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After the first nightmarish 10 minutes when we gifted Halesowen 2 goals, we came more and more into the game, even though it took a dubious penalty to give us all a lift. Fair play to our opponents who were initially fast and direct and, yet again, in a No 9 derby, were ''up for it''.

However, in the 2nd half, there was only one team in it. Chris was always dangerous and Luke's goal was a screamer and, if it hadn't been for 2 excellent saves by Platt, the 3 points would have been ours.

I put down the chaotic opening to a strange team formation and it came as no surprise to see the unlucky Joe being replaced by Kayelden. This gave us a far better balance in all departments and the initial defensive errors were not repeated, with Dan giving a towering performance.

I like Kristian and, although he's good in the air, is no central defender. Darryl had a sound game but I can't understand why the management feel that the right back position needs strengthening.

Putting on one side that we did well to recover from the early disasters and also that the excellent crowd had their money's worth, the bottom line is we dropped 2 more points. Yes it is still very early in the season but, having already dropped 11 points out of 21, I think we all expected better.

Man of the match voting was as follows;

LUKE BENBOW 29 votes

Leon Broadhurst 8

Darryl Westlake 3

Dan Scarr
Drew Canavan. } 2

Kristian Green
Chris Lait. } 1

Wine was won by STEVE COYLE

Thanks to everyone who took part.

Once we went back t0 a normal formation we looked really good and played some great football. Only one side looked like scoring in the second half and I thought we were unlucky not to have won.

This may not be popular and I know we would have lost money but.... I much preferred playing on an evening - a far better atmosphere and no trouble at all - but then it is normally at there ground that it gets daft! I hope next season we play them on an evening again!

After the car crash that was the first 15 minutes (what a failed experiment that was !) what a classic No.9 derby that had everything except a much deserved Stour third goal.
I must add couple of thoughts....Tom Tonks is a cracking whole hearted player but most definitely not a captain in my opinion.
His game has not reached anything like its previous heights and I do believe the job is distracting him too much. The arm band needs to go to someone like Leon or Dan Scarr then Tom would be free to do what he does best, channel all of his energy & effort & skills into driving the team on from mid field. I guess Stu will take it when he comes back but we cannot wait for that. We gotta "release the Beast" now !
And good though Kristian Green is.....he aint no Centre half central mid fielder or whatever they are called these days. Westlake should have gone along side Dan or even come off instead of Joe Hull who I thought was unfortunate to be subbed.
We missed Matt, and what has happened to Duggan & Richards ? Thought Duggen looked impressive against Shrewsbury but hes vanished since then ???
Great to see Kayo back in a Stour shirt by the way !!

Both Justin and Jack are still injured although I understand they are close to full recovery. Jack and his Dad were at Monday's game.

Good to have your contributions again Jane and Old Codger. I was beginning to think that Brian and I were the only persons still alive !!!

Come on.......where are you Devil's Advocate, Dave the Glassboy, Old Hill Glassboy etc etc etc ?

Let's get this forum working again !!!

Luke Benbow got the man of the match award for 2 obvious reasons, but you also have to give a lot of credit to the Halesowen goalkeeper. He may have done a lot of annoying time wasting during the game, but in the second half he pulled off a number of excellent sales which really kept them in the game.

At half time we were lucky to be only 1 goal down as it could have been far more disastrous, but by full-time we were unlucky not to win.

We might have dropped 2 points, but at least we've proved that we can come back even from 2 goals down. And the worry about the lack of supporters by playing the game at night was proved wrong, but then as there were no other teams playing that night unlike a Saturday we might have gained some neutrals in the ground. So to me playing the game on a Monday night is actually better.

Lets hope we preform just as well on Saturday against Whitby

mp3juices.cc I think that so.

Nornimices wrote:I think that so.