Friday 20th & Saturday 21st October

[Master D]

We played well today and a draw was the least we deserved. Wrexham defended well but didn't offer much going forwards but then again we didn't create enough clear cut chances.

Proper game and great atmosphere, really enjoyed it.

It's just nice for us to be playing proper teams in proper grounds again. We will pack it out everywhere we go as well, this season at least. Went the Sunbridge Wells before the game it was great there.

 

[Ellis]

Massive test for us on Tuesday against Crewe. If we can win there I’ll put my “piss this tinpot league” hat on, but we look proper shaky at the back against a free scoring Crewe side

Still spitting feathers at the sheer arrogance to piss around changing penalty takers. Tanto isn’t a natural finisher is way down the pecking order of people who should be taking pens, nearly cost us the three points.

 

[jacobncfc]

Brilliant, thoroughly deserved win. Got to hand it to Williams and the team, we react to a bad result/performance every time.

Two brilliant goals in the second half, I think the ball went out in the build up to Gillingham’s but Scott Malone went full Messi after that, and then some strike from young Macari on his proper debut for us to win it. Buzzing.

 

[LS Bantam]

Bit disappointed to only draw, didn’t do enough in the final third, 21 shots but not enough threatened, then to concede to their only shot on target was a sickner and some of the refereeing was Mickey Mouse to give it the Wrexham twist, the penalty at the end…
Entertaining game though, a different world to Hughes ball, I can’t see McDonald wanting it full time but he’s got us playing so much better.

 

[Mighty_Bantam]

I only saw the second half but have to say I was very, very underwhelmed by Wrexham.

They took the lead completely and utterly against the run of play with their first and only shot on target. Only reason they didn't lose is our lack of clinicality from our 20+ efforts on goal.

Must be frustrating in a sense for Wrexham fans because you could see they possessed quality. Suffering from Parkys tactics (and I love him) but I reckon a more forward thinking manager could get you playing way better.

 

[Master D]

We are struggling to get the balance right, we are almost too defensive away from home and create very little and then too attacking at home where we have 30 shots a game.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Top scorers in the top 4 divisions

34 Crewe Alexandra
31 Swindon Town
30 Notts County
29 Stockport County

Is there a strong and direct connection between playing attractive proper football and scoring lots of goals in L2 this season?

 

[Indian Dan]

Another pathetic attempt at seeing out a game v 10 men.

Apart from the first 15-20 minutes we dominated Salford. We benefitted from a right soft penalty with an associated red card to take the lead with 10 minutes to go, but yet again we shot ourselves in the foot. Salford looked piss poor yo me. Big game Tuesday home to Gills.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

This season just reminds me of the crazy 2010-11 season which saw goals, goals, goals go in all season. Proper attacking league this season just like that one was. How lower league football should always be.

 

[クレイグ]

Thought we were the better team today. A little more composure in the box and we'd have got the three points we deserved. Echo what was said above about Wrexham; Their players are better than the football Parkinson is wanting to play. Fantastic noise and numbers from both sets of fans. 21.5k for League Two is amazing.

 

[ForzaCounty]

Think I’m gonna have a cheeky double on Grimsby to win the play offs and England to win the Cricket World Cup.

Up there with "this ship is unsinkable, mate"

 

[Optipez]

Only saw it on TV so not the truest guide but I thought Notts deserved the win and to be honest Gills didn't look like an expensively assembled team, Stags looked a whole division stronger, based only on a one game snapshot.
Macaulay Bonne looked a fair player but considering we were down to the bare bones I thought we were about as comfortable as we ever get, which is never less than nervy.

 

[ForzaCounty]

Tanto isn’t a natural finisher is way down the pecking order of people who should be taking pens, nearly cost us the three points.

I agree that messing around with penalty takers is unprofessional, but can't agree on Tanto not being a natural finisher. I was a big cynic of his last season but even Im impressed with how many of his goals during this run have looked like proper striker's finishes.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Only saw it on TV so not the truest guide but I thought Notts deserved the win and to be honest Gills didn't look like an expensively assembled team, Stags looked a whole division stronger, based only on a one game snapshot.
Macaulay Bonne looked a fair player but considering we were down to the bare bones I thought we were about as comfortable as we ever get, which is never less than nervy.

When we played Gillingham they were simply awful and it's no surprise Harris got the chop after the game. I just don't see them as a promotion contending side at all and that 4 match winning start has got them in a very false position.

But, in League Two, if so many sides are spending money, you're always going to have 1 or 2 clubs signing overpaid mercenaries giving them the feeling that they've been short changed. I think Gillingham are genuinely one of those clubs.

 

[jacobncfc]

Only saw it on TV so not the truest guide but I thought Notts deserved the win and to be honest Gills didn't look like an expensively assembled team, Stags looked a whole division stronger, based only on a one game snapshot.
Macaulay Bonne looked a fair player but considering we were down to the bare bones I thought we were about as comfortable as we ever get, which is never less than nervy.

I thought they were extremely poor bar the odd flash of quality like the goal. We should be there for the taking at the minute, everyone knows we’re a bit down to the bare bones (hence the wild celebrations at the end), but overall thought a Notts win was the right result. Just didn’t seem to have many ideas beyond launching it towards the box.

 

[THE LAST WALTZ]

Only saw it on TV so not the truest guide but I thought Notts deserved the win and to be honest Gills didn't look like an expensively assembled team, Stags looked a whole division stronger, based only on a one game snapshot.
Macaulay Bonne looked a fair player but considering we were down to the bare bones I thought we were about as comfortable as we ever get, which is never less than nervy.

We aren’t an expensive team but even so we were well beaten today.
We were so passive. Notts moved the ball around well, which we expected. But we just stood off and showed a total lack of urgency and desire.
County were so open they were there for the taking but we just seem completely shot of confidence at the moment.
No complaints about the result though because we got we deserved today.,,fuck all.
Also thanks to the fucking morons throwing coins at the opposing goalie. That’s another fine fine coming our way.
Sometimes football proper sucks.

 

[ForzaCounty]

Grimsby weren't in it first half, it was only some poor finishing (and inviting blocks by spending too long telegraphing when we'd take a shot) that kept it down to two. Then we fluff up a penalty, Grimsby score (I missed it so still not sure what happened) and it becomes a very unrepresentative scoreline.

Second half the visitors switch things up and fully deserved to draw level. We tried switching formation too, back to the dreaded 5-3-2, it stopped them cutting through but we weren't exactly free-flowing either. County nicked a winner from a lucky free kick, deserved result overall but not a game to be proud of

 

[Optipez]

I thought they were extremely poor bar the odd flash of quality like the goal. We should be there for the taking at the minute, everyone knows we’re a bit down to the bare bones (hence the wild celebrations at the end), but overall thought a Notts win was the right result. Just didn’t seem to have many ideas beyond launching it towards the box.

We're a team with heart. For all the passing and talk about Williams being a nerd and the like, whether we win or lose we always put in a shift whoever's on the pitch.
When it goes wrong we can defensively collapse but after 14 games you're not second top entirely on luck with fixtures.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

We aren’t an expensive team but even so we were well beaten today.
We were so passive. Notts moved the ball around well, which we expected. But we just stood off and showed a total lack of urgency and desire.
County were so open they were there for the taking but we just seem completely shot of confidence at the moment.
No complaints about the result though because we got we deserved today.,,fuck all.
Also thanks to the fucking morons throwing coins at the opposing goalie. That’s another fine fine coming our way.
Sometimes football proper sucks.

It was good time for you to play us and us to play you. Was really worried without Bostock and Crowley but dominated possession and created more. Fortunate to play you without a new manager.

No excuse for it at all obviously but I find it usual as Slocombe isn't a wind up merchant like some keepers understandably are.

 

[jacobncfc]

We aren’t an expensive team but even so we were well beaten today.
We were so passive. Notts moved the ball around well, which we expected. But we just stood off and showed a total lack of urgency and desire.
County were so open they were there for the taking but we just seem completely shot of confidence at the moment.
No complaints about the result though because we got we deserved today.,,fuck all.
Also thanks to the fucking morons throwing coins at the opposing goalie. That’s another fine fine coming our way.
Sometimes football proper sucks.

Thought the coin incident massively helped us, you had us pinned in before that but it just kind of fizzled out after the long break.

 

[joethegill]

Only saw it on TV so not the truest guide but I thought Notts deserved the win and to be honest Gills didn't look like an expensively assembled team,

It's only a few Mansfield fans (who will 100% be responding to this comment within an hour or so) that seem to think we're an expensively assembled team because we bought a couple of players off them. We should be doing better than we are, but we haven't gone out and spent a whole heap of money on a League One side in League Two like some will have you believe. Built on free transfers like most others in the main, with most of the players we've actually spent money on unavailable at the moment.

Personally I think we've underused the loan market this year - just the one at the moment in Mahoney who is decent, but we 100% should've got in a loan when we knew Hawkins was out for a while, or just as an option for the inevitable times we can't play Shaun Williams 3 times a week at 37. It was a little short-sighted to suggest we're better off just having our own players when there's clear talent available on loan that could give us a spark every now and then as Mahoney has on occasion. I'm sure once the B team has had time to implement itself things will improve club-wide in terms of structure, as we'll have players in there ready to come into the first team once we need them (as Coleman and Clarke have done), but at the moment it's mainly the youth in there who aren't ready for the first team yet (although 3 of them were on the bench today, and Ike Orji got some minutes). I'm sure that area of the club will improve given time, but it just does make you wonder why we didn't get short-term reinforcements until those boys are ready.

The more worrying thing over the last few games is that with Harris we couldn't score more than one but we could defend. Now we still can't score more than one but the defence is leaky as you like.

 

[BarraMatt]

Wasn't a bad game for a 0-0 at ours. I can see why Wimbledon have been effective away from home as they defended very well. We are still looking toothless though and nearly threw it away with a brain fart from Sam Foley right at the death. A fair result overall.

 

[Optipez]

We aren’t an expensive team but even so we were well beaten today.
We were so passive. Notts moved the ball around well, which we expected. But we just stood off and showed a total lack of urgency and desire.
County were so open they were there for the taking but we just seem completely shot of confidence at the moment.
No complaints about the result though because we got we deserved today.,,fuck all.
Also thanks to the fucking morons throwing coins at the opposing goalie. That’s another fine fine coming our way.
Sometimes football proper sucks.

We had a couple of our own grabbed the keeper at Colchester, they're out there.
I thought you'd spent a bit last season to stay up and outbid Bradford for Williams, I don't know though, just seemed to be what people on here were saying.
We are open, that was a good defensive display by us but you can see why we've been punished on occasion.

 

[Optipez]

It's only a few Mansfield fans (who will 100% be responding to this comment within an hour or so) that seem to think we're an expensively assembled team because we bought a couple of players off them. We should be doing better than we are, but we haven't gone out and spent a whole heap of money on a League One side in League Two like some will have you believe. Built on free transfers like most others in the main, with most of the players we've actually spent money on unavailable at the moment.

Personally I think we've underused the loan market this year - just the one at the moment in Mahoney who is decent, but we 100% should've got in a loan when we knew Hawkins was out for a while, or just as an option for the inevitable times we can't play Shaun Williams 3 times a week at 37. It was a little short-sighted to suggest we're better off just having our own players when there's clear talent available on loan that could give us a spark every now and then as Mahoney has on occasion. I'm sure once the B team has had time to implement itself things will improve club-wide in terms of structure, as we'll have players in there ready to come into the first team once we need them (as Coleman and Clarke have done), but at the moment it's mainly the youth in there who aren't ready for the first team yet (although 3 of them were on the bench today, and Ike Orji got some minutes). I'm sure that area of the club will improve given time, but it just does make you wonder why we didn't get short-term reinforcements until those boys are ready.

The more worrying thing over the last few games is that with Harris we couldn't score more than one but we could defend. Now we still can't score more than one but the defence is leaky as you like.

You didn't look overly secure, we got down the flanks on quite a few occasions though some of the crossing wasn't the best.

 

[AdamStag]

Results were looking better after 70 minutes than full time, not really worried about anyone above us than stockport but plenty of time to go yet.

Either or, it’s one of those leagues that going to be close

 

[womble76]

Decent enough point for us if we can follow it up with a win Tues. We are still unbeaten away

 

[Meadow]

Wasn't a bad game for a 0-0 at ours. I can see why Wimbledon have been effective away from home as they defended very well. We are still looking toothless though and nearly threw it away with a brain fart from Sam Foley right at the death. A fair result overall.

Following twitter updates, it seemed absolutely dire. Inevitable scoreline though.

Our lot are still up there as trains back to London have been cancelled.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Results were looking better after 70 minutes than full time, not really worried about anyone above us than stockport but plenty of time to go yet.

Either or, it’s one of those leagues that going to be close

Who are you worried about below you?

 

[chief]

Loved that, great atmosphere.

Happy with a draw against a team that are clearly in a false position.

 

[pontoonlew]

We didn’t deserve to lose and fought well, but for a shocking decision to award a free kick followed by a blatant offside goal.

However, we did lose again and the excuses are now up. Can’t see him lasting the month still but I do also feel like our owners haven’t got the bottle to sack him.