[Benno Spire]

1978blue, on 14 January 2024 - 01:43 PM, said:

Benno turned the game down and went to watch Mrs Doubtfire the musical instead !!

Very enjoyable it was too and all funded by my winning bet

[1978blue]

Benno Spire, on 14 January 2024 - 03:06 PM, said:

Very enjoyable it was too and all funded by my winning bet

😂😂 I also had a good win on Bet365 which made that long journey home yesterday more bearable !!!

[Westbars Spireite]

azul, on 14 January 2024 - 02:50 PM, said:

About 750 is their average this season, inflated by a couple of big attendances. Quite a few attendances circa 500 a well. Maybe if they suspected we’d take a strong team they’d of got a few more. Using the attendances to diss a competition is a bit daft. Check out the FA Cup/League Cup attendances to see how cup fever grips most clubs in the early/mid rounds, even with cheap tickets. We were a massive exception with our FA Cup games this year.

For them, playing a club like us, would normally be quite the draw. It obviously wasn’t, even taking into account they were fully expecting a much weakened squad. The point being it didn’t register much with them either.

[moondog]

1978blue, on 14 January 2024 - 03:19 PM, said:

😂😂 I also had a good win on Bet365 which made that long journey home yesterday more bearable !!!

Same here, only bet a tenner as I didn't want to be wishing Welling to win

[smiffy]

Spireite_1969, on 13 January 2024 - 07:18 PM, said:

If Town had gone all the way & won it we would have accumulated +£98,000 prize money - Town probably don’t need any more money !

We could certainly do with the £98k. It’s not enough though to make it worth while disrupting the league fixtures ,getting 1st team players injured, jeopardising our chance of finishing top!

[calvin plummers socks]

What a bunch of losers (and happy with it)- strange

[azul]

calvin plummers socks, on 14 January 2024 - 03:55 PM, said:

What a bunch of losers (and happy with it)- strange

Stop frettin bro, you are the only true supporter

Most of us don’t think we are good enough to cope with a league title and a cup run

[60s 70s Spireite]

azul, on 14 January 2024 - 04:49 PM, said:

Stop frettin bro, you are the only true supporter

Most of us don’t think we are good enough to cope with a league title and a cup run

Perhaps the club would have had a different philosophy if we hadn’t played 4 FA Cup matches- ie knocked out in the Qualifying round.

[Painted Wagon]

60s 70s Spireite, on 14 January 2024 - 04:57 PM, said:

Perhaps the club would have had a different philosophy if we hadn’t played 4 FA Cup matches- ie knocked out in the Qualifying round.

You’ve hit the nail on the head there. We didn’t want a third round reply and no more league postponements due to run in FA Trophy. No distractions now just full on focus on getting back into the football league. COYB

[azul]

Painted Wagon, on 14 January 2024 - 05:03 PM, said:

You’ve hit the nail on the head there. We didn’t want a third round reply and no more league postponements due to run in FA Trophy. No distractions now just full on focus on getting back into the football league. COYB

Ho Ho, just imagine the away end if we had held on, or snatched an equaliser.

[Cum on u blues]

Like most comments I agree it was a good decision to field the youth team - a no-brainer in my opinion. Apart from the potential injuries (which we’ve escaped so far until recently with Colclough & Freckleton - put Williams there too) it’s good experience for the younger players, eloquently described by Neil Cluxton in his post-match interview which showed not only an honest assessment but a good read of the game.
Good for the future if we can hold onto some of these lads.
Big week ahead as described by PT in his Take. The most important thing is to have as many players available, fit and raring to go in every position

[moondog]

I see Welling have drawn Barnet at home in the next round.

Gateshead, who we have a vested interest in as our game there will be off if they are still in it, have drawn Hereford away.

[Westbars Spireite]

moondog, on 15 January 2024 - 07:04 PM, said:

I see Welling have drawn Barnet at home in the next round.

Gateshead, who we have a vested interest in as our game there will be off if they are still in it, have drawn Hereford away.

Come on you Bulls.

[DIFH]

Painted Wagon, on 14 January 2024 - 05:03 PM, said:

You’ve hit the nail on the head there. We didn’t want a third round reply and no more league postponements due to run in FA Trophy. No distractions now just full on focus on getting back into the football league. COYB

10 more wins and we’ll be moaning about squad players being used more and throwing away potential ‘records’

[boot]

smiffy, on 14 January 2024 - 03:29 PM, said:

We could certainly do with the £98k. It's not enough though to make it worth while disrupting the league fixtures ,getting 1st team players injured, jeopardising our chance of finishing top!

Agree - like the vast majority, including those running the club,

It wouldn't be anything like £98,000 even if we had won it. We would be lucky to clear half that after all travel and accomodation expenses, plus lost gate receipts from having to move two Saturday home games to midweek..That aside from any injuries we might pick up on the way. The chance that we throw everything at it and then don't even get to the final could even have resulted in £ peanuts. It might even have been a loss loss rather than £98,000 profit, based on moving the two Saturday home fixtures alone and then getting knocked out.


Sound decision Town - back to the only target that matters tonight.

[needdm]

moondog, on 15 January 2024 - 07:04 PM, said:

I see Welling have drawn Barnet at home in the next round.

Gateshead, who we have a vested interest in as our game there will be off if they are still in it, have drawn Hereford away.

Gateshead have to win 2 games before our game on April 6th gets postponed. By then we would hope we have won the title as it’s the 3rd last game. Of more interest is that if either Bromley or Barnet win in the next round their match against each other on March 9th will be postponed. Instead of Chesterfield having games in hand we could easily have played more games than both of them by then

You would have thought teams like Oldham will be pleased that both Barnet and Bromley are still in the FA trophy, given their results have picked up and better to be playing tired teams in the play offs

[60s 70s Spireite]

needdm, on 16 January 2024 - 11:06 AM, said:

Gateshead have to win 2 games before our game on April 6th gets postponed. By then we would hope we have won the title as it’s the 3rd last game. Of more interest is that if either Bromley or Barnet win in the next round their match against each other on March 9th will be postponed. Instead of Chesterfield having games in hand we could easily have played more games than both of them by then

You would have thought teams like Oldham will be pleased that both Barnet and Bromley are still in the FA trophy, given their results have picked up and better to be playing tired teams in the play offs

I see the Bromley manager says they want to win it again, as they did in 2022.

[azul]

60s 70s Spireite, on 16 January 2024 - 12:19 PM, said:

I see the Bromley manager says they want to win it again, as they did in 2022.

Most managers in this league do want to win it even if they are pragmatic about it and use the game for some squad rotation. They probably view the competition as useful for this very reason. Listening to the Altrincham manager he was annoyed at the criticism for rotating his squad, pointing out every player in his starting lineup and featured extensively this season. He wasn’t alone in having to explain away his decision making with the number of NL clubs biting the dust.

[Osborne again]

azul, on 16 January 2024 - 12:40 PM, said:

Most managers in this league do want to win it even if they are pragmatic about it and use the game for some squad rotation. They probably view the competition as useful for this very reason. Listening to the Altrincham manager he was annoyed at the criticism for rotating his squad, pointing out every player in his starting lineup and featured extensively this season. He wasn’t alone in having to explain away his decision making with the number of NL clubs biting the dust.

Probably, if there were more automatic promotion places, and the prize money was more enticing to National League clubs for the cup, then maybe more managers would take it seriously. If we had played some of the first team squad and lost our top scorer or,god forbid,Tom Naylor, it would have given Cookie a headache he doesn't need especially after losing Ryan Colclough, potentially until the end of February.
One thing I'm going to do, is watch the academy lads play a bit more, because there's some decent players that could go onto play for us in the future.

[johnd51]

Sheckleford and Dobra hadn't played for 10 days and looked a bit rusty tonight. Maybe they could have benefited from half a game at Welling (together with Quigs and the skipper)?🤫🤔😄