in the defensive third. John Akinde was a nightmare for the Stanley centre-backs and did the same to Blackpool three days later, scoring a late equalizer.
The point was the least the Bees deserved for their second half display, winger Luke Gambin making an impact from the bench. Allen’s effective substitutions have been a feature of the team’s early season form, Alex Nicholls coming on to grab a point at Cambridge on the opening day.
Crawley boss Drummy had similar success at Exeter on Tuesday, if by fortune as much as design. He brought on Josh Yorwerth, a primarily defensive-minded player, on 81 minutes. The ex-Ipswich man scored the winner two minutes later, the boss compared his goal to that of Ricky Villa’s famous FA Cup final strike for Tottenham. Ironically, one of Villa’s teammates that day was Steve Perryman – now director of football at Exeter.
92k fans packed out Wembley back in 1981, but Saturday’s attendance is likely to be less than 4% of that figure. Crawley and Barnet though have so far shown no signs of being hindered by low gates, as both clubs look to continue their unbeaten starts to the campaign."
Question to both sets of fans - with some of the big clubs faltering early on, can you challenge for the top 7?
Written up some thoughts ahead of Crawley against Barnet at the weekend -
"If Crawley and Barnet have proved anything in their first three league games, it is that big budgets aren’t the be all and end all in this division. Their first home matches both saw League Two’s lowest attendances on their respective Saturdays. Half the fourth tier clubs had a higher attendance in their first home game than Crawley and Barnet’s put together. Dermot Drummy and Martin Allen are not working with the biggest budget and so they have had to find a shrewder way of working.
Most of Drummy’s experience has come from youth coaching, so he has gambled on unproven young players. Thus far, he is getting the best out of them. Midfield enforcer Josh Payne has slotted in well, Chelsea loanee Alex Davey looks solid at the back while right-back Lewis Young looks a player reborn. They have only conceded one league goal and even when they are not playing at their best, they defend with a resilience you wouldn’t always associate with a young team.
Barnet are similarly bullish, having let in just two league goals. Against Accrington last week they bullied their opponents and denied them space in the defensive third. John Akinde was a nightmare for the Stanley centre-backs and did the same to Blackpool three days later, scoring a late equalizer.
The point was the least the Bees deserved for their second half display, winger Luke Gambin making an impact from the bench. Allen’s effective substitutions have been a feature of the team’s early season form, Alex Nicholls coming on to grab a point at Cambridge on the opening day.
Crawley boss Drummy had similar success at Exeter on Tuesday, if by fortune as much as design. He brought on Josh Yorwerth, a primarily defensive-minded player, on 81 minutes. The ex-Ipswich man scored the winner two minutes later, the boss compared his goal to that of Ricky Villa’s famous FA Cup final strike for Tottenham. Ironically, one of Villa’s teammates that day was Steve Perryman – now director of football at Exeter.
92k fans packed out Wembley back in 1981, but Saturday’s attendance is likely to be less than 4% of that figure. Crawley and Barnet though have so far shown no signs of being hindered by low gates, as both clubs look to continue their unbeaten starts to the campaign."
Question to both sets of fans - with some of the big clubs faltering early on, can you challenge for the top 7?
