DangerousSausage

I didn't get round to posting, but I thought a gritty, ugly 1-0 win would have done us a world of good, so I'm delighted with the result. It was just important to get back to winning ways and just get the basic things right again. Looking forward to seeing the highlights of this one!

The capitulation coming three days after the Woking game just makes it all the more shocking. If it were a one-off we could just write it off as one of those things that happens in football. But in the last 20 minutes of the last two games we've shipped seven goals and taken zero points when we should have gone away with four at the very least. I can't help but wonder if the team has a mentality problem. Have some of the players got the idea lodged in the back of their minds that they are too good for this league? They train in good conditions, play in a nice big ground in front of crowds of more than 5,000 and in many cases played a good chunk of their careers in the Proper Leagues and/or had offers from League Two clubs in the summer. Obviously the club signed them because the recruitment team think they are too good for this league (and can therefore take us out of it). But if they were, we wouldn't be tenth. Halifax and Woking's players, with all due respect, know they aren't too good for this league and have to fight for every single point. Perhaps that hasn't quite dawned on our players yet, at least in their subconscious. We have to accept the fight in order to win it. It doesn't matter how talented our squad is if it goes missing when the chips are down. Yeovil next. If you're reading, you have something to prove.

We're making it exciting aren't we? A win is great, we're still unbeaten too, but four goals conceded in two home games isn't great. There's so little room for error if you want to finish top, you need to stamp out bad habits like this.

A trip to the seaside early in the season is never bad. Hope we take a good following. I can't say I'm too familiar with Weymouth, but they're not cannon fodder and clearly know where the net is. The players need to take fixtures against less glamorous opposition just as seriously as the Wrexhams - then I'm sure we'll bring the points home with us.

I was out and about yesterday (and am not allowed to see the highlights until tomorrow, thanks BT), but it sounds like quite the thriller. Delighted we won obviously, and coming back from behind shows character, but I'd have found a clean sheet more encouraging. The main thing is that we won - beating the teams that aren't in the running for promotion needs to become a habit.

Right now I'd be happy with a draw away to Wrexham, but like others have said, playing in front of an expectant home crowd brings pressure with it. We should concentrate on our own game, playing with the required tempo and not leaving gaps at the back rather than worrying about the opposition.

Well that was an anticlimax. At least we didn't lose. A good result on Monday night and it'll be quickly forgotten. I only listened on the radio, but for all the possession we had after the sending off, we didn't seem to test their keeper much. Of course the timewasting from Torquay was annoying and at times ludicrous, but let's be honest with ourselves - if the roles had been reversed, we'd have wanted our players to do exactly the same. We brought it on ourselves by falling behind to an unnecessary goal. I was a bit confused by Charlie Slater saying "the man" in the second half, until I realised he was referring to Nemane. Maybe I'll just call him The Man in future to avoid confusion.

I'm leaning towards a home win too with our home advantage and Torquay having so many changes. The Barnet game was nice, but it doesn't tell us a lot about how the rest of the season is going to go and I'm expecting Torquay to give us a much sterner test. I don't think IB will play both Taylor and Nemane, he seems to want one of our wing backs to be defensively minded. Could imagine him playing Chicksen and Nemane and then switching to Taylor/DKE for Wrexham. If I were him I'd probably want to bed the new team in a bit before switching around.

I think it'll be nil nil. No way will we score without a 20-Goal-a-Season Striker (TM)

Can only agree with the above. In my heart of hearts I always felt we were too vulnerable and error-prone to go all the way. Part of that was due to the very attacking style we've adopted recently, but that was Ian Burchnall's way of getting the best out of the squad and without it we'd have likely not reached the playoffs at all. It was part of the gamble. Then a couple of hours later I watched the Denmark game and nearly saw a young man die live on TV. That put all of our "worries" into perspective. We had a one in six chance of winning the playoffs, we missed out, next season we'll have another chance.

I agree with the changes above and think they're likely too. In theory I'd like a bit more height at the back alongside Ellis, but in practice we've worked best with Brindley and DKE when playing this system. JOB also makes us more balanced in midfield. The previous two games against Torquay were extremely tight and I don't expect this to be any different. We might have a psychological edge after the late win against Chesterfield, while Torquay fluffed automatic promotion at the last. But on the other hand, they've got home advantage.

This one will be interesting. We sit in fifth, which would ensure a home tie in the play-off quarter finals. Only Wrexham can overtake us, and only in the event that they win at Dagenham and we lose at Bromley. A point will do for us. Finishing sixth wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would mean missing out on the twelfth man at Meadow Lane. There's also lots riding on it for Bromley - they can only reach the play-offs if they win. So it could be a more open game than our last encounter. This has a bit of a phoney war feel to it as we've already qualified, but we really shouldn't let our standards drop now. I'd like to see Rawlinson in there if he's fit again so he's sharp for the play-offs, and maybe a few moe minutes for the likes of Sam and Griffiths too.

Excellent performance, three nil was flattering to Weymouth. Perhaps a bit wasteful now and then, but Weymouth were saved by the bar a couple of times too. Great entertainment, thoroughly enjoyed it. We look like a different team. So now we need a point at Bromley to get fifth. In a way it's good that something is riding on it, otherwise there's a temptation to field a weakened team and maybe lose some momentum. Prediction league is over now mate, sorry ????

Excellent result, 4 goals (that's 7 in two matches) and back in the playoffs, great stuff. Really good that Rodders has hit form too. Interesting that, instead of basking in the win, IB immediately voiced his annoyance with the team relaxing after the last goal in his interview. A bit more intensity and concentration would certainly do us good. As far as making the playoffs is concerned, it's in our own hands.

5-3 to Notts. Goalie Michael Doyle struggles in the first half and is replaced by Jimmy Knowles at half time, who steadies the ship. We turn it around in the second half with a scintillating display of attacking verve. Paul Bolland will score two, along with goals from Bob Catlin, Shergar and that Miller bloke (when attempting a back pass). Burchnall will say we played well in the second half.

It's really jarring to listen to fighting talk in interviews, only to listen to the commentators almost crying with frustration at the lack of urgency on matchday. Looking at the table, we've still got a very real chance of making the playoffs, but we seem to have given up. IB isn't to blame for our weakness in key areas, of course, but part of the art of being a manager is getting the best out of what's at your disposal, and so far he's failing lamentably. It's getting to the point where you wonder if it goes a bit deeper than a poor spell of form. I wonder if we have a number of players who knew they were leaving at the end of the season, but were giving their all for Neal. Now he's gone, they're phoning in.

It's just an automatic post made in advance. Time hasn't been kind to them ????

When it was pointed out that their form was so much better than ours, I thought we had a chance. Football has a habit of turning the form book upside down like that. Sickening to lose out in the last minute like that, but encouraging to hear of the improved performance. How did Steele get on?

If there were a pill that makes you lose all interest in football, would you take it?

I truly hope we stop the experiment with wing backs. We simply don't have the players to do it. I think a return to 4 at the back is likely, and Doyle will probably start too (hopefully in place of Reeves instead of alongside him). So we've lost 3 on the trot, while Torquay are on a great run. All the more reason to play without pressure and turn the form book upside down.

Why do we insist on playing wing backs when we have no wing backs at the club? Either they can't defend or they can't cross. Some can't do either. The squad has obviously been set up with a 4-2-3-1 in mind, so we might as well play that if we're to avoid playing round pegs in square holes. Mind you, if no-one's going to make themselves available to receive the ball or make runs it doesn't really matter what we play. I thought about buying the stream, but the sun was shining so I thought I'd get some vitamin D and do some weeding in the garden while listening on the radio. Good decision. The weeding was much more fun than the "football".

Great result, especially after dropping behind. Today and Friday have shown how vital it is to have someone who can come on, run at the opposition and change the game. With Knight and (hopefully) Roberts, we now have two players who can help us move up a gear if it isn't going our way. With that we gain two points on Sutton and Hartlepool and another three on Wrexham, so not a bad day's work. Looking at it now, we should aim to make the top three and then see what's possible - Sutton can still be caught, but there's little room for error. The rest of this month will be massive - Hartlepool away next, Torquay away and a double header against Eastleigh.

That was a very positive afternoon and an excellent result. I only listened on the radio, but it sounded like we grew into the game and played a bit further up than we usually do. Knight sounds promising and I'm looking forward to seeing him play. With Roberts we have someone who scares the opposition to death and creates space for others - it'll be fantastic if we can have him starting again, he's like a cheat code at this level. It's good to see defenders mixing it up at set pieces a bit more, and it's also interesting to see Chicksen in the team again - IB seems to rate him more than Ardley, who'd sooner have played the mascot in that position. For all our recent struggles the table doesn't look bad, the gap to Sutton aside. Now let's build on it at Woking!

Sounds like more of the same tonight, especially with the lack of chances created. We were already in a hole confidence-wise, and changing the manager doesn't seem to have helped at all. There doesn't appear to be any reaction because half the team has nothing left in the tank. They seem exhausted mentally, if not physically. For all the loanees we've brought in, tonight's team virtually picked itself. Wootton and Reeves cannot be dropped because we have no alternatives. The new manager has a hell of a job on his hands to get this team playing quicker, more bravely and with self-belief.

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...