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Viewpoint: Forest Green Rovers - 06/08/2022
Written by scants_itfc_88 on Sunday, 7th Aug 2022 17:58

First three points on the board but we don't make it comfortable for ourselves.

It is always vital to get those first three points on the board. Something which took us seven games last season happened at just the second time of asking this year. That can only be seen as an improvement.

Our record against the newly-promoted teams last season was nothing less than woeful. So notching a win at the first attempt, and away from home, is great for Town.

For Forest Green, it was the biggest league game in the club's history, a cup final in a sense and as you would expect they went into the match up for it, hoping to take advantage of a side that they will know has a bad habit of throwing away points against the more average league sides.

Credit to them, they remained in the fight until the final whistle and created some moments which could have easily seen them take a point from the game.

I don't know if anyone else felt the same, but when we scored the second right on half-time, there was a small part of me that became anxious. Last year, 2-2 was a horrible scoreline for us. We never came from 2-0 down against a good side to earn a point, it was always throwing a way a lead to the bottom teams that resulted in that scoreline. Or at least that is how it felt.

There was a short spell in the second half where it looked like that was exactly what Town were going to do again. Only an offside flag and a fantastic double save from Christian Walton helped Town to retain the lead, before they took control again.

In the end, it was a professional performance that saw us end the game on top. But not before they created a few nail-biting moments for us fans.

The standard of the three goals Town have scored this year has been very high. Marcus Harness took no prisoners as he smashed the first past the goalkeeper, after Freddie Ladapo's shot rebounded back to him. That was before Sam Morsy entered his Goal of the Month contender with a fine curled finish into the top corner from the edge of the box.

Many people have spoken about the expected goal return of the captain this year and, after missing the match-winning chance late on at Bolton, he made up for it this weekend with what turned out to be the winner. It was another man of the match performance from the player we have come to expect so much of.

Across the pitch Town dominated possession, stringing together some great passing moves. Bringing Leif Davis and Janoi Donocien into the game in almost every attack, we were able to peg Forest Green back in their own half for much of the 90 minutes. It was an improved performance from Davis, but there is still a lot more to come from him by the looks of it.

Our left hand side in general was much improved this week, and whilst we still saw good play from Greg Leigh and Tyreece John-Jules when they entered the field, it wasn't the same level above after the substitutions as we saw last week.

Talking of substitutions, it must be terrifying for defenders who are tiring in the game seeing Sone Aluko, John-Jules and Kayden Jackson coming on. There are not many clubs in this division who can offer as much quality throughout the depth of their squad.

Kieran McKenna was forced into one change before the game with Luke Woolfenden coming down with illness. Cameron Burgess had a solid, if not stand-out, performance for his first game of the season. He won several headers and made some good blocks, but was probably lucky to still be on the pitch at the end.

I can only think it was the pace and angle on the through-ball that deterred the referee from showing him the red card as he pulled down the Forest Green striker. On another day though, Town may have had to see that out with ten men. I do like Cam Burgess, but he is not going to replace any of the starting three and may find himself battling with Corrie Ndaba to regularly start on the bench.

He will be hoping to start on Tuesday again, when we will most likely see several changes to the team as the EFL trophy gets under way against Colchester (or Ipswich B, as I like to call them!)

The stat that did rear it's ugly head once again was 20 shots, 10 on target and two goals. Our conversion rate has got to improve. One in ten chances taken will make picking up wins against the top teams an uphill battle, as we won't get 20 shots on goal against many teams.

Ladapo will get goals, I am sure of it, but there was a hint that he was trying too hard to get his first. It will come. However, I have faith in McKenna and Mark Ashton to bring another goalscorer in before the window closes and so Ladapo knows that he will have more competition soon.

Overall, four points from the opening two games is something to be happy about. Especially as Peterborough are the only team in the division to pick up six. Tied -econd may be an overly optimstic way to look at it, but it's three points more than we had last season, a win against a newly promoted side and only throwing away half of a 2-0 lead.

The Highs

Two superb finishes shows that Town do have quality in front of goal - we just need to see it happen more often. Another great performance from Walton and Morsy continues to show that the spine of our team is excellent, and we just need to tidy up some of the other parts.

It was also great to see the club follow-up on feedback from the fans regarding the big screen and iFollow. They acknowledged where errors were made and have strived to put it right.

For iFollow, I must admit, the quality of the commentary was much improved from the first game and it was great to have Nick Hayes as a guest to talk about the things they had worked on in training as the game progressed.

The Lows

There was a spell in the second half where Town did not look like they could see out a comfortable lead. They corrected it in the end, but a team with a bit more quality oculd have turned that one round. We need to work on seeing out games better.

Overall the referee did not have a bad game, but where nine minutes of stoppage time come from, only he and his fourth official will know. Thankfully, it didn't cost us otherwise the groans about the officials would be greatly emphasised.

Next Up

Onwards to Colchester. Let's get a cup win under the belt and try and get a run together this year. We have the squad for it, if it is used in the correct way.

Next in League One it's MK Dons. They are a team we have always drawn against in recent years. However, they have had a slow start and are in a similar boat to us last year where a lot of new players need time to gel.

Losing Scott Twine and Harry Darling are big losses for them, but Liam Manning has great potential to turn it around. Let's hope that comes after another game or two though, as this is a great opportunity for a first home win of the season and a good base to kick on from.

Uppa Town




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BlueHope22 added 21:38 - Aug 7
Very enjoyable read.
1

oldelsworthyfan added 17:17 - Aug 9
Sir Alf reckoned it would be realistic to be able to score from 'one in three' of opportunities, so where would that leave us from 20 shots at goal? Six?
He bought Ray Crawford, which also turned Ted Phillips into the hottest striker in the league!


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