Basingstoke

[mrlibertine]

and thats why we are going down, absolutely tepid performance from the front men tonight. Two home games against ten men in a row and not a single goal.

very frustrated right now

[King of Spades]

There are 2 things that could stop me from going to watch the Hawks, one being if we are served the kind of cheating tactics that Basingstoke employed and the other being if our fans started acting the way theirs did tonight. I have been to 46 games this season and seen us lose about half of them but this was the first one I came away from feeling cheated by the opposition in the way that they played. How they ended the game with 10 men is a mystery to me. Had the referee been stronger im sure there would've been more than 1 sent off tonight! In fairness to the referee tho he was onto their game quite early on but gave too many warnings and too few cards, and completely ignored the constant time wasting.. I see now why they are in the position they are in tho

We probably werent good enough to win tonight tho despite the number of chances we made that came close. We shouldve been pressing a lot more than we did and working the ball into the box more as we were at the start. Again just like Saturday Basingstoke scored with their only real chance, which may have been the only shot they had that stayed in the ground, yet managed to still beat us with 10 men. We were just far too weak at times and have wasted the opportunity for 6 points in 3 days

One thing I am wondering about us is why exactly Ramsey takes the free kicks and corners. 2 reasons for this one being the number of them that are struck straight into the first man, and the other being the number of times a loose ball drops to the edge of the area where it is either met by a group of defenders without a Hawk in sight or someone like Hinshelwood. If there is one person I want striking a loose ball like that its Ramsey surely?

[Lee C]

Cant understand why we aren't making use of our subs.

Bobby Hopkinson is capable of spreading the ball all over the park.
Perry Ryan would have been a fresh pair of legs in the middle.

We clearly didn't need 4 defenders in the second half yet waited until 80 minutes to change a defender for a striker but without changing the midfield that were close to being dead on their feet.

[Probably Shirts]

We probably werent good enough to win tonight tho despite the number of chances we made that came close. We shouldve been pressing a lot more than we did and working the ball into the box more as we were at the start. Again just like Saturday Basingstoke scored with their only real chance, which may have been the only shot they had that stayed in the ground, yet managed to still beat us with 10 men. We were just far too weak at times and have wasted the opportunity for 6 points in 3 days

I agree that we aren't good enough at bullying the defenders, although to be fair our scoring record this season has been pretty good. I have enjoyed a lot of the moments that Ollie and Scotty have provided.
However when you think of how young and inexperienced they both are, you have to look at some of the other players we've had up front and ask "what if" one of them had come good. Realistically if any one of McBean, Peacock or Pericard had lived up to their reputations we should have been able to pressure defences far more heavily, and players like Ollie and Scotty could have been introduced to the side in a better paced way. Now I think they both look knackered.
Also I think Rambo on the right wing has been found out - he hasn't got the pace to go down the outside and he's not comfortable enough on his left foot when he cuts inside.

[underthenewstand]

Boy do we need some fresh ideas next season, how can you not make subs earlier when the other team are down to men for the whole half and also playing 4 games in 9 days.

The Bench just didnt seem to have any new ideas, not that it will be Johno and Adi`s fault if we go down.

Surely Perry or Bobby`s fresh legs were needed tonight, or maybe even resting Jonah for Thompson.

Onto Farnborough we go though.

[mark c]

did anyone hang around for the presentation of the cup that they so obviously won last night judging by the reaction on the final whistle ?

agree with King about their fans , without doubt the biggest bunch of mongs i've seen in a long time.
btw anyone know why they boycotted the game , seeing where they are and how far it was I was astonished that so few made the trip , I was expecting at least 150

[simon lynch]

Totally despondent after last night. Can't really add much more than what's been said above. To see Bobby H. sitting pitchside in injury time, and not playing a part in helping us get something out of the game, kind of summed it up for me - we should have been trying to stretch the game throughout the second half, and instead we just kept lumping the ball upfield. If we were going to do that then I'd have been much happier if we'd have sent Joe up front for the last half hour.

To be honest after the brief new manager bounce of two wins, those two defeats against ten men have left me not seeing where the next point is coming from at the moment, and with the right matehmatical permutations I believe relegation could come as early as Saturday (If Hampton win against Salisbury and on Saturday, and all the other teams around us also win Saturday and we lose). I'm praying it doesn't come to that - it's still in our hands if we beat Farnborough on Saturday, so we've still got to hold a little belief.

[baz]

Always felt that we needed 2 wins from the last 4 games, so nothing has changed except the pressure has ramped up hundredfold. I think on the whole we're not playing badly, OK there are still too many individual errors being made, but its not over till its over.

Main concern obviously is that despite all the pressure we are exerting at various times during the game, we are making some catastrophic misses in front of goal, and despite their keeper only having to make one decent save during the match, we are continually missing the target, when it would seem easier to score. Basingstoke only had one decent shot on target and it resulted in the goal.

Got to keep going, onto Farney,and despite the despondency felt over the past 2 results, a win on Saturday and its all to play for on the last day.

[shaun]

So, after forty games, everything rests on Saturday's fixture at Farnborough. Win, and I honestly believe we will stay up. Defeat can only mean one thing.

Two defeats against sides in the top eight shouldn't be a surprise. It is now two years since we beat a half-decent side, whilst all the teams around us seem to the ability to upset the top sides.

Farnborough have lost their last four at home and, by all accounts, are really down to the bare bones. We have to believe that we can win there. If we do, we enter the last day with our fate in our own hands.

[Anthony]

I must have been reading an out of date league table, because judging by the Basingstoke fans reaction I hadn't realised that they had clinched a play off spot!

In the first half we created a hatful of chances and carved them open on numerous occasions. Basingstoke couldn't have had any complaints if we had been two or three one up at half time. The usual mixture of bad finishing and that vital ingredient "a slice of luck" deserted us". Thanks to the Farny points deduction, amazingly our destiny is still in our own hands. All we have to do is beat them on their own patch! The good news is that on our day we are more than capable of doing just that. Staines could be safe before we play them, so that too could be to our advantage. It would be ironic if three teams go down this year. The number of times Weston-Super-Mare have been reprieved with only two teams being relegated in recent years is incredible. I think the league should take retrospective action against them this year, and send them down instead!!!