menzinho

Even without Macca I thought we’d be ok today given Oldham haven’t won away all season. Scott’s no slouch, he’s got a great goal scoring return this season and today showed he’s not about to be outdone by his mate. I feel like I’m just repeating myself, but we are a well-oiled machine now, dominating and scoring at will. I’m just trying to ignore Wrexham/Chesterfield and enjoy this team. Only 1 loss so far this season and we could have 60 points before the year is out. Insane. Complete opposite for Oldham though, I remember when their new owner was like “Who are Dorking?” on his first interview. I think he thought they’ll be fine in this league but they’ve seriously underestimated it and have found that out the hard way. They’ll do well to stay up.

So the frost covers are down with heaters out too so should hopefully go ahead. And with Wrexham v Chesterfield off, that's us potentially points up with another game crossed off. I Imagine Gateshead would’ve been comfortably mid-table at worst had they kept hold of Langstaff and Scott. Their fans must feel pretty fed-up of hearing one of them has scored again, chances are they’ll get to see one live if they’re coming to the game! They have had the weekend off so they’ll be fresh, and for that reason I’d expect us to make a couple of changes too. Can’t just expect a win because of their league position, and hopeful they’re more likely to come and have a go than just sit back. I think we’ll be able to exploit them if they do.

I’ll take a win and 3 points everyday of the week, but we made that harder than it should’ve been. Was there a touch of overconfidence at half-time? I’m sure Luke would’ve told them to play like it’s 0-0 but recent away wins, one’s where we were rarely troubled, must have been fresh in the players’ minds. The good thing though is this team has goals in it, especially our main man Macca, 21 goals now. Unbelievably good.

It's the start of the P-P score season once more and given how frozen my lawn was today I'd be surprised if it's on. If it is I can't see too many changes, other than maybe Scott back into the first 11, maybe harsh to drop Castro though. Can't see Bostwick starting just yet but, think he'll be on the bench. We're strong away from home this season, and still in a good run of form, we should get a good result here.

Very interesting signing, can't question his technical abilities, probably as good as if not better than Ruben. But that's just one part of being a success, you can't help but think why has he had so many clubs, is there some underlying issue there? Time will tell I guess but his interview reassured me a bit, and having trained with us before he knows he's coming into a hard working environment. If he clicks here he could be great for us for the second half of the season.

Good game, thought Southend did well to disrupt our build up on the whole. Slocombe had way too many touches for my liking, we needed to be a bit braver progressing the ball instead of playing safe. When we broke the lines we looked dangerous, we just didn’t do it enough. I think the Southend first goal is lucky, 9 times out of 10 if you push a player in the back two handed you get a free kick… But there you go. Draw was a fair result in the end, and I think Southend will be in the play-offs come the end of the season and are likely to take points off our rivals too.

We have been incredibly clinical at times this season so three goals isn't absurd, but given Southend's very good form I think if we do win it won't be by that sort of margin. Neither side had an FA Cup game so both teams will be fresh and I agree, two in form teams, should be a great game. I can't image we'll make too many changes maybe just Brinds in for Baldwin, so Rawlinson back in the middle of the back three. And Langstaff is surely due a goal now too, it's been 2 games without! I think if had to bet on it I'd go for a draw too. And I'd take it, assuming we can finally get a win at Eastleigh as that would be 4 points from our double header of away games this week.

Another fantastic result, I think they said the last time we scored 6 away was at Chelsea in the 1920’s! Mad! Only blemish is Brinds red card but if you had to pick a game to miss you’d say bottom of the league (not that I’m taking anything for granted) is an ideal chance to ease Baldwin back in. Early season I was dubious about our system particularly the roles of the wingbacks but credit to Chicks and Nemane, they're smashing it there. And great to have shared the goals around, Macca is red hot but we are certainly not a one-man team. Back-to-back home games now, although we’re doing pretty well playing away this season ????

I'm glad we didn't suffer a hangover after the FA Cup game, but I didn't think we would as the team was back to the one that had notched up the 4 wins previous. I only listened and have seen the highlights, but Maidstone clearly came to frustrate but it didn't work at all. Totally dominate for the whole game, and Slocombe only had one save to make. Macca ploughing on with his goal scoring record attempt but it's important not to forget Cedwyn. 7 goals from 14 games for him, he's not getting the headlines but that's a great goal return. And good to see Ruben get his first open-play goal, given his change in role this season he probably won't get as many goals but he's still a vital part of why the team is doing so well. Our form right now is incredible really, we're on the kind of run that you need to win this league. 10 games, 9 wins and 1 loss. Tuesday can't come soon enough at the moment!

You’re going to lose games over a course of the season, the thing that’s needed in this league if you’re going to do well is a positive reaction and we got it. Probable goal of the season from Castro, unbelievable strike. And what more can you say about Macca, he’s going to get 20 goals before Christmas at this rate. But the third goal shows what this team is all about. We seem a lot more determined and relentless off the ball this season. Not giving the opposition time, winning the ball back quickly and high up in dangerous positions. Defenders hate it and we’ve seen it enough times the past few seasons how a high press caused us problems. Now we’re the ones causing the problems!

Well Stal described it as a smash and grab, so it’s definitely frustrating to take. I’ll wait for the highlights but their goalkeeper seemed to be in great form whilst ours just picked the ball out of his net three times! Hopefully it’s a case of ‘just one of those games’, more often than not if you’re the team creating all the chances you’ll win the game. A set-back but no-one in the top 6 won, so it’s not as disastrous as it seems.

Just watched the extended highlights, I’ve no idea what the daggers plan was to deal with us. They didn’t press, they didn’t tackle and they didn’t mark! I’d like to know our record against them in this league, we seem to beat them all the time. A lot of folk always have them as their dark horse but every time we’ve played them I’ve been really unimpressed. Credit to us though, if a team is going to let you have the ball trouble free than it’s important we do the damage and we really did. None of the goals are going to be in the goal of the season package but the play to create the chances was great as was the finishing. I was little worried about the formation at the start of the season, particularly with the wingbacks but Chicks and Nemane are a lot more effective now. Still unbeaten and back to homes games to come, feels like a great opportunity to gets 5 wins in a row!

I was slightly worried about this one, Halifax were going to score at some point and although they did I’m glad it counted for nothing in the end. Sounded like neither side really got going but the goal gave us confidence and then our quality of finishing was the difference, in particular Langstaff! I had a slight doubt he may struggle with the step up at first but it’s been no issue at all. He really is the real deal. And you can’t forget Scott and Mitchell. Scott with his first start and a goal and Mitchell continuing his promising form from pre-season. No lack of firepower at the moment! As for Halifax, they might struggle this season, I didn’t think so initially but given how well Pete Wild has started at Barrow it looks like he was key to their success.

I’ve seen a few people say the first half was dreadful, it wasn’t good but it wasn’t that bad. We were pretty much in control of the game, but in an attacking sense we were poor. Second half still largely poor but then the subs came on the game got chaotic and we just really benefited from it. However, I still didn’t feel comfortable with our defending. The game got very stretched and there was a lot of space for Chesterfield, luckily they didn’t really exploit it. Credit to the players though for getting back in it, cos when we went 2-0 down I thought that was it. I know there’s more to football than formations but I just don’t think the 3-5-2 suited us there. First half no real threat, and then for that last 30 mins we were all over the place. But for me the wingbacks are key positions and Chicksen at LWB is counter-productive. He really didn’t cause them any problems and the space he left behind caused us more problems. I really like Chicks and he didn’t always get that much support but playing him that high just isn’t his game. It suits Nemane more because he can at least beat his man. And Rodrigues played a lot deeper too, really wasn't able to do enough in an attacking sense for us today. Weird, a largely uneventful game but a wild last 30 mins. I’ll take that point but still a lot to work on for me.

I’d have taken a point before the game but I agree it’s annoying to let two leads slip. That said Boreham Wood are a good side and it’s still very early in LW reign so I’m not too downbeat. Mitchell the headline maker in the second half there. Need to see the pen in the highlights later but I always feel with referees at this level they have a tendency to want to level out the big decisions.

By all accounts Ndlovu is their target man, big and psychical so I expect his replacement to be slightly less effective. And I was worried D-KE might fly in on Ruben to try to stop him breezing past him for the 3rd time, so that’s a relief. The heat is going to have an impact, so I think keeping the ball here will be vital. Let Boreham Wood chase us around in 35° heat and knacker themselves out! I’d sacrifice one of Austin or J’OB for a bit more ball retention with Palmer. Otherwise I think the starting the 11 should be the same. This is one of those games where I’d take a dull 1-0 win. I think it’ll be close, wouldn’t be surprised if was a 0-0 but hoping we can nick it too!

Yep, great start to the new season and the result was better than I expected. Promising debuts from Austin, Baldwin and Langstaff. Especially Langstaff, very early days but but 20 goals certainly looks like something he can achieve.

Yeah, can’t say I’m too clued up on Forest Green Rovers, but I can have a think about what team Luke Williams might pick! We’ve played 3-5-2, well a variation of it during pre-season. It’s hard to describe at the minute but it seems to be very flexible. I’d probably call it a 3-1-5-1. We seemed to push three players up behind the striker and the wingbacks were very attack minded. I’m guessing that will be the formation. So, Slocombe in goal seems obvious and the back three, I think Cameron and Baldwin are in which leaves the RCB spot for either Bajrami or Brindley. If Palmers fit he’ll be the holing CM, otherwise I think LW quite likes Francis. Wingbacks, I’d go Chicksen and Nemane. Austin, O’Brien and Rodrigues in behind Langstaff. Just don’t think Scott has had enough game time after his illness and Mitchell has looked sharp but Langstaff really looks like he’s got that natural goal scoring ability. I’d expect us to dominate play with Maidenhead getting as many men behind the ball to frustrate for as long as possible. I don’t think it’ll be a Barnet style win but I think we should get off to a good start again this season.

Aldershot away has done us in again. We just can't seem to get a run going this season and it feels like a case of one step forwards and two steps back (again!) Teams will be battling like that in the play-offs and I just don't trust us to be able to match them at the minute, especially away from home and that's a big worry for me. And I get the ref obviously wasn't great but we've still got to defend much better, hopefully Cameron and Brindley coming back can give us a boost. The only bonus for us is that Chesterfield are getting worse and Grimsby couldn't beat Barent so somehow we stay 5th!

So odd how we need a goal to get us going sometimes, although we didn't start to badly we just seem to have these lapses where we switch off. I think the early goal for Kings Lynn probably didn't help they just tried to hold on to it and by half-time looked a bit defeated. Pleased for Nemane thought he was the best player on the pitch, another player who's not had much game time but I think he can be a big player for us.

Dreadful. But that awful first-half set the tone. Hearing that we couldn’t even win the 4th ball in our own penalty area sums it up. Then suddenly you think we’re going to get something when it gets 2-1 but we just implode. It’s been the tale of our season, just when you think we’re about to string a run of wins together we drop an absolute clanger. And when you lose like that it feels as if all the good work from the last 4 games has come undone. If we’d lost 2-1 we’d have bemoaned the poor first half cos second half (up until about 70 mins) we had some chances. But to just get done like that, I thought we were over that kind of performance. We’re lucky Grimsby drew and Boreham Wood’s shocking run just continues, but in terms of the bigger picture of promotion, after today you can’t help but think it’s a big ask.

Great result, and I'm liking this defensive grit we seem to have gained recently. Winning headers in our box, putting bodies on the line, it all bodes well for a strong finish to the season if we can keep it up. Maybe we're getting a bit of luck too as if that pen had gone in 2-1 makes it a very different game. But credit to Jaros for reading the pen and making the save. A home semi-final doesn't seem out of reach now especially with teams in the top 7 still having to play each other, it's got to be the aim. And that also puts Ruben level on league goals with Woots now, both have 15. I think he might finish as our top scorer too.

Big dilemma for me is do we stick with the 3-5-2 which is probably better overall or switch to a 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 which is better for getting all our attacking talent in the side. Last season we clicked under the 3-5-2 and nearly got to the Play-off final and that was down to playing a formation that allowed us to fit our better players into their most effective roles. Ruben, Miller and Ellis are prime examples. Now it's slightly different, and I feel Southend's defenders will be made to work a lot harder with the likes of Sam and Roberts on the pitch. Southend were on a fantastic run recently, but like Dripsey says they've tailed off recently. Dagenham were 3-0 up at half-time last time they played a home game. I'm hoping for a similar outcome.

For a so called derby game I thought the first 20 minutes were quite tame, Chesterfield just let us have the ball and when they did get it we didn't want to tackle them! That goal was bad and Whittle was just able to stroll into the box completely unmarked. Then for the equaliser watching in real time I thought it was a nailed on pen. Having seen the replays it's soft, he retracts his leg but his momentum takes him into Ruben. When you dive in the penalty area you're asking for trouble though. We had some nearly moments but the first half was a bit meh... Second half was better the tempo was quicker but weirdly for us I thought we lacked numbers in our attacks sometimes and we took another touch when we could've had a shot. How Woots missed the header I don't know. Should we have got some fresh legs on upfront for the last 15? Nemane and Sam combo, would that have worked? Who knows. Still had a few ffs moments when we dallied on the ball a few times and nearly gave Chesterfield a goal. Asante's miss was almost as bad as Woots, luckily he was not on it for a lot of that game. 7 points from 9, I'll take that, so called big games out the way (until the play-offs at least) can we finish the season unbeaten now though ????

Chesterfield have injuries and Kellerman is suspended for them so not a bad time to play them. I think we'll stick with the 3-5-2, it's working at the moment, so same team that won against Boreham wood for me. Hopefully Lacey is okay and D-KE deserves to play LWB but I can see him coming off after about 60 mins, cos I'm almost certain he'll be on yellow and last warning by then! Really tough on Sam though (and Roberts if he's fit again). But a 3-5-2 just doesn't play to their strengths. And I even think Nemane's been very unfortunate to not get more game time, I like him. I'm never confident when it comes to predicting a win, but given the recent results and introduction of Arter I am a lot more more hopeful!