Marine home

Apart from a few scares in the first half when Marine's long ball, assisted by the strong wind, nearly catching us out on occasions, our 2 - 0 win was comfortably achieved.

The second half saw us take our foot off the pedal, understandably with Saturday's game in mind.

Last night was my first chance to see Matt Gould and, although he was alert to keep out Marine's few chances, he doesn't seem to have the build to dominate his area. Hope he proves me wrong.

Chris's work rate continues to impress and he took his goal with skill. Kristian again played very well as did all of the team, although Sean was a bit below par.

Leon again dominated the midfield, never stopping working, and the way he set up Karl's goal was not to be missed.

Best of luck on Saturday lads although, to me, getting into the play-offs still has to be our number one priority.

Far from a fantastic performance but good enough to win,they had some pacy players which caused us problems,Nantwich have some very pacy players so we will have to put a good shift in to beat them.

Another wide ranging MotM vote with nine players receiving votes:

MATT GOULD 11 votes

Leon Broadhurst 10

Chris Lait. {4
Kristian Green

Karl Hawley. 3

Sean Geddes 2

Matt Dodd
Dan Scarr. { 1
Brian Smikle

Wine was won by Jim McComish.

Thanks to all who took part.

Not a good performance at all but all that mattered was not "doing a Barwell" and ensuring we got the win.

On the night we produced two superb bits of football that both resulted in great team goals,Leon's surge into the box and sublime pass was worth the admission money on it's own,a cracking piece of play from the old boy!

Justin Richards showed just how important he is to this Stour side last night and why he was so missed at Barwell,he does the dirty work,the hard yards,he runs the channels,chases lost causes and most vitaly,he HOLDS THE BALL UP!

There's more to being a striker than your goal's return and Justin is a credit to himself at his age….the desire is still plainly within him.

I was impressed with young Gould in goal,his speed at coming out and his reading of the game are excellent as is his agility,I just hope his slight stature doesn't let him down when we're facing pressure from free kicks and corners and from the long ball merchants but regardless of this he was my man of the match last night.

Two slight concerns are Dodd and Geddes.

Doddy is overcomplicating things and not getting enough decent ball into the box,i'd like to see him crossing earlier and not trying to beat his man every time,it's just not necessary,i think he confuses himself a lot of the time….keep it simple Matt.

My only concern about Sean coming back was the fact that we'd settled into a successful 4-4-2 formation when Tonks was with us and Sean has ended up directly replacing Tonks,this is leaving him very deep in the pitch and spoiling his chances of influencing the game and scoring a hatful of goals.

I can see Gary's dilemma in not wanting to change a winning formula but i'd much rather see Sean at the head of a midfield diamond allowing him to play just behind Karl and Justin as this was the position he did such damage for Worcester in last season.

I'd be inclined to play Leon as the single holding midfielder with Lait wide and Dodd tucking in a little narrower to allow Sean to play further up the pitch.

I still believe we are one decent goalscorer short,Sean may well be that man if we can get him in a more advanced position on the pitch but in any case,i wish we'd still look for one final quality forward signing because if Justin or Karl get injured I think we could struggle.

All in all a good night and can't wait for Saturday at Nantwich,a team we really need to attack as they are good going forward but ropey in defence.

Good win in the end as we looked reasonably comfortable in the second half. Marine should have been at least level at half time but poor finishing let them down and we didn't allow them too many chances in the second half, with Lait's well worked second giving us a solid cushion.

Pierpoint's distribution and Gould's kicking were much better than Saturday so maybe they read the forum!

Geddes and Leon battled away all night and the defence was solid other than being caught out by wind assisted hoofs in the first half.

Have to be honest, think I was watching a different game to DA as I thought Richards had a poor night and was amazed he wasn't subbed for Tyree Clarke.

The only head scratching moment was the subs - Lait and Dodd the two subs AGAIN. Why are they subbed every single game? Especially as Dodd isn't playing for three games, so it's not like we need to save him for Saturday. Both looked really pissed off to be substituted; considering how ineffectual Richards was I was surprised that Clarke wasn't given a run out.

Making the same subs every game and picking the same team every game is only going to lead to irritated players in my view.

Still - 6 points out of 6, exactly what we asked for and the players delivered, so no complaints.

Roll on Saturday - a contingent of us driving there - looking forward to it!

stour_boy wrote:Good win in the end as we looked reasonably comfortable in the second half. Marine should have been at least level at half time but poor finishing let them down and we didn't allow them too many chances in the second half, with Lait's well worked second giving us a solid cushion.

Pierpoint's distribution and Gould's kicking were much better than Saturday so maybe they read the forum!

Geddes and Leon battled away all night and the defence was solid other than being caught out by wind assisted hoofs in the first half.

Have to be honest, think I was watching a different game to DA as I thought Richards had a poor night and was amazed he wasn't subbed for Tyree Clarke.

The only head scratching moment was the subs - Lait and Dodd the two subs AGAIN. Why are they subbed every single game? Especially as Dodd isn't playing for three games, so it's not like we need to save him for Saturday. Both looked really pissed off to be substituted; considering how ineffectual Richards was I was surprised that Clarke wasn't given a run out.

Making the same subs every game and picking the same team every game is only going to lead to irritated players in my view.

Still - 6 points out of 6, exactly what we asked for and the players delivered, so no complaints.

Roll on Saturday - a contingent of us driving there - looking forward to it!

I don't know if you've ever played the game at any competitive level SB ( jumpers for goalposts don't count ) I can assure you that anyone who has ever played up front will advise you on what Justin Richards add's to this Stour side.

The second goal was a great example,it's a pity we don't have our games videoed as this would highlight his qualities.

He ran deep into the left hand channel,held off a couple of opposition players ( which then gave Lait the chance to catch up with play and to make his run into the box and then Richards found him with a very clever,cute pass and Lait supplied the excellent finish.

Richards does the horrible job of dropping short off his centre half to either receive or to allow Hawley to exploit the space behind the centre halves which is often created.

I played at nowhere near this level but it was bloody competitive and i loved doing the Hawley bit and hated the Richards bit,it takes a good player and a real team guy to do the Richard's role.

At Salford he was again outstanding,for me he'd be one of the first on the team sheet every week.

Look at the results since he's been with us,a vast improvement and look how we do when he doesn't play.

I'm with DA on this one about Richards. He's the Mick Jones to Hawley's Allan Clarke.

barnstoneworth wrote:I'm with DA on this one about Richards. He's the Mick Jones to Hawley's Allan Clarke.

A very good analogy BSW,probably lost on younger fan's like Stourboy

I come from near Leeds and my dad was a Leeds fan,i saw a lot of them in the 70's

I actually know Allan Clarke's brother Kelvin who played for Walsall,i got to hear the true story about Brian Clough's short reign at Leeds,some very interesting tit bits in that.

Mick Jones was my dad's favourite Leeds player,he certainly knew how to put in a shift.

Devil's Advocate wrote:

barnstoneworth wrote:I'm with DA on this one about Richards. He's the Mick Jones to Hawley's Allan Clarke.

A very good analogy BSW,probably lost on younger fan's like Stourboy

And I thought he was on about the ex-lead singer of The Hollies

Must agree with DA regarding Justin Richards. He scored the winning goal at Salford & was a constant thorn in their side. At Barwell there was no one to do his role......then we are at home to Marine and the rest as they say is history.
I too believe that Justin doesn't always get the credit he deserves. If he is firing on all cylinders tomorrow at Nantwich we will have a much better chance. Yes Karl is class & rightfully gets the applause, but Justin is a real big help to him. I guess this is the definition of "Team Work" !

Devil's Advocate wrote:

barnstoneworth wrote:I'm with DA on this one about Richards. He's the Mick Jones to Hawley's Allan Clarke.

A very good analogy BSW,probably lost on younger fan's like Stourboy

Never mind Stourboy, that one's lost on ME!

The only Mick Jones I can recall is the one who was in the Clash!