Trafford F C

Even though we scraped a point with a goal in the last minute, there is no disguising a very poor performance, the worst at home this season with very little class being shown. It was an undeserved point against a hard-working team that belied their lowly position.

With us adopting a 3 - 5 - 2 formation, the first 5 minutes, with Drew hitting the post, promised great things but the optimism soon fizzled out with Trafford being unlucky in not having a first-half lead. When they did score, it was as a result of poor communication between Dean and Tyrone, whose mistake led to an open goal.

I thought Leon M had a sound game but Josh Q again failed to impress.

No great surprise to see the ineffective Luke B being subbed - should have been earlier. Can only think, being generous, that he is still not 100% fit.

The positions taken up by our subs. baffled me with Chris looking completely lost and wasted on the right wing.

Compliments to the Trafford fans who haven't had much to shout about this season. They gave excellent support to their team today.

Hope something good has come out of today with the ground inspection finally giving us official grade c recognition.

Agree with redpike, I also thought it the worst I have seen us play for a while.
We definitely miss Kyle Haynes and his runs down the wing to get behind a defence. Kayo tried but he got very little out of the stubborn,and packed,Trafford defence.
We had no real idea how to break them down and their midfield and forwards gave us a hard time with never a let up in pressuring us.
All credit to them for gutsy display, but my goodness a fair number of them looked definitely overweight ! Bet they gave the pies a bending after the game !

Miles looked the pick of our bunch, Knight and Will Richards tried without really dominating, Drew was not himself.
Benbow looked disinterested and no surprise when he was subbed.
Doubt we will reach the play offs now unless there is a drastic improvement.

It's been a few weeks since I have been to a game due to work & family commitments, on today's viewing I haven't missed anything.

We have been pretty awful most of the season, but today's performance & result was among the worst.

I just don't see where the team are going at present, we simply seem to be drifting a long. There is no pattern of play, players are all over the place and yet again there is no Plan B.

There were some pretty awful performances today. Once again nothing coming from the management on the sidelines, I think they are as baffled as the players! As for 'Fordy' slouched on his chair for 90mins, the only things missing was a blanket, flat screen & a cup of cocoa.

Another dispiriting game to watch, although we avoided the seemingly inevitable defeat with a very late goal, this was one of the poorest performances this season, Trafford must feel robbed. After the first 10 minutes Trafford where in control of the first half and it was dross from Stourbridge, it was a great move for the chalked off goal, I’d like to see that again as wasn’t convinced it was offside, very fortunate to go in 0-0 I thought.

Agreed with the half time substitution, Quaynor was totally ineffective, (as he has been in a few games) but to concede that goal in the first minute in the manner we did when Coleman seemed to have it covered, just sums up how things are going. Again we had a lot of possession and where unable to do much with it, a couple of good saves where forced, a good move for the equaliser and relief as much as anything was the overwhelming emotion. Like last week Morgan parker injected some much needed life into things, when he came on, Richards again had a decent game.

Since new Year’s day be it win, lose or draw we’ve struggled for parts of most matches, the lack of cutting edge being increasingly alarming. Most of the teams we’ve played have been in the bottom half , which doesn’t bode well for some of the match’s we have coming up, if we turn in performances like today.

That really wasn't pretty, was it?

Yeah, it wasn't great. It's summed up our season to be honest with you. Which is over by the way. There's absolutely no chance we are getting play offs simply because this team isn't good enough. It'd be pointless anyway as if we did get there we'd only go and lose them again.

So where do we go from here? It really does depend on what Gary and the board think. Do they accept this season is a right off? Of course it'd be wrong of them to publicly say that. But I think bye 'n' large, the fanbase have accepted that. Whether we're happy about that or not. Some will say they should leave. That's their opinion. Personally, I think the three of them have done enough for the club to deserve the chance to put this right. I've no doubt they're hurting. It's our time to support them. They have done a hell of a lot for our club and given us a hell of a lot of good memories. We need to remember that.

So hypothetically say they've accepted the season is over. We've a brand new ground-it certainly feels a new Amblecote-we've got 6 months to prepare for next season and make a proper fist of it. Because whatever anyone says, this league isn't that great. We've proven that by beating Ilkeston, FC, Kings Lynn, Skelm etc. If we are building towards next season we need to address who's good enough. IMO, the only players who should be nailed on here next season are; Will, Louis, Josh & Leon. There are others I think should be here, however are not certs. Do the club intend on keeping Ty and Reece when their deals at Kiddy run out? If so, keep them. If not get rid. It is no good to us having players here that aren't going to contribute long term.

We need to accept that Josh is a very young lad who some weeks will not get a look in against defenders. But we simply NEED to play him. He has got a massive future. I know the Jordan Murphy saga has been done to death on here, and i sympathize with the club massively on it, however it cannot happen again. He needs games and he needs to find his feet at this level, because he will cause defenders nightmares.

Luke. It is really hard seeing what the point is at the minute. He's our best player, without a doubt. He's the player who can make something happen. However he quite clearly isn't happy. I don't know why that is. It can't be about being at the club. He had the chance to join a club theoretically in a higher position and turned them down. Fact. So what is it? The lack of quality around him? Possibly. His thighs? Probably. I don't know about anyone else, but whenever I watch Luke I always wince. I think some of this is partly down to the fact that since Ben's injury I wince at any potential contact close to me, but it does seem like Luke is a ticking time bomb. He's presumably on a very decent salary with us. Do we want to be paying that money for someone who has shown no signs of reaching the level of performance he was capable back in the early Autumn? He scored 7 goals in 2 games! He looks a shadow. I appreciate these aren't professionals injuries could affect them more but something isn't right. His conduct today was unacceptable also.

Lots and lots of decisions to be made. However I can bet you all any amount of money that it's eating away at Gary inside. He won't be enjoying this. And that is exactly why he deserves, and needs, all of our support. We all want the same goal.

As others have said - not good at all.

Having said that, having missed many Saturdays games due to work, it was nice just to be there and I do think the changes to the ground look very nice - well done to all involved.

A word on Luke - I like Luke a lot, he is a great player and his shown his potential and worth to our squad on many an occasion, however.NO-ONE is above being subbed off and his attitude yesterday was appalling. I don't necessarily buy the whole 'footballers are an example to kids' line however any young players out there watching would have seen how not to behave when being subbed off.
When Jack was about 8 he got subbed off, walked over to the management area, kicked the water bottles and threw his shirt on the ground.. (sorry J ) he got such a bollocking off me and his dad and the management and I hope Luke had something similar given to him!

No matter how talented he 'can be' Jane. He wouldnt be anywhere near the first team if I were manager.

His selfish behaviour & sulking are damaging to a teams spirit. We would be far better off getting rid & putting the young lad Morgan-Parker in side who will give 100% each game.

Don't necessarily disagree with you - the way he is at the moment -. He did seem to curb that element of his game last season but as things have gone from good to bad across the team it has crept back into his game again.

Jane.N wrote:Don't necessarily disagree with you - the way he is at the moment -. He did seem to curb that element of his game last season but as things have gone from good to bad across the team it has crept back into his game again.

That just shows what a selfish sulky get he is.
I told him to his face last Christmas that his attitude stinks......no change.
More importantly Wolfie....this is the first I've heard about Nory and his tantrum.
Hang your head young Jack.

Well put Jack, but on the subject of team managers .....you can only live off the past for so long. I have thought for a while how strange it looks when Cliffy starts shouting instructions regarding positional tactics to players when the match is only a few minutes old ! Either they aren't training properly or they are not doing as they have been told, either way it does not look good. Fordy,s main match day role seems to be yelling at linesmen, sorry asst referees, and Gary makes a good job of stopping the dug out falling over, and shouting at referees. I suppose what I am saying, and I do not like being unnecessarily critical, is that Gary seems somewhat disconnected from HIS team. Maybe I'm wrong, but that is my reading of many of our match day scenarios this year.
Agree the three of them are hurting as much as we are and need our support, but letting them know the feelings of your run of the mill moderate supporter (if I can describe myself as such) may not be a bad thing. Working hard behind the scenes and on none match days is all well and good but we need to see a manager connected with and in control of his team, as say a certain new manager in another Black Country town not far away seems to be .

Man of the Match voting was as follows;

WILL RICHARDS 7 votes
Chris Knight 6
Leon Miles 5
No-One 4
Kayelden Brown 3
Josh Morgan-Parker 2
Leon Broadhurst 1
Tyrone Williams 1
Luke Benbow 1

Winner of the wine was JIM McCOMISH

Thanks to all who took part.

That really wasn't pretty, was it? Embarassed

Yeah, it wasn't great. It's summed up our season to be honest with you. Which is over by the way. There's absolutely no chance we are getting play offs simply because this team isn't good enough. It'd be pointless anyway as if we did get there we'd only go and lose them again. Laughing

So where do we go from here? It really does depend on what Gary and the board think. Do they accept this season is a right off? Of course it'd be wrong of them to publicly say that. But I think bye 'n' large, the fanbase have accepted that. Whether we're happy about that or not. Some will say they should leave. That's their opinion. Personally, I think the three of them have done enough for the club to deserve the chance to put this right. I've no doubt they're hurting. It's our time to support them. They have done a hell of a lot for our club and given us a hell of a lot of good memories. We need to remember that.

So hypothetically say they've accepted the season is over. We've a brand new ground-it certainly feels a new Amblecote-we've got 6 months to prepare for next season and make a proper fist of it. Because whatever anyone says, this league isn't that great. We've proven that by beating Ilkeston, FC, Kings Lynn, Skelm etc. If we are building towards next season we need to address who's good enough. IMO, the only players who should be nailed on here next season are; Will, Louis, Josh & Leon. There are others I think should be here, however are not certs. Do the club intend on keeping Ty and Reece when their deals at Kiddy run out? If so, keep them. If not get rid. It is no good to us having players here that aren't going to contribute long term.

We need to accept that Josh is a very young lad who some weeks will not get a look in against defenders. But we simply NEED to play him. He has got a massive future. I know the Jordan Murphy saga has been done to death on here, and i sympathize with the club massively on it, however it cannot happen again. He needs games and he needs to find his feet at this level, because he will cause defenders nightmares.

Luke. It is really hard seeing what the point is at the minute. He's our best player, without a doubt. He's the player who can make something happen. However he quite clearly isn't happy. I don't know why that is. It can't be about being at the club. He had the chance to join a club theoretically in a higher position and turned them down. Fact. So what is it? The lack of quality around him? Possibly. His thighs? Probably. I don't know about anyone else, but whenever I watch Luke I always wince. I think some of this is partly down to the fact that since Ben's injury I wince at any potential contact close to me, but it does seem like Luke is a ticking time bomb. He's presumably on a very decent salary with us. Do we want to be paying that money for someone who has shown no signs of reaching the level of performance he was capable back in the early Autumn? He scored 7 goals in 2 games! He looks a shadow. I appreciate these aren't professionals injuries could affect them more but something isn't right. His conduct today was unacceptable also.

Lots and lots of decisions to be made. However I can bet you all any amount of money that it's eating away at Gary inside. He won't be enjoying this. And that is exactly why he deserves, and needs, all of our support. We all want the same goal.

Hey jack, I don't always agree with your comments but I have to say very well put.

In tonight's express and star (in the Colin stoner column) there is reference to Hugh clarks 50 years at the club and this separate piece
'Talking of Stourbridge,I watched their draw with Trafford last weekend and was reminded why the banter at non league clubs is worth the admission alone.
The chunky Trafford keeper was,fair to say carrying a bit of timber. Cue one wag to say:'he's never gone past a cake shop in his life,has he?' '

Brian Handy wrote:
Winner of the wine was JIM McCOMISH

Thanks to all who took part.

I am on a roll, 2 out of 2. I wish the team was.