[Paul Fisher]

 jack bauer, on 11 May 2025 - 08:53 PM, said:

well said, there was no lack of effort so that is just a silly thing for someone to say. beaten by the better team? not sure, i think webb got it right when he said that they played their way better than we played our way. Upto the penalty we were bright, inventive and threatening, just didn't score, then they get a goal and the whole thing went flat. 2nd half we had a go and created chances but didn't take them.

I get what Webb is saying but the scoreline reflects what I said, and you are spot on, Chesterfield though are a much different beast if they score first of course. Had it been CFC with the first goal we may be seeing a different outcome. That said Crewe were two nil down to Donny last season after the first leg, so hope springs eternal.

I can't have anyone saying they didn't try though, they did.

[Town_Fan]

Just got back to London after 14 hour day and I'm trying to digest the days events?

1 - Firstly it needs saying, fair play to Cook to getting us into the play offs. I'm a big fan but I think certain things need calling out.

2 - This tie is far from over, you can get hung up on tactics, subs, effort blah de blah but lets be reet Walsall had everything go for them in this game. A stupid penalty and one strike that I think a better keeper handles. Add to that a raft of bizarre decisions, the time wasting that went unpunished and of course their keeper played a blinder. I think if we get a goal this lot will panic, all we need is some of the luck they got today.

3 - Lots of things really disappointed me off the pitch today, this club is absolutely awful at building on opportunities like today. The Fan zone was a joke, the empty store with some old shorts thrown in a box in the corner, people looking to spend and there being sod all clothing wise..

[Siberian Spireite]

Mr Mercury, on 11 May 2025 - 08:06 PM, said:

I won’t it at Saltergate when we beat Oldham 4-2, early 2000s. Made £650, about the time when the done thing was to give some back to the club, I got £500 and donated the rest. Idiot lol

What a match that was. Jamie Burt at his best, Glyn Hurst…. Reevesey for them…..

Anyway, Gordon was for me our least bad player today, but that’s not saying much and I’d start Sparkes in the away leg as we need to attack.

Naylor has well and truly shot it now. Seems he still knows what he needs to do but now simply lacks the physical capability to do it. Comes to us all, I suppose.

[Siberian Spireite]

azul, on 11 May 2025 - 08:50 PM, said:

I had to listen to some gobshite telling anyone who would listen that the team didn't want to reach the playoffs because they had booked their holidays. It was on a bus heading towards Walton where he got off.

Did the bus run over Walton? Hope not.

[jack bauer]

Town_Fan, on 11 May 2025 - 09:22 PM, said:

Just got back to London after 14 hour day and I'm trying to digest the days events?

1 - Firstly it needs saying, fair play to Cook to getting us into the play offs. I'm a big fan but I think certain things need calling out.

2 - This tie is far from over, you can get hung up on tactics, subs, effort blah de blah but lets be reet Walsall had everything go for them in this game. A stupid penalty and one strike that I think a better keeper handles. Add to that a raft of bizarre decisions, the time wasting that went unpunished and of course their keeper played a blinder. I think if we get a goal this lot will panic, all we need is some of the luck they got today.

3 - Lots of things really disappointed me off the pitch today, this club is absolutely awful at building on opportunities like today. The Fan zone was a joke, the empty store with some old shorts thrown in a box in the corner, people looking to spend and there being sod all clothing wise..

irritatingly their keeper did play well, and even more of an acheivement given the 2 "injuries" he sustained in the game... oh hang a second, was he injured? seemed to recover quite well both times, not sour grapes but something has to be done about this hideous tactic.

[Misnomer]

 HaslandBlue58, on 11 May 2025 - 06:54 PM, said:

If you considered Colclough an outlet on that performance I am lost for words.How he was given a start after his efforts of the last two seasons I obviously have to bow to the superior experience of PC.He was continually MIA and his body language,once again,was beyond embarrassing.

And yet, he was the only one to offer a 'threat'. He works well with Sparkes. Maybe Duffy could work well with Mandy....who knows. What I do know is, as I wrote earlier, you can't isolate Grigg like that, you can't play Dobra out wide; Gordon doesn't get forward, so summat has to change, because Walsall are going to set up on Friday night, exactly as they have this afternoon.

So, it's either change the personnel or/and go 3-4-2-1. We need them under the cosh asap, and tapping it around, in front of two tight banks of four, isn't going to reap any reward. We need to overload them in wide areas, pull their defenders and midfielders around, and create space and chances for Grigg and whoever is in behind him, cos we sure as owt aren't capable of playing through them.

As EOC has already pointed out, when employing the system we do, against good opposition that sit back with two banks and playing on the counter, you need the higher calibre players to break them down - we don't have them, so something has to be changed to give us a fighting chance.

[jack bauer]

Misnomer, on 11 May 2025 - 09:40 PM, said:

And yet, he was the only one to offer a 'threat'. He works well with Sparkes. Maybe Duffy could work well with Mandy....who knows. What I do know is, as I wrote earlier, you can't isolate Grigg like that, you can't play Dobra out wide; Gordon doesn't get forward, so summat has to change, because Walsall are going to set up on Friday night, exactly as they have this afternoon.

So, it's either change the personnel or/and go 3-4-2-1. We need them under the cosh asap, and tapping it around, in front of two tight banks of four, isn't going to reap any reward. We need to overload them in wide areas, pull their defenders and midfielders around, and create space and chances for Grigg and whoever is in behind him, cos we sure as owt aren't capable of playing through them.

As EOC has already pointed out, when employing the system we do, against good opposition that sit back with two banks and playing on the counter, you need the higher calibre players to break them down - we don't have them, so something has to be changed to give us a fighting chance.

dobs to start? he is the one who can break the lines, it's a tough one because we need to win 2-0 in 90+ minutes, that gets us to extra time, given dobs is coming back from injury and today was his first football for a month do you play him from the start and accept he won't make 120 mins or do you bring him on in the hope he can do his magic against tired legs and then some.

[Hong Kong Spireite]

 danblue, on 11 May 2025 - 05:54 PM, said:

***TROLL ALERT***

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Gordon never gave the ball away, was comfortable under pressure and kept their winger largely quiet. What else is he supposed to do as a full back? So he wasn’t bombing down the wing at every opportunity like Mandy, but that’s probably also why we conceded 2 goals down the right hand side.

A full back’s primary responsibility is to defend and if you can’t see that Gordon is an excellent defender then you’re the troll.

Nobody really played well yesterday, but Gordon did his job and did it well. Not his fault our attacking players were either not utilised properly or had an off day.

This post has been edited by Hong Kong Spireite: Today, 01:08 AM

[60s 70s Spireite]

 dim view, on 11 May 2025 - 09:13 PM, said:

.... Look at the extended highlights, toss in any number of suggestions that he also passes square or back, and he's still done all that's asked of him.

His only fault is a square throw in. Cook needs to ban them. We are crap at keeping possession from them.

We must be one of the worst L2 sides for retaining possession from our own throw ins. As you say the square one is often the worst.

[Lincs Spireite]

plannerj, on 11 May 2025 - 08:26 PM, said:

It’s easy not to give the ball away when your passing is generally square or, more likely, backwards. Gordon very rarely provides a constructive, meaningful forward pass. I feel sorry for Oldaker; heavily criticised on here but nowhere nearly so negative as Gordon. Constant passing back puts no pressure on the opposition and it always gives them time to re-organise. The % possession at the end of the game looks impressive though!

That's the thing though. Sadler knows how we play, he set up a cast iron midfield block forcing us to go wide or lump it. Sadler out thought Cook. He knew we had too many old players in midfield. Next season we need more power and pace. I would like to see a couple of young versions of Mike Jones , a lightening fast right back and a top drawer striker as a minimum. That's as well as sorting the central defence out.

[The Earl of Chesterfield]

 Town_Fan, on 11 May 2025 - 09:22 PM, said:

Just got back to London after 14 hour day and I'm trying to digest the days events?

1 - Firstly it needs saying, fair play to Cook to getting us into the play offs. I'm a big fan but I think certain things need calling out.

2 - This tie is far from over, you can get hung up on tactics, subs, effort blah de blah but lets be reet Walsall had everything go for them in this game. A stupid penalty and one strike that I think a better keeper handles. Add to that a raft of bizarre decisions, the time wasting that went unpunished and of course their keeper played a blinder. I think if we get a goal this lot will panic, all we need is some of the luck they got today.

3 - Lots of things really disappointed me off the pitch today, this club is absolutely awful at building on opportunities like today. The Fan zone was a joke, the empty store with some old shorts thrown in a box in the corner, people looking to spend and there being sod all clothing wise..

Boot's improved with game time.

Arguably responsible as anyone for us getting to the play offs.

Might've been slightly unsighted but yeah, thought he could've done better with the second...

[Exharboroughspireite]

Lincs Spireite, on 12 May 2025 - 05:13 AM, said:

That's the thing though. Sadler knows how we play, he set up a cast iron midfield block forcing us to go wide or lump it. Sadler out thought Cook. He knew we had too many old players in midfield. Next season we need more power and pace. I would like to see a couple of young versions of Mike Jones , a lightening fast right back and a top drawer striker as a minimum. That's as well as sorting the central defence out.

This is 100 correct re out thinking cook. Pack the middle, watch us do the crescent moon passing in the middle third, don’t let us turn the full back. Repeat.

[dart in the crossbar]

I'm re-watching the full game on sky. Here's a short summary of the first 25 minutes (up to the 'Stand up' chant).

Fleck should have had a yellow for his lunge on their lad near the dugouts. Very fortunate.

Olakigbe slipped but the yellow was justified as he cleaned out their player

Mandeville made a very good tackle on Jellis to prevent him being through on goal on the left edge of the penno area. Best tackle in the period by a country mile.

Olakigbe probably wasn't fouled when he went down and grabbed the ball in the centre circle. Another yellow for him would have been harsh, but he was also a bit lucky to get the foul and not a second yellow. On another day...

Metcalfe made himself available well and was a regular outlet

Several of Fleck's first touches were poor

Colclough got the ball several times from Gordon and looked a threat

Palmer and McFadzean coped ok with their lad

We had a few times when Mandeville and Metcalfe had the ball in their half, looked for a forward pass and then gave the ball back to our CHs. This led to a few periods of square passing across the back

We looked the better footballing side; they did not look anywhere near as good as Bradford City (H) at the same point in the that game.

Oh yes, and the ref was ok.

I'll put myself through the second 25 minutes again and post again later..

This post has been edited by dart in the crossbar: Today, 06:57 AM

[financejon]

HoneyTrippa said:

1746993402[/url]' post='1893380']
On a different note, £1,600 for the 50-50 Draw at HT today. Does anyone know anyone who has ever won on the matchday 50-50. The 50-50 results winners don't seem to get published unlike the Spire Lottery winners.

I won £1083 in March 2011 and won’t forget it mainly because it was the 5-0 win v Rotherham. Collected the cash at half time and a photo was taken being presented with it which was published in the next home game programme!

[Tha Knows...]

dart in the crossbar, on 12 May 2025 - 06:56 AM, said:

I'm re-watching the full game on sky. Here's a short summary of the first 25 minutes (up to the 'Stand up' chant).

Fleck should have had a yellow for his lunge on their lad near the dugouts. Very fortunate.

Olakigbe slipped but the yellow was justified as he cleaned out their player

Mandeville made a very good tackle on Jellis to prevent him being through on goal on the left edge of the penno area. Best tackle in the period by a country mile.

Olakigbe probably wasn't fouled when he went down and grabbed the ball in the centre circle. Another yellow for him would have been harsh, but he was also a bit lucky to get the foul and not a second yellow. On another day...

Metcalfe made himself available well and was a regular outlet

Several of Fleck's first touches were poor

Colclough got the ball several times from Gordon and looked a threat

Palmer and McFadzean coped ok with their lad

We had a few times when Mandeville and Metcalfe had the ball in their half, looked for a forward pass and then gave the ball back to our CHs. This led to a few periods of square passing across the back

We looked the better footballing side; they did not look anywhere near as good as Bradford City (H) at the same point in the that game.

Oh yes, and the ref was ok.

I'll put myself through the second 25 minutes again and post again later..

I'm reviewing my interest in Fleck being retained after yesterday. Olakigbe had played a significant role in our good run but was a car crash. The game largely passes Naylor by...again.

[Bald magician]

Not scrolled back on this thread but the last few posts sum up what I saw. Bitterly disappointing yesterday.

Midfield just didn’t work. Both wingers for us were poor. A bad day at the office.

Yes we still have a faint shout but I will always look to the bigger picture which is very bright

[dart in the crossbar]

25 minutes to half time. From re-watching sky

It looked like a high foot v Colclough at the start of the move that led to their goal. Not given. Naylor stood off their boy Asiimwe, Metcalfe then stood off their boy who got the ball from Asiimwe, then Mandeville stood off their lad before he fouled him. It was a penno, The problem started when we gave them time and space to pick passes in dangerous areas. A very poor goal to concede.

Mandeville put in a good through pass to a forward running Metcalfe into their box (rather than giving the ball to Palmer). Their defender caught Metcalfe and got the ball. A very good tackle. Best one in the second period by some way.

Olakigbe struggled to control the ball and made little progress against the closing down of their players when he had the ball.

Metcalfe and Mandeville were the main midfield outlets. They usually gave the ball back to Palmer.

McFadzean cut out a through ball that would have put them in on goal

Mandeville stood off their boy who crosse the ball for their 2nd goal.

The ball could have gone anywhere when their boy shot and scored

Fleck's first touch and passing was poor at times in the second period

Palmer cleaned out their lad as he was threatening to run down the wing. Should have been a yellow.

We sometimes had the ball in potentially dangerous positions (eg halfway into their half and on the left). We sometimes gave the ball back to our CHs and then slowed the game down. We sometimes ended up in weaker positions that where we started from and with less momentum.

They didn't look better footballers than us on the ball. They closed down better. They moved the ball into dangerous positions better.

Ref did ok

The problems included standing off when they were in threatening positions (the two goals), a lack of forward progress down Olakigbe's wing and a lack of forward progress through the centre.

More to follow

This post has been edited by dart in the crossbar: Today, 07:43 AM

[dart in the crossbar]

half time to 70 minutes (when Palmer hit the bar) From sky

Mandeville put a good pass into the box. Naylor connected well with his head but it was too close to their keeper. On another day...

Unlike the first half, Mandeville often passed the ball forward, usually diagonally rather than to Olakigbe.

Metcalfe began the second half by passing the ball forward more than in the first half.

We closed down one of their attacks well on the edge of our box (Naylor). We put more pressure on them when they had the ball going forwards

Fleck mis-controlled the ball a couple of times and gave the ball away

Gordon passed the ball back to Boot once, arguably twice, when he might have chosen a more positive option. He misplaced a pass once.

Colclough combined well with Gordon who crossed the ball for Mandeville to out in a good shot which their boy headed away. On another day... A similar move saw Mandeville's shot go across their goal. On another day...

Naylor looked to have been fouled on the edge of their box. Again, on another day...

Their boy Gordon ran past Mandeville and put in a very good cross across our goal. Fortunately they had no-one to tap it in.

Palmer did well with his header. Again, on another day...

Ref missed the foul on Naylor otherwise he did ok.

We closed down better; we played the ball forward better.

We looked the better side by some way and could have had a couple of goals at this point. Dobra had just come on

The last bit to follow later

This post has been edited by dart in the crossbar: Today, 08:30 AM

[dtp]

jack bauer, on 11 May 2025 - 09:26 PM, said:

irritatingly their keeper did play well, and even more of an acheivement given the 2 "injuries" he sustained in the game... oh hang a second, was he injured? seemed to recover quite well both times, not sour grapes but something has to be done about this hideous tactic.

Did he only sustain 2 injuries?

I thought it was more.

The one in the first half after he had been poleaxed without anybody being in close proximity to him for 10 minutes looked extremely bad and I was surprised he was able to carry on but he bravely did!!!

[dtp]

jack bauer, on 11 May 2025 - 09:53 PM, said:

dobs to start? he is the one who can break the lines, it's a tough one because we need to win 2-0 in 90+ minutes, that gets us to extra time, given dobs is coming back from injury and today was his first football for a month do you play him from the start and accept he won't make 120 mins or do you bring him on in the hope he can do his magic against tired legs and then some.

What’s more important-

1. To score a couple of goals as quickly as possible, or

2. Play our patient game of inter-passing between the CBs, DM & Goalie until the 70th minute when it becomes substitution time?

I’ll go for the first option, play Dobra centrally until he’s done, take the game by the scruff of the neck to them and, hopefully, bring on the subs when we are level pegging.