Tuesday 15th March

[FGR Stroud]

Results & attendance

 

[Indian Dan]

Top of the table and under 2000!

 

[Ninety Per Cent]

We now have more red cards then wins this season, what a year

Amazing, yet depressing, stat and puts the lid surely on our Relegation.

 

[The Jovial Forester]

Top of the table and under 2000!

Surprisingly piss poor even for us, and Orient brought a decent showing for a long Tuesday trip.
ETA Maidstone managed more in the NLS!

 

[Spanishstag]

Stags were abysmal cloughie got the team wrong ,vale deserved the win ,but really didn,t have to do too much ,not impressed by either team last night,but we still have games in hand and must surely improve

 

[Kauto Star]

Entertaining game and great result against a team playing for their lives.
Imo Oldham aren’t the worst side I’ve seen this season by a long shot and hope they survive at the expense of a non entity club like Stevenage.

We've played Oldham 6 or 7 times last two seasons including cups, and they always look decent against us. They are a bit of a bogey side to be honest, especially at Boundary Park.

So, I don't understand how they have struggled so badly last 2 seasons.

I agree, would much prefer Stevenage to go down, even though we have a very good record against them. Didn't Stevenage get lucky when Macclesfield were kicked out out of the league a couple of years ago?

 

[Super_horns]

Yes they won a reprieve on appeal but Macclesfield unfortunately did go under later on so they will probably say it was the right move .

 

[Agombar stool]

I thought Armstrong should have received a straight red for the initial challenge, let alone the second one, but Weaver has predictably claimed Harrogate were robbed of a result. We had struggled to break down their back five when they had a full complement, but it is impossible to know how the game would have developed without the sending off. We did enough to deserve the three points without being scintillating.

If there is a better midfielder than Lewis Warrington in this division, I have not seen him.

We can always rely on our home form, but we are going to need at least a couple of away wins to be serious automatic contenders. Can we get one at injury ravaged Sutton on Saturday ?

Re Lewis Warrington, I think I've seen about half a dozen cases of claims to have the best midfielder in the division, I know Antony Evans at Rovers has been mentioned and I am sure there was a Port Vale one mentioned before. For me I think Louis Reed is our best midfielder and i'd be surprised if he doesn't get in the final team of the season, although it sounds like it's a tough team to get into. Of the opposition players i've seen (I watch all the games on Ifollow as I'm the worst football fan in the world) Jevani Brown has stood out to me as the best midfielder. Shout out to Jack Payne as well, not as consistent as Reed but on his day is fantastic.

 

[Valeite]

Re Lewis Warrington, I think I've seen about half a dozen cases of claims to have the best midfielder in the division, I know Antony Evans at Rovers has been mentioned and I am sure there was a Port Vale one mentioned before. For me I think Louis Reed is our best midfielder and i'd be surprised if he doesn't get in the final team of the season, although it sounds like it's a tough team to get into. Of the opposition players i've seen (I watch all the games on Ifollow as I'm the worst football fan in the world) Jevani Brown has stood out to me as the best midfielder. Shout out to Jack Payne as well, not as consistent as Reed but on his day is fantastic.

The Vale midfielder would be Conlon but he is out for the season now.

 

[Valeite]

Results & attendance
View attachment 16894

Some poor gates last night, not least ours but Rochdale v Salford, Forest Green and Exeter are shocking.

 

[Agombar stool]

I think that’s a fair assessment of the officials. When both sets of fans think you’ve had a bad game, you’ve had a bad game!

When I saw our lineup I was more than a little concerned- Lovett has been on loan at Tonbridge Angels in the Conference South all season up until the last day or so, Omar Bugiel was joining him in the centre of midfield- Omar has never played centre midfield for us. And our bench consisted of a goalkeeper who couldn’t get game time on his loan at carshalton athletic, an 18 year old, a 41 year old and Ricky Korboa.

I felt Swindon were far more effective when they moved the ball upfield quickly rather than trying to pass us to death. Both goals were essentially route one.

I felt we held our shape well, however there was a lack of clear chances for us.

Our comms are generally very knowledgeable (Sam Parkin was co-comms and knows his stuff about the lower leagues) and explained about the Sutton line-up and the fact you had a 40 year old keeper and a 41 year old fitness coach and 3 wingers in midfield etc. First 30 minutes we played keep ball but again we didn't have enough clinicality (Not sure that is a word but never mind) to make it count. As you say, the first goal was a long ball by Wollacott and Stuart Nelson shit the bed with Josh Davison coming towards him and allowed the big striker an open goal. Davison was pants after that so lucky he didn't miss it! Your equaliser was odd, I thought Dion Conroy was wrestled to the ground by Bennett but Sutton got the free kick. Looking at a still of the free kick I think the player that headed it in was onside but the other 2 players were off. Not sure of the rules but I guess the 2 offside weren't 'interfering' although I'm sure that could be argued that they were given the position of the players. Our second goal also came from a whack downfield. Brilliant touch and cross by Williams and put in by Mckirdy. Not sure if either were offside or not but I have heard reports it might have been.

After the first half an hour Sutton turned the game into a scrap and we got sucked into it. To be honest it was a difficult game to referee given the histrionics by both players and as I alluded to last night, it never felt like the officials really had an idea of what was going on. We had a player taken out on the touchline and it appeared the referee gave Sutton a free kick, however everyone on our bench was incensed and he seemed to change his mind and give us a free kick. The non-penalty was frustrating, Mckirdy got away and should have gone down when kicked in the box, but tried to go on and then Reed dived over Nelson's hand and got sent off. So instead of the penalty it's a free kick and a red card and suspension for our most important player.

Getting out of that game with as few injuries as possible and with 3 points was the main aim, huge relief with the latter, no idea about the former!

 

[Uncle Pastuzo]

Just watched the extended video highlights, rarely seen defending as bad as for our second. Two Carlisle defenders just fled the scene as Norman carried the ball into the box. It was like the parting of the Red Sea.

 

[Back in the DHSS]

I thought Armstrong should have received a straight red for the initial challenge, let alone the second one, but Weaver has predictably claimed Harrogate were robbed of a result. We had struggled to break down their back five when they had a full complement, but it is impossible to know how the game would have developed without the sending off. We did enough to deserve the three points without being scintillating.

If there is a better midfielder than Lewis Warrington in this division, I have not seen him.

We can always rely on our home form, but we are going to need at least a couple of away wins to be serious automatic contenders. Can we get one at injury ravaged Sutton on Saturday ?

Thought Armstrong was pretty stupid to go in with his elbow after just getting a yellow, so deserved red for me too. And a rugby league style challenge which led to the penalty, again Harrogate can’t have any complaints with that.
Lewis Warrington has been exceptional in our home games and scored a cracker last night. Harrogate’s Jack Diamond deserved a goal for his display too!

 

[Conker]

Your players were frequently grabbing ours in chokeholds and the ref wasn’t giving much.

Deserved win anyway. Apart from about a fifteen minute spell where Mansfield stepped it up think we were full value. As I said we should be targeting winning every single remaining home game and that’s two ticked off now.

Either you haven’t got a clue what a chokehold is or your being silly. The referee didn’t affect the result, and I know Oli Hawkins is a big lad but it doesn’t mean your allowed to keep hold of his bastard shirt all game

Vale deserved it last night, and I’m happy to see the giddiness on this thread from some of your fellow supporters but let’s keep it sensible.

 

[Conker]

Still, we’ve won 3-0 and 4-0 here when we’ve not really deserved it, should we have lost tonight, nah, but heyho.

we’re done, mid table here we come

We definitely deserved to come away with nothing last night, we could barely string a few passes together, it was 90 minutes of misplaced passes. I’ve got no problem saying Vale were the better side, the scoreline was about right.

 

[Moomin]

Pleased with the 3 points but 9.9/10 our second goal gets disallowed in today’s game. Zanzala clearly backs into the ‘keeper which stops him from making a regulation save. Ironically, the additional added time from all the Crawley players and staff complaining about the decision meant they scored in the 6th minute of stoppage time.

Nadesan had two good chances in the game and we rarely created in the second half, but did just enough.

7 points from 3 home games is good and we now have to back that up with 3 points at Oldham on Saturday. Then it’s one of our crucial games in hand next Tuesday at Vale.

 

[Boz]

Some poor gates last night, not least ours but Rochdale v Salford, Forest Green and Exeter are shocking.

I was surprised ours was so low after Friday’s good result and a fair few Rovers fans including myself won’t have seen Harrogate in the flesh before. They’d sold 75 pre-match though didn’t look like all showed up.

 

[Kauto Star]

Some poor gates last night, not least ours but Rochdale v Salford, Forest Green and Exeter are shocking.

Very poor attendance for a Lancashire derby at Rochdale. As for FGR, let's face it, they are a village non league club punching way above their weight at this level.

Be good to see some well supported traditional clubs such as Stockport, Chesterfield, Grimsby or Notts County coming up this season. That said, would love to see Halifax coming up. A lot of Bantams have a soft spot for out near neighbours

 

[RLC]

Re Lewis Warrington, I think I've seen about half a dozen cases of claims to have the best midfielder in the division, I know Antony Evans at Rovers has been mentioned and I am sure there was a Port Vale one mentioned before. For me I think Louis Reed is our best midfielder and i'd be surprised if he doesn't get in the final team of the season, although it sounds like it's a tough team to get into. Of the opposition players i've seen (I watch all the games on Ifollow as I'm the worst football fan in the world) Jevani Brown has stood out to me as the best midfielder. Shout out to Jack Payne as well, not as consistent as Reed but on his day is fantastic.

I think Warrington is slightly different to the others, because it is only due to age, lack of experience and location that he is even at this level. He was close to Everton's first eleven when they had injuries a few weeks ago, and is definitely considerably better than League Two standard. However, he is very inexperienced and it was convenient for Everton to loan him to a club five miles away.

He is only nineteen and I think he will be playing for an EPL / Championship side within a couple of years.

 

[Uncle Pastuzo]

Correction, it's Lewis Collins the Carlisle defenders gave a free run to.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Some poor gates last night, not least ours but Rochdale v Salford, Forest Green and Exeter are shocking.

We had three home games in eight days, there were over a thousand more at each of the others.
We will take a few up to Oldham on Saturday though!

 

[chipmunx]

Scunthorpe were pretty awful last night even with 11 men, you have to feel a bit sorry for the players, manager and fans there as it's obvious that the owner is the reason they are so bad. No disrespect meant to them, but pinning your survival hopes on a midfield that includes a 16 year old (however good he might be in future) is madness. The only player they had that looks good is the goalie - who will do doubt move to another EFL team in the summer (assuming they have gone down).
If it wasn't for a dodgy linesman decision it would have been 2-0 last night - but if it wasn't for the keeper it would have been 5, 6 or 7-0

 

[AdamStag]

Very poor attendance for a Lancashire derby at Rochdale. As for FGR, let's face it, they are a village non league club punching way above their weight at this level.

Be good to see some well supported traditional clubs such as Stockport, Chesterfield, Grimsby or Notts County coming up this season. That said, would love to see Halifax coming up. A lot of Bantams have a soft spot for out near neighbours

No to chesterfield and county.

 

[AdamStag]

We definitely deserved to come away with nothing last night, we could barely string a few passes together, it was 90 minutes of misplaced passes. I’ve got no problem saying Vale were the better side, the scoreline was about right.

I thought another night we could have easily got something, we really should have taken the lead in the 2nd half and vale offered no quality of note.l, though when the 2nd goal went in it looked very much game over. Anyone can beat anyone seemingly currently

The tactics were poor last night, i expect murphy to be dropped saturday.

 

[valefan16]

I thought another night we could have easily got something, we really should have taken the lead in the 2nd half and vale offered no quality of note.l, though when the 2nd goal went in it looked very much game over.

The tactics were poor last night, i expect murphy to be dropped saturday.

Apart from one save and our own player hitting the bar for you we weren't really threatened at all. I was surprised to be fair at how little you offered on the night.

It wasn't really a game for quality as it was very stop start but Big James Wilson was oozing quality last night. Best game he's had since his injury by far and shouldn't really be at this level... thankfully for us he has found where he is loved and we are benefitting from that.

Big Mal seemed to change the game which we have been waiting for him to finally show us what the fuss is about with him!

 

[kieran_vale]

I thought another night we could have easily got something, we really should have taken the lead in the 2nd half and vale offered no quality of note.l, though when the 2nd goal went in it looked very much game over. Anyone can beat anyone seemingly currently

The tactics were poor last night, i expect murphy to be dropped saturday.

I'm presuming it was just a one off but your keeper seemed rather shaky. Before you had your good spell Charsley should have put us into the lead though it was well blocked.

Got to give credit to Stone as well for the one that ended up coming off the bar. Seen Vale tweet a video of it this morning and turned out Stone actually nudged it onto the bar which didn't spot at the time. Not really a position on the team you want the kind of question marks we've had there but I think Stone has ended the debate this season and it's now his spot.

 

[valefan16]

I'm presuming it was just a one off but your keeper seemed rather shaky. Before you had your good spell Charsley should have put us into the lead though it was well blocked.

Got to give credit to Stone as well for the one that ended up coming off the bar. Seen Vale tweet a video of it this morning and turned out Stone actually nudged it onto the bar which didn't spot at the time. Not really a position on the team you want the kind of question marks we've had there but I think Stone has ended the debate this season and it's now his spot.

Pleased for Stone but he's number 1 for me now. Their keeper last night was basically what we've had from Holy in recent weeks especially the first goal and obviously Covolan is injured/bonkers. Stunning save from Smith... love the ball boy shithousery last night too!

 

[coronakopite]

Scunthorpe were pretty awful last night even with 11 men, you have to feel a bit sorry for the players, manager and fans there as it's obvious that the owner is the reason they are so bad. No disrespect meant to them, but pinning your survival hopes on a midfield that includes a 16 year old (however good he might be in future) is madness. The only player they had that looks good is the goalie - who will do doubt move to another EFL team in the summer (assuming they have gone down).
If it wasn't for a dodgy linesman decision it would have been 2-0 last night - but if it wasn't for the keeper it would have been 5, 6 or 7-0

3 or 4 quality saves but I'd save the "if it wasn't for...." for the Conference standard forwards who couldn't hit a barn door sitting on the handle. Lucked out with the Rooney signing. Wish him and Banks had taken on more shots.

Need 4 points from the next 2 games just to get the momentum to stumble over the line.

Lucky charm worked last night but Barrow don't do things the easy way.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

I think Warrington is slightly different to the others, because it is only due to age, lack of experience and location that he is even at this level. He was close to Everton's first eleven when they had injuries a few weeks ago, and is definitely considerably better than League Two standard. However, he is very inexperienced and it was convenient for Everton to loan him to a club five miles away.

He is only nineteen and I think he will be playing for an EPL / Championship side within a couple of years.

He would have to be exceptional to be better than Elliot Anderson (also 19) who we have on loan from Newcastle.
Eddie Howe was disappointed he wasn't loaned to a Championship club and he literally takes the piss every game for us. Scores goals and runs the show like last night

 

[GEORGE]

He would have to be exceptional to be better than Elliot Anderson (also 19) who we have on loan from Newcastle.
Eddie Howe was disappointed he wasn't loaned to a Championship club and he literally takes the piss every game for us. Scores goals and runs the show like last night

I don't like to point out individuals too often . And not to take anything away from the rest of the team. But Elliot Anderson was absolutely outstanding last night after his great performance on saturday. I know its an old cliche but he is far too good for this division and possibly the third as well. He simply oozes class. The way he drifts past players, the powerful shots at goal and his all round football brain are incredible. I now understand what Eddie Howe means. We are so very lucky to have him. Thank you JB.