Week ending 2nd April

[RLC]

Breakspeare`s performance today was without question one of the worse, if not the worst, I have seen from a referee in the FL since I started watching football. It wasn`t just the sendings off . It was the inconsistency of it. He let some challenges as bad as he had red carded people for go without a word. He booked both managers either of whom got involved in the pushing and shoving that went on after the McDonald foul. Mellon didn`t move out of his box and Simpson`s only involvement was to help a steward who had fallen over back to his feet. On that showing the guy simply can`t be allowed to ref in another FL game for a lot time, if ever but pound to a penny he will be back in the middle next week ruining another crowds Saturday afternoon.

If you look over his career stats, they are absolutely appalling. He dishes out yellows and reds like they are confetti. It was not even a dirty game in the first half.

He completely wrecked the game today.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

Thankfully we only lost by one, credit to Rovers they were far better from my admittedly limited experience of each team than Port Vale, Newport and Forest Green in recent weeks. Wouldn’t surprise me if they go up with Forest Green and Exeter not sure who I fancy for the other promotion spot, maybe Mansfield on what I’ve seen.

Barton is still a little cockwomble though but he’s put together a decent team who were appalling at our place so has clearly worked hard with them throughout the season to get them to this point.

 

[Conker]

Sorry Northampton but I thought your team performance was abysmal, the turnout was abysmal, and the noise was equally abysmal, what’s the problem?

 

[AdamStag]

Sorry Northampton but I thought your team performance was abysmal, the turnout was abysmal, and the noise was equally abysmal, what’s the problem?

They were wank.

i agree with you

the following was piss poor
the performance was piss poor.

what was with today, it we like we went through a routine win over a side that was 16th or so.

In fairness if that crap is what northampton play every game i can understand why so few turned up, it was fucking abysmal.

I’m just genuinely lost as to how a side in 3rd could serve up that

 

[The Jovial Forester]

I’m just genuinely lost as to how a side in 3rd could serve up that

Just wait 'til you see what the champions elect offer Tuesday

 

[Soup Ladle]

Zero effort from us today, Lee has us setup in a crap formation that doesn’t work for the players we have but that doesn’t excuse the players total lack of effort.

Don’t expect any favours from us for the rest of the season, we’ve downed tools.

I'll cut some of them slack as the ones who were here last season have not had a rest for almost two seasons and we were bound to tail off at some point. But you'd think one or two might be pulling out the stops for a new deal.

We were awful today, selections are poor, subs are poor, tactics are poor. Not sure of our home record under Lee but it can't be very good and some of the performances have been really dire.

Who do we bring in though except Morris if he's fit and Molyneux? That Fletcher and Joe White, to be honest I'd send them both back or not be starting them. Give Smith and Carver a run (although neither of them look like making the grade.) He's limited in terms of options but no excuses today going 433 without Molyneux and not changing it up.

 

[AdamStag]

Just wait 'til you see what the champions elect offer Tuesday

We’ve won at dale, oldham, drew at hartlepool and saw off a lame northampton side.

Let’s see what happens

 

[Soup Ladle]

I thought Northampton were good both times I saw them just for balance.

 

[AdamStag]

I thought Northampton were good both times I saw them just for balance.

they weren’t today, they were abysmal,

Oldham we’re better last week than that weak as piss performance today

Just to point out that’s 11 (ELEVEN) home games we’ve won on the bounce.

 

[denzel ecfc]

Thought it was fine margins today. Newport had a warning 5 minutes before the goal when Dieng should have scored a header. Brown's skill won the free kick and we were clinical, as we have been in recent games. Thought our defence was outstanding and Telford was kept very quiet.
I think it will be touch and go for Newport, a lot of clubs are playing in a similar way but the likes of Salford and Tranmere seem to have momentum.
Table is looking good for us at the moment , but we need to keep our heads as still a long way to go!

 

[The Jovial Forester]

We’ve won at dale, oldham, drew at hartlepool and saw off a lame northampton side.

Let’s see what happens

We're still not really firing so you should be in with a very good chance of coming away with something. I'm hoping decent opposition makes us raise our game again.

 

[Chief Rocka]

I'll cut some of them slack as the ones who were here last season have not had a rest for almost two seasons and we were bound to tail off at some point. But you'd think one or two might be pulling out the stops for a new deal.

We were awful today, selections are poor, subs are poor, tactics are poor. Not sure of our home record under Lee but it can't be very good and some of the performances have been really dire.

Who do we bring in though except Morris if he's fit and Molyneux? That Fletcher and Joe White, to be honest I'd send them both back or not be starting them. Give Smith and Carver a run (although neither of them look like making the grade.) He's limited in terms of options but no excuses today going 433 without Molyneux and not changing it up.

I can cut White some slack cos the lad's being played out of position, he looked very good as a CM, I've barely seen Fletcher play but today he was hopeless, absolutely rotten performance, how he managed 90 minutes today is a mystery.

He's gotta drop the 433 for now, go back to 352/532, he signed Carver then barely played him, get him upfront alongside Bogle and let's see if he's good enough in these remaining fixtures, 10-20 minutes here and there isn't enough, give the lad a run in the team.

Killip
Sterry Timi Liddle Byrne Ferguson
Featherstone Crawford White
Bogle Carver

Is how I'd like to see us set up for FGR, assuming Molyneux and Morris don't make it.

 

[Stripes]

Bet365 have Mansfield at 3/1 atm to win Tuesdays game. Extremely good value. Not sure if we can get anything from the game, but as The Jovial Forester says, we may surprise and raise our game. Trouble is there is no sofa to hide behind on the Terrace. Going to be a painful experience.

 

[BRFC_Gas]

Thankfully we only lost by one, credit to Rovers they were far better from my admittedly limited experience of each team than Port Vale, Newport and Forest Green in recent weeks. Wouldn’t surprise me if they go up with Forest Green and Exeter not sure who I fancy for the other promotion spot, maybe Mansfield on what I’ve seen.

Barton is still a little cockwomble though but he’s put together a decent team who were appalling at our place so has clearly worked hard with them throughout the season to get them to this point.

We were ok in the 2nd half at yours but nowhere near as good as we are currently. We had 2 first team players out today too including arguably our best player.
We have steadily improved over the season, just missing someone who can finish off the chances.

 

[The Terminator]

Deserved win and good away performance against Walsall, we scored with our first 2 chances in the opening 15mins and managed to defend well for the rest of the game. Apart from a 20min spell of pressure in the snow storm in the second half when a deflected clearance caused us a problem, we defended well for the remainder of the game and could've had a third before half time.

Walsall had a bad day all round, first half they kept getting caught playing Flynn ball out from the back, after the second goal went in Flynn took off Menayese seconds after we scored the second goal on 16mins and brought on Lee Tomlin - then on the 42nd minute Tomlin went off injured and apparently didn't want to come on so early as he "wasn't ready" which was what he shouted at Flynn on the bench. Think alot of their players know they won't be there next season.

Brought back 4 of the rested players from Tuesday night and we look a much better side.

 

[valefan16]

What are Vale's thoughts about us compared to Stevenage, Oldham? Seen a lot of comments over the season that we have a decent team but don't really see the basing for it to be honest.

We have Oldham next weekend at home. We battered them away but somehow lost 3-2! That was during the spell when we had no real fit strikers and couldn’t punish them.

Stevenage were awful, nothing about them at all and we played 80 minutes at friendly pace at 2-0 up.

Thought first half you looked better than those two, plenty of fight and very physical (like last season if I recall).

It’s going to be tight but if you can get a few wins I’d appreciate it (noting your run in against most of our promotion rivals!)

 

[leedsvaliant]

I thought we were the better side against Carlisle pretty much throughout. However, Breakspear clearly could not handle the idea of our ten men battling to a deserved victory, so decided to issue a second red which was even more inexplicable than the first. Absolutely disgusting refereeing performance.

We were a lot better with Kieron Morris back in the side, but he is now suspended for three games. MacDonald will miss four games.

The positive for us is that the two strikers were excellent and are both under contract next season. Nevitt continues to develop at a rapid pace.

Patrick looked a decent player for Carlisle.

I'd like Vale to try and sign Patrick in the summer. He looked good against us too.

 

[leedsvaliant]

We have Oldham next weekend at home. We battered them away but somehow lost 3-2! That was during the spell when we had no real fit strikers and couldn’t punish them.

Stevenage were awful, nothing about them at all and we played 80 minutes at friendly pace at 2-0 up.

Thought first half you looked better than those two, plenty of fight and very physical (like last season if I recall).

It’s going to be tight but if you can get a few wins I’d appreciate it (noting your run in against most of our promotion rivals!)

I'd agree with that. The one caveat is that Oldham have picked up under Sheridan but I'm still at a loss as to how we lost that game.

Stevenage were terrible when we played them. I can't recall a more comfortable victory.

Thought Barrow looked fairly decent first half but our quality came through in the end, even though our midfield is decimated.

 

[Conker]

They were wank.

i agree with you

the following was piss poor
the performance was piss poor.

what was with today, it we like we went through a routine win over a side that was 16th or so.

In fairness if that crap is what northampton play every game i can understand why so few turned up, it was fucking abysmal.

I’m just genuinely lost as to how a side in 3rd could serve up that

Pathetic showing from Northampton overall.

 

[Trapdoor]

Pathetic showing from Northampton overall.

Northampton fans never make any noise and dont really travel very well. Trash support at this level tbh.

 

[AdamStag]

Northampton fans never make any noise and dont really travel very well. Trash support at this level tbh.

in fairness with that shit they served up today i wouldn’t travel far to watch that, fucking ridiculous football.

 

[Gassy]

We were ok in the 2nd half at yours but nowhere near as good as we are currently. We had 2 first team players out today too including arguably our best player.
We have steadily improved over the season, just missing someone who can finish off the chances.

Everything apart from finishing clicked today really. I’m amazed we managed to keep that pace & intensity up from the 1st to last minute.

29 shots in the end I think? Any other day that would have ended at least 4/5-1

I don’t think Bradford were poor as such, we just had too much to fight for on the day. But they are clearly playing for their manager - which is always good to see. Will be interesting to see what Hughes can do in the summer.

 

[Dale4ever]

I thought Northampton were good both times I saw them just for balance.

We did the double over them, they can’t be much good.

 

[ExeterDan]

I'll be surprised if Northampton don't beat us, no matter how badly they play. We just seem to have a weird issue with them. In the last 20 years we've played them 23 times and only won 3.

 

[denzel ecfc]

I'll be surprised if Northampton don't beat us, no matter how badly they play. We just seem to have a weird issue with them. In the last 20 years we've played them 23 times and only won 3.

Maybe if they keep playing badly, they will drop out of the picture and they can give us a higher allocation for that game ;-)

 

[EricSabin]

Seems I missed the pile on, shame.


Great turnout from Mansfield though, 11 home league wins in a row and still only 5,700 home fans and massive blocks of empty seats. Thought it was going to be a home sell out?

 

[MadJohn]

I'll cut some of them slack as the ones who were here last season have not had a rest for almost two seasons and we were bound to tail off at some point. But you'd think one or two might be pulling out the stops for a new deal.

We were awful today, selections are poor, subs are poor, tactics are poor. Not sure of our home record under Lee but it can't be very good and some of the performances have been really dire.

Who do we bring in though except Morris if he's fit and Molyneux? That Fletcher and Joe White, to be honest I'd send them both back or not be starting them. Give Smith and Carver a run (although neither of them look like making the grade.) He's limited in terms of options but no excuses today going 433 without Molyneux and not changing it up.

Lee's home league record is 3-6-2. He was unbeaten until the Bradford game but too many draws, especially against teams near the bottom (Scunthorpe, Oldham, Orient, and Stevenage)

The main concern is our slow starts. Having scored the opening goal in each of first five home league games under DC, we've only done so once in the 15 games since, and even that was courtesy of a Peter Clarke o.g. The last Pools player to score the first goal in a league game at the Vic was Luke Molyneux vs Exeter. In September.

Looking at the bench at 0-2 yesterday, I saw no options. It would have been very useful to have Holohan available, but hey ho, those costs won't cut themselves. But credit to Salford too. Two excellent strikes and, while they weren't flash, the kept us out with ease and efficiency.

 

[AdamStag]

Seems I missed the pile on, shame.


Great turnout from Mansfield though, 11 home league wins in a row and still only 5,700 home fans and massive blocks of empty seats. Thought it was going to be a home sell out?

The latest team to comment about our attendances.
the latest team to sing “mansfield’s a shithole i wanna go home”
The latest team to go home with 0 points.

Onwards.

 

[EricSabin]

The latest team to comment about our attendances.
the latest team to sing “mansfield’s a shithole i wanna go home”
The latest team to go home with 0 points.

Onwards.

So you heard that then? #nonoise

I‘m merely pointing out hypocrisy. Deserved winners, better side, poor crowd and noise for most of the game.

 

[AdamStag]

So you heard that then? #nonoise

I‘m merely pointing out hypocrisy. Deserved winners, better side, poor crowd and noise for most of the game.

I think tbh the attendance from both were poor, i expected more than that, as did many others around me in honesty.

I think nerves got the better of some, it was a really big game.

Sorry if was a little direct with comments about northampton yesterday, i’d had a few ciders.