Match Discussion: FA Trophy semi-final: Hornchurch (H)

[PON_News]

FA Trophy semi-final - The Urchins (H)

Team: Hornchurch

Date: 27/03/2021

Where: Meadow Lane

What line-up should [insert name of new/caretaker manager here] opt for? What will be the key areas for the Magpies to get a victory? What do you think the final score will be?

Have your say below, join in with the Pride of Nottingham match discussion.

[DangerousSausage]

Well, isn't this absolutely pathetic? 

[Dripsey3]

We have just witnessed the worst result in the club's history. The absolute worst. I need a drink and I don't drink!

[Dripsey3]

Right we need a good excuse. We are concentrating on the league? We didn't want to go to Wembley for fear of spreading COVID accidentally? We had loads of injuries? I'm really struggling......

[menzinho]

The worst possible start for Burchnall. And the worst possible way to lose that (apart from getting thumped like 5-0).

Pfft…

3 goals against a team levels below should’ve been more than enough. We were so open at times and it felt like Hornchurch were only one good ball away from being in. The fact we’ve struggled of late passing out from the back I thought we’d mix it up a bit more, especially as Wootton looked good in the air today and there’s been very little time to rectify it on the training ground. So poor from us though, half of that Hornchurch team didn’t look fit (kindest way of putting it!). Fair play to them.

Would have been interesting what some fans would’ve made of Ardley starting Reeves and Doyle in CM again and then bringing off Rodrigues for O’Brien early on. Also thought Kean shouting to put their player off taking his pen was petty and unnecessary, no fans I know but they didn’t do it when Kyle stepped up first.

Positives from today. Sutton drew with Halifax... 

[Feral Fox]

Again and again, we lost the game through sloppy passing, lacking concentration and a piss poor midfield.

Reeves, Doyle and JoB all together in the midfield again at the end. Not good enough and hope IB has seen enough already to see that trio can’t and won’t work. Thought Reeves was appalling today.

[ARLukomski]

We've carried on the performances from Ardley's last games during his tenure. This isn't to do with Burchnall, it's to do with the players. That performance today was exactly like the ones we've been putting in, over the last month and a bit. The attitude and mentality of the players today was appalling. 3 times we went ahead and 3 times we thought the job was done. We absolutely deserve to be laughed at by everyone for that. It's disgusting, embarrassing and pathetic. 

We started decent as well, pinging the ball around with pace but the second half performance was dreadful. Didn't look bothered and we went back to how we've been playing recently. There is a serious need for some midfielders who run and create. I can't tell you how annoying and frustrating it is watching our centre midfielders just wander about. Reeves was horrendous and at times just had the ball at his feet and didn't have a clue what he was doing. 

Slocombe needs to be spoken to as well. That kick for the first goal was woeful and it lead to them equalising at 1-1. Also somehow managed to score an own-goal in the penalty shootout when it hit his legs. Unimpressed with Jake Kean's actions and I'm glad the bench told him to shut up. Jordan Barnett needs to learn how to control a ball since every time he had a first touch, it went to the moon. Thought Miller did ok and got into some good areas but his influenced stopped in the second half.

Whilst I am no manager and never will be and I'm not going to pretend to know best as to what we need to do, I've got a "what players would I release in the summer list" going on at the moment and after today, three players were added to it.

Players need to take a long hard look at themselves and I hope Ian and Mo realise what needs to be done.

[Elite_pie]

1 hour ago, ARLukomski said:

We've carried on the performances from Ardley's last games during his tenure. This isn't to do with Burchnall, it's to do with the players. That performance today was exactly like the ones we've been putting in, over the last month and a bit. The attitude and mentality of the players today was appalling. 3 times we went ahead and 3 times we thought the job was done. We absolutely deserve to be laughed at by everyone for that. It's disgusting, embarrassing and pathetic. 

Excellent summary and just what I wanted to say, the players should be hanging their heads in shame.  We weren't beaten by a better team, we were beaten by a team that simply wanted it more.  The only consolation is that our complete and utter embarrassment won't figure much  in the media spotlight because of the low level, and the scores in the National League were generally in our favour.

This is still one of my darkest  days in over 50 years of being a Notts County supporter.

[DangerousSausage]

What an absolute shambles that was. For the first ten minutes, despite the team selection, I hoped we'd see something a bit different - we tried to get in behind them from the off, and had a nice tempo to our play. But soon we were back to the ponderous build-up play we're all so sick of. At times in the second half we couldn't get out of our own half. Hornchurch were positive and played hard, but their press hardly looked difficult to get out of - there were huge gaps there, yet we still couldn't cope. I've got no desire to recall the game and give a blow-by-blow account, Ellis and Rawlinson being given the runaround by a man with a beer gut and a double chin tells you all you need to know.

If we'd gone out against Morpeth, I wouldn't have cared much. It was a weakened team, and we could have claimed we were concentrating on the league. But this was different - a chance to reward the fans with a trip to Wembley and win a trophy. It was an important game. I'll give the new manager a pass on this one (although how he can watch several of our matches in full length and decide another 90 minutes of the Doyle and Reeves show is a good idea I'll never know), but the players need to have a word with themselves. That shower won't win promotion in a million years.

There's always someone worse off than yourself though - some of our fans are of the Irish persuasion, and rounded the day off by watching their national team lose at home to Luxembourg...

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

I tuned in because I thought we might see something different under a new manager. We didn't. 

I'm not fussed one bit about this trophy and it seems neither were the players. Woeful performance. 

[liampie]

im not bothered either we can focus on the league and we should all know performances will only improve over time.