Just back

Outfought. Donny wanted the game and they got it, every 1st and 2nd ball they won, and deserved the 3 points. I dont think they are a great side by any means but no complaints from me at all.

We started badly again, had a lot of the ball and did precious little with it. Midfield didnt work, morris and hunt very poor, seen little from Hunt since his return to justify 100K, feel like today was a game for Green but i can see why we didnt change the 11.

A post was made on here recently about how many goals we conceede from the left hand side, today Donny exploited Glennon and he was quite frankly horrific. Given no support from Khan i’ll admit, but he cannot defend at all and i’d be playing Amos, i dont know if others see what im seeing but.

Only positive is of course Mcatee, but form in the league has nosedived and our home form is extremely worrying

Quoted from Hagrid

Outfought. Donny wanted the game and they got it, every 1st and 2nd ball they won, and deserved the 3 points. I dont think they are a great side by any means but no complaints from me at all.

We started badly again, had a lot of the ball and did precious little with it. Midfield didnt work, morris and hunt very poor, seen little from Hunt since his return to justify 100K, feel like today was a game for Green but i can see why we didnt change the 11.

A post was made on here recently about how many goals we conceede from the left hand side, today Donny exploited Glennon and he was quite frankly horrific. Given no support from Khan i’ll admit, but he cannot defend at all and i’d be playing Amos, i dont know if others see what im seeing but.

Only positive is of course Mcatee, but form in the league has nosedived and our home form is extremely worrying

Is there any substance to the £100k number? It seems a lot considering he was poor at the end of his time with us, was poor at Oldham, wasn't wanted by Sheff Wed and they are in financial trouble.

Oh dear. What do we do now?

Carry on, and wait until the next game.

Totally Uninspiring today
Thats no wins in 4 in the league
Good to see Mcatee Back

Got to confess I left on the 70th minute so missed the Mcatee goal. But that was dire and simply not good enough. By far the best team and the team who had the most desire and ability won. After last Saturday it makes this display all the more painful. Having to face the fact that mid table mediocrity is probably the best we can hope for….and on that display, deserve.

Morris! I shall say no more

Full backs absolutely awful. First touch awful, passing awful.

We could not break them down, they were organized and much more physical than us. We missed Taylor and could have done with Green in the middle for some physicality. As soon as we went 2-0 down we were never gonna get anything out the game.

I don’t blame Hurst as that’s the line up we all wanted after the Plymouth game but Donny did a job on us and fully deserved the win.

Onto next week against a good Stevenage side with that fat idiot in charge.

Well, that's one to forget. Can't think of any positives asides from McAtee being back in the squad.  We were 2nd best in all areas, the midfield looked particularly weak, and our usually rock-solid defense not much better. Disappointing after playing so well against Plymouth. Oh well. Shake ourselves down, learn from our mistakes and come out fighting from the 1st minute next Saturday. UTM

Green has to start, and should be first name on the team sheet, every team needs someone like him.

Garbage from 1 to 11 from the first minute. What on earth goes on in the week? We start slowly in every game and most teams are capable of taking advantage.

Even the reliable Clifton was only worthy of a 5 out of 10 today and he was significantly better than most.

Something else drunk me off massively today but I think I’ll keep that one for a later date.

Green, Cropper and Amos to start next game..

Tactically inept from the off and after being given the easiest 45 mins I have seen in years Donny must have been ecstatic?No HT changes from our Manager who could probably have subbed any of 7 outfield player's and so it continued. Hoofing the ball to Kiernan misplaced pass after pass from our midfield and player's not being capable of even controlling the ball. I  have no idea what shape we're supposed to be playing but I do know we need better than 3-4 of the starting eleven for league football. That's 3 league defeats on the spin all urine poor performances and I  expect this to continue?Dire afternoon and zero entertainment once again.Hurst won't change he's too stubborn so we're stuck with what we see.

One to forget definitely.
Only plus is McAtee is back and will score goals. Brush ourselves down and we go again next week.
UTM

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Something else drunk me off massively today but I think I’ll keep that one for a later date.

Stop being a tease and post it. Hopefully it's the same thing I heard today, but I just get accused of being a excrement stirrer so won't bother.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Something else drunk me off massively today but I think I’ll keep that one for a later date.

Oh go on, I'm sure we'd all like to hear this.

PH after match quote to JT " We were not physically and mentally up to it, if we play like this next week against Stevenage we'll lose"

Sums it up in reality they were rubbish and didn't deserve anything. The good news is McAtee is back and scoring again.

Poor against a very tactically set up team. They got the early goal and defended with 10 behind the ball and was patient in looking for the right time to attack... We struggle against teams like this, always have.
Felt our full backs gave us nothing at all. It's one position I would be considering in the January window if I was PH

Dreadful performance.

Can one of the Hurst lovers tell me what our style of play is, what our tactics are, how we set out to win games because I don’t see anything other than aimless hoofs down the channels with a single forward expected to chase after it.

And he stands there with his hands in his pockets as if there’s nothing he can do about it.

Negative manager, negative tactics.  

1 point out of the last 12 in the league.

1 win at home in 8 matches.

Unacceptable.

One of the worst game of the season. I have never seen so many leave with 20 minutes to go - but they were the intelligent ones

Pity they got the third one they did. That said the miss in the last seconds would’ve broken our hearts if that was for an equaliser. Not sure that I am a Hunt fan slows the game up badly. Huge respect to the guys that had to nominate the man of the match because that was a hell of a job from that shower of shite. Bad day at the office looking forward to next week I think. We truly are crap at home I need a Plan B or some new players in January

Well that was always the danger in playing a side that worked so well against a 3 at the backvthat pushed very high forward, as soon as donny scored their back 3 became a 5, no space at all and we were set up wrong for the game and it showed. No guile against a defence sat deep. On top of that we had poor performances from back to front and we were always going to be up against it. A deep defence is what taylor prefers to play against, with his little flicks on to runners against a tight defence, so would have been handy to have him as well as mcatee to come on but Richardson has tricky feet, the subs gave us a lift for 2 mins before they scored again and it's game over.

Very poor in game management not to change it at half time really, but what was even worse and simply indefensible was waiting 10 minutes after they scored to bring on mcatee. He scored one, brought the only save out of their keeper in the second half, and if he had 10 minutes more when they were only 2 up who knows what might have happened. Just who did he still want on that pitch over mcatee for 10 minutes.

Only other save I can recall was Harry who worked so hard and created a fantastic chance for himself but after that brilliant work blew the shot.

Only Waterfall of the back 4 played well today, Smith made some mistakes, glennon was very poor and efete, whilst OK defensively was back to his abysmal worst with the ball going forward. Against hartlepool they simply ignored him, didn't bother to mark him and so he got loads of space but still couldn't score or assist. Against Plymouth he had space in front of him to run into and that plays to his strengths, as soon as he has an opposing player in front of him he struggles really badly.

I thought one of hunt or Morris should have gone at half time, neither was playing well, Hunt was booked also and we needed a change of shape. All 3 forward midfielders had quiet ish games, especially Khan for me. kiernan put in loads of effort but as soon as they go a goal up he is playing on his own against a packed defence and that isn't his game, he needs space.

On the plus side mcatee came on, scored and we definitely need him as an option up front, I would like to see him played with Richardson and for us to keep it on the deck to make the most of their trickery.

Completely justified defeat, really disappointing, let's hope mcatee has come back just in time for our season.

Quoted from pen penfras

Stop being a tease and post it. Hopefully it's the same thing I heard today, but I just get accused of being a excrement stirrer so won't bother.

Nothing of that level. Call me old fashioned, but I expect someone laying a wreath to take their hands out their pockets during the two minutes silence.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Nothing of that level. Call me old fashioned, but I expect someone laying a wreath to take their hands out their pockets during the two minutes silence.

How can you lay a wreath with your hands in your pockets?

Glennon being watched by league 1 teams, hilarious, he was tortured today

I think it’s best we just shut this thread.

We were shite and whatever formation and tactic it was, it just didn’t work

Pint anyone?

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

I think it’s best we just shut this thread.

We were shite and whatever formation and tactic it was, it just didn’t work

Pint anyone?

Guinness, please

On a train full of Dony fans....

... .they all say they did not expect to win today.

Quoted from golfer

One of the worst game of the season. I have never seen so many leave with 20 minutes to go - but they were the intelligent ones

First time I've left a game early since about 1993. Sod's law I left about 5 seconds before we scored.

Was at work and didn't see much of the game on the tv, it must have been bad because my mate who I gave my ST to sent me a txt asking for a refund!!!

Quoted from DB

Guinness, please

You’ll have to come over the water to get a decent one of those DB

Absolutely no urgency in our play today, too many passengers, lost count of how many times we were near the edge of their box  yet the ball somehow ended up getting passed back to Smith/Waterfall.
To be honest, I'm getting sick of this negative football Hurst is deploying at home, we were Canon fodder today, and we've still not beaten a team above us in the league!..
For the first time this season, I'm looking over my shoulder at the bottom of the league rather than at the top, quite depressing really.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Nothing of that level. Call me old fashioned, but I expect someone laying a wreath to take their hands out their pockets during the two minutes silence.

Whats more embarrassing is idiots booing taking a stance against racism. unfortunately our small % of braindeads in the fanbase never cease to surprise me

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

You’ll have to come over the water to get a decent one of those DB

I lived in hope that the offer included transport, hotels etc.,  like a Town victory in the league soon.

Genuinely terrible today. Nothing positive to come from it bar the return of McAtee. Onwards.

Everyone in the ground could see it wasn't working after 30 minutes............ except the only person who could do anything about it.
Should of had Richardson,macatee,and green on from the start. Hunt playing far too deep and basically another defender when he's probably the best passer at the club.
The Doncaster goalkeeper won't have an easier afternoon all season, he could of put a table and chairs out in his six yard box and sat down to a 18 course taster menu with no fear of having to do any goalkeeping.

Gutted, Rugby women also lost in the final, men lost in the semi.

Really hope for the men can do it in the cricket tomorrow morning to lift my weekend.

Quoted from Phil the cod

Everyone in the ground could see it wasn't working after 30 minutes............ except the only person who could do anything about it.
Should of had Richardson,macatee,and green on from the start. Hunt playing far too deep and basically another defender when he's probably the best passer at the club.
The Doncaster goalkeeper won't have an easier afternoon all season, he could of put a table and chairs out in his six yard box and sat down to a 18 course taster menu with no fear of having to do any goalkeeping.

Macatee isnt fit to start. We were garbage, but theres no way Hurst was or should have, changed the 11 from last week

Awful, awful performance, arguably the worst of the season.  The dip in form, especially at home, is very worrying.

McAtee would have been my MoM and he was only on for 30 minutes! - that's how bad we were.

I'd say forget it and move on, but I seem to be saying that aloot in recent weeks :/

I don't really know where to start after that. Comprehensively beaten by a team who had just lost at home to Kings Lynn !

I don't know what Hurst's game plan was but I spent 90 minutes trying to figure it out and came up with nothing ! Utterly appalling performance from start to finish.

I would love to offer some positives from the actual performance but after a long period of reflection on my drive home, I have come up with "absolutely nothing" total gash from start to finish.

Other than that great to see McAtee back and a beautifully observed two minutes silence.

Football makes no sense . Smash Plymouth last week, then lose against Doncaster 7 days later . The joys of lower league .

Bad day, rubbish performance. The only thing that managed to eclipse that was the few (fortunately always a minority) stupid fans. For example, the idiot shouting at Hurst next to the dugout on his way out.

Quoted from promotion plaice

Gutted, Rugby women also lost in the final, men lost in the semi.

Really hope for the men can do it in the cricket tomorrow morning to lift my weekend.

At least scunny won..........oh wait.

Quoted from Hagrid

Whats more embarrassing is idiots booing taking a stance against racism. unfortunately our small % of braindeads in the fanbase never cease to surprise me

What stance was that? I got to my seat a minute or two late, did I miss something?

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

What stance was that? I got to my seat a minute or two late, did I miss something?

Donny took the knee before kickoff.

Same starting 11 .... why not after last week.....not changing it around after 30, 45, 60 mins when it was clear we weren't getting anywhere near their goal was poor.

I saw some of Hursts post match comments and it was clear he was as unimpressed as us fans with elements of the play..........its a shame he didn't remember that unlike us fans he could have actually done something to change it at any point.

Quoted from moosey_club

Same starting 11 .... why not after last week.....not changing it around after 30, 45, 60 mins when it was clear we weren't getting anywhere near their goal was poor.

I saw some of Hursts post match comments and it was clear he was as unimpressed as us fans with elements of the play..........its a shame he didn't remember that unlike us fans he could have actually done something to change it at any point.

It's his job on the line.  If this form continues much longer, it'll be more than a gentle glance over our shoulders, more of the warm breath of the relegation zone looming.  Dramatic maybe, but if he's hung by his own petard, he'll have no-one to blame but himself.

Well, where do you start with that? I would say we were toothless again, but that doesn't quite do it justice. Gumless?

Started poorly, gave them a chance straight away which Max saved, learned nothing from the scare and gave their right back the freedom of the park to pick out the No 9, who had far too much time and space. 1-0 down and already chasing the game.

We spent the rest of the half huffing and puffing and only playing accurate passes among the back four and deep lying midfielders. As soon as we tried to play a progressive pass into the danger zone, it was either cut out, overhit, under hit or mis controlled . Forward pass after forward pass went nowhere. The only time we got behind them all half, Harry failed to capitalise. Not going to get into a debate about whether it was a bad miss or good goalkeeping, but even the best players fail in those moments sometimes.

We start the second half just as poorly and find ourselves 2-0 down from an excellent strike, but he had all the time in the world to set himself.

We are now chasing the game and what have we got? On come McAtee and 2 YTS loanees who have a handful of EFL games to their name and this is what really p1sses me off. We are a League 2 side getting gates of 6/7/8 thousand for home games and we can't come up with any better than that? Simmonds did the square root of feck all and Richardson just ran into dead ends. We are now 3-0 down as their striker scored another good goal. Controlled and finished it brilliantly.

McAtee did what he does and cooly slotted the ball home when the chance presented itself and also brought a save from the keeper. A chance he wouldn't have got had Richardson finished as he should have and not give their keeper the chance to save.

Is that 1 home league win all season? Not really good enough is it?

I'm starting to get bored and disengaged with it all to be honest. Never at any time in the whole 90 mins did I feel we could win that game. We give away 1 goal and we're lucky if we get a draw. Give away 2 and it's a defeat as we never look like we can ever get a sustained amount of pressure on the opposition, never mind score the goals to get us back into a game.

Kiernan isn't and never will be a striker. He has no understanding of where the space is except when the opposing defence let him run into an offside position.

Mid season slump well under way and next weeks opponents are batting way beyond their average, so another toughie and another team above us in the league. We haven't beaten one yet.

Quoted from ginnywings

We are now chasing the game and what have we got? On come McAtee and 2 YTS loanees who have a handful of EFL games to their name and this is what really p1sses me off. We are a League 2 side getting gates of 6/7/8 thousand for home games and we can't come up with any better than that? Simmonds did the square root of feck all and Richardson just ran into dead ends. We are now 3-0 down as their striker scored another good goal. Controlled and finished it brilliantly.

McAtee did what he does and cooly slotted the ball home when the chance presented itself and also brought a save from the keeper. A chance he wouldn't have got had Richardson finished as he should have and not give their keeper the chance to save.

These are the key points. The fans do the business but the club is still located where it is and the funds are still what they were. I think we need to get to grips with that we're a mid-table team and lucky to have that spot as those we beat getting here would bite our arm off for it. We aren't a Wrexham with Hollywood money and look where that's got them. We need to work ourselves into the league system again and that means, honestly, being midtable at best.

Quoted from Lost in Lincoln

It's his job on the line.  If this form continues much longer, it'll be more than a gentle glance over our shoulders, more of the warm breath of the relegation zone looming.  Dramatic maybe, but if he's hung by his own petard, he'll have no-one to blame but himself.

His job isn't on the line, bar an absolutely horrendous run and relegation.

The owners have complete faith in him, which has its advantages as proved last season.

However it does mean Hurst needs to accept that he cannot work miracles if he continues to gamble that players in demand will "lower their expectations " as a transfer window starts to close.

We need to pay above the going rate for strikers in the next window so we are not left with academy youngsters who are not ready for men's football yet. It is disappointing that we have not yet got a signing that really sets the pulses racing when you consider the financial support the club is getting from the fans.

Quoted from louth_in_the_south

Football makes no sense . Smash Plymouth last week, then lose against Doncaster 7 days later . The joys of lower league .

Some sense. Against 3 at the back it worked against 5 at the back it didn’t.

Really poor (and concerning) performance. We looked clueless and lost.

Hurst got his team selection wrong today. Green should have started instead of Hunt, and Richardson (albeit not ideal as I will go onto) should have started through the middle with Clifton and Kiernan either side.

It also exposed the mistakes in recruitment and lack of depth. Firstly, the failure to secure a striker as an alternative to Taylor - a long running saga. Secondly, our reliance on loanee U23s who aren’t good enough, to come on and change a game.

Simmonds looks the part, but sadly he isn’t good enough or ready for this level. Similarly Richardson, who is a bit better, looks flashy at times but mostly ineffective.

I really hope this isn’t the start of a slide. Because if our away form dries up, things are going to get a bit hairy as our record at home is terrible.

Work to be done in January.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

His job isn't on the line, bar an absolutely horrendous run and relegation.

The owners have complete faith in him, which has its advantages as proved last season.

However it does mean Hurst needs to accept that he cannot work miracles if he continues to gamble that players in demand will "lower their expectations " as a transfer window starts to close.

We need to pay above the going rate for strikers in the next window so we are not left with academy youngsters who are not ready for men's football yet. It is disappointing that we have not yet got a signing that really sets the pulses racing when you consider the financial support the club is getting from the fans.

Someone needs to make sense of this striker situation. I can’t believe that our gate receipts and season ticket sales have been spent on such a weak set of strikers.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Someone needs to make sense of this striker situation. I can’t believe that our gate receipts and season ticket sales have been spent on such a weak set of strikers.

We need to draw a line and  start again. Send back Pepple and Simmonds neither is anywhere near this level and we are worse with them on the pitch then no strikers.Explain what is going on with Orsi is he an option or not . Try Kiernam with Mcatee far from ideal but no other options. Get a proper number 9 lined up to come in on 1 Jan when window opens no excuses this time

Some interesting stuff before kick off, Town finished their warm up a good 20+ mins before kick off, earlier than I’ve seen. Donny seemed to go in a lot closer to kick off.

At the toss it looked like they’re turned us around which started the sh1t housery quite early. Then though I agree with the knee the ref allowed them to delay the game when we were in position so they could do a group hug to take the knee, not necessary that.

All that said we made what is becoming our standard start which is generally a nervy one but this was off the scale bad. Surely we should have understood that as Donny got beat by Kings Lynn last week they’d be massively up for it. Throughout the half every time we had the ball they had 2 players around us, in response we didn’t look interested in competing physically.

Clearly Donny watched us last week so getting men behind the ball like they did stopped us finding any space beyond the line and in wide areas. As much as it frustrated me their 2 banks of 5 stopped us playing in reality.

So all of the above was evident after around 25 mins so why did Hurst not change it? Maybe take Hunt off who today looked like the young player he is, get Maher on, go 3 at the back pull Clifton into mid field with Khan or Gav tucked in behind Kiernan up front.

I’m not going to dig any player or the manager out as they quite rightly have a lot of credit in the bank but today the starting 11 and PH short changed us, or that’s the way I felt anyway.

Pure and simple we should not be outthought, outfought and in reality outplayed in a (relatively) local derby in front of a sell out.

BTW, one final thing, though he can’t be blamed for our poor performance and the result the ref was soft as sh1t.

Quoted from HerveJosse

We need to draw a line and  start again. Send back Pepple and Simmonds neither is anywhere near this level and we are worse with them on the pitch then no strikers.Explain what is going on with Ordi is he an option or not . Try Kiernam with Mcatee far from ideal but no other options. Get a proper number 9 lined up to come in on 1 Jan when window opens no excuses this time

Orsi is injured isn’t he?

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Orsi is injured isn’t he?

Maybe but he didn’t get a look in before he was and do you really believe anything Hurst says?

We had an option to sign a big target man in desi, what happens instead, sign 3 u23 team unproven midgets.

Doncaster had a game plan. Quick out of the blocks, early goal and then consolidate their position. It worked very well. We didn't have the nous to break them down. Our full backs didn't have the room Plymouth gave them to get down the line.
The other goals came at really bad times. The second early in the second half before we'd had time to build momentum. The least said about the third the better. We get our talisman back on the pitch. The crowd become re-engaged with the game and before Mcatee has had half a dozen touches Crocombe and Smith doing pretty good impressions of Marcel Marceau contrive to concede the third. Cue fire drill sized exits. Game well and truly done.
Max Crocombe has developed beyond recognition from the keeper who replaced Macca (still less than a year ago) but his distribution was utterly dreadful today.
It's never been an easy ride watching Town but today was absolutely frustrating and depressing.

One thing I won’t accept is players shirking out of tackles, examples of that absolutely all over the pitch. How on earth Holohan won MOTM is beyond me.

Cliftons chance missed changed the game completely IMO. Donny had 3 decent chances and won the game, their #9 was the best striker I’ve seen this season (although we all know they don’t exist). Absolutely criminal we let them score straight after the triple sub when the volume went up.

A lot to work on to make sure we don’t repeat the losing run at this point last year.

Quoted from pontoonlew

One thing I won’t accept is players shirking out of tackles, examples of that absolutely all over the pitch. How on earth Holohan won MOTM is beyond me.

Cliftons chance missed changed the game completely IMO. Donny had 3 decent chances and won the game, their #9 was the best striker I’ve seen this season (although we all know they don’t exist). Absolutely criminal we let them score straight after the triple sub when the volume went up.

A lot to work on to make sure we don’t repeat the losing run at this point last year.

Not sure their 9 was that good, Smith and Waterfall had shockers today but still were far from being our worst.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Not sure their 9 was that good, Smith and Waterfall had shockers today but still were far from being our worst.

We said after the third went in that if Clifton's chance had fallen to Miller he'd have stuck it away-strikers instincts..

Quoted from barralad

We said after the third went in that if Clifton's chance had fallen to Miller he'd have stuck it away-strikers instincts..

Probably so, but Harry isn’t a striker. Miller played ok but neither Smith nor Waterfall or anyone else were anywhere near where they should be today. Donny lost at home to a team two leagues below them last weekend, they were bound to be hungry and we weren’t ready for them.

Quoted from Sir Matt Tease

I don't really know where to start after that. Comprehensively beaten by a team who had just lost at home to Kings Lynn !

I don't know what Hurst's game plan was but I spent 90 minutes trying to figure it out and came up with nothing ! Utterly appalling performance from start to finish.

I would love to offer some positives from the actual performance but after a long period of reflection on my drive home, I have come up with "absolutely nothing" total gash from start to finish.

Other than that great to see McAtee back and a beautifully observed two minutes silence.

Blimey you actually went to a match- must be first of the season.  Very rarely see you on here when we win Sir Matt but typically on here when when we lose. Pity you didn't go last week then you would have seen a game plan executed so well.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Probably so, but Harry isn’t a striker. Miller played ok but neither Smith nor Waterfall or anyone else were anywhere near where they should be today. Donny lost at home to a team two leagues below them last weekend, they were bound to be hungry and we weren’t ready for them.

I know...which was my (admittedly badly made) point.

One thing I thought was interesting as soon as McAtee came on he started telling Simmons and a couple of others what to do, something that’s been missing in attack this season TBH.

Quoted from barralad

I know...which was my (admittedly badly made) point.

No. I get your point. Just such a excrement day and, to be honest, quite concerning.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

His job isn't on the line, bar an absolutely horrendous run and relegation.

The owners have complete faith in him, which has its advantages as proved last season.

However it does mean Hurst needs to accept that he cannot work miracles if he continues to gamble that players in demand will "lower their expectations " as a transfer window starts to close.

We need to pay above the going rate for strikers in the next window so we are not left with academy youngsters who are not ready for men's football yet. It is disappointing that we have not yet got a signing that really sets the pulses racing when you consider the financial support the club is getting from the fans.

It might not be *right now* but we all know how quickly things can change in football.

It is not quite true that we started badly.  We kept them quiet during the 2 minutes silence!

I did not go last Sat.  Wondered if Plymouth and Donney had switched teams?

Hurst said in his after-match comments that all 11 players were poor today. When in the game was that then?  Making subs at 60 mins was far too late.  It was apparent from very early on that nothing was working.  It would not change on its own.

We were not getting any tackles in.  Green was needed well before HT to add some backbone and grit.  We were not creating anything either.  No points for needless possession in your own.

Having no back-up striker for Taylor is a mistake.  As others have identified.  We need to rectify this soonest - even if we have to spend a lot of money.

A big positive to have McAtee back and scoring.

Quoted from chipsandgravy

Blimey you actually went to a match- must be first of the season.  Very rarely see you on here when we win Sir Matt but typically on here when when we lose. Pity you didn't go last week then you would have seen a game plan executed so well.

You are quite right Chips, "we rarely see you on here when we win" , which is why you don't see me very often !

As for seeing a well executed game plan the week before, I don't class a victory in a competition we cannot win against Plymouth reserves as anything to get excited about.

Today we were sh1te, this is our bread and butter competition and many more performances like this and the National league beckons again.

Quoted from Wiley2405

Full backs absolutely awful. First touch awful, passing awful.

We could not break them down, they were organized and much more physical than us. We missed Taylor and could have done with Green in the middle for some physicality. As soon as we went 2-0 down we were never gonna get anything out the game.

I don’t blame Hurst as that’s the line up we all wanted after the Plymouth game but Donny did a job on us and fully deserved the win.

Onto next week against a good Stevenage side with that fat idiot in charge.

We can blame Hurst .Yes ,same players but different system and tactics .Still that's his job to counter the opposition .He just got it wrong .It's footy

Quoted from Sir Matt Tease

You are quite right Chips, "we rarely see you on here when we win" , which is why you don't see me very often !

As for seeing a well executed game plan the week before, I don't class a victory in a competition we cannot win against Plymouth reserves as anything to get excited about.

Today we were sh1te, this is our bread and butter competition and many more performances like this and the National league beckons again.

The one thing I will disagree with you is that we didn't play Plymouth reserves, 70% of that team that started plated against Exeter on the Monday, then with substitutions it became 90%.
We caught Plymouth out with pace up front and pure desire, yesterday we got out thought, out played and Hurst got it wrong, but ultimately the players on the pitch just didn't get going, fir once I would love to see a reaction next weekend and go smash Stevenage all over the park..

Quoted from HertsGTFC

Some interesting stuff before kick off, Town finished their warm up a good 20+ mins before kick off, earlier than I’ve seen. Donny seemed to go in a lot closer to kick off.

At the toss it looked like they’re turned us around which started the sh1t housery quite early. Then though I agree with the knee the ref allowed them to delay the game when we were in position so they could do a group hug to take the knee, not necessary that.

All that said we made what is becoming our standard start which is generally a nervy one but this was off the scale bad. Surely we should have understood that as Donny got beat by Kings Lynn last week they’d be massively up for it. Throughout the half every time we had the ball they had 2 players around us, in response we didn’t look interested in competing physically.

Clearly Donny watched us last week so getting men behind the ball like they did stopped us finding any space beyond the line and in wide areas. As much as it frustrated me their 2 banks of 5 stopped us playing in reality.

So all of the above was evident after around 25 mins so why did Hurst not change it? Maybe take Hunt off who today looked like the young player he is, get Maher on, go 3 at the back pull Clifton into mid field with Khan or Gav tucked in behind Kiernan up front.

I’m not going to dig any player or the manager out as they quite rightly have a lot of credit in the bank but today the starting 11 and PH short changed us, or that’s the way I felt anyway.

Pure and simple we should not be outthought, outfought and in reality outplayed in a (relatively) local derby in front of a sell out.

BTW, one final thing, though he can’t be blamed for our poor performance and the result the ref was soft as sh1t.

Absolutely spot on in every regard

We was absolutely crying out for a “proper” striker - which is a shame after Kiernan’s heroics last week. I don’t think that any of the strikers that are currently available can lead the line on their own.

I’d be inclined to try Pepple with McAtee just behind. I’m thoroughly aware that Pepple hasn’t been great however his hold up play isn’t bad and if McAtee is there to provide the goals, it might work.

Thought it was a game made for Green. Although on the ball the midfield wasn’t awful, off the ball we lacked that bite and overall defensive tenacity.

Defence was uncharacteristically poor. Maybe this is the time to really have a go at 3-5-2/5-3-2? New systems need time to work and currently we’ve not given it a proper go. From the personnel that was brought in the summer, I’m sure that was the intended plan.

Tough game again next week

Quoted from bradzmilne

We was absolutely crying out for a “proper” striker - which is a shame after Kiernan’s heroics last week. I don’t think that any of the strikers that are currently available can lead the line on their own.

I’d be inclined to try Pepple with McAtee just behind. I’m thoroughly aware that Pepple hasn’t been great however his hold up play isn’t bad and if McAtee is there to provide the goals, it might work.

Thought it was a game made for Green. Although on the ball the midfield wasn’t awful, off the ball we lacked that bite and overall defensive tenacity.

Defence was uncharacteristically poor. Maybe this is the time to really have a go at 3-5-2/5-3-2? New systems need time to work and currently we’ve not given it a proper go. From the personnel that was brought in the summer, I’m sure that was the intended plan.

Tough game again next week

Pepple’s done his hamstring so wont be seeing him for a while

We were shite all over the park. End of story, people trying find scapegoats or apportion blame, it’s not worth it.

I’d argue that every player knew they’d had a stinker from the body language late on. I will add though, perhaps it’s the increased crowd numbers but there seems more morons this year that just shout cliches and the same nonsense regardless of what’s happening. Heard the same bloke blame Efete for the ball going out of play three times even though the goal kick to him was ten foot in the air and he was marked.

Same bloke near me keeps moaning about subs too…can people just go away and find out the rules regarding subs because listening to them witter on makes, what was already a shite game even harder.

The positive; Mcatee coming on and doing Mcatee things.

See ya next week…

Have to say it appears that a significant number of our “new season ticket holders” are a very impatient bunch and some near me in the upper were moaning before Donny scored and basically never got behind the team even when we only one goal down. I appreciate yesterday was a bloody awful performance but many a match is a game of two halves as they say unfortunately yesterday wasn’t one of them and whilst we all can have a right old mutter I really don’t get why booing and heckling your own players is deemed by some as a way of motivation!!!

Said earlier in the season that I had doubts about the quality of the players Hurst brought in during the summer and those doubts still persist as I have yet to see any of the new signings perform at a consistently acceptable standard. Obviously still backing Hurst but I’m hoping that in January a number of the loanees, including Kiernan, are sent back and we bring in at least 3 players who add real quality.

Quoted from Lincoln Mariner 56

Have to say it appears that a significant number of our “new season ticket holders” are a very impatient bunch and some near me in the upper were moaning before Donny scored and basically never got behind the team even when we only one goal down. I appreciate yesterday was a bloody awful performance but many a match is a game of two halves as they say unfortunately yesterday wasn’t one of them and whilst we all can have a right old mutter I really don’t get why booing and heckling your own players is deemed by some as a way of motivation!!!

Said earlier in the season that I had doubts about the quality of the players Hurst brought in during the summer and those doubts still persist as I have yet to see any of the new signings perform at a consistently acceptable standard. Obviously still backing Hurst but I’m hoping that in January a number of the loanees, including Kiernan, are sent back and we bring in at least 3 players who add real quality.

I’m an “old” STH and I wasn’t happy with every aspect of yesterday at all. When we used to get under 4,000 each week in tin pot people used to boo and get on the players backs, it’s not a new phenomenon you can pin on the support we’ve attracted.

If we keep losing and dropping down the table the likelihood of us brining in the level of talent that some (unrealistically at times) expect us to attract will become even more difficult.

In the league so far at home I've enjoyed two games and suppose could stretch it to 3 with the only home win so far. The crowd have been mostly flat except against Bradford and a lot of that's down to the lack of intensity we start games with.No idea what we work on in the week leading upto games but PH and his staff need to look at and change something. The natives are restless League 2 is not great and the play offs should be a fairly easily attainable target.Lets crack on

Quoted from 1mickylyons

In the league so far at home I've enjoyed two games and suppose could stretch it to 3 with the only home win so far. The crowd have been mostly flat except against Bradford and a lot of that's down to the lack of intensity we start games with.No idea what we work on in the week leading upto games but PH and his staff need to look at and change something. The natives are restless League 2 is not great and the play offs should be a fairly easily attainable target.Lets crack on

We should surely expect a team that had an embarrassing defeat in the cup and a good away following to come hard at us, shouldn’t we?

Can’t say I saw a single Town player who was first to a second ball yesterday and the end result was pretty much inevitable as soon as Harry missed his chance.

Quoted from aldi_01

We were shite all over the park. End of story, people trying find scapegoats or apportion blame, it’s not worth it.
Exactly right. Last week it was “who needs a target man?” Because it worked with Kiernan up front on his own. This week it’s “shows how much we miss Taylor”. Sometimes you can just have a bad game without feeling the need to overanalyse and rip everything up.

I’d argue that every player knew they’d had a stinker from the body language late on. I will add though, perhaps it’s the increased crowd numbers but there seems more morons this year that just shout cliches and the same nonsense regardless of what’s happening. Heard the same bloke blame Efete for the ball going out of play three times even though the goal kick to him was ten foot in the air and he was marked.
Atmosphere felt strange from the off around me. Lots of rubbish being shouted. “Pressure!!!” Expecting Kiernan to chase the keeper down from the half way line and drag the rest of the team out of shape. That’s not how we play. “Get in to ‘em!!!” What does that even mean? Screaming at Efete from a few yards away who knows as well as anyone he was having a bad game. “Are you watching Hurst??” It was proven last week how clearly he can hear this stuff - not helpful. And then the idiot that is screaming at Hurst mid-match from right next to the dugout who actually caught his attention for a short while for a conversation. I’d like think it was a short one - “F off”. I get we are all fickle as football fans and how frustrating it is, but these people aren’t fans of Grimsby Town.

Same bloke near me keeps moaning about subs too…can people just go away and find out the rules regarding subs because listening to them witter on makes, what was already a shite game even harder.

The positive; Mcatee coming on and doing Mcatee things.

See ya next week… The most important bit of all. It was bad, have a beer and get over it. We are a mid-table side doing mid-table things. It’s absolutely fine and not deserving of some of the rubbish coming from the stands.

Lots to agree on here.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

The natives are restless League 2 is not great and the play offs should be a fairly easily attainable target.Lets crack on

This is the sort of scary, entitled rubbish that worries me. What makes it worse is that it often comes from the older generation of ‘fans’ who should know better.

In our last 11 seasons at this level, we’ve finished inside the playoffs once. Our next highest finish is 14th!

I agree L2 isn’t exactly 80s/90s Serie A quality but we’re currently a work in progress, average, lower mid-table L2 side who will hopefully push on to better things over the next few years.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

The natives are restless League 2 is not great and the play offs should be a fairly easily attainable target.Lets crack on

Really? We finished 6th in the National League last season. We weren't competitive except purple patches that bookended the season and lots of fortune in those periods too. The team is largely the same with no summer signings looking particularly better than what we had last season.

We got some fortuitous results early on that got people excited, but this team has never looked like getting near the playoffs to me. I predicted 14th, but now think we'll be below that if things don't change in January. The standard isn't great, but it's incredibly competitive. That's why Clifton is our best player so far, not technically gifted but gives everything every game.

You’re not promoted without being competitive a little bit more than just in two purple patches 🤣

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

This is the sort of scary, entitled rubbish that worries me. What makes it worse is that it often comes from the older generation of ‘fans’ who should know better.

In our last 11 seasons at this level, we’ve finished inside the playoffs once. Our next highest finish is 14th!

I agree L2 isn’t exactly 80s/90s Serie A quality but we’re currently a work in progress, average, lower mid-table L2 side who will hopefully push on to better things over the next few years.

Why are we still using the Fenty years as a benchmark and saying it’s ok to be poor because we were then. That attitude will get us nowhere.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

This is the sort of scary, entitled rubbish that worries me. What makes it worse is that it often comes from the older generation of ‘fans’ who should know better.

In our last 11 seasons at this level, we’ve finished inside the playoffs once. Our next highest finish is 14th!

I agree L2 isn’t exactly 80s/90s Serie A quality but we’re currently a work in progress, average, lower mid-table L2 side who will hopefully push on to better things over the next few years.

Given we've been told that we have a 'competitive' budget, I'd expect our attacking options to look a little better than they do.

Quoted from aldi_01

We were shite all over the park. End of story, people trying find scapegoats or apportion blame, it’s not worth it.

I’d argue that every player knew they’d had a stinker from the body language late on. I will add though, perhaps it’s the increased crowd numbers but there seems more morons this year that just shout cliches and the same nonsense regardless of what’s happening. Heard the same bloke blame Efete for the ball going out of play three times even though the goal kick to him was ten foot in the air and he was marked.

Same bloke near me keeps moaning about subs too…can people just go away and find out the rules regarding subs because listening to them witter on makes, what was already a shite game even harder.

The positive; Mcatee coming on and doing Mcatee things.

See ya next week…

Maybe it's the "I hate Efete" guy who I've heard at games I've been to this season. Always on his case and moaning about everything he does even when playing well. His favourite line seems to be "Gerrem off!" the second he mis-controls a ball and it goes out of play. Then there is Main Stand booming voice who is the loudest person I've ever heard that does nothing but whinge.

Quoted from HerveJosse

Why are we still using the Fenty years as a benchmark and saying it’s ok to be poor because we were then. That attitude will get us nowhere.

I have said this many times now but you can’t reverse 20 years of neglect overnight.

I don’t think many people within the club expected us to get promoted back to the EFL at the first attempt.

I think the first team and squad have great character and many attributes but, regardless of manager, it’s a lower to mid table team.

It will take time to fix this.

The playoff final was 5 June. Town were back in league action on 30 July. Considering the lack of pre-season and difficulties with recruitment, I’d say 1.35 ppg at this stage is probably slightly above par.

We definitely need to strengthen in January though. Although this won’t be easy either, as the weakest areas of the team - striker and CM - are the hardest to recruit.

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

I have said this many times now but you can’t reverse 20 years of neglect overnight.

I don’t think many people within the club expected us to get promoted back to the EFL at the first attempt.

I think the first team and squad have great character and many attributes but, regardless of manager, it’s a lower to mid table team.

It will take time to fix this.

The playoff final was 5 June. Town were back in league action on 30 July. Considering the lack of pre-season and difficulties with recruitment, I’d say 1.35 ppg at this stage is probably slightly above par.

We definitely need to strengthen in January though. Although this won’t be easy either, as the weakest areas of the team - striker and CM - are the hardest to recruit.

Football is a volatile sport at most clubs things change regularly both positively and negatively . Cycles of ups and dooms are regular . I don’t believe we have to evolve at the speed of the first creature emerging from the ocean . Attendances responded instantly to some signs of progress the rest need to catch up .

Quoted from Knut Anders Fosters Voles

This is the sort of scary, entitled rubbish that worries me. What makes it worse is that it often comes from the older generation of ‘fans’ who should know better.

In our last 11 seasons at this level, we’ve finished inside the playoffs once. Our next highest finish is 14th!

I agree L2 isn’t exactly 80s/90s Serie A quality but we’re currently a work in progress, average, lower mid-table L2 side who will hopefully push on to better things over the next few years.

Entitled rubbish eh?
I've followed Town for over 40 years and been fortunate enough to have seen large chunks of Championship football. Well unlike you and the other Happy clappers I'd quite like us to get back there and ASAP. We have only finished above 14th in league 2 once in nearly 20 years. This Season with the increased support and gate receipts we should surely be capable of topping teams with far less resources? Only a Month ago I thought the play offs were a given however the wheels have come off and were now looking behind us again .The standard of this league is generally dogshite Donny to this point best team we've played at home and they're outside the Play Offs.I don't think we need much adding to the squad to really get in the mix a quality striker and better RB and boom however both have been needed since August so........

Quoted from MuddyWaters

Given we've been told that we have a 'competitive' budget, I'd expect our attacking options to look a little better than they do.

We've been told we had a 'competitive budget' for the last 20 years. It's not worked in many of them. We won't see how competitive it actually is until the accounts come out, but it didn't look any more competitive at the start of last season and I'm not sure it does this season. I suspect we need another high spending January to make up for the summer recruitment.

Quoted from pen penfras

We've been told we had a 'competitive budget' for the last 20 years. It's not worked in many of them. We won't see how competitive it actually is until the accounts come out, but it didn't look any more competitive at the start of last season and I'm not sure it does this season. I suspect we need another high spending January to make up for the summer recruitment.

Worked terribly last season…

Quoted from aldi_01

Worked terribly last season…

We finished 6th, historically not even in the playoffs, more than 20% behind the winners of the league. It was hugely fortuitous that we got promoted, and I doubt when we were winless in about 12 games you were saying how competitive our budget looked. I think we spent heavily in January to fix the summer and we need to do it again.

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Entitled rubbish eh?
I've followed Town for over 40 years and been fortunate enough to have seen large chunks of Championship football. Well unlike you and the other Happy clappers I'd quite like us to get back there and ASAP. We have only finished above 14th in league 2 once in nearly 20 years. This Season with the increased support and gate receipts we should surely be capable of topping teams with far less resources? Only a Month ago I thought the play offs were a given however the wheels have come off and were now looking behind us again .The standard of this league is generally dogshite Donny to this point best team we've played at home and they're outside the Play Offs.I don't think we need much adding to the squad to really get in the mix a quality striker and better RB and boom however both have been needed since August so........

1. The football industry is massively different to where it was when we last played in the second tier.

2. There are exceptions but where a club ends the season is often directly proportionate to the wage bill

3. Other than Stevenage and Barrow, I’m not convinced Town have more resources available than the teams above them. It wouldn’t surprise me if Stevenage’s wages are pretty high (if you include off payroll costs).

4. How can the ‘playoffs have been a given’ after 14 matches of a 46 game season, when we haven’t been in the playoffs all season to date? That’s the sort of entitled rubbish I was talking about.

5. You could argue that we need a new LB before we think about signing a new RB. Efete hasn’t been great this season but he’s been responsible for less chances and goals conceded than two of his fellow defenders.

6. I’m sure you’re all aware of my thoughts on the availability of good strikers…