Just back

hooray!!!! Started with nerves, but as soon as we scored the 1st we knew we were going to the arch! Fantastic loud support, but now its 1 game and 1 job to do!! Brown and LJL were magnificent, with lennie my MOM, cant wait for 2 weeks time, and see you all there! UTM

We wasn't fantastic but we have cruised to Wembley.

Lenny was fantastic and took his goal so well!

GET IN, WEMBLEY HERE WE COME!!!

[IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/2hyjng5.gif[/IMG]

Olly and Lenny were immense as were Shaun and Josh. Mags and Dis also very good - Toto is not a full back and there was a world of difference between our right side and our left.

Big call as to who partners Shaun at Wembley if Robertson is fit.

So relieved when Palmer scored his first on 35 minutes - until then it was the kind of town performance I hate. Players slicing and flicking the ball around in no particular direction instead of making sure it reached a team mate - not helped by a lack of movement from Mackreth and Arnold. Lovely turn and shot from Palmer into the top corner then a cool finish by Lennie after he'd been sent through - defence slow to react as if they were expecting an offside call.  Then another good finish from Palmer later on. Defence solid - Pearson and Gowling excellent. I wasn't a fan of the pitch invasion although the tantrum their manager was having at the fourth official was funny.

Looking forward to Wembley now. It might seem strange saying this after a 3-0 win but we'll have to really up our game for the final and keep the ball better. But this is the most optimistic I've been about town in years, let's write a good chapter in the club's history. Good atmosphere, The packed, noisy pontoon was quite a sight.

UTM

Lennie put a shift and half in Ollie has got his scoring boots back on but Josh Gowling and Shaun Pearson at the back were immense Brown did a great job in midfield as did Dis ensuring Macca had little to do in goal all in all a job well done. Just must mention the fantastic support sat in the lower Findus the Pontoon and the Osmond were noisey and superb.

The Eastleigh fans need a mention too, they were also a credit to their club they never stopped singing all though the match and even at the end when we were celebrating well done.

First half hour was a big worry, but once we scored it was totally different mindset both on, and off the field.
As has been said, Olly and Lennie were superb, especially Lennie whose workrate today was immense.
Back four excellent with only a slight weakness with Toto at right back.
Dis and Brown did well .
My man of the match, got to be Gowling for me, he put his head and body everywhere.

And one more thing to mention, the mega big town flag in the Osmond looked great.

UTM

The last time I remember hearing a noise like when the first goal went in was when Town scored against Spurs in 2005. In that instant all of the nerves evaporated.

The fact that Eastleigh took off at half time a player who last season scored a hatful of goals in League 2 shows the control that Pearson and Gowling had of the game.
Gowling must rank as one of the best loan signees of the last 10 years along with...Palmer.

Lenny is going to score his 20th. goal of the season at Wembley.....

Quoted from barralad

The last time I remember hearing a noise like when the first goal went in was when Town scored against Spurs in 2005. In that instant all of the nerves evaporated.

The fact that Eastleigh took off at half time a player who last season scored a hatful of goals in League 2 shows the control that Pearson and Gowling had of the game.
Gowling must rank as one of the best loan signees of the last 10 years along with...Palmer.

Lenny is going to score his 20th. goal of the season at Wembley.....

That's going to be a double whammy, Hot Dogs are £10+ at Wembley.

Just realised Notts County have been relegated from League One - hopefully a lucrative fixture next season  

Quoted from barralad

The last time I remember hearing a noise like when the first goal went in was when Town scored against Spurs in 2005. In that instant all of the nerves evaporated.

The fact that Eastleigh took off at half time a player who last season scored a hatful of goals in League 2 shows the control that Pearson and Gowling had of the game.
Gowling must rank as one of the best loan signees of the last 10 years along with...Palmer.

Lenny is going to score his 20th. goal of the season at Wembley.....

Spot on & great credit must go to Hurst in ensuring he came to us when lets face it we weren't really in need of a centre half at that time but with Kidderminster presumably needing to offload him he could easily have ended up at one of our rivals

I'd whinge about the first half hour in usual circumstances but intercourse it. WEMBLEY STADIUM.

Pleased as punch but more especially I'm extra pleased and happy for the younger fans who've barely had anything to get really excited about for most if not probably all their lives.
Hope you enjoy the big special day at Wembley you young 'uns!
UTM!!!  

First 30 minutes was so nervous but after the goal it was all downhill from there. Gowling and Pearson were absolute rocks at centre back and Lenny didn't seem to stop running and chasing the ball down all game. I was sat in the osmond end and it was great to see the whole ground rocking at times. Can't wait for Wembley now!!!! Please let it be our turn to come away from the capital with a smile on our faces!

Special mention to the Eastleigh fans who didn't stop singing throughout and were a credit to their club even at 3-0 down

I would also like to shake the hand of the guy who gave the little pretend hooligan a whack down the side of the findus after the game. He definitely deserved it after going on the pitch after it had cleared just to goad the stewards and then decided to start trying to fight with our own fans. We heard the punch connect from where we were in the osmond  

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Olly and Lenny were immense as were Shaun and Josh. Mags and Dis also very good - Toto is not a full back and there was a world of difference between our right side and our left.

Big call as to who partners Shaun at Wembley if Robertson is fit.

This.i hope to god we can get Robertson fit. I think I'd prefer gowling and Pearson in that gowling does a lot of calming, talking and organising, although toto does have the pace. Do they have a quick forward line?

Very nervy first 30 minutes, although I think we could be playing in to tomorrow and Eastleigh wouldn't score. Our defence were that good. Once the first went in, it was cruise control and we ended up comfortable winners looking good at times in the second half. Only my second game in the Pontoon and I really enjoyed it, it sounded very loud in there, did it sound like that to the rest of the ground?

Oh and LJL, 3 assists and a goal in the play off semi finals. He was absolutely immense today. I pray he scores the winner at Wembley.

I've said it before but how the fcuk have Eastleigh scored 84 goals this season?!

Quoted from KingstonMariner

I've said it before but how the fcuk have Eastleigh scored 84 goals this season?!

Agreed, they looked particularly toothless today. No penetration at all.

I thought the tactical genius of their manager was really shown today. After a decent first half, they offered absolutely no threat following the half-time substitutions.

Was Constable injured, because if not, taking off your top scorer like that is just bizarre.

Yes, I thought their manager was outclassed and out thought again today.

A monumental team effort today. Chuffed to bits.
UTM

Quoted from Maringer

I thought the tactical genius of their manager was really shown today. After a decent first half, they offered absolutely no threat following the half-time substitutions.

Was Constable injured, because if not, taking off your top scorer like that is just bizarre.

Before the game it showed you Constable wrapping his foot up, it looked like he had a massive intercourse off blister that had popped and his foot was twice the size of the other one!

Quoted from thevera

That's going to be a double whammy, Hot Dogs are £10+ at Wembley.

I'll remember my packing up then.............. Seriously they had to come out positively but once we weathered the first 20 minutes we never looked back. Love the way we forced our way into the game when it wasn't all going our way. Well done boys great win. Agree really loud when the players came out...........lets take that to Wembley!

The miserable git didn't even have the class to say we deserved it after thrashing them 5-1. T0sser.

Yeah I thought he could have been more gracious and respectful. He seemed to almost begrudge us it and couldn't bring himself to admit his team were beaten by a good side fair and square. As I said before, he comes across as an amateur. It was contrasted with both Hurst and Clarke being very respectful and complimentary about each other.

The guy's clearly a classless arris hole.

I'll say this for Hurst, despite having doubted his ability to get a really good performance, he has always stood out as a thoroughly decent man.

We took and scored 5 very good goals against Eastleigh.  Their only real threat on goal (their goal) was a result of a Town error. Ignoring the 2 league resuts between Town and Eastleigh, and they have a better record against the other 22 teams.  Yet we still stuffed them.

We are getting better. Last 15 games:  11 wins, 3 draws 1 loss = 36 points.  Over a full season this equatesto more than 110 points!  No wonder Hurst said that this team/squad would have won the league if we started the season with the same players.

We are now scoring difficult goals, but still missing easy chances. This can be rectified at Wembley. More fans will go now after todays win,

Special mention to the Eastleigh fans.  We were some of the last fans to leave the ground.  Eastleigh fans were still singing at 1750 hrs, 30mins after the final whistle. (Disley was still posing for pictures as well!).

Thought the Eastleigh fans were magnificent and was surprised by how many of them wanted us to win at Wembley.

As for the game, I felt we were nervous early on and played the occasion more than the game. The first goal was a huge relief and the second finished the job. One more big effort needed now.

Lenny and Olly were a nightmare today for their defence and Olly's first goal was a dynamite strike from Lenny's pass
MOM has to be Lenny for his workrate - Olly's assist and his own when he won the ball and scored
So pleased for em both but have to say Olly lit the fuse for the win today

For anyone who's interested, this is my account of the game:

[url]http://wp.me/p1FK1u-gb[/url]

Well, don't know about you, but I think I'm now officially Mariners mental again - like when I was a teenager.

Didn't make it home to London from Eastleigh til Fri morning, and that flipping Allez Allez Allez Oooo song was stuck in my brain all the way up here.

Today was just a great occasion - great performances, Couple of moments of real class: thanks Ollie and Shop.

Still buzzing so I've just had to watch it over again on youtube qnd I realised just how friggin' loud we fans were all match long - 12th Man indeed.

Admired the Eastleigh turnout too, but UTMM

I watched on TV at work and I have to mention BT's obvious bias towards Eastleigh. Danny Higginbotham was so one sided I thought he might have been wearing an Eastleigh shirt. Also need to mention before our second John Lewis was put through one and one. He was onside and was then dragged down by their keeper for no reason. As the result didn't mean it mattered much there was still no mention of it during half time compared to what seemed like 7 hours of footage of McKeown pushing Reason out of the way.

Anyway thoroughly enjoyable!

UTM

They did start to change the story a bit when it was clear we were going to win and overturn their fairy tale line. It became more about "Grimsby's long wait". "proper League club" and words to that effect.

Like most TV sports presenters these days. Arseholes.

Higginbottom sat in the press box second half and looked really peed off

Quoted from nickmariners

Well, don't know about you, but I think I'm now officially Mariners mental again - like when I was a teenager.

Didn't make it home to London from Eastleigh til Fri morning, and that flipping Allez Allez Allez Oooo song was stuck in my brain all the way up here.

Today was just a great occasion - great performances, Couple of moments of real class: thanks Ollie and Shop.

Still buzzing so I've just had to watch it over again on youtube qnd I realised just how friggin' loud we fans were all match long - 12th Man indeed.

Admired the Eastleigh turnout too, but UTMM

Link please?

Quoted from mariner91

Agreed, they looked particularly toothless today. No penetration at all.

Perhaps it's not so much that they were toothless. Just that the performance from our back 4 made them look like that.

Quoted from oldun

Higginbottom sat in the press box second half and looked really peed off

Still remember that sickening injury when he smashed into the back of Livo's head he needed urgent medical attention that included life saving procedures on the field. Just about ended Steve's career and nearly his life the dirty basturd no love lost here.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2002/aug/19/match.sport9

Higginbottom was comentating on BR game....we had the former Brighton player whos name escapes me but equally wanted Eastleigh to win so did Brian Little and everyone else.

Well i have a message for all of u

Que sara sara where ever you'll be you'll be were going to wembeeerrrley Que sara sara.

The Livvo injury was a clash of heads though was t it? Not sure how that could be construed as dirty.

He isn't called 'bottom' for nothing
Besides, he was commentating on the away game. Saw him prancing around after the game

Quoted from nightrider

He isn't called 'bottom' for nothing
Besides, he was commentating on the away game. Saw him prancing around after the game

As I recall the incident, Livvo won the header a long time (in footballing terms) before Higginbotham nutted the back of his head. No doubt in my mind that he could have pulled out of the challenge as the ball was gone but instead decided to stick one on Livingstone.

I've always thought he was a C U Next Tuesday ever since then.

Quoted from jaymariner

I would also like to shake the hand of the guy who gave the little pretend hooligan a whack down the side of the findus after the game. He definitely deserved it after going on the pitch after it had cleared just to goad the stewards and then decided to start trying to fight with our own fans. We heard the punch connect from where we were in the osmond  

Wouldn't have taken much of a punch to have flattened him,He was a skinny little runt and got what he deserved.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

We took and scored 5 very good goals against Eastleigh.  Their only real threat on goal (their goal) was a result of a Town error. Ignoring the 2 league resuts between Town and Eastleigh, and they have a better record against the other 22 teams.  Yet we still stuffed them.

We are getting better. Last 15 games:  11 wins, 3 draws 1 loss = 36 points.  Over a full season this equatesto more than 110 points!  No wonder Hurst said that this team/squad would have won the league if we started the season with the same players.

We are now scoring difficult goals, but still missing easy chances. This can be rectified at Wembley. More fans will go now after todays win,

Special mention to the Eastleigh fans.  We were some of the last fans to leave the ground.  Eastleigh fans were still singing at 1750 hrs, 30mins after the final whistle. (Disley was still posing for pictures as well!).

As was Ross Hannah.This has been a real team effort.

Thought it was Creighton commentating

Quoted from Tinymariner

Thought it was Creighton commentating

No it wasn't Creighton, it was the other one Adam Virgo.