Braintree Last night

[McMalc]

one word RUBBISH

after spending yet more money travelling to watch my beloved Hawks i have to watch a team that didnt have a bloody clue.

[King of Spades]

The only thing about the table atm that gives me a little confidence is that we have at least 2 games in hand on all the teams above us.. However winning those games is another matter and if we dont start getting results now then questions will be asked more so than they already have been this season...

[Pokeyhawk]

Nearly 6 hours travelling for that! rubbish is not strong enough for last night imo. only a couple of positives simps in mid, another much better display from gasson in the middle of defence and some positive moves from robbie martin from the bench. watkins and nightingale didnt have more than a couple of half decent balls to work from all game. no width, no ideas and most upsetting not enough fight at times.

les / ketch and the braintree steward were more entertaining than the game

[shaun]

You have my sympathy Malc. I don't get to many away games these days but know exactly how you feel.

To all those who think we are too good to go down take a look at our last 18 league games:

P18 W2 D7 L9 F21 A30 Pts13

Compare that to Bognor:

P18 W3 D7 L8 F17 A29 Pts16

That's nearly half a season where we have been out performed by a team that lurches from one kick in the nuts to another. They have my utmost admiration.

Bognor have an abundance of CHARACTER, something we don't seem to know the meaning of. We talk of being blighted by injuries. That is absolutely nothing compared to the grief that Bognor have suffered this season yet they keep battling on.

By my reckoning we had the best part of twenty players at our disposal last night, at times Bognor have struggled to find anyone to sit on the bench.

Let's stop this talk of us having great players that will find some form and take us to mid-table security - it's nearly March.

Maybe we need a repeat of the defeat at Lewes a few seasons back when we went bottom of the table. Our fans vented their fury that day and the players seemed genuinely shocked at the reaction. We need something to provoke a reaction from the team because the way things are going we are destined for the bottom three.

[duanes]

I didnt go last night so cant comment on last nights performance but imo questions have to be asked. When we play passing football on the deck we are a match for any team but for quite a while we resort to the long ball hoof which doesnt work for us, we keep hearing about injuries which I understand but doesnt account for the poor displays of late. The only saving grace is that the other teams lost but dont for one minute think we are too good to go down, i dont know what the answer is in saving our season, has the manager lost the dressing room, are the players not listening to instructions.

Lets hope saturday that the team come out firing, if not could be a long depressing afternoon.

[patrick]

I have not been to as many matches as this season as in previous seasons, and can not pass comments on last night performance as I was not there - However as one of the three supporters who lost it at Lewes a few seasons back - Behaviour directed at a single player but intended at the team when the team were playing as badly as we see now - The present team are IMO worse than that of a few years back - too many changes with Shaun wanting to make his own mark - forwards who can not score - defenders who can not defend - its all been said before.

To manage is an art and sometimes the nice persons are not the best managers - Shaun is a good coach IMO and a genuine guy - however I am still saying the same things that were identified after the Worcester home game and that was months ago - as said before the figures do not lie - this team has underperformed big time - we wont get relegated because we are financially sound so it does not matter where we finally finish .

I did not attend the managers forum I was on holiday - and yes I will with regret explain my feelings to Shaun if/when the opportunity occurs.

[nough]

When Malc puts an assessment like that on the board you know its bad - but he is dead RIGHT that performance last night was AWFUL not 1 shot on target and we just looked utterly clueless and devoid of ideas throughout the 90 mins

Do questions have to be asked? yes of course they do - lets face it this is far from the first time we have said things like this during this season and we're at that stage again like we were about 3 months ago where you just cannot see where the next points are coming from and its a case of what now?

well firstly PLAY THE F**KING BALL ON THE FLOOR LADS! its not difficult! why are we permanently hoofing the ball aimlessly to stirkers who are 5ft 10 or shorter, they are not going to win many headers against big centre halves are they!

secondly SHOW SOME PASSION AND FIGHT coz aside from 1 or 2 of the players there was no passion or fight at all last night and make no mistake about it WE ARE IN THIS RELEGATION DOGFIGHT AND BIGTIME, OUR POSITION DOES NOT LIE - YOU LADS ARE NOT TOO GOOD TO GO DOWN SO START SHOWING SOME BLOODY FIGHT AND PASSION LIKE US FANS DO!!!!!!!!!

[nigel]

I don't know if it is me but this season seems to be one where Shaun is protected from the normal expectations by the success in the cup games and the assumption that we will not go down as we are financially sound.

Do we know that another team will be relegated due to financial problems, because at the moment I am truely worried. Sadly for Bognor and Fisher they are doomed, but this leaves us staring all too clearly at the third relegation spot. Basingstoke and Thurrock seemed a lot further away from us not too long back, and it is not all because of games in hand etc.

We need to start winning games now but then we have Wombles on Saturday then the reasonably high flying Welling away after that.

I enjoyed my day at York, but there is a real danger if things don't change soon.

[lammy]

We seem to have reached the same stage as we were just before Christmas.
Except to read those sort of comments from Shaun and Malc make me think it has got worse.
So who do we blame. The under achieving players who 'get themselves up' for the big cup ties but really can't be bothered with a tuesday trip to Braintree. Or the manager who on monday tried to convince me in the paper about how far we had come but the league table tells me the truth thank you very much.
Whoever is to blame it can not continue much longer. A relegation for this club would be a disaster especially at a time when we should be moving in the opposite direction.
May I add to Shaun's 18 game stats.
During that period we have only scored in the 1st half in 5 of those games and unbelievably only in 3 of those games have we scored the 1st goal - 15 times we have gone behind and had to chase games. This is surely down to what must be rather woeful tactics - as I believe Warren pointed out on another thread.
Something has to change now.

[Adam]

Exactly. How many times have we had the best of the opening 35/40 minutes without really looking like scoring before promptly a defensive lapse means we concede 5 mins either side of half time.