Just Back on the Train.

Quoted from aldi_01

Crocombe is a revelation to be fair, he commands his box and removes some of that pressure towards the end of a game.

Didn’t see the match today but plenty of town fans at the wedding I was at and to be fair, we weren’t too disheartened at the 1-0 score line given how far the club has come. A polite ripple and ‘get in’ was heard when the second went it and it seems a Paul
hurst away masterclass ensued.

Yes, we probably need to start better but it’s a great thing to support s team that never gives in.

Yes he's been excellent since he got into the team. Really steady and commanding, thought he was excellent today.  

Awful 1st  half, possibly worse than Rochdale!

Much, much improved  2nd half after the changes.

Town fans seemed really subdued 1st half, even before the  goal.

Really pleased for Harry after the criticism he's been getting this week!

Nothing more to add really.

Utm

Great result for the lads.  Harry never stopped running as per usual.  Delighted that he got his brace.  Crocombe was quality today.  picked up every cross and stood his ground for the one one one. pepple changes the game when he comes on.  I can't wait for him to score.

I was quite happy when the Walsall defender, Daniels went off.    He mopped up everything.  

I think PH deserves a lot of credit for today's result. He put out a team that he thought would match the opposition but after a while he realised that ,for whatever reasons, it wasn't working. Once he changed things around at half-time we performed much better. His ability to be able to correct on-pitch problems is crucial in getting a result.

Quoted from Lost in Lincoln

Awful 1st  half, possibly worse than Rochdale!

Much, much improved  2nd half after the changes.

Town fans seemed really subdued 1st half, even before the  goal.

Really pleased for Harry after the criticism he's been getting this week!

Nothing more to add really.

Utm

Re the Town fans, it was as fractious and impatient as I have seen/heard Town fans in the post-Covid era. Very quickly some started getting very frustrated and downright unreasonable on occasion. Michee was coming in for unfair stick, people seemed to have a problem with him. For example, when Glennon shanked a ball clean out of play, it was applauded, when Michee did similar he was met with a rapture of shouting and histrionics, which I thought was unfair and strange.

After HT the mood improved though. Once we got going a bit we all got right behind the lads (we had the highest away attendance in L2 yesterday incidentally). I’m sure having 800 of us at the goal egging the players on gives them a lift, it did get noisy and hostile as we got closer to scoring.

Much has already been said so I’ll take a slightly different angle on the game. We haven’t won a game ‘normally’ for months. If we are serious about competing at the sharp end of this League, and we certainly should be, we’ve got to stop conceding first in games and starting so sloppily. We lacked intensity, ambition and calmness in the opening 15-20 mins, as we did at Rochdale and once again they could’ve been out of sight before we dragged ourselves back into it. It also emphasises that it’s not just us looking for a striker before the window closes on Thursday, everyone is struggling to finish teams off. The other thing is, if we’re persisting with this system of Taylor up front by himself and three central midfielders, we need one of the midfielders and the wide players to get closer to him and running beyond him. We dominated the ball yesterday without any real penetration. I think that is where you see the loss of McAtee most clearly.

I thought the subs generally made a positive impact yesterday. In his first tenure, the biggest criticism levelled at Hursty was his lack of in game management skills. He’s been getting it spot on for months now, look at JMD in the playoff final. Wearne, although he probably wasn’t fully fit, offered a much greater threat down that side. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with Bim, he’s much stronger and harder to knock off the ball than I thought he’d be. He can also stretch the game and run in behind in a way none of the other strikers can. His ball was spot on for Harry’s equaliser as well. Clearly there is much to learn but I think he’s doing well so far. I think Walsall basically got a lead and sat on it, and they didn’t know how to respond once we got back in the game, probably cos they were all knackered on a hot day against our lads who seemingly have super human fitness.

In this League, there are so many teams where there isn’t a right lot of difference between. Every single one of our League games could’ve gone a different way if there had been a very slight change in circumstances. As a result fine margins define games. Having a deep squad with different threats from the bench, strong fitness levels, belief and high quality set pieces will make all the difference in numerous games this season. The other thing that will make a difference is a bit of magic here and there. Not sure we have that in the absence of McAtee though.

I will truly believe things are different at this club if we now win at Rodney Parade, a ground we haven’t even scored at and got about 2 points at in 8 visits or something daft.

I'll happily be losing for 85 minutes of every game if we somehow end up walking away with 3 points each week  

Quoted from lukeo

I'll happily be losing for 85 minutes of every game if we somehow end up walking away with 3 points each week  

Me too if we had gone into the transfer market and paid good money for our keeper and Harry we would be well satisfied now

Think it's more evidence that PH knows what he's about and fans generally don't. There was much gnashing of teeth about him replacing Macca, but it has proved to be the right call and has improved us as a team, which is the aim.

There is no room for sentiment and if we climb higher up the leagues, others will fall by the wayside, maybe even Crocombe himself one day.

Quoted from ginnywings

Think it's more evidence that PH knows what he's about and fans generally don't. There was much gnashing of teeth about him replacing Macca, but it has proved to be the right call and has improved us as a team, which is the aim.

There is no room for sentiment and if we climb higher up the leagues, others will fall by the wayside, maybe even Crocombe himself one day.

I'm no expect on goal keepers as it's a much more technical position than what I think the keepers get credit for but it just looks like Max makes decisions  where as much as he was great for us on and off the pitch Macca sometimes dithered. Max is clearly no short of self confidence.

I think PH deserves credit for wanting to continually improve the squad clearly he's got more trust and backing than in his first spell but the fact that he's now openly said we're chasing Hunt illustrates a great desire to build us towards better things..    

Quoted from rancido

I think PH deserves a lot of credit for today's result. He put out a team that he thought would match the opposition but after a while he realised that ,for whatever reasons, it wasn't working. Once he changed things around at half-time we performed much better. His ability to be able to correct on-pitch problems is crucial in getting a result.

And yet we still have people moaning about team selection and questioning his substitutions…it’s as if they can’t let themselves realise that Hurst is our second best manager in modern times…