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Post by Lobster on Mar 17, 2024 2:41:08 GMT
Bishop's Stortford mathematically relegated today. Somehow, they are the only team to beat us by more than one goal under Calum. Being relegated with nine games still to play is pretty crazy - that’s like if Sheffield United were to officially go down after their next game. Must be one of the earliest-ever relegations from this league, and makes that result on the opening day - and the fact they actually played well and were full value for their win - all the more ridiculous. I think all season they've had a bit of a persecution complex about being put in the NL North. I get it's not what they would've wanted, but the teams that have to do the most travelling in this league are the North East ones, so it's not really the disadvantage they seem to think it is. That's not to say that they shouldn't do a much better job of regionalising the non-league pyramid though. The NLN is at the point now where there's barely any point in regionalising it at all - if we're going as far and wide as Blyth, King's Lynn and Bishop's Stortford we may as well be going to London and the South Coast as well.
It's mad that Bishop's Stortford actually won their league last season more convincingly than Tamworth. I've no real evidence for this but I've long suspected the Isthmian League isn't as strong as the other leagues at the same level. There's a lot of teams in a relatively small area there, you'd only have to go down the road from one non-league club and you'd probably find another one. Bit like how you wouldn't expect regional clubs in Luxembourg to be as good as ones in Belgium and the Netherlands.
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Post by Rio Doherty on Mar 17, 2024 4:04:44 GMT
It’s a good draw against the champions-elect. I’d have taken a point all day long, so I’m pleased with the result as we gave an encouraging account of ourselves. We were the better side in my opinion, as we were solid at the back like usual, plus we had a few great chances to win the game. Jas Singh in the Tamworth goal made a couple of remarkable stops to keep The Lambs in it. Firstly when he clawed one of our goal-bound shots away, then after that he denied a powerful Harrison Burke header on the line. We played some nice football out towards the flanks at times, but we still just need to work on our precision in front of goal. For the second time this season I thought we made Tamworth pretty ordinary, and we’ve now taken four points from the runaway leaders. They defended really well to be fair, so you can see why they have the best record in England, although in attack they were ineffective in most parts.
Player-wise, Wyll Stanway was solid again in goal. Although Tamworth didn’t really test him as such, he did the basics right such as claiming crosses/stray balls, and he’ll be happy that his clean sheet tally has gone up to 21 - some going that! Looking forward to hopefully seeing him in an England C shirt this Tuesday. Was good to see Nathan Woodthorpe deservedly back in our side again, and he coped well by restricting Tamworth from getting crosses into the box. Matty Williams and Harrison Burke were their usual solid selves, plus it was nice to see Kevin Roberts back, who gave our backline some security. Our midfielders battled well, and didn’t spend as much time on the ball compared to Tuesday’s lacklustre and draining show. Iwan Murray’s creativity and skill probably helped in that sense, as he put in 100% like normal and made things happen on the ball. Charlie Caton worked his socks off like somebody else has said - he just needs a goal now to get back on track, but on the plus side at least he wasn’t playing out on the wing yesterday 😉.
All in all, it’s an encouraging result, and to be honest it was never really in any doubt as we usually show up against the sides who are up there. I can’t stress this enough, but we seriously need to change our approach to home games, starting from South Shields next Saturday. We play so much better when we’re on the front foot and attack sides, so we need to rediscover that, especially at the Deva which can be a frightening place for visiting teams when we turn up. I don’t understand why we’ve dropped off at home since Christmas (with the exception of a couple of games), because prior to that we had finally found a formula and appeared to learn from last season, but recently our standards have dropped. South Shields are still in the play-off picture, so hopefully they will give us a game which’ll suit us, and to be honest, they don’t strike me as the type of side who’d sit back and frustrate us anyway. Hopefully it’ll be like the Scarborough Athletic clash, and if so then happy days. Three more wins should do it for us, so the sooner we do that the better to keep the pressure off. Well done for yesterday lads, but the hard work starts now.
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Post by Rio Doherty on Mar 17, 2024 4:09:40 GMT
It was a dismal and lacklustre showing against Southport, as we deserved nothing from the game. I’m just hoping that the defeat will give us a wake-up call - similar to the Spennymoor Town game last season when we were on a run of draws before that one as well. Tamworth are champions-elect and have been absolutely phenomenal all season - conceding just 22 goals, which is the best defensive record in the country. They were a very ordinary side when we beat them in the reverse fixture, however you cannot fault their record overall, so we must’ve caught them on a rare off-day. They need just 10 more points to be crowned champions, so it might be a more competitive game than usual, which should suit us as we perform better when the opposition goes for it. Really wouldn’t surprise me if we were to get a result today, as has often been the case against the top sides away from home. We probably need three more wins to secure a place in the top seven. I’m not expecting one today, but from next week onwards we really need to get at teams and give it absolutely everything to show that we are capable of reaching the play-offs. We’ve only had ourselves to blame in recent weeks, and we ought to pull ourselves together as we can’t let this slip. This is somewhat of a rarity for me, but considering both us and Tamworth have the two best defences in the league, I’m going for a 0-0, which I’d be content with. We’ve sold 800 so far, which is tremendous support given the disappointing run we’re on. Can’t wait for my second trip to the Lamb Ground. Score - Tamworth 0-0 Chester FC.Attendance - 2,172 (756 Chester FC). Called it! |
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Post by agl on Mar 17, 2024 9:08:42 GMT
Being relegated with nine games still to play is pretty crazy - that’s like if Sheffield United were to officially go down after their next game. Must be one of the earliest-ever relegations from this league, and makes that result on the opening day - and the fact they actually played well and were full value for their win - all the more ridiculous. I think all season they've had a bit of a persecution complex about being put in the NL North. I get it's not what they would've wanted, but the teams that have to do the most travelling in this league are the North East ones, so it's not really the disadvantage they seem to think it is. That's not to say that they shouldn't do a much better job of regionalising the non-league pyramid though. The NLN is at the point now where there's barely any point in regionalising it at all - if we're going as far and wide as Blyth, King's Lynn and Bishop's Stortford we may as well be going to London and the South Coast as well.
It's mad that Bishop's Stortford actually won their league last season more convincingly than Tamworth. I've no real evidence for this but I've long suspected the Isthmian League isn't as strong as the other leagues at the same level. There's a lot of teams in a relatively small area there, you'd only have to go down the road from one non-league club and you'd probably find another one. Bit like how you wouldn't expect regional clubs in Luxembourg to be as good as ones in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Tend to disagree on the strength of the Isthmian...seen a lot of the Premier over the past three seasons as I'm exiled on the south coast and picked Lewes as my second team. Most of the clubs pretty much have London as their catchment area for player recruitment so get some excellent players. Two Lewes players have gone to football league clubs (Cardiff and Sutton) in the past two seasons. Having said that Bishops were a bit of a surprise package last season...there were much better footballing sides such as Hornchurch but much like Tamworth in our league they just seemed to gel. Incidentally Lewes did the double over them! Edit. And we were abysmal all over the pitch at BS. Unfortunate we played them away so early. Lewis Earl ended up at centre half and Kole Hall couldn't trap a ball of cement that day as I recall |
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Post by jimianto on Mar 17, 2024 9:12:39 GMT
Being relegated with nine games still to play is pretty crazy - that’s like if Sheffield United were to officially go down after their next game. Must be one of the earliest-ever relegations from this league, and makes that result on the opening day - and the fact they actually played well and were full value for their win - all the more ridiculous. I think all season they've had a bit of a persecution complex about being put in the NL North. I get it's not what they would've wanted, but the teams that have to do the most travelling in this league are the North East ones, so it's not really the disadvantage they seem to think it is. That's not to say that they shouldn't do a much better job of regionalising the non-league pyramid though. The NLN is at the point now where there's barely any point in regionalising it at all - if we're going as far and wide as Blyth, King's Lynn and Bishop's Stortford we may as well be going to London and the South Coast as well.
It's mad that Bishop's Stortford actually won their league last season more convincingly than Tamworth. I've no real evidence for this but I've long suspected the Isthmian League isn't as strong as the other leagues at the same level. There's a lot of teams in a relatively small area there, you'd only have to go down the road from one non-league club and you'd probably find another one. Bit like how you wouldn't expect regional clubs in Luxembourg to be as good as ones in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Needham Market (Near Ipswich) likely to be in this league next season too |
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Post by bonecrusher on Mar 17, 2024 9:23:22 GMT
Torn between the fact that it's a good away point and the fact that we are 6 without a win and 3 without scoring
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Post by spencerwhelanleftpeg on Mar 17, 2024 10:03:38 GMT
Rio great summary that and the score between United v Liverpool will be?
I do hope we can get these three wins required.
We really need to improve in front of goal as we should have won that yesterday . They were happy with a point given 10
Points from six games guarantees the title.
They are nothing special . I think they lost a few in January window and are now limping onwards with what’s left. Solid at the back to be fair.
Our approach at home may need revamping slightly ?
Let’s hope these 3 wins materialise no reason why they shouldn’t .
Great following yesterday .
Their ground is typical rubbish that goes hand in hand in this league .
They said although I didn’t have anything their catering looked reasonable .
Well done to Cal and the lads yesterday plus all those that travelled
Great atmosphere .
Now let’s kick on and secure this play off spot.
Btw has anybody else thought that pending on who we get should we make it we might be restricted to something daft like 500 tickets ?
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Post by agl on Mar 17, 2024 10:18:29 GMT
Rio great summary that and the score between United v Liverpool will be? I do hope we can get these three wins required. We really need to improve in front of goal as we should have won that yesterday . They were happy with a point given 10 Points from six games guarantees the title. They are nothing special . I think they lost a few in January window and are now limping onwards with what’s left. Solid at the back to be fair. Our approach at home may need revamping slightly ? Let’s hope these 3 wins materialise no reason why they shouldn’t . Great following yesterday . Their ground is typical rubbish that goes hand in hand in this league . They said although I didn’t have anything their catering looked reasonable . Well done to Cal and the lads yesterday plus all those that travelled Great atmosphere . Now let’s kick on and secure this play off spot. Btw has anybody else thought that pending on who we get should we make it we might be restricted to something daft like 500 tickets ? Maybe worry about that when we are actually in the play offs...I'm more concerned right now about where at least three wins are coming from. What is on the face of it a great point yesterday hasn't really helped our overall situation. |
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Post by moldcestrian on Mar 17, 2024 12:10:21 GMT
This gets banded about quite a bit by some, but South Shields really is a must win game.
Let’s get everyone behind the lads, they don’t need the negativity that can flow from the crowd when it’s not going well.
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Post by noddy on Mar 17, 2024 12:57:01 GMT
This gets banded about quite a bit by some, but South Shields really is a must win game. Let’s get everyone behind the lads, they don’t need the negativity that can flow from the crowd when it’s not going well. It is a must win again yes. The crowd have been very quiet the last 3 games, as there have been very little on the pitch to encourage the crowd. Not heard any negativity either, just a general acceptance of what out home performances have been like mainly. The performance improves in an attacking way, the crowd will naturally get behind and encourage. Down to Callum and the players to find the solutions. |
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Post by nytram on Mar 17, 2024 13:04:38 GMT
Bit of an obvious statistic but apart from teams who draw alot of games. I tend to think the teams who win the most games get higher in the league and the ones who lose the most are at the bottom. At the moment we have won the same or less than the teams between us and 13th place. Going to be the same as last year when I think 12 teams could get into the top 4,5,6 & 7.
Worst thing is I won't be able to go to South Shields or Darlington games!
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Post by devadiva on Mar 17, 2024 18:10:04 GMT
Hope Darlo continue to fly and get safe well before our game against them. Last thing we need is both of us needing to win to avoid relegation/get into play offs… if that happens I worry Steve Watson will come back to haunt us. 😬
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Post by martyntrumpcaster on Mar 18, 2024 14:43:20 GMT
I didn't make it to Tamworth. How was the atmosphere? And if it was good how can we take that on to our remaining home games?
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Post by noddy on Mar 18, 2024 15:30:32 GMT
I didn't make it to Tamworth. How was the atmosphere? And if it was good how can we take that on to our remaining home games? Give the crowd something to get behind and encourage. |
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Post by southernblue on Mar 21, 2024 21:12:16 GMT
I didn't make it to Tamworth. How was the atmosphere? And if it was good how can we take that on to our remaining home games? Good atmosphere, sang most of the game. |
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Post by yoshimitsu on Mar 22, 2024 22:28:26 GMT
No highlights up yet as far as I can tell.
No real excuse for that at this level.
Annoying!
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