Saturday, August 13th

[CrazyImp]

I also hope today signals the end of Lincoln fans licking Bradley Wood's behind like he cannot do any wrong - it's not the first time he's lost his head in a match.

He's a good player but the way our fans go on about him would make you think he's a bald, less attractive version of Franz Beckenbauer.

 

[Reginald Fodstain]

Scenes in the Kop at the end Brabin got out of jail though - made a mess of the subs. Ref was awful as per...

 

[Bluandwite]

Not good enough today, didn't deserve anything. Maidstone started well and faded a bit, thought we'd go on to win after half time but credit where it's due. Team of giants as well, absolutely massive. Ben Greenhalgh is a right knob though, probably should have been off himself for kicking Durrell whilst he was on the floor in the first half. Even bizarrely tried to take a corner from about a foot away past the corner arc!

Not sure if Alabi should have been off or not, I was behind it so didn't get a good view, challenged the keeper who didn't look as if he completely had it from where I was.

 

[Darlofan97]

Some seriously poor attendances in the Conference Premier today;

Braintree 1-3 Macclesfield: 703
Dover 2-0 North Ferriby: 726
Guiseley 0-2 Dag & Red: 680
Solihull Moors 1-0 Bromley: 756
Southport 2-1 Woking: 702

Can't remember attendances ever hitting those levels across so many games, unless it has always been like that?

 

[Minstermen central]

What an awful game of football,if Borehamwood are meant to be a strong and good conference team then the standard of this league has dramatically dropped in 4 years.2 awful teams today and York are miles away until change system,3rd game in a row took 70 mins to get going

 

[Mr Scooty]

I'd like to see us go to 532 (or 352 however you'd like to describe it) when Tilt is back.

I suspect that is what Mills will do. A system that will at least suit some players instead of no players. And a bit more beef on the pitch too. Although we could do with more physical competitiveness in central midfield on top of that.

 

[AldershotSam]

An enjoyable afternoon. Good attractive football played by us. We made it look easy against a sloppy, tired looking Wrexham side. Outplayed them in every area of the pitch.

Viva Gary Waddock

 

[WokingTillIDiet]

Woking will be tough on Tuesday

I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[FGRJC]

I wouldn't bet on it.

We're always shit at your place.

 

[Tom Fgr]

I wouldn't bet on it.

Really?? What's happened? I can't remember ever winning against you!

 

[FrankTheTank]

We are slowly getting there. Moved the ball faster than Tuesday but Gateahead just parked the bus for long stretches. We had so much possession and moved and passed better but still yet to see our forwards link up well with midfield, so there is much still to improve. We had quite a few half chances but not many clear cut. Liam Noble's return on Tuesday may help.

Gateshead seem to have a big solid defence (ex-Wrexham in the middle) but not much in midfield and up front. They had two decent chances all game (one well saved by Russell and the other a header into the bar - we also hit the bar) and not much more. Thought there keeper was decent on crosses, could do nothing about the goal, it was a fluke.

Would say Tranmere's start is more impressive (compared to ours last season) given we played fairly weak teams in our first month, while they've played Eastleigh and Barrow, who I think will be up there come seasons end.

 

[Nat Brown's Foil Coat]

Wasn't at the game but beating Lincoln feels like winning a cup tie. Not surprised to see reports of us using some dark arts, we didn't win the Conference South by being nice. And good to see some reports of us dominating the game, bodes well.

Lose at home to Solihull and draw at FGR and beat Lincoln away, typical. And 5 different scorers

I'd say you only dominated because of the big hole Bradley Wood left in the midfield when he decided to stamp on one of your players. That and Nicky Bailey, he's class.

Also, your goalkeeping coach is the largest man i've ever seen in a dugout. Incredible scenes.

 

[Sparrow]

Who knows, a relegation battle could be fun.

 

[Kim Mitten]

Some seriously poor attendances in the Conference Premier today;

Braintree 1-3 Macclesfield: 703
Dover 2-0 North Ferriby: 726
Guiseley 0-2 Dag & Red: 680
Solihull Moors 1-0 Bromley: 756
Southport 2-1 Woking: 702

Can't remember attendances ever hitting those levels across so many games, unless it has always been like that?

Apart from Dover, where I would have expected maybe another 100 or so (although I doubt NFU bought many) I think those attendances are about standard.
Just a case of having quite a few of the less well supported clubs all playing home matches on the same weekend.

 

[Luke Imp]

I don't know where to start with that, to be honest. The ref never had the game under control at any point and that's where it leaves a bad taste in the mouth really. It was more the manner of how Sutton won rather than how we lost. The only good thing the ref did for us all game was not show Raggett a second yellow when we were already down to ten men in the first half. I think their first yellow card was 85 minutes, which was ridiculous. Some of the stuff was the ref was missing was criminal.

Sutton were better first half than us, though, even before Wood's sending off. We just didn't get going, mainly down to the ref being particularly whistle happy and Sutton players falling over. I thought Westley was manager because we had 3 'injuries' in the first 10 minutes.

We were much better in the second half, but limited by the man disadvantage. Probably not as good as Sutton were in the first half, but 1-1 or a 2-1 loss was probably about right.

First goal was a free kick (and I'm putting that down as another Farman error without seeing the replay because it looked far too central when it went in), which was stupidly given away by Raggett, second was another corner and an OG apparently? Third goal was a breakaway in added time. Habergham's was a total fluke. On the left, hits a cross from deep and nestles in the side netting at the back post.

The Wood incident happened what seemed like a good 5 seconds after the initial challenge because the ball had gone from pretty much their 18 yard box to ours. Only those in the Echo Stand would have been able to see it (and those who did said it was a sending off), yet it was the linesman on our side (who didn't flag at any point) who gave the ref the nod. He must have guessed because there was no way he could see it. We would have coped better with the sending off had Rhead still been on the pitch because he'd have been a good out ball but instead we had Margetts up front on his own with Rhead's replacement, Marriott, having to play CM.

As for Sutton, they'll be fine this season. On that showing, they're too limited to get above higher bottom half and didn't really have much of a goal threat. Just a solid-ish, route one side who'll make it hard for the opposition by constantly breaking up play. They made hard work of beating 10 men, which we've been like in previous seasons. At 1-1, it was quite comfortable for us. We were probably guilty of having too much of a go because, from memory, the corner that led to the goal came from our set piece.

The grating thing about them was the constant falling over. I'm not talking a challenge that they've made a meal of (although they did that, too) but seemingly just falling over. I'm all for a bit of gamesmanship and things like that but I was sat there cringing and finding the whole thing quite embarrassing to be honest. I can't think I've seen anything quite like it. They were making fair challenges as well, don't get me wrong. It was just when the shoe was on the other foot...

Only one available CM now in Woodyard. Rhead will be a massive miss if he's done his hamstring.

Lincoln fans?? Where are you?? Thought the league was won?? Another dale Bennet cross that goes in, Lincoln fans will remember the last minute one he scored against them to make it 3-3...

At the time of your post, our game was still going. Didn't finish until 5.05pm...

 

[B2TF]

Some seriously poor attendances in the Conference Premier today;

Braintree 1-3 Macclesfield: 703
Dover 2-0 North Ferriby: 726
Guiseley 0-2 Dag & Red: 680
Solihull Moors 1-0 Bromley: 756
Southport 2-1 Woking: 702

Can't remember attendances ever hitting those levels across so many games, unless it has always been like that?

That's what you get when you stuff Tin Pot clubs into a professional league.

 

[Sparrow]

Meanwhile at Sincil Bank...

 

[Solihull Mooron]

My first game of the season and another victory. We went ahead early on and there were inevitable spells of pressure from Bromley during the game, but they don't offer much threat. Clearly missing Emmanuel. Five of our new signings featured today and they all look promising, although I still expect us to lose to Wrexham.

3rd in the league - WE ARE UNBEATABLE

 

[wilsontown]

Well, we had the lead for a few seconds. Other than that I doubt I'll remember much about this game by Monday. Apart from Brodie's attempt to hassle the Boreham Wood keeper - element of surprise missing as Brodie rumbled forward like a Russian tank.

 

[East Bank Shot]

Good performance from us, we'll be tough to beat at the Rec if we play like that but got a feeling we may struggle on the road.
The football is so much better already this season and I hope we can keep it up.
Wrexham looked awful, and resorted to kicking lumps out of us in the last 20 when we were running rings around them.
Really enjoyable afternoon

 

[Swedes]

Close game between us and Woking which we just about edged. Louis Almond decided to turn up today for the first time this season, and Andy Bishop had to bring himself on to show James Gray how to play up front. Woking looked short of a decent striker and a dominant centre-half, get those to positions sorted and they should be safe in lower mid-table nothingness come the end of the season.

 

[DontBringBertie]

I don't know where to start with that, to be honest. The ref never had the game under control at any point and that's where it leaves a bad taste in the mouth really. It was more the manner of how Sutton won rather than how we lost. The only good thing the ref did for us all game was not show Raggett a second yellow when we were already down to ten men in the first half. I think their first yellow card was 85 minutes, which was ridiculous. Some of the stuff was the ref was missing was criminal.

Sutton were better first half than us, though, even before Wood's sending off. We just didn't get going, mainly down to the ref being particularly whistle happy and Sutton players falling over. I thought Westley was manager because we had 3 'injuries' in the first 10 minutes.

We were much better in the second half, but limited by the man disadvantage. Probably not as good as Sutton were in the first half, but 1-1 or a 2-1 loss was probably about right.

First goal was a free kick (and I'm putting that down as another Farman error without seeing the replay because it looked far too central when it went in), which was stupidly given away by Raggett, second was another corner and an OG apparently? Third goal was a breakaway in added time. Habergham's was a total fluke. On the left, hits a cross from deep and nestles in the side netting at the back post.

The Wood incident happened what seemed like a good 5 seconds after the initial challenge because the ball had gone from pretty much their 18 yard box to ours. Only those in the Echo Stand would have been able to see it (and those who did said it was a sending off), yet it was the linesman on our side (who didn't flag at any point) who gave the ref the nod. He must have guessed because there was no way he could see it. We would have coped better with the sending off had Rhead still been on the pitch because he'd have been a good out ball but instead we had Margetts up front on his own with Rhead's replacement, Marriott, having to play CM.

As for Sutton, they'll be fine this season. On that showing, they're too limited to get above higher bottom half and didn't really have much of a goal threat. Just a solid-ish, route one side who'll make it hard for the opposition by constantly breaking up play. They made hard work of beating 10 men, which we've been like in previous seasons. At 1-1, it was quite comfortable for us. We were probably guilty of having too much of a go because, from memory, the corner that led to the goal came from our set piece.

The grating thing about them was the constant falling over. I'm not talking a challenge that they've made a meal of (although they did that, too) but seemingly just falling over. I'm all for a bit of gamesmanship and things like that but I was sat there cringing and finding the whole thing quite embarrassing to be honest. I can't think I've seen anything quite like it. They were making fair challenges as well, don't get me wrong. It was just when the shoe was on the other foot...

Only one available CM now in Woodyard. Rhead will be a massive miss if he's done his hamstring.


At the time of your post, our game was still going. Didn't finish until 5.05pm...

If Wood stamped on him and it was a definite red why does it matter how they got to the decision?

 

[Luke Imp]

I'm not saying his shouldn't have got sent off, my point was that is was nigh on impossible for the linesman to see it, so why was the ref asking him? The linesman on the other side *might* have seen it, but he was up with play at our 18 yard box and probably 80 yards away.

There were probably 4 Sutton players around Wood while it was all going on, on the floor.

 

[Shotsfan1993]

Saturday 15th August 2015: Wrexham 3-0 Aldershot Town

Saturday 13th August 2016: Aldershot Town 2-0 Wrexham

Incredible to see the difference a year makes, last year we were absolutely hammered by Wrexham and deserved what we got. Today we seemed to win really comfortably, and even at 2-0 we looked more likely to score. Wrexham didn't play that well but in part that was down to the amount of pressing we did in their half when they were trying to play out from the back - we forced mistakes and were more clinical in front of goal than the previous 2 games. The only downsides today were injuries to Cole and Fenelon (hope they aren't too serious) and losing about 300 home fans from our win on Tuesday which suprised me a bit. Next week we are away to Bromley and Braintree which aren't bad games to have on the back of 2 home wins, although no games are easy in this league.

 

[Blue Lion]

Not sure how good Macc are we were that poor today. Having a clown for a keeper doesn,t help. Looks like a long hard season for us.

Yeah, not sure what your keeper was doing near the half way line to get himself sent off like that, in fairness though he made a very good save to stop an accidental own goal from a corner in the first half. Akinola always looks good but the rest of the Braintree team were pretty poor.

As for us, I thought we played well again and deservedly won comfortably. Scored three goals, could have been more. We dominated the midfield, Danny Whitaker had a brilliant game, as did Kingsley James on his first start of the season. Nice to see Jack Sampson get off the mark with a cracking goal, should hopefully quieten the more critical supporters. There were again a few missed chances, which is now becoming slightly too common but as long as we score enough to win then that is enough for me.

 

[MTFC_07]

Yeah, not sure what your keeper was doing near the half way line to get himself sent off like that, in fairness though he made a very good save to stop an accidental own goal from a corner in the first half. Akinola always looks good but the rest of the Braintree team were pretty poor.

As for us, I thought we played well again and deservedly won comfortably. Scored three goals, could have been more. We dominated the midfield, Danny Whitaker had a brilliant game, as did Kingsley James on his first start of the season. Nice to see Jack Sampson get off the mark with a cracking goal, should hopefully quieten the more critical supporters. There were again a few missed chances, which is now becoming slightly too common but as long as we score enough to win then that is enough for me.

I agree with that. Four or five of our players were very good, but I thought Kingsley James was exceptional, and Craig Ross produced two or three brilliant saves from Braintree's only threat, Simeon Akinola. Braintree couldn't defend though, and we could have had 5 or 6 with more clinical finishing.

 

[CrazyImp]

Akinola will be off from Braintree soon, he's more than welcome to settle with his other friends here in Lincoln.

 

[Mr Scooty]

Andy Bishop had to bring himself on to show James Gray how to play up front.

Oh dear James. Narrowly escaping a custodial sentence for drink driving must have been a low, but being schooled in how to play centre forward by Andy Bishop is on a whole other dimension of embarrassment.

 

[FGRJC]

Oh dear James. Narrowly escaping a custodial sentence for drink driving must have been a low, but being schooled in how to play centre forward by Andy Bishop is on a whole other dimension of embarrassment.

I think it's James gray who's on the program 999 what's your emergency, being pulled over

 

[Murphy]

Back from Guiseley and I have to say that was pretty straightforward. Fairly plum three points last week against Southport and this was much of the same, Guiseley never really turned up and I'm guessing their gameplan was to attempt to hit us on the break with the big man Rankine, but it didn't really come off and in truth I can't really remember them testing us at all, bar one chance at the end when the game was gone. We did what we needed to do, didn't set the house on fire but did enough. Getting the early goal was a big thing and when it was 2-0 you knew Guiseley had no way back. We looked fairly decent that being said, but until we come up against a team that actually try to give us a game (no disrespect to Guiseley), we'll probably won't really know where we stand in this league.

Having said all of that, Guiseley were a top club, locals were welcoming and it's a very nice little place, even if it did feel as though I'd stepped foot out of the railway station and onto Coronation Street (I swear I saw Rita coming out of the Kabin at one point). Station Pub was nice as well, would recommend to anyone who hasn't been. Also quite liked the ground, easily the most basic I've been to in a competitive Dagenham game, but in an era when fans are so far away from the pitch in the top league and everything seems so desensitised, Guiseley's ground brings it back to the raw elements that we love. Can basically touch the players and when you score, it's immense. Unsegregated as well which was nice, even had a man and his dog turn up for the ride

Overall, 10/10 would recommend (especially if you can get three points). Lovely old job.