Ashton - Home

A spirited fight on a catastrophic evening for our play off hopes.

We all understand Stuart's instincts at the time he made the decision to make the last ditch challenge that saw him sent off but pragmatism sometimes has to rule and i hope that in the same situation next time around our "last man" trusts the capabilities of his keeper to save the shot that would result from no challenge.

Even if they'd scored we'd still have had 11 men on the pitch and with the way we were making chances i'd still have expected us to get a decent result but once down to 10 men it was a really up hill battle against a very robust,well organised side.

I thought their centre forward was a real handful,pace,power,up for a battle……a quality player at this level and the sort of centre forward i still think we need if we are ever to get out of this division,he gave us a torrid a time at the back as i've seen all season.

I thought we got our substitution wrong when Stu was sent off,Lait had started well,he'd have been the last player i would have sacrificed,chatting amongst our usual group the concensus was that Richards or Dodd should've gone off with Geddes pushing further up and the combative Tonks being added to the fray…..it was a Tonks type of night,he should've started.

Our finishing was woeful tonight,Richards and Hawley missed some absolute "sitters" in the first half before the sending off and then suddenly……..the game was gone.

This poor run of 3 draws and a defeat couldn't have come at a worse time,i feel we now need to win the next two AND win at Ashton in the return match otherwise it could be another missed oppertunity this season.

We have to get Tonks back into the side ASAP in my opinion,i think it's time to slot him in the middle with Leon and to get Geddes further up the pitch and into the area where he scored so many goals for Worcester City during his time with them.

A special mention for Junior tonight,i thought he was fantastic,he never stopped running and working and deserved his goal and in truth,the whole team put in one hell of a shift and were deserving of a draw.

Not helpful. But we are still 2 points off with 9 to go. We do need to start winning again but there is plenty of time to go.

Last night's was a game of ''if only's'' - if only Karl had done what he's been doing all season, if only Justin's shooting confidence wasn't low, if only Stuart hadn't been a bit rash and if only we'd scored earlier, then I think we'd be all much happier this morning.

On the positive side, our collective team spirit really shone through with our midfield and Karl and the under-pressure Justin all working their socks off.

To play with 10 men for over an hour against such an in-form team and taking the game to them gives optimism for the 27 points still on offer.

The fact that Matt didn't have much to do in the 2nd half or in the 1st, thinking about it, sums up how committed we were.

Ok, 3 points from 12 at this stage of the season is disappointing but, if we continue to play in the same vein and if other results go our way, we should still make the play-offs, albeit without home advantage.

Man of the match voting was as follows:

JUNIOR SMIKLE 25 votes

Kristian Green 6

Dan Scarr 3

Leon Broadhurst
Matt Gould { 2

Karl Hawley 1

NEIL STEVENS-WOOD won the wine.

Thanks to all who took part.

Another game where in my opinion the better team lost. Even with 10 men we applied most of the pressure in the 2nd half, and could easily of won it had our finishing been up to our usual standard. Complete frustration for the entire team, but at least we are only 1 place and 2 points off the play-offs.

And with 9 games & 27 points still to play for, I see no reason in writing off our chances until it becomes mathematically impossible.

Having said that we do need to get back to winning ways with the next 2 games. Especially the Halesowen game, which is probably the most important No.9 derby in years.