Just back

Quoted from 1600

SUMMARY.....

Started very edgy and tentative and thought we could have started at a lot higher tempo(reminded me of Ferriby) - slightly lucky not to be down early when Fleetwood looked dangerous around the box(obviously they have some useful players) but we rode our early wobbles.
Both sides played some nice bits coming forward but moreso Fleetwood 1st half and always a degree of trepidation  when they packed the penalty area but we defended stoutly enough (albeit deep)
They got their 2nd at the death but really it was pretty much all Town pressure 2nd half without hatfuls of chances though we went very close a couple of times.
Pressed more and more in search of an equaliser so not too suprising we got caught right at the end.
A very frustrating game with blind officials completely out of their depth not spotting some terrible whacks to our players from Fleetwood who should be ashamed (and possibly taken action upon if the video evidence backs it up) today...
Did it affect the result ?
Maybe we should have had a penalty I'd like to see it again...
Just a fiery and frustrating game all round - I felt nothing really fell for us all day.
Think they probably deserved to edge it but 1-1 wouldn't have been robbery with all our 2nd half pressure until their late goal.

The lads kept going today and couldn't fault them too much for effort and I proudly clapped them off at the end.

Disappointing but no great suprise in light of the footballing work that was left to do after Ferriby.

Always felt we wouldn't reach our peak today and from that perspective feel there is enough reason to say the positives outweight the negatives at this stage IF we can sort it all out and improve.

Didn't think Fleetwood looked that great defensively and thought we could have pushed them back a bit sooner and tried to get down the flanks even more than we did.

Also get the feeling we're playing a mixture of long ball to the big man/channels + nice passing and maybe need to decide which path we ultimately go down to realise a more tangble gameplan.

MATCH RATINGS...

McKeown 8 - Kicking poor early on but made some very good stops.

Ridley 7.5 - A few loose balls but impressed at his passing and composure today. Got caught for pace for the goal right at the end but we were pushing forward at that point.

I'Anson 8 - One of the highlights to come out of the game I thought - excellent in the air, covered well and did well making space in the box at the other end too. Think he deserves to keep his place on this showing and my suspicion that he will make it is looking well on course - looks a decent prospect.

Garner 6 - Didn't look convincing from the word go today and his lunge and mistake later led to the first goal. Not the first mistake he's made when 1 on 1 and think Scott needs to coach him how and when to challenge at crucial times in the box. It's one thing being solid in the air(which he suprisingly didn't look today) but entirely another when defending attackers running forward.

Silk 6.5 - Not overly impressed today I'm afraid - lots of long balls to nobody and agian looked a bit vulnerable when up against an attacker running down the byline. Needs to get closer to the man to stop the crosses coming in.  Had to come off when injured just before half time.

Makofo 8.5(MOM) - Once again looked the most dangerous player with his serge-ing runs down the wing and unlucky their goalie made a great save from his right footed shot. Still doesn't look convincing knowing what to do when he ends up near the penalty area, but if he did he'd be a few divisions higher. Lots to like about the performance though - if he can take that extra step we will have a player of some value on our hands in due course(if we don't already)  Has some wicked curl on his corners !
  
Thanoj 7 - Mixed bag - misplaced passes and looked slow and exposed at times early on. Obviously has some useful passing ability but needs to up his workrate and sharpen up his positional play(keeping goalside !) to demand a place in the team.

Disley 8 - A lot to like in terms of his ball control, anticipation, heading and tackling. Could clearly see his league class today but just feel he'd be so much better if his contribution went forward rather than backwrads - one moment when he passed back playing a hospital ball which sums up the frustration but little doubt his all round ability will be a calming and much needed influence this season. Looks reasonably pacy too and broke up a lot of play in the centre even if he didn't use it to the max. Well done.

Coulson 7.5 - Worked hard for the team today and tried to link up and create openings through the middle as well as down the wing where he did well to beat a player once or twice(proved me wrong !) but his crossing (like in general today) was a bit hit and hope. Still think we need to seriously consider him up centrally up front near to Hearn.

Hearn 8 - Worked hard, chased, passed well and held the ball up and had a good game, showing some nice bits of skill to beat defenders in tight situations. Never really had a clear sight of goal today - tried to make space but had his shots blocked again. Does he needs to be a little cuter around the penalty box rather than always shaping to shoot every half chance he gets ? Not that I'm blaming him - he's clearly a large asset to the club and it's only a matter of time before he scores. Would like to see him steamroller and impose himself on defenders even more but that may come with physical development over time.

Elding - 5.5 Innefective 1st half - doesn't look like he can head a ball properly to me and seems to have a dodgy first touch at times - sometimes seems to spend an age holding the ball up if/when he does. To be fair worked hard enough and got better as the game went on but thought Scott should have replaced him a lot sooner at half time because he was offering us almost nothing. To be honest not suprised after his pre-season and the excuse of "needs match practice" is already starting to look a little questionable. Hit one promising shot from distance over th bar so don't really know much about his goalscoring abilites but we can't afford to carry him. Guess Scott wanted to give certain players opportunities but not suprised at the outcome after the holes in pre-season and makes you wonder with hindsight if Duffy would have been better to try to link up with the forwards today.

Subs

Wood 7.5 Committed as always. Covered well, some fair play and tried to get forward down the right flank but like the team his crossing with both feet wasn't the best today.
As expected the teams crossing looks a lot better up close from the byline than being pumped into the box from long range.

Spencer - 6.5 Didn't look like he could get involved in the game too much to me - not much to report but doesn't look very mobile and wasn't really a handful in the air against their big (and dirty !) defenders.

Artus 7 - A few ok passes, but another who I didn't really spot a great deal. Think he should get his chance based on pre-season though and no doubt he will with time.

CONCLUSION......

No need to start crying or moaning yet, I'm slightly disappointed we're not firing on all cylinders but hopeful we'll play better football than that this season and pick up enough points for the playoffs.  

Still too early to say, but feel there's a solid basis to build on and there is improvement to come IF the managers can find our way forward and identify the right team blend and what needs improving (feel there may be real signs this is the case as I don't think it was necessarily our best team today)

But also feel Fenty may need to get his chequebook book out sooner rather than later unless they can bring us on in leaps and bounds(which remain to be seen) with the current squad in it's current form.

Hearn looks needs in need of a relaible and consistent partner - who will that be ?

Feeling more positive than I was after the first home game last season vs York under Woods where we never put them under any kind of pressure....

Question remains do Scott and Hurst have the nouse with their tactics and gameplan to match their work ethic ?
We'll see...

Quoted from ginnywings

The difference being that Crawley battered us and we got lucky.They went on to win the league and it wouldn't surprise me if we have just played the league winners again first game.They seem to have enough skill and aggression to win a lot of games.

[b]Don't know why everyone is bleating about them and their tactics.Fact is they outplayed,outthought and outfought us and you need all that to win this league.They won't be the only team to come here this season and employ the same tactics.The only answer,unless we start the gamesmanship is to outfootball them,but we aint good enough for that as far as i can see.

Quoted from cleemaddog

No, all last season and the season before I sat and watched us get out played and out muscled. at least with the energy levels high and players wanting to play for the team and wear the shirt with a bit of pride not just take the money at the end of the week. the glass is def half full.

Quoted from Tommy

Well, bit of a mixed bag today. A lot of things to consider before coming to conclusions. Half a new team started the match. And we were up against the side I expect will win the league this season.

We weren't as bad as some are claiming. We didn't get enough shots on target but did have plenty of pressure in the 2nd half. 1st half they were in control without causing us too much trouble apart from the first 2 minutes. I thought 1-0 to Fleetwood would have been a fair result.

We gave McNulty and Atkinson an easy game really, playing the ball up to their heads to often. Only when Spencer came on did McNulty have to work a bit harder to win his headers.

Hearn looked decent and I like his direct style. Receive the ball, turn and run at the defence. Still think he will score a hatful this season.

Makofo was making things happen and has to be applauded for that. Just needs to work on his final ball now. But think he will cause lesser sides no end of problems.

Thought Garner had a poor game. He always looks likely to mis-hit the ball when its low for some reason. I'Anson on the other hand was one of our best players, if not MOM. Won most in the air, got back to tackle well and made blocks/interceptions when needed.

Moment of the match - Bradley Wood picking Brodie (who is an absolute male masturbator who thinks he is better than he is) and throwing him up to his feet.

Quoted from barralad

Most of what could be said has been said. (Good summary by the way 80's).

We didn't create anything of any note. In fact it was difficult to understand what our tactics going forward were. Last season Connell could create something out of nothing. We certainly don't appear to have someone remotely capable of doing that on today's showing. Some of our players are on a steep learning curve and one wonders whether the lack of Conference experience may well cause us problems. However, players playing OK as individuals but not yet gelling as a team must be fairly standard for the first game of the season. Oh and one other thing. Until Artus came on our dead ball kicking for corners and free kicks was appalling.
Personally I don't think we will see many better organised teams or teams capable of pushing the boundaries as we did in Fleetwood today.