Truro updates

Today's team:

Coleman
Haynes
Richards
Oliver
Geddes
Bennett
Sansara
Broadhurst
Brown
Billingham
Benbow

Francis
Rowe
Rock
Knight
Fitzpatrick

0-1 Watson

Luke straight red.

Alleged "late tackle" according to Twitter.

HT 0-1

Facebook page is showing score as 1-1 - Rowey with the equaliser.

Full time 1-1 (Rowe). Good point in the circumstances.

With our new 3-5-2 formation we started the match okay and did fine for the first ten minutes before gradually getting pushed back by a lively Truro side.

Benbow got himself a ridiculous sending off,i thought it was a yellow but by doing what he did in the way that he did it he gave the weak,"homer" of a ref every opportunity to brandish a red.

It was a challenge that was not required at ANY stage of ANY match and smacked of selfishness due to thing's not running Luke's way,he need's to improve his attitude.

Second half we were the better side,Rowey came on and played well,his adroit finish across the keeper with his right foot from twelve yards was a quality goal.

Ben was through one on one ten minutes later and instead of walking the ball around their keeper like he normally does he went for a side foot finish that was quite easily saved,that moment WAS the game to be honest.

Ben and Sean had good second halves and Will and Jamie played well throughout,Coleman's handling/positioning was top notch today.

In the end a point was fair but three would not have been undeserved after that second half effort.

Great to see 40-50 Stour faces 260 miles from home and congrats to Jim who only missed the first ten minutes today.

DA's summary is pretty fair. We didn't really play in the first half. The 3-5-2 didn't work as their two wide players pushed Kyle and Netan back, and with Only Sean really pushing on in midfield, it was almost 7-1-2 at times. Brown offered little up front but to be fair he and Luke hadn't much to work with. Nice idea and at least we tried something to make us harder to penetrate but ultimately I think it needs more than just "shifting the deck chairs around".

Truro looked sharper and busier than us. They reacted better to knock-downs and lay-offs, and closed us down when we had possession. In short, they were by far the better team, even when we had 11.

Can understand Luke's frustration to a point but that is no excuse. He HAS to learn or the team suffers - if not today, then in the matches he will miss as a result. I didn't have a clear view from behind the goal - Truro produce match videos so I'll wait and have a look at that before I decide whether it was the right decision. Either way, he gave the ref the chance to send him off and it was unnecessary. In a funny way, it probably helped us, though!

We changed it at half-time. Ryan came on for Nathan (not sure if it was an injury or tactical - Nathan had treatment late in the first half) and we went 4-4-1 with Ben on the right, Kayleden on the left, and Ryan on his own where he has always been most comfortable. Much more what the players are used to. I wouldn't say we dominated the game after that but we at least gave as good as we got. Ryan took his goal we'll and Ben had a great chance to put us ahead. I thought he chose the right option to shoot but tried to place it rather than putting some power behind it - credit to the keeper who didn't commit early and made a good save.

Happy with the point - but it could have been more in the second half.

Don't know what all the fuss is about Truro being miles away. 3 hrs 20 to get there, 3 hrs 15 back. Easy peasy!

I was not there today but it sounds like another game, as with Bedford (I was there), where we didn't play well but again showed the strength of character and determination to salvage something from the game. All credit to the lads for that.

It’s a shame we couldn’t come away with the 3 points with St Albans, Cambridge and Poole all dropping some points themselves. However it does keep us in the top 5, at least until Monday when St Albans play Totton.

A couple of questions, does anyone know when the suspension(s) for Luke and Dean take effect? What game or games are they going to be missing?

Generally 14 days after the offence so Deano will miss Bideford (H) and Luke is likely to miss Biggleswade (H), Truro (H) and Weymouth (A). (Assuming that Luke's is a 3 match ban as the reports suggest is likely).

What Dave says is right, although I would substitute "always" for "generally".

Thought we started okay but it wasn't long before Kyle and Netan looked awkward in their new roles. For me it would have been better with Jamie in midfield with Brown and Billingham wide and Luke up on his own.

Agree Luke or Brown didn't have much to work with but neither seemed to want to chase anything down on an heavy pitch where mistakes could have been made.

Luke's attitude again has to be questioned and the sending off could have been avoided. Someone needs to have a word with him its a team game and we need everybody pulling the same way to win games.

At 1 down and down to 10 the second half could have been a walk over. Great to see us put up a good performance. Defence shaky at times but we defended the best we could and well done to them. Leon in midfield never gave up and competed for everything he could. Ryan worked their defence better than when we had two upfront.

Great finish from him and it was just a pity Ben couldn't finish from a good pass from Ryan.

Well done to all the fans that made the journey.

With Ryan due back at Harriers this week and Luke's suspension in a couple of weeks the squad look short on attacking options. Know its hard for Gary to bring players in but now is the time for the board to back him to make sure we are in the play offs at the end of the season.

One more thing that we keep getting caught out with, and it happened a couple of times yesterday - restarts. Too often when the opposition has a dead ball - free kick or goal kick - we switch off and are not ready if they take it quickly. It smacks of not having enough "leaders" in the team.

Highlights from Truro's website...

http://www.trurocityfc.net/videos/truro-city-fc-v-stourbridge-fc-50312.html#.UtWWAGkRQ-E.twitter

Bizarre that not only is the red card incident not included (perhaps the camera didn't catch it, which happens), but only twice, and one of those after the final whistle, is there any comment about us being down to ten men and no mention at all of the reason!

Thanks to Steve for running the MotM.

Winner was Ryan with 5 votes, Leon & Netan received 3 each, Will & Ben 2 each.

Winner of the wine was Gordon Thomas.