Ashton United (H)

Team:
Coleman
Knight Ramsey-Dickson Richards
Haynes Canavan Craddock Haynes Wood
Billingham
Hales

0-1

0-1 HT

Till on for Knight

Smikle on for Billingham

Fitzpatrick on for Wood

1-1 Hales

1-1 FT

Attendance 404

Absolutely woeful...... are we allowed to mention about needing a striker or two???

No threat once Ben went off.we need some more quality, there are two many out there that are not good enough.
Fans are getting frustrated at the lack of quality, if the club can't afford to bring in better players then the chairman or manager should come out and say so. Cus we are fed up of watching that tripe,attendances are dropping and you can see why.

Tricky Tree wrote:Absolutely woeful...... are we allowed to mention about needing a striker or two???

No you're not Tricky,you know the "Thought Police" will have words again.

Absolutly pitiful display today especially after Ben went off.

Best wishes to Ben,maybe one of his friend's or family can keep us updated on how he is.

I think some of the above comments, although borne out of frustration, are a bit unfair. I know Gary and his team were already looking for suitable additions but, now with Ben's serious-looking injury, he will be pulling out all the stops as we are almost down to the bare bones.

Regarding the match, it was a hard-earned but merited draw against an Ashton team that, in the first half particularly, looked dangerous and put our back three under a lot of pressure.

Even though it was not a good performance, the lads again showed a strong team spirit, rolling their sleeves up and, in the end, getting a justified point.

Not one player stood out but a special mention for Dean who kept us in the game with some good saves.

However, based on his second half performance, Will was my motm.

I actually thought our best spell was in the later stages of the game - this had nothing to do with Ben going off and had much more to do with everyone remembering how to pass to each other and not send every single pass astray.

We improved I think because we stopped hoofing it to two relatively short strikers against a back four which was never going to work. Once KRD went up there we looked better, although didn't create a lot.

I did think the only way we might get back in it is through a moment of magic and that proved so with an excellent Hales strike.

Could even have won it at the end but KRD opted not to pass to one of several options and ended up probably almost taking out a window in the cricket pavilion.

Think the goal brought our confidence flooding back. Really hope Ben is ok.

With Hales unavailable next week - and no Brown today - we seem to be short of strikers for next week?

We didn't play very well today. However I do think some of the criticism is a bit harsh. Ashton were no mugs and played well. Moreover, in the first half we created a lot of chances, but had no-one on the end of them, again.

Reece doesn't seem to be a number 9 as such, as in, he drops back an awful lot and gets involved from the wings. That isn't an issue, if you have someone like Benbow in the middle. It worked against Belper and Trafford. However, if you take Luke out of it, and the way we lined up today, Reece was the main striker and he was just never in the box. When he was however, he scored an excellent goal. One he's deserved for a while now. You did think we would go on and win it, however it simply wasn't too be. 2 points dropped? Probably.

As I was walking out the ground today saw Ben come past on his way to the Ambulance. He didn't look in a very good state. Really hope it isn't serious, because our whole team now revolves around him.

Ben is ok, they are keeping him in over night just for precaution.

Ben messaged on facebook last night that he couldnt remember anything after the half time team talk.
This was concerning as I cant imagine a tactical team talk at half time. It may of course be a long the lines of 'work harder & run more'! However he seemed in good spirits.

I thought it was yet another 'average at best' performance. Ashton were well organised and defended well but they have started the season fairly poorly and we should be beating teams like these especially at home.

I wont go in to much detail of my thoughts on the game as Im simply repeating myself week in week out. We lacked quality in midfield, we struggled to create chances and struggled defensively. i see yesterday that Geddes once again scored, Washbourne created four of Evesham's five goals. Both should be regulars in our side each week and are better than what we currently have. We have also lost others this season who should at very least be squad players. I then hear GH say we wont bring in players who wont improve the team, however we have lost these very sort of players. I have no confidence in our management at present, watching each week I struggle to see what we do in training, and if its right what I hear, in the fact that we train on a five a side pitch outside the club Im not surprised we have no pattern of play.

Watching Stour is becoming more of a chore each week and Im struggling to get motivated to watch at present. Players playing out of position, no pattern of play, no quality in side and nothing of note on the horizon in way of change. Two years ago I was shot down by a few when I said ' I thought our management had taken us as far as they could'. I stand by this and I can only see us going one way at present. I think we are now going backwards. Im guessing that it's not rocket science, but why is there a reluctance to spend a little extra on a bit of quality?

I for one are not prepared to waste a day travelling next week, but I wish all associated with the club all the best, I shall remain behind the club but are completely disillusioned with it all at present.

Man of the Match was DEAN COLEMAN with 14 votes,

Reece Hales received 10

Will, Drew, Josh & Louis all received 1 vote (as did TCP).

(there are still 2 votes to collect , those names did go into the random draw)

The winner of the wine was PAULINE WILEY

Thanks to all who took part.

Hi brockmoor.
I couldn't have put it better if I tried .
I also said 18 months ago the GH had taken us as far has he could.i was shot down by one or two folks.my reply was that he is the best manager stourbridge has had ,that I can remember but that doesn't mean there isn't better out there.
Getting rid of washbourne and Geddes was nothing short of criminal.

Baggiestour wrote:Getting rid of washbourne and Geddes was nothing short of criminal.

Geddes has moved into a higher league so can't complain about that one but I agree about Washbourne, especially bearing in mind the "performances" of the Apparently Undroppable One.