| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? 07:04 - Feb 12 with 2238 views | Dubtractor |
Genuinely wasn't sure what to feel like as we walked home afterwards!
We'd gradually eeking control of the game up to the penalty incident, we then utterly imploded after missing it. And what a terrible penalty it was - bloody hell, talk about messing up a golden opportunity to take charge of the afternoon. What is our penalty record this season? We must have missed almost as many as we've scored.
What followed from that was disastrous, we looked an absolute mess, Michael Smith was unplayable, our pass completion terrible. If Smith was as good with his feet as with his head it would have been game over.
Then, for all the talk of our lack of character, we rallied at the end of the first half to get the goal, then utterly dominated the second half. The defence successfully snuffed out their threat, our passing was faster and sharper, and there was only one likely winner from the point we equalised.
And yet.....we failed to get that.
So, at the start of the game it was a must win, at two nil down we'd have snapped several hands off if offered a draw, and then at the end it still somehow felt like a missed opportunity despite having been two nil down.
Looking at the positives (which I always try to), we showed enormous character to come back from that first half spell. However slim the chance might be, we're still just about in it, but it needs to be a minimum 13 points from the next 5. |  |
| |  |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 07:18 - Feb 12 with 2179 views | tractorboy1978 |
I think we've scored 2 from 5 penalties. Chaplin has now missed two - both terrible penalties from the best finisher at the club.
We need to win the next 5 - all against teams in terrible form and 4 of them against the current bottom 7. Then hope at the end of that the two above us have dropped a few points.
Anyone who doesn't believe in momentum/the psychological aspect of football should be shown a tape of yesterdays game because it was there in abundance for both sides. We score that penalty it's a different game - but we were shot for 15 minutes after that miss. Then in one swing of Broadhead's right boot they went from being infallible at 2-0 up to looking fragile at 2-1 - even getting in the refs ear as they went off the pitch, they were rattled. |  | | |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 10:30 - Feb 12 with 2010 views | LankHenners |
Yeah I was similarly conflicted and was surprised to see it quite so negative on here! Thankfully McKenna and the players have cooler heads and are made of stronger stuff than a lot of the fans and he’s right to take the positives to try and propel us into the sort of form needed for top 2 now.
We came back from 2 down against a team that this season have been masters of holding onto leads and actually had them on the ropes a bit for a good chunk of the 2nd half, then held out a spell at the end of the game where we were having to defend a lot of balls being chucked into the box from crosses and set pieces which we’ve struggled with at times this season. Think Davis summed it up quite neatly afterwards - we’ve shown we have the ability to do what’s needed but need to do it from the off and have more belief in ourselves.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen us play against Michael Smith but I’m sure every time we’ve never been able to deal with him, and once the north stand gave him the ‘who are ya’ it pretty much set it in stone that he’d score.
Anyway, I think Stu Watson was right afterwards to say was it a must win? Maybe. Was it a must not lose? Almost definitely. The maybe is because we have a very good opportunity now to make it a decent looking point. Has to be 5 wins from 5 really both from the point of view that they’re (apart from Bristol arguably) as easy a run of fixtures as you could hope for and also we can really give up on top 2 if we don’t hit a winning streak.
Hopefully yesterday can be a catalyst for better form. I’m not too confident it will be but we gotta hope! |  |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 10:34 - Feb 12 with 1977 views | Wickets |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 10:30 - Feb 12 by LankHenners |
Yeah I was similarly conflicted and was surprised to see it quite so negative on here! Thankfully McKenna and the players have cooler heads and are made of stronger stuff than a lot of the fans and he’s right to take the positives to try and propel us into the sort of form needed for top 2 now.
We came back from 2 down against a team that this season have been masters of holding onto leads and actually had them on the ropes a bit for a good chunk of the 2nd half, then held out a spell at the end of the game where we were having to defend a lot of balls being chucked into the box from crosses and set pieces which we’ve struggled with at times this season. Think Davis summed it up quite neatly afterwards - we’ve shown we have the ability to do what’s needed but need to do it from the off and have more belief in ourselves.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen us play against Michael Smith but I’m sure every time we’ve never been able to deal with him, and once the north stand gave him the ‘who are ya’ it pretty much set it in stone that he’d score.
Anyway, I think Stu Watson was right afterwards to say was it a must win? Maybe. Was it a must not lose? Almost definitely. The maybe is because we have a very good opportunity now to make it a decent looking point. Has to be 5 wins from 5 really both from the point of view that they’re (apart from Bristol arguably) as easy a run of fixtures as you could hope for and also we can really give up on top 2 if we don’t hit a winning streak.
Hopefully yesterday can be a catalyst for better form. I’m not too confident it will be but we gotta hope! |
I see what you are saying but so many of these games that on paper we will win end up as draws IE. Cambridge Fleetwood Lincoln so 5 wins ? |  | | |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 11:57 - Feb 12 with 1892 views | LankHenners |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 10:34 - Feb 12 by Wickets |
I see what you are saying but so many of these games that on paper we will win end up as draws IE. Cambridge Fleetwood Lincoln so 5 wins ? |
Yeah that’s why I said I’m not so confident it will actually play out like that but on the other hand all 5 of these games are against teams that we’ve already beaten with a degree of comfort this season. | |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:01 - Feb 12 with 1878 views | pointofblue |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 10:30 - Feb 12 by LankHenners |
Yeah I was similarly conflicted and was surprised to see it quite so negative on here! Thankfully McKenna and the players have cooler heads and are made of stronger stuff than a lot of the fans and he’s right to take the positives to try and propel us into the sort of form needed for top 2 now.
We came back from 2 down against a team that this season have been masters of holding onto leads and actually had them on the ropes a bit for a good chunk of the 2nd half, then held out a spell at the end of the game where we were having to defend a lot of balls being chucked into the box from crosses and set pieces which we’ve struggled with at times this season. Think Davis summed it up quite neatly afterwards - we’ve shown we have the ability to do what’s needed but need to do it from the off and have more belief in ourselves.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen us play against Michael Smith but I’m sure every time we’ve never been able to deal with him, and once the north stand gave him the ‘who are ya’ it pretty much set it in stone that he’d score.
Anyway, I think Stu Watson was right afterwards to say was it a must win? Maybe. Was it a must not lose? Almost definitely. The maybe is because we have a very good opportunity now to make it a decent looking point. Has to be 5 wins from 5 really both from the point of view that they’re (apart from Bristol arguably) as easy a run of fixtures as you could hope for and also we can really give up on top 2 if we don’t hit a winning streak.
Hopefully yesterday can be a catalyst for better form. I’m not too confident it will be but we gotta hope! |
From memory, Woolfenden controlled Smith very well at Hillsbrough - similar to the second half yesterday. He only scored when Keogh came on, resulting in a rejigged defence. | |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:01 - Feb 12 with 1881 views | Dubtractor |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 11:57 - Feb 12 by LankHenners |
Yeah that’s why I said I’m not so confident it will actually play out like that but on the other hand all 5 of these games are against teams that we’ve already beaten with a degree of comfort this season. |
Worth noting, Cambridge away aside, we've beaten all of those bottom teams every time we've played them so far this season. | |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:14 - Feb 12 with 1832 views | LankHenners |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:01 - Feb 12 by pointofblue |
From memory, Woolfenden controlled Smith very well at Hillsbrough - similar to the second half yesterday. He only scored when Keogh came on, resulting in a rejigged defence. |
Probably fair enough I can't remember too much specifically about that game - think then (for 70 mins anyway) and 2nd half yesterday we did a better job of dealing with them in general so weren't getting done by losing individual battles.
Think Woolfenden's done a good job against the physical strikers this season in general actually, for me he should be inked on the team sheet. | |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:19 - Feb 12 with 1803 views | LankHenners |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:01 - Feb 12 by Dubtractor |
Worth noting, Cambridge away aside, we've beaten all of those bottom teams every time we've played them so far this season. |
Good point, understandably I guess it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking the sky is falling down when in reality we're still a very good side more than capable of getting the results we need. Obviously the frustrating thing is we've let ourselves down a few more times than allowable so far and need to find a way to turn being much better into getting the win over the line. | |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:23 - Feb 12 with 1775 views | pointofblue |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:01 - Feb 12 by Dubtractor |
Worth noting, Cambridge away aside, we've beaten all of those bottom teams every time we've played them so far this season. |
Draws at home are the killer. Both us and Plymouth have only lost one game at home all season, and we’ve picked up four more points away, yet they’re eight points ahead of us. | |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:26 - Feb 12 with 1753 views | unstableblue |
Couple of things:
Once McKenna made a system tweak we ripped them apart in that second half, they couldn’t handle it and it was a joy to watch and the Portman Crowd roared.
You are right to point out just how positive it was that we kept them at bay and snubbed out their crosses and attacking threat… we did very well to no them concede in the final 5-15mins. Think this is being overlooked
But my big takeaway is that there attacking players were of a higher quality that ours. Think Chaplin was poor - YET AGAIN - poor penalty, although a lively volley second half he’s too patchy.
But come on Bannan, Vaulks, Byers, Smith and Windass! They’re another level to our boys… who in Broadhead, Hirst are young. Chaplin and Harness way too inconsistent.
We had that firepower with the way we have dominated games this season and our XG, we’d be run away leaders.
Both their goals were attacking quality. And the should have had a third. |  |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:26 - Feb 12 with 1750 views | ericclacton |
I agree. There must be someone in that team who could put their laces through the ball, i would have pulled that clown off if i was manager, then came the two goals whilst we were having a doze, at that point i nearly walked out, ok we woke up thanks to Broadhead and the deflected goal but dear oh dear what a feeble attempt after that and the changes off the bench we just went flat again, something not right there and i think promotion has gone.
 |  | | |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 16:40 - Feb 12 with 1529 views | Garv |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 10:30 - Feb 12 by LankHenners |
Yeah I was similarly conflicted and was surprised to see it quite so negative on here! Thankfully McKenna and the players have cooler heads and are made of stronger stuff than a lot of the fans and he’s right to take the positives to try and propel us into the sort of form needed for top 2 now.
We came back from 2 down against a team that this season have been masters of holding onto leads and actually had them on the ropes a bit for a good chunk of the 2nd half, then held out a spell at the end of the game where we were having to defend a lot of balls being chucked into the box from crosses and set pieces which we’ve struggled with at times this season. Think Davis summed it up quite neatly afterwards - we’ve shown we have the ability to do what’s needed but need to do it from the off and have more belief in ourselves.
I’m not sure how many times I’ve seen us play against Michael Smith but I’m sure every time we’ve never been able to deal with him, and once the north stand gave him the ‘who are ya’ it pretty much set it in stone that he’d score.
Anyway, I think Stu Watson was right afterwards to say was it a must win? Maybe. Was it a must not lose? Almost definitely. The maybe is because we have a very good opportunity now to make it a decent looking point. Has to be 5 wins from 5 really both from the point of view that they’re (apart from Bristol arguably) as easy a run of fixtures as you could hope for and also we can really give up on top 2 if we don’t hit a winning streak.
Hopefully yesterday can be a catalyst for better form. I’m not too confident it will be but we gotta hope! |
Sadly, there's no way we're winning five on the bounce. We've won three in a row once this season, maybe two. Five in a row? Can't see it. |  |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 17:43 - Feb 12 with 1404 views | JimmyJazz |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 07:18 - Feb 12 by tractorboy1978 |
I think we've scored 2 from 5 penalties. Chaplin has now missed two - both terrible penalties from the best finisher at the club.
We need to win the next 5 - all against teams in terrible form and 4 of them against the current bottom 7. Then hope at the end of that the two above us have dropped a few points.
Anyone who doesn't believe in momentum/the psychological aspect of football should be shown a tape of yesterdays game because it was there in abundance for both sides. We score that penalty it's a different game - but we were shot for 15 minutes after that miss. Then in one swing of Broadhead's right boot they went from being infallible at 2-0 up to looking fragile at 2-1 - even getting in the refs ear as they went off the pitch, they were rattled. |
We've scored 3 in 6 penalties
Evans, Wes and Chaplin scored
Chaplin 2 and Jackson missed
Think it's time for a new penalty taker [Post edited 12 Feb 2023 17:58]
|  |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 19:42 - Feb 12 with 1288 views | BOBD |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:26 - Feb 12 by unstableblue |
Couple of things:
Once McKenna made a system tweak we ripped them apart in that second half, they couldn’t handle it and it was a joy to watch and the Portman Crowd roared.
You are right to point out just how positive it was that we kept them at bay and snubbed out their crosses and attacking threat… we did very well to no them concede in the final 5-15mins. Think this is being overlooked
But my big takeaway is that there attacking players were of a higher quality that ours. Think Chaplin was poor - YET AGAIN - poor penalty, although a lively volley second half he’s too patchy.
But come on Bannan, Vaulks, Byers, Smith and Windass! They’re another level to our boys… who in Broadhead, Hirst are young. Chaplin and Harness way too inconsistent.
We had that firepower with the way we have dominated games this season and our XG, we’d be run away leaders.
Both their goals were attacking quality. And the should have had a third. |
I pretty much agree with all you say.
Too many of our fans are blinded by our possession stats etc. Mamy have said they weren’t impressed with Wednesday but like you I beg to differ.
In terms of chances created yesterday, I think the best ones were nearly all for Wednesday. Discounting the penalty I’d say in order of when they happened the best chances of the match were:-
Smith when 0-0
Smith goal
Byers goal
Smith straight after 2nd goal when he really should’ve finished us off.
Flint near the end.
Which chances did we create on a par with those? Maybe Ladapo? | | | |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 19:43 - Feb 12 with 1281 views | southnorfolkblue |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 17:43 - Feb 12 by JimmyJazz |
We've scored 3 in 6 penalties
Evans, Wes and Chaplin scored
Chaplin 2 and Jackson missed
Think it's time for a new penalty taker [Post edited 12 Feb 2023 17:58]
|
Would have thought Broadhead is the obvious one to try | |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 09:52 - Feb 13 with 958 views | Steve_M |
Yes, I had very mixed feelings after that. It was still a big missed opportunity but coming back from 2-0, and the 25 minute spell between the penalty miss and Broadhead's goal, against a very resilient defensive team* is to be enjoyed. We were far more likely winners after that but never quite managed to get an opportunity right - Jackson holding back from attacking Humphreys cross looked a really good one right a the very end.
Our biggest problem at the moment is clearly confidence, we've stopped believing we can win matches and for the second match in a week responded really badly to one set back (Knibbs' goal last week lead to a similarly inept spell). I just hope that that comeback gives us the belief to start winning matches regularly again, a bit like the comeback to 3-3 at Bramhall Lane in the cup in 2003 did, we didn't win that one either but all of the other comeback wins under Royle stemmed from that match.
It's really simple now though: win Tuesday, and move onto Saturday. One match at a time, get some belief back into the team and build on it. It might be too late for automatic promotion (but that's not over just yet) but the more wins we get between now and the end of the season the better we'll be for the play-offs.
*Just looked it up, Wednesday have conceded nine goals away from home all season. [Post edited 13 Feb 2023 10:59]
|  |
| |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 11:26 - Feb 13 with 877 views | Bluefields |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:26 - Feb 12 by unstableblue |
Couple of things:
Once McKenna made a system tweak we ripped them apart in that second half, they couldn’t handle it and it was a joy to watch and the Portman Crowd roared.
You are right to point out just how positive it was that we kept them at bay and snubbed out their crosses and attacking threat… we did very well to no them concede in the final 5-15mins. Think this is being overlooked
But my big takeaway is that there attacking players were of a higher quality that ours. Think Chaplin was poor - YET AGAIN - poor penalty, although a lively volley second half he’s too patchy.
But come on Bannan, Vaulks, Byers, Smith and Windass! They’re another level to our boys… who in Broadhead, Hirst are young. Chaplin and Harness way too inconsistent.
We had that firepower with the way we have dominated games this season and our XG, we’d be run away leaders.
Both their goals were attacking quality. And the should have had a third. |
2nd half was even I thought. Could have gone either way. | | | |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 11:33 - Feb 13 with 845 views | Steve_M |
| What a weird, annoying, entertaining game that was? on 12:26 - Feb 12 by unstableblue |
Couple of things:
Once McKenna made a system tweak we ripped them apart in that second half, they couldn’t handle it and it was a joy to watch and the Portman Crowd roared.
You are right to point out just how positive it was that we kept them at bay and snubbed out their crosses and attacking threat… we did very well to no them concede in the final 5-15mins. Think this is being overlooked
But my big takeaway is that there attacking players were of a higher quality that ours. Think Chaplin was poor - YET AGAIN - poor penalty, although a lively volley second half he’s too patchy.
But come on Bannan, Vaulks, Byers, Smith and Windass! They’re another level to our boys… who in Broadhead, Hirst are young. Chaplin and Harness way too inconsistent.
We had that firepower with the way we have dominated games this season and our XG, we’d be run away leaders.
Both their goals were attacking quality. And the should have had a third. |
I'm still fairly positive, but this bit is just excuse making:
"But come on Bannan, Vaulks, Byers, Smith and Windass! They’re another level to our boys… who in Broadhead, Hirst are young. Chaplin and Harness way too inconsistent."
They aren't better than players we have, they are better than League 1 standard granted but so are many our players. Wednesday are in much better form than us and that showed on Saturday but we need to improve our play not make excuses. [Post edited 13 Feb 2023 13:32]
| |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
