Banbury - Easter Monday

We cannot afford to take this lightly and we cannot waste all the good work of the last few weeks. Winning at Poole and Chesham is great but if we stuff this one up then we'll want bloody shooting, as somebody once said.

Need a big crowd behind the team from the start. And we need to get at Banbury and not let them settle into the game at all, like we allowed Totton to do to a certain extent. We know they are vulnerable at the back so we've got to go for them.

4-2 Stour with 624 in attendance.

I'd be inclined to rest a few ahead of Saturday. Sean came off with a knock didn't he? I'd play Fitz ahead of him, if so. Possibly give Will and Luke a game to regain some match fitness. Either way, fully expect us to win this. Reckon there will be a buzz around the place. 5-2 Stour, 647.

Would be good to see Andre get a bit of game time?

Strongest possible team, but no unnecessary risks - eg. perhaps Luke or Sean. We still need (realistically) four points and we don't want to take this lightly and run the risk of needing to win at Hitchin. With a bit of luck, Chippenham might do us a favour today and make next Saturday's game academic and we can rest one or two then.

However, you've only got to look back twelve months and wonder whether that Chippenham game led to us going off the boil a little ahead of Gosport. Chesham have got them same dilemma this week. In some ways I'd rather be fighting tooth and nail to the very last game - at least that way you're maintaining your intensity.

Would think Netan would come back into the team.

If Sean came off Saturday with an injury then perhaps give him a rest and more Drew into the middle.

Would perhaps give Will and Luke another week to recover and let them have so game time at Hitchin next week.

Baz is right too be nice for Andre to get some minutes as when he does play he never lets the team down.

Not a massive fan of "resting" players. Play the strongest XI possible. If players aren't fully fit then don't risk them. Think you should show opponent full respect and keep the run going. Last season at Choppenham? Last game we reshuffled completely got an hammering which didn't affect out league position, but may have lost our groove for the playoffs.
Good luck today and hopefully by 5pm we are in the playoffs again.

5-0 and another good performance against a p!ss poor Banbury side who were lucky to get nil,"cannon fodder" if ever i saw it!

I voted for Brownie as MOTM,although in truth Ben,Junior,Harris,Leon or Knight could easily have got the vote.

Proffessional,committed and full of energy once again and the passing and "one touch" stuff was good on the eye.

The crowd of 670 was okay i guess but considering the importance of the game,the good weather and the Bank Holiday i had hoped we might push 750-800 but the lack of away support didn't help i guess.

I notice that our average gate this season has dipped by 29 compared to last year,a drop of around 5% so it's plain to see what 7 home defeat's can do to the morale of the home support.

Anyway,onwards and upwards and hopefully 250+ following to Hitchin and gates nearer 600 average in Conference North next season.

The game went pretty much as expected against a Banbury side that would struggle to get a shot off in a house of ill repute never mind score! it certainly resembled a training exercise in the final stages.

Still you can only deal with what's put in front of you and we did it very well, Billingham's goal the best of the bunch, and a good crowd to see it. Player of the year was a difficult one, I went for Will Richards in the end.

I thought resting the team against Chippenham this time last year, was the right call at the time, not sure if it affected the gosport match, but there will be no drop in intensity next week, which will be a tougher game than Chesham I think. But we've won the last 5, just need another 3! easier said than done when they are likely to be all away (on today's evidence think Cambridge have no worry's about finishing 3rd).

Only a slim chance of me making Hitchin and i'm away the following midweek (the only time I could get a badly needed break from work), so if not Saturday, finger's crossed I get to see the glassboys in action somewhere on May 5th.

In other news, Stevenage today were relegated. Which I'm sure we are all gutted about and sent out best wishes to Graham and his team in hoofing their way back into LLeague 1.    

Jack wrote:In other news, Stevenage today were relegated. Which I'm sure we are all gutted about and sent out best wishes to Graham and his team in hoofing their way back into LLeague 1.    

Delighted at the news,couldn't happen to a bigger "two hat" than Westley.

Perfect performance for the situation, really. Got the job done with plenty to spare and never looked in any trouble once we were 2-0 up. Everybody had good games but again the defence were alive to everything in a game when they weren't stretched often and could have ended up dozing off. Can't remember Dean being tested once except for when he had to come off his line smartly in the first half at the forward's feet.

Full of optimism for next Saturday. The thing that strikes me now (hope I don't regret saying this!) is that we do not look like a team that is going to "not turn up", and we haven't been able to say that all season. There have been a few games (mostly long midweek away trips in the winter months) when you could tell after 10 minutes that we weren't going to get anything and weren't even going to look like scoring. That just isn't the case now - Chesham was a perfect example of that. The team looks strong from 1 to 11, even with the occasional enforced change.

Feeling very positive Don't even mind that Hungerford turned their game round today. Our job hasn't changed from what it was this morning - if we play as we have the last few games we'll be fine. If anything, I think it will keep us "honest" next Saturday and not allow us to drop our standards in a "nothing" game.

The MotM votes demonstrated the point made by a lot of people of it being a good team performance, with 8 players receiving votes.

Ben won with 7 votes, Kayelden received 6 , Louis 4 , Kyle 3 , Leon 2 , Chris, Dean & Brian 1 each.

Wine was won by Kevin Broadhurst.