Corby Town on Tuesday.

Already looking forward to this one!

More of a flow to our play against Poole than in any other match since pre season started,the 4-5-1 or 4-4-1-1 with Billingham behind the striker worked a treat today.

I'd be tempted to stay with the formation for the Corby game even if Benbow is available but whether to stick with Rowey or bring Luke back in is a tricky one to solve.

I think we might really get on a roll now,confidence is clearly starting to flow again.

Big decision on Tuesday for the management team. It would be harsh to 'drop' any of today's players but I'd guess Benbow will be in for Rowe. It would be very harsh to leave Richards out for example.

Decisions decision...

I would go with the same XI. If it ain't broke. Defensively I'm not sure what other options we have - neither Kalenda nor Briscoe should get into that back four based on what I've seen so far. The "front six" picks itself after today as far as I'm concerned, though not every defence will be as accommodating as Poole's.

Corby haven't won away from home yet this season, which worries me!

'Corby haven't won away from home yet this season, which worries me'!

Probably not as much as it worries Corby!

brockmoor wrote:'Corby haven't won away from home yet this season, which worries me'!

Probably not as much as it worries Corby!

I think Corby need to worry about us a little more than we need to worry about them.

I think we are on a roll now,promotion and the FA Cup double are the minimum i expect.

Devil's Advocate wrote:

brockmoor wrote:'Corby haven't won away from home yet this season, which worries me'!

Probably not as much as it worries Corby!

I think Corby need to worry about us a little more than we need to worry about them.

I think we are on a roll now,promotion and the FA Cup double are the minimum i expect.

Would that be "the FA Cup" or "the FA Cup First Round Proper"?

Just checking, like...

TRM wrote:

Devil's Advocate wrote:

brockmoor wrote:'Corby haven't won away from home yet this season, which worries me'!

Probably not as much as it worries Corby!

I think Corby need to worry about us a little more than we need to worry about them.

I think we are on a roll now,promotion and the FA Cup double are the minimum i expect.

Would that be "the FA Cup" or "the FA Cup First Round Proper"?

Just checking, like...

I was thinking of the final TRM..:-]]

Oh the joy of queuing for a ticket in the rain at Amblecote waiting to be vetted and hearing Hughie utter those immortal words to me again as he did when i was in the queue for Walsall tickets............"we haven't seen you down here in years".......!!!

40 years,man and boy at the ground and "trashed" by the old boy like that in front of the whole queue!

Time he was stuck in the directors box with a checked rug tucked in around his knees and a new pair of glasses purchased. :-]]

http://www.thesteelmen.co.uk/

Worth a look.

I'm liking our football at the moment.
Key players starting to pick up form and the whole team looks like they are enjoying themselves.
Keep the ball on the floor boys.

Taking the 90 minutes as a whole, another very good performance.

We misfired a bit in the first half but still created enough chances to have been well ahead before they scored. Sloppy goal to give away - Nathan did well to block the initial chance but when he got pulled out wide nobody tracked back to cover Stuart Hendrie's run. Coleman didn't really have much chance. Good cross, mind.

Credit to the managerial staff at half time - I would guess they told the players to just be patient, keep playing the ball around rather than rushing things and the chances would come. HUGE turning point, though when Macca blocked that chance on the line - I had given it up as 0-2 and all over. Inevitable that we would go straight up the other end and equalise.

There must have been somebody offside when the ball was played through to Fitz, but I don't reckon it was Fitz himself, so by the letter of the law the goal was correctly allowed to stand. I don't like that law though - whoever was standing offside was surely interfering with the keeper's vision and reactions whether "active" or not. Thankfully it benefitted us this time.

Good header by Will for the second goal - bit of a crowd scene in the six-yard box but I couldn't really see anybody doing any impeding. Luke deserves credit for the third goal for putting it where the defender had no real choice other than to stab at the ball.

I know Curzon Ashton had people there tonight - hopefully that second half display will have given them something to ponder, but I reckon they will feel they can get something out of our defence, especially without Macca. Fingers crossed that Lloydy and/or Francis will be fit for Saturday, and Jamie will be back from his suspension as well.

And we did it without any penalties! Perhaps it was a good job seeing how Sean got on with his free kicks tonight!

Up to fifth and definitely building a bit of momentum. Shame we haven't got another League match until October 26th...

The first half was good to watch with good passing and movement from both sides, think we played better than the first half on Saturday but found ourselves one nil down.  

Second half we stepped it up and some of the play was sublime but need to be  more clinical in putting the numerous chances away, could have been six or seven easily, that said the game changing moment was clearly when they had the one on one to go two nil up cleared off the line and I had a feeling we'd go up the other end and score, which is exactly what happened, funny old game!.  Some very good individual performances, Rowe was improved again, just needs a go to to spark him off  I think.

Good win in another entertaining game.

In the first half we started slowly, then were on top for the majority of the half until they scored out of the blue and then we fell a bit flat until half time.

I think we needed half time to gee ourselves up for the second half and the major turning point was Macca's clearance off the line, and Coleman did really well to force their striker as wide as possible too.

Another nice finish from Fitzpatrick from similar positions to his previous goals, a good header from Will and Benbow looked good when he came on and was unfortunate not to be credited with the goal. We played some great stuff once we had scored; it seemed like the confidence to play as we know we can came flooding back.

Corby weren't bad but lost discipline when things went against them - must be the first yellow card for kicking the ball away I've seen for a while for a player in a team 3-1 down with 10 minutes to go.

As for Lee Hendie responding to a bit of light-hearted pantomime booing as he was subbed by giving Stour fans the middle finger, he really should know better after so many years playing in games with much bigger crowds. He was lucky not to be sent off but the ref inexplicably just laughed at it.

Good crowd too for a Tuesday night game with lots of home games coming up.

My man of the match was Will Richards.

stour_boy wrote:Good crowd too for a Tuesday night game with lots of home games coming up.

Funny, but I felt the crowd was a bit disappointing after Saturday.

However, like you say, we are in the middle of a relative glut of home games, and being a midweek a lot of youngsters (and their parents) will have been missing.

Perhaps I am being a bit over-demanding?

TRM wrote:

stour_boy wrote:Good crowd too for a Tuesday night game with lots of home games coming up.

Funny, but I felt the crowd was a bit disappointing after Saturday.

However, like you say, we are in the middle of a relative glut of home games, and being a midweek a lot of youngsters (and their parents) will have been missing.

Perhaps I am being a bit over-demanding?

I thought the crowd was a joke to be honest,317 is pretty pathetic considering the weather was fine.

A month ago we were getting mid to late 400's for midweek games and considering the cup win plus league victories v St.Albans and Poole i was expecting at least 450 last night.

The "loss" of 100-150 fan's for any game puts a dent of probably around £1000 in the budget when you consider food and drink sales lost as well.

Funny how 2000-3000 might be clambering for a ticket in about a month from now.

Personally i'd issue a voucher for every league game just to keep supporter's on their toes for bigger cup matches.

When you consider the likes of Luton,Grimsby,Aldershot,Lincoln,Kidderminster or a good few other conference sides might be visiting us if we beat Curzon then in effect we could be looking at a Plymouth/Stevenage type of attendance for the fourth qualifying round and space will be at a premium.

As for last night.

I was very frustrated at half time,we could easily have been 5-0 up by the time they scored,it felt like Bedford away and Chippenham at home again.

We were so good in the first 25 minutes it was almost as if we felt we could score when we felt like it,we got very lackadaisical with our chances then we shot ourselves in the foot by allowing a poor goal.

For a tall defence we are defending set pieces and crosses into the box alarmingly badly this season,anyone would think a hand grenade had been lobbed into the area rather than a ball!

We've already lost 4 games this season and 3 of those have been to poor teams,only Chesham had any real class so in effect we can't afford too many more mistakes if we are to reach play offs,Hemmel look the class of the division this year and i think they'll romp the title.

Dean Coleman is pulling off some great saves at present and i thought Will was MOTM last night.

Ben is back on form,Drew played well,Leon is at his harrying best again and Fitz is popping up with important goals.Geddes is also ticking over nicely so all in all the midfield is on song but i still maintain we are a class midfielder short at present and we badly need a good left back.

As for Lee Hendrie.......what a tool.

When i shouted that the taxman had arrived at the ground he didn't see the funny side and he didn't like the "wheres the money gone" chant or when i called him "a loser" on his way through the protective tunnel at the end of the game.

Being an Albion fan i obviously have antipathy towards a 'Viler" like him but it's more his attitude i always hated.

At an Albion v Derby County match 5 years ago Hendrie was warming up and bent down in front of the Albion section and revealed his @rse to us and then goaded us when they scored in the last minute.

If you can't stand the heat Hendrie you should hang up your boot's and retreat to your sheltered housing!

Devil's Advocate wrote:As for Lee Hendrie.......what a tool.

I heard that after his little bankruptcy affair he'd re-formed himself and was now officially known as "AFC Lee Hendrie".

PS. I might have known you'd be involved...   

Apparently he was taunting Sean Geddes with "I've got an England cap, you wont get one" or similar...............Kn*b!

UlsterJim wrote:Apparently he was taunting Sean Geddes with "I've got an England cap, you wont get one" or similar...............Kn*b!

I think the key word is "an" England Cap. There are probably very good reasons why he only got the one. You need more than talent to be a "proper" footballer. Talent wasted in his case, sadly...

TRM wrote:

UlsterJim wrote:Apparently he was taunting Sean Geddes with "I've got an England cap, you wont get one" or similar...............Kn*b!

I think the key word is "an" England Cap. There are probably very good reasons why he only got the one. You need more than talent to be a "proper" footballer. Talent wasted in his case, sadly...

Not necessarily "talent wasted",he played in the Premier League for a very long time,he was tried by England but didn't quite have the class required....that's life i'm afraid.

More to the point it's "money wasted",to earn £20,000 a week for many years and then squander it whilst acting "Billy Big B0llocks" is what stick's in most people's throat's.

At 43 i was paying £3 a week subs for the privelledge of trying to mark winger's often 25 years my junior and still running 15 miles a week to keep me fit enough to compete at Sunday league level.

It's always galled me that i gave everything i had just to be mediocre at best yet other's either waste their god given talent or squander what they make from that talent.

If Hendrie had had the application to match his talent he would have earned, and I use the word advisedly, at least fifty caps. If he hadn't been such an arrogant idiot off the pitch he wouldn't need to be playing for Corby at his age.

If you're going to talk about "class" then he had more than, say, Geoff Thomas or Carlton Palmer for starters. Probably more than James Milner as well, to pick a current player. The difference is, whatever you think of those players, they made the most of their ability. Hendrie didn't.

MotM still too close to call with three players in contention.

Still five people not yet got their votes to me so if you've paid to have a go and not given me your nomination yet please either post your player on here, send me a PM or let me know on Saturday. I'll keep the polls open until after the Curzon game unless one of the players moves into an unassailable lead.

(And no I'm not going to name the players in question as that wouldn't be fair!)

However, I can confirm that the winner of the supporters' draw is...

Terry Wood.

All the votes are in and Will Richards won MotM.