Match Thread Home V Grimsby Saturday 10th April @ 3.00pm

In particular he nodded it into the middle with no right to do so in the first half and Cook wasn't close enough to pick up the easy chance... Cook's fault not Donaldson's

 

Or the tactics perhaps

 

Wood can't be upgraded on at this level I don't think... what is it, 75 league starts in a row? Darby was considered MR Consitency without the assists (not that I'm saying he's better than Darbs, obvs). If we stay at this level Wood is off because he can play at a higher level quite easily and we can't afford his wage. If we don't get promoted, he goes and Staunton slots in... if we go up there's a negotiation to be had

 

Have a look on the T&A live blog,it's on there.

 

Played awful. Managed to win. Take the points and move on to the next one. I would take continuing to be awful and winning at this stage of the season when we need to make up ground in those above.

 

Ive heard some beauties, but deary me!

 

Sniffs?

Maybe you missed the part where Paudie got skinned and their player hit a pretty powerful shot from about 8 yards out that O'Donnell did well to save?

I'm surprised we haven't drawn or lost more games so far with our approach of being one up and playing safe.

 

Honestly do think wood is overrated. Maybe just me but he seems bang average in this side. I assume the club agree and are not willing to pay the exorbitant wages he was on when we were in league one. If he goes i expect him to go to a l2 club. Maybe bolton if they get promoted.

 

They had 3 shots on target all game. Lets not get too excited for them.

 

Can’t agree with that Grimsby despite all the possession made few chances as have most teams we have played.

 

I have to agree. His first touch is terrible, his crosses more often than not hit the first man and his passes either fail to find their man or he passes backwards. The reason he's played so many consecutive games is because there's no one to challenge him and hasn't been anyone for a long time. He improved to an ok level but hasn't pushed on. Maybe if we had another left back it might challenge him to improve. I'd keep him but bring someone in who will be the number 1 left back. A good defender but one who offers an attacking threat in the final third. Maybe this would push him on again.

 

Have a look at the stats before making statements. Looks pretty even to me.

We've been lucky the last few games - scoring from very few clear cut chances while our opponents have not.

We should be controlling the game more and looking to score again not sitting back. We didn't make the Grimsby keeper work at all really, nor the Stevenage keeper.

 

It was a straight forward save straight at him from a tight angle. Nothing more than a half chance at best and certainly not as good a chance as Cook from 3 yards out or Wood hitting the bar, for example... so exactly as I said

 

Yeah my bad. They had 2 shots on target not 3. We were poor yesterday as I have said earlier. And they were quite frankly just as poor. So you could say it was an even game.
I will be happy when Sutton and Cooke are available though to bring some energy to midfield.

 

That shot and Wood's were pretty similar;

- both had a clear shot on goal
- both within 10 yards of the goal
- both on favoured foot

Ok, Wood isnt a forward but he could at least have hit the target.

As for their's being a 'half chance', how many of those kind of 'half chances' did we have? We aren't even creating those kinds of chances. I'd be happier if their keeper was at least having the make 5 or 6 saves a game but at the moment they aren't and that's down to our tactics or the quality of players or both.

 

The stats that count 4 matches 3 wins and a draw 8 goals for 3 goals against

 

About 4 by my reckoning (Cook, Wood, O'Connor, Evans) and there were a couple they got a foot in last minute. I'd rather they were testing the keeper more as well, my point was just that we controlled the game throughout, which we did without breaking sweat. Was an easy 3 points in the end. We do need to start putting teams to bed though, just look what happened at Newport

 

They are the worst professional side in the country down to ten men, how many chances did you expect them to make? Don't make excuses for yesterday's performance, we might have got three points but that was unacceptable and I hope the managers realise that. Poorest performance by some margin since they took over from McCall. Hopefully Callum Cooke and Levi Sutton come back because without them we are just another average league 2 side riding their luck.

 

Cook's was a loopy header. Was never going in. Evans? The little dribble along the ground?

He's an alternative - Anthony O'Connor misses and their lad hits home the shot where he turned Paudie. None of us could have complained that that scenario would have been unfair on us.

 

Cook's diving header in the 6 yard box and Evans snap shot outside the area.

If they scored it would have been a different game, we never got out of first gear. And they didn't so it's moot. All that matters is we got the 3 points, that's 10 in the last 12, 3 points off play-offs. There's a saying about teams who play badly and still win...