Brackley Town V Chester FC - MT #29 - MNLN - 02/11/19

Waring goes close and 2nd sub with Waters coming on for Elliot. Not sure if they're changing formation?

Too true Billy. He's demoralised playing out wide and it's not his position.

Need to get Hughes on

A Crowd of 476 there today, How on earth can they be a decent side going for the Play Offs on that.

Not sure how we aren’t losing this yet, sounds like we’ve had to clear numerous balls off the line!

York 1-1

We can’t be accused of not going for it today every change has been positive and we have had a good go.

York drew 1-1

FT 1-1 happy with that against one of the tougher places to go to. As mentioned above positive subs and also great to hear we were pushing for the winner late on.

Did we play Elliot on the left and Dudley through the middle today?

I'd love to see Elliot given a good go playing in a front 2.

Great result !

We’ll see what Southport are about after they travel to Spennymoor next weekend.

In general it was a drab affair today as the style of football on offer from both sides wasn’t inspiring, but despite us throwing away our lead a draw is still a good result for us. Our performance was rather mixed as we were second best in the first half. Brackley Town were dangerous on the attack, and Lee Ndvolu in particular caused us problems as he held off our defence well. However, we improved in the second period because we were more creative on the ball, and had a couple of golden chances.

The first half wasn’t too exciting as we struggled to play the ball on the deck, hence a lot of it was in the air. Our opponents went close to breaking the deadlock early on as a strong Ellis Myles shot went just past the target. On the 10th minute mark though we silenced Brackley’s promising start as Brad Jackson scored a sensational goal from around 20 yards out to make it 1-0 to us. He had plenty of space to shoot, and his powerful hit looped over Danny Lewis into the back of the net. We died down after that though as the hosts once again were threatening going forward. Our defending was quite poor at times because in some stages we backed away and failed to clear our lines. Our lead only lasted 10 minutes as Thierry Audel equalised for Brackley Town to make it 1-1. I thought that the free kick shouldn’t have been given, but it went in anyway which resulted in Danny Livesey blocking the initial shot. We didn’t go to the ball though which resulted in Audel firing in the rebound past the grasp of Russ Griffiths. Just moments later Shane Byrne went close for the hosts, whilst Griffiths soon pulled off a good block to deny James Armson. It continued to be all Brackley as Armson once again went close - this time heading over, whilst we received a huge let-off before half time. Gary Roberts slipped when in possession which allowed Ndlovu to steal the ball from behind, but fortunately he missed the target when through on goal. Our standards were way below what they should have been as we weren’t creative enough in midfield, and in defence we were all at sea at times. Thankfully half time came soon after for us to regroup.

To our credit we were much better in the second 45 as we played the ball on the ground which allowed us to create more chances. In midfield we sprayed the ball around well with the additions of the two Matty’s, Hughes and Waters, making a positive impact. Brackley had the first chance of the half as once again Russ Griffiths pulled off another impressive stop to shut-out Ellis Myles. Brad Jackson went in search for his second of the game, but sadly his shot wasn’t as accurate as his first because his attempt went out of the ground. Minutes later though we really should have retaken the lead as a strong counter attack from Anthony Dudley played in George Waring, but his tame effort from a few yards out forced Brackley’s ‘keeper to make a simple save. The hosts had some good chances of their own, but our defence was much more alert in this half to block and clear a number of opportunities off the line. At the other end we had another golden chance as Brad Jackson did really well to cross the ball in from the byline, but neither Anthony Dudley or George Waring could connect with the ball to find the winner. Meanwhile, a Luke Fairlamb free kick went over for the hosts 10 minutes from time. Neither side could find the winner, but our second half display was enough for us to grind out a decent result.

There weren’t many bad performances, but there weren’t too many good ones either so I will choose Russ Griffiths as my man of the match today. His goal kicks were very wayward in the first half, but other than that he made a few excellent one-on-one saves to keep us in the game. He wasn’t at fault for Brackley’s goal either so his solid performance can give him confidence. Simon Grand had a decent outing as he made some strong interceptions, and he had to play through the pain barrier because he went down twice. Matty Waters and Matty Hughes changed our style of play when they came on because Waters in particular provided us with more width to get the crosses in. Before that our midfield wasn’t effective so at least he offered us more direction. Hughes made some good runs too and had some neat touches.

We can be pleased with this result, but we must start winning games because the gap between us and the chasing pack is wafer thin which doesn’t breed very well. You just have to look at the likes of Southport and Spennymoor Town who are on red hot form and chasing our heels, so it’s vital we return to our early season form. Our next match is against Alfreton Town at home next Saturday who are another decent side, and anything less than a win will be really poor.

Decent point that against one of the better teams in the division. We need a win soon though.