Hope

I have lost faith with the team this season but the positive appointment of Hurst has been a good step:

Menayese- still getting up to speed and yes was at fault yesterday but I see a Toto-esque player in there. When he signed he wasn’t a great player to start with but they both have pace, height and can double at full back (albeit different sides).


Matete - quick and good ball carrier, what we’ve missed all seaosn. If we stay up and somehow manage to get this guy again, I’d be very impressed


Idris - only played one game but looked better than we’ve had all season. Still not sure on his best qualities but seems a much better fit than Hewitt.

Stefan Payne - 1 in 1 is better than our strikers this season. Looks a good physical and surprisingly quicker than I thought striker. Could be a good mobile foil. I suspect he would work better in a 4-2-3-1 with Scannell, Morais and either Williams or Wright (Scannell to be CAM).... early days but I’m pleased we’ve got a good option up top

Habergham - still getting up to speed and isn’t quite good enough yet, but I have faith he’ll be as dependable as Hendrie - not going to pull up trees but to have two spendable full backs in prime age for us would be fantastic. Better than Preston IMO who has been thrown in the deep end with a lead weight tied to his foot.

We’re nowhere near adrift yet. Others will get pulled in.

It's the hope that kills you. As it always does when it comes to Town.

It's the hope that kills you!...without replacing Waterfall, (dare I say) Pollock and McKeown we are doomed.
We have 2 very slow centre halves and that's a recipe for disaster, our only hope is Hurst can bring in another, more mobile centre half and maybe a keeper from the Championship who's currently warming the bench and just wants to come play football.
Maneyese yesterday should have put that ball into a back garden in Harrison Street, he's a young lad learning his trade and unfortunately time is not a luxury we have right now.
Our only hope of remaining as an EFL club for the 2021/22 season is  that NL null n void their season as any hope of staying up this season disappeared round the U bend yesterday imo

February will be tough, although Newport are on a poor run of form and we are due a win next Saturday

If we are still in touch of Barrow and Stevenage by March, think we will be ok.

The danger is we get cut adrift in next 4 weeks

The Barrow game being postponed may well be huge for us.

There were one or two signs yesterday that we could turn it around. But we’ve got to stop gifting these silly simple goals all the time. Not helping playing on that bog of a pitch either. I know it’s the same for both teams, but just saying.

We had no luck again yesterday. Everything fell just right for Stevenage and both their goals had an element of fortune to capitalize on what were mistakes by us. All teams make mistakes, even the best ones, but they definitely got the rub of the green on both occasions. I bet Matete is still running that chance he put past he post through his head this morning and he also got an assist. The new striker scored on his debut. When did that last happen?

I tend not to look at league positions, but what form teams are in. Mansfield, Bradford and yesterdays opponents Stevenage are now in the top six and all of them were at the bottom end like us not so long ago. Barrow are 9th, having won three of their last 6 and Scunny have shot up to 10th. Newport and Colchester are now 22nd and 23rd, just above us. Exeter are also dropping rapidly.

There isn't a lot between top and bottom in this division and most fans are thinking because we are down at the wrong end and haven't picked up points against teams down there, that we can't pick up points against others higher up the division, but we can I believe.

Hurst has had to rebuild mid season with a dodgy transfer window and it takes time to sort things out. When asked yesterday if there would be some more signings, he said yes emphatically, so I think there will be one or two more through the door and we can then concentrate on what we have and start to get some consistency going.

Other teams have found a bit of form and I believe we will get better once everything settles down. We are not yet cut adrift, so a win here and there can see you rise quickly. Jolley had far fewer games and no transfer window to work with and he managed it, despite his lack of experience.

I refuse to accept we are doomed with 20 games yet to go.

Quoted from Nutsy

I have lost faith with the team this season but the positive appointment of Hurst has been a good step:

Menayese- still getting up to speed and yes was at fault yesterday but I see a Toto-esque player in there. When he signed he wasn’t a great player to start with but they both have pace, height and can double at full back (albeit different sides).


Matete - quick and good ball carrier, what we’ve missed all seaosn. If we stay up and somehow manage to get this guy again, I’d be very impressed


Idris - only played one game but looked better than we’ve had all season. Still not sure on his best qualities but seems a much better fit than Hewitt.

Stefan Payne - 1 in 1 is better than our strikers this season. Looks a good physical and surprisingly quicker than I thought striker. Could be a good mobile foil. I suspect he would work better in a 4-2-3-1 with Scannell, Morais and either Williams or Wright (Scannell to be CAM).... early days but I’m pleased we’ve got a good option up top

Habergham - still getting up to speed and isn’t quite good enough yet, but I have faith he’ll be as dependable as Hendrie - not going to pull up trees but to have two spendable full backs in prime age for us would be fantastic. Better than Preston IMO who has been thrown in the deep end with a lead weight tied to his foot.

Yet we still lost to a team who had not won away for a year, even though we equalised in the 93rd minute.

We wont get out of trouble with a defence like ours. Have you seen the goals against column? We need a new keeper and centre half by tomorrow. If we are struggling at centre half put Hewitt in there for a stop-gap measure.

Both Hendrie and Pollock have gone backwards at an alarming rate.

Quoted from ginnywings

We had no luck again yesterday. Everything fell just right for Stevenage and both their goals had an element of fortune to capitalize on what were mistakes by us. All teams make mistakes, even the best ones, but they definitely got the rub of the green on both occasions. I bet Matete is still running that chance he put past he post through his head this morning and he also got an assist. The new striker scored on his debut. When did that last happen?

I tend not to look at league positions, but what form teams are in. Mansfield, Bradford and yesterdays opponents Stevenage are now in the top six and all of them were at the bottom end like us not so long ago. Barrow are 9th, having won three of their last 6 and Scunny have shot up to 10th. Newport and Colchester are now 22nd and 23rd, just above us. Exeter are also dropping rapidly.

There isn't a lot between top and bottom in this division and most fans are thinking because we are down at the wrong end and haven't picked up points against teams down there, that we can't pick up points against others higher up the division, but we can I believe.

Hurst has had to rebuild mid season with a dodgy transfer window and it takes time to sort things out. When asked yesterday if there would be some more signings, he said yes emphatically, so I think there will be one or two more through the door and we can then concentrate on what we have and start to get some consistency going.

Other teams have found a bit of form and I believe we will get better once everything settles down. We are not yet cut adrift, so a win here and there can see you rise quickly. Jolley had far fewer games and no transfer window to work with and he managed it, despite his lack of experience.

I refuse to accept we are doomed with 20 games yet to go.

I agree with what you say and there is still hope, one thing you also note which appears correct there is not much difference between the top half and bottom half of this league but there is a difference between this Town side and the rest of the league, apart from a couple of decent away performances so far we've been really poor.

There is 20 games left but we need 30 points, when the Scunts where in that position Cox went on record saying that they needed 10 wins, they've got 3 of that 10 in the last week. What is our club's mindset "games left" or "points required"?    

We still have hope but we need to start winning games at the moment it appears we can't stop losing them.  

Quoted from ginnywings

The new striker scored on his debut. When did that last happen?
.

Ira Jackson Junior scored on his league debut off the bench

Quoted from Youngy

Ira Jackson Junior scored on his league debut off the bench

Could add Kayden Jackson and Adi Yussuf in recent years.

I feel for Hurst because I think he set the team up well yesterday. We were on the front foot for most of the match, and pressed really well. It’s just 2 individual errors made that you can’t legislate for. I think we’ll see this formation used again, and hopefully we’ll build up a bit of cohesion.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

I agree with what you say and there is still hope, one thing you also note which appears correct there is not much difference between the top half and bottom half of this league but there is a difference between this Town side and the rest of the league, apart from a couple of decent away performances so far we've been really poor.

There is 20 games left but we need 30 points, when the Scunts where in that position Cox went on record saying that they needed 10 wins, they've got 3 of that 10 in the last week. What is our club's mindset "games left" or "points required"?    

We still have hope but we need to start winning games at the moment it appears we can't stop losing them.  

Yes we have, no denying that. But having been poor, doesn't mean we will continue to be poor.

Nobody knows how many wins or points are needed, but we only need to get 1 more than 2 other teams. The league table shows that there are 4 teams that have won only 5 games, with us being one of those. Stevenage only got to 5 wins yesterday courtesy of a massive clanger from us, yet they are 6th in the form table and rising. They weren't massively better than us and it could have gone 2-1 the other way with a bit of luck.

There are too many games and variables to be certain who will end up in the bottom 2. As long as we don't get cut adrift, we can get out of this. We have the time.

Quoted from 140381

We’re nowhere near adrift yet. Others will get pulled in.

Get pulled in ?  How ?  To do that we have to get some points first.

Quoted from 140381

The Barrow game being postponed may well be huge for us.

Best result we've had this season  

Quoted from ginnywings

We had no luck again yesterday. Everything fell just right for Stevenage and both their goals had an element of fortune to capitalize on what were mistakes by us. All teams make mistakes, even the best ones, but they definitely got the rub of the green on both occasions. I bet Matete is still running that chance he put past he post through his head this morning and he also got an assist. The new striker scored on his debut. When did that last happen?

I tend not to look at league positions, but what form teams are in. Mansfield, Bradford and yesterdays opponents Stevenage are now in the top six and all of them were at the bottom end like us not so long ago. Barrow are 9th, having won three of their last 6 and Scunny have shot up to 10th. Newport and Colchester are now 22nd and 23rd, just above us. Exeter are also dropping rapidly.

There isn't a lot between top and bottom in this division and most fans are thinking because we are down at the wrong end and haven't picked up points against teams down there, that we can't pick up points against others higher up the division, but we can I believe.

Hurst has had to rebuild mid season with a dodgy transfer window and it takes time to sort things out. When asked yesterday if there would be some more signings, he said yes emphatically, so I think there will be one or two more through the door and we can then concentrate on what we have and start to get some consistency going.

Other teams have found a bit of form and I believe we will get better once everything settles down. We are not yet cut adrift, so a win here and there can see you rise quickly. Jolley had far fewer games and no transfer window to work with and he managed it, despite his lack of experience.

I refuse to accept we are doomed with 20 games yet to go.

Love your optimism, I wish I could find some myself. The problem is we haven't won in 8 games and only 1 win in 14. We simply can't win games, how are we going to keep in touch?

Quoted from LouthMariner

Love your optimism, I wish I could find some myself. The problem is we haven't won in 8 games and only 1 win in 14. We simply can't win games, how are we going to keep in touch?

Not optimism as such, just law of averages. Despite how bad we have been, we are not cut adrift, and I think we can only get better with the new players bedding in.

Thought I would leave a period of reflection from yesterday. Take away the emotion of the late goal (if we can) and I thought for the first time there were more positives than negatives.
Matete was class throughout and set up Payne for the winner but could have had a couple himself. Jackson did ok - showed plenty of energy and linked up well. Think there is a footballer in there but his first touch must get better. The new lad looked promising and looks like more to come. My only gripe was that I thought Habergham looked like he was treading water from about 30 minutes and should have come off at half time. A couple more signings, a fit Morais and Scannel and 20 games to go. You've got to have hope havent you!

Quoted from Mariner93er

I feel for Hurst because I think he set the team up well yesterday. We were on the front foot for most of the match, and pressed really well. It’s just 2 individual errors made that you can’t legislate for. I think we’ll see this formation used again, and hopefully we’ll build up a bit of cohesion.

I'm not sure what being on the front foot means when our only effort on target in the second half was the goal in injury time

Second half we were crap whichever foot we were on.

Quoted from ginnywings

Not optimism as such, just law of averages. Despite how bad we have been, we are not cut adrift, and I think we can only get better with the new players bedding in.

The law of averages says we will get 3 wins and 5 draws if you take the last 20 games into account  

14 points is not going to be enough. Like you, I was hopeful that a change in manager would see an improvement and did also say that these games in January could have done with being in February instead, when we have a bit more of a settled team. The problem is we let Scunthorpe and Stevenage beat us and put space between us and fill them with confidence.

I just can't see where our next win is coming from and time is running out faster than we all expected.

Quoted from blundellpork

Could add Kayden Jackson and Adi Yussuf in recent years.

And not forgetting Simeon Jackson too who scored just a few minutes in to his debut

This is a results business and we haven't had any in our favour. We are clutching at straws, looking for any improvement to bolster our confidence in staying up. Macca is past his sell by date, at fault(again) for those goals. He's a reasonable stopper but should have come out fast and either cleared/collected the ball on both times.

I believe with a dogged determination, unless the maths prove otherwise, that we will survive in this league. Blind optimism if you like.

However as the thread is 'Hope' it reminds of and old saying. Theirs Bob Hope and no hope, Bob's dead but aren't yet.

I personally see no hope at all. I have never felt so low as a town supporter. I don't think we will stay up, there is such a lack of confidence. Good players, players we know are good such as Hendrie and Pollock, look so broken. The club is just toxic, it's a mess top to bottom.  Fenty and the board are responsible. Holloway is responsible. And I think Holloways failings have hidden a very poor start by Hurst. Yes he inherited a poor squad but I am far from impressed. But it's the long term future of the club that bothers me. Hopefully the new owners will sort things, but as a club we have no identity, no plan. The one positive from last couple of seasons was the plan to bring youth through. My biggest complaint about Hurst is he ignores this, would rather develope other teams young players than our own.

This may be controversial but I don't care, the only hope I see is a complete restart in the summer with new owners and a new manager. If we go down no way should Hurst stay. He has time now, but I don't think he is capable of what some seem to think he is. I just hate the constant rotation of players, the loan players, lack of team spirit.  I think he has completely dropped the wrong players. Then if we do stay up it all starts again. Complete new team,  more loan players,  no consistency.

Just very very low and most concerning of all I don't think I care anymore.

Quoted from moosey_club

Get pulled in ?  How ?  To do that we have to get some points first.

We will. Quite a few teams with a huge drop in form.

We need to fluke a 1-0 somewhere, a backs-against-the-wall job after nicking a goal in the first half.  We're more likely to do that against a side expecting to beat us than teams that sit back against us.  That's what I'm hanging onto, anyway.

Quoted from HarrogateMariner

I personally see no hope at all. I have never felt so low as a town supporter. I don't think we will stay up, there is such a lack of confidence. Good players, players we know are good such as Hendrie and Pollock, look so broken. The club is just toxic, it's a mess top to bottom.  Fenty and the board are responsible. Holloway is responsible. And I think Holloways failings have hidden a very poor start by Hurst. Yes he inherited a poor squad but I am far from impressed. But it's the long term future of the club that bothers me. Hopefully the new owners will sort things, but as a club we have no identity, no plan. The one positive from last couple of seasons was the plan to bring youth through. My biggest complaint about Hurst is he ignores this, would rather develope other teams young players than our own.

This may be controversial but I don't care, the only hope I see is a complete restart in the summer with new owners and a new manager. If we go down no way should Hurst stay. He has time now, but I don't think he is capable of what some seem to think he is. I just hate the constant rotation of players, the loan players, lack of team spirit.  I think he has completely dropped the wrong players. Then if we do stay up it all starts again. Complete new team,  more loan players,  no consistency.

Just very very low and most concerning of all I don't think I care anymore.

Summed up perfectly !

This club has been on a rinse and repeat cycle for twenty years and I can see nothing other than the indignity of a second relegation to the National League.

I hate to say it, but I'm passed caring.

Quoted from moosey_club

Based on what ?
Every team in the bottom third could lose every game but if we arent getting points ourselves how are we going to catch them?
We have the worst goal difference, cant score twice in a game,  havnt had a settled team or a recognisable first 11 figured out yet and we are over halfway through the season.
Law of averages isnt real, we dont just win games because it's our turn or because we're due one....we have to score more than the opposition in every game we play....something we have managed what...5 times so far ?

We’ll see.

Yeah we will. Hope we do but just cant see it as yet.

Just trying to keep optimistic. Whilst there’s games, there’s a chance.

Quoted from HarrogateMariner

I personally see no hope at all. I have never felt so low as a town supporter. I don't think we will stay up, there is such a lack of confidence. Good players, players we know are good such as Hendrie and Pollock, look so broken. The club is just toxic, it's a mess top to bottom.  Fenty and the board are responsible. Holloway is responsible. And I think Holloways failings have hidden a very poor start by Hurst. Yes he inherited a poor squad but I am far from impressed. But it's the long term future of the club that bothers me. Hopefully the new owners will sort things, but as a club we have no identity, no plan. The one positive from last couple of seasons was the plan to bring youth through. My biggest complaint about Hurst is he ignores this, would rather develope other teams young players than our own.

This may be controversial but I don't care, the only hope I see is a complete restart in the summer with new owners and a new manager. If we go down no way should Hurst stay. He has time now, but I don't think he is capable of what some seem to think he is. I just hate the constant rotation of players, the loan players, lack of team spirit.  I think he has completely dropped the wrong players. Then if we do stay up it all starts again. Complete new team,  more loan players,  no consistency.

Just very very low and most concerning of all I don't think I care anymore.

I completely agree we need a complete re-start and that has started already with appointing a manager who knows the "current limitations" of what he has to work with, has saved a side before, had 3 promoted on his CV and 6 Wembley finals, though he only won 1 TBF. Yes struggled at Ipswich and Scunny, the former was probably too high too soon and the latter? Well Pistol Pete isn't known for his patience.      

You kind of contradict yourself you say you're fed up with chopping and changing well Hurst has had what 4 games? What would you expect him to do keep the same side? In regards to who's been dropped I'm not sure I can say one player that's not started doesn't deserve to be on the bench or not in the squad. Would changing the manager regardless of what league we play in next year surely not be more instability.

We already have a plan to bring Youth through as our Youth system is apart from the loyal supporters probably the best thing that we have going for us at the minute, but it will need to be "bring them through" rather than "throw them in" as this season has proved that is not the answer.        

Though I am still really p1ssed off about yesterday but individual errors and sloppy play cost us the points in the main.  

Quoted from HarrogateMariner

I personally see no hope at all. I have never felt so low as a town supporter. I don't think we will stay up, there is such a lack of confidence. Good players, players we know are good such as Hendrie and Pollock, look so broken. The club is just toxic, it's a mess top to bottom.  Fenty and the board are responsible. Holloway is responsible. And I think Holloways failings have hidden a very poor start by Hurst. Yes he inherited a poor squad but I am far from impressed. But it's the long term future of the club that bothers me. Hopefully the new owners will sort things, but as a club we have no identity, no plan. The one positive from last couple of seasons was the plan to bring youth through. My biggest complaint about Hurst is he ignores this, would rather develope other teams young players than our own.

This may be controversial but I don't care, the only hope I see is a complete restart in the summer with new owners and a new manager. If we go down no way should Hurst stay. He has time now, but I don't think he is capable of what some seem to think he is. I just hate the constant rotation of players, the loan players, lack of team spirit.  I think he has completely dropped the wrong players. Then if we do stay up it all starts again. Complete new team,  more loan players,  no consistency.

Just very very low and most concerning of all I don't think I care anymore.

Although I agree with most of that, our mood would change dramatically if we could just scrape a win.

Trouble is, there has been no new manager bounce at all, so where is the win going to come from?

I know it has only been a few weeks, but I bet Hurst would have gone about things a bit differently if he could start again.

I got the impression from the first game (especially noticing Doig's body language on the touchline) that they did not rate any of the players. We didn't either, but it was their job to give them a lift and try to get them to get a point or three.

I noticed in the first half yesterday Doig was much more animated now they had some of their own players in the team, and perhaps we will need to wait until after tomorrow, when hopefully they have as many new players as possible before we start to show better results.

He should have made his first signing a keeper though; I still hope we will bring one in tomorrow to give that defence a huge boost.

Quoted from MarinerDevil

We need to fluke a 1-0 somewhere, a backs-against-the-wall job after nicking a goal in the first half.  We're more likely to do that against a side expecting to beat us than teams that sit back against us.  That's what I'm hanging onto, anyway.

Nobody sits back against us at the moment. They all know they can get 3 or 4 goals. But maybe with someone’s complacency and a bit of luck, we may get a result somewhere to start to give us some confidence. And then you never know.

You have to change the mindset first. From recent interviews with Hanson and Payne I think that is happening.

If we could just get a win under our belt, we could start to add confidence to the mix. We no doubt have some better quality in the squad with the new signings.

It is clear from Hurst's interview yesterday that there are more signings on the cards tomorrow, It may be Coke and LJL. Be good if a couple more joined too.

We have look forward to the Newport game. They are not in great form at the moment and maybe this is the game where, with little or no expectation on our players,. we grab an unexpected win. Could be a major turning point.