Just Back

Main thing that stood out to me, is that Ben Davies did the interview....
Runaway would of come out, lapping it all up, giving it the big 'look at me', and Hurst has sat in the background, and just carrying on with keeping this little run going...

If this team had started the season, we would stay up, no questions IMO.
They are now gelling, Hurst is understanding his best team, and grinding results.

We have gone from conceding for fun..
5 at Tranmere
4 to Exeter
3 at Southend
3 at Morecambe
3 at Port vale
3 at Scunny

to conceding 3 in our last 5 games, which has left us 5 unbeaten - huge difference.

Natural shout out to Hewitt and Menayese for obvious reasons, both done great!
But McKeown again was thrown out (Rightly so), received criticism on all forms of social media platforms, which he would of seen (he is human), and come back in and done superb

Its also no coincidence that LJL has started all of the last 5 games... making a massive, sometimes an unnoticed difference!

I still think we've turned that corner too late, but either way, they are putting up a fight, and having a go, and for that, i have no complaints at all....

^^ LJL bullies the defenders and holds the ball up well, he is still doing a job for us.

Fantastic result, thought the midfield 3 were absolutely superb and that really worked. I'd like to see us try that again but try a front 3 with width and pace (Jackson Jnr, LJL, Lamy./Williams) I think that'd be the key. I don't think Payne offered anywhere enough last night and poor old Clifton had a bit of a nightmare on that left side with no real support (not his fault, he's been excellent filling in there).

Matete and Rose were absolutely class, barely put a single foot wrong and Spokes has really grabbed back his chance after being somewhat unfairly dropped IMO. The back four were absolutely solid yet again, saw a stat that that back 5 (with Macca) haven't conceded a single goal in 3 games playing together, what a stat that is considering our position.

We really need some attacking options somehow though, if we have a defence who will make it easy for us to just need one goal, we need to do that justice up top.

The illegitimates have dragged me back in.

Quoted from 123614

^^ LJL bullies the defenders and holds the ball up well, he is still doing a job for us.

The way he made life difficult for the defender before laying it off for Spokes was class.

Last night was simply a must win. It wasnt pretty , neither side really created much.

But a huge 3 pts. If we hadnt won i think that would have sealed our fate.

A reality check.......we are still deep in the mire and its not like we are playing great. We have 10 cup finals to play starting with another massive game v another struggling team Walsall. We need to build on this win and string a run together. Beat Walsall and that maybe drags them into it and puts pressure on them.

On the positive side 5 games unbeaten.....the defence seems to have tightened up though Macca still gives me palpitations at times. I remarked a couple of weeks ago I thought the players and management had thrown in the towel. They didnt seem to be fighting for their lives to me.

The last couple of games you cant accuse therm of that. The reaction at the final whistle last night told me they do think they still have hope. Looking at recent results in this division  no-one is unbeatable with teams near the top losing to those at the bottom. Form this time of the year always seems to go up in the air.

The odds are still stacked against us but we have given ourselves a slim glimmer of a chance. Gotta keep going....If you are going to go down go down fighting.

A few observations from last night.
A great defensive performance again from Town with all players putting in a shift but sadly the thing that will sadly be our downfall the season is just the lack of goal scoring opportunities we create. One shot on target last night but what a strike! but I just don’t think that can carry on for the remaining games and expect to pick up more points than the other teams above us, unlike the Carlisle game we got a bit of luck and managed to hold on for 3 points.
Hopefully a good win against Walsall on Saturday we can get a few goals which will give the team great confidence in actually scoring rather than keeping clean sheets might change the course of the season. Hope I’m wrong but I just think the teams above us will scrape enough points to see them safe.
On a another note sadly I just don’t think McEwan is good enough, we need Eastwood back, I’ve always said he’s a great shot stopper but he is so vulnerable with any balls into the 6 yard box as shown again last night, he was exposed three or four times,

PH has often said that you have to look way beyond the goals total to assess LJL’s contribution. He works his socks off and makes things happen for the others

Quoted from Sussexmariner

A few observations from last night.
A great defensive performance again from Town with all players putting in a shift but sadly the thing that will sadly be our downfall the season is just the lack of goal scoring opportunities we create. One shot on target last night but what a strike! but I just don’t think that can carry on for the remaining games and expect to pick up more points than the other teams above us, unlike the Carlisle game we got a bit of luck and managed to hold on for 3 points.
Hopefully a good win against Walsall on Saturday we can get a few goals which will give the team great confidence in actually scoring rather than keeping clean sheets might change the course of the season. Hope I’m wrong but I just think the teams above us will scrape enough points to see them safe.
On a another note sadly I just don’t think McEwan is good enough, we need Eastwood back, I’ve always said he’s a great shot stopper but he is so vulnerable with any balls into the 6 yard box as shown again last night, he was exposed three or four times,

The opposition don't create much either; it's the league we are in. How many shots has Macca had to save since he came back in?

It's such fine margins at the bottom that we could have won or lost all the last 5 games.

Delighted with the 3 points. Ugly game of football but style is irrelevant for the next 6/7 weeks as long as we get the points.

Thought the team selection and set-up was good. Perhaps a slight surprise to see Hurst go with 3 out-and-out proper centre-forwards as the 3 forwards in a 433. Probably thought the pitch wasnt great and that we'd just go direct and have a midfield to pick up 2nd balls. One worry could've been that LJL and Payne, as the wider forwards, would've been asked to do too much defensively giving us more of a 451 with Hanson isolated. Thankfully that didnt happen and it was a genuine front 3.

LJL and Hanson were a handful. Payne less so but I'd imagine that role is not something he's done before. LJL was very keen to get shots off in the first half.
LJL had a big hand in our goal - not through brilliant hold-up play as I've seen it described as elsewhere, but by being a flipping nuisance to play against. He never had control of the ball but stopped the defender being able to deal with it, then when it did drop at his feet, had the awareness to set it for Spokes. And what a strike.

Matete was good. The way he shields the ball and quickly swivels his body while he's on the move, to get it between the ball and the man, is excellent. Very calm, composed, and can play in tight spaces. Spokes was good too, he's got a presence about him, is physically imposing, can play off both feet and is mobile for his size.

I thought it was the best Rose had played in a long time. He definitely needs to play in a midfield 3, which has been clear for a while in all honesty but games like last night highlight it because of positive reasons. He was strong in the tackle, mopped up in front of the back 4 reasonably well, and switched play a lot when it got tight on side of the pitch.

Back 4 were pretty solid defensively bar a few moments. They put bodies on the line at the end and I'm sure I wasn't the only one nearly having a heart attack in the last 5 minutes. All these blocks contributed to Barrow only having one shot on target - that easy one Macca dived to his right to save after Clifton misjudged/missed a header. Macca didn't look confident with the aerial bombardment near the end, dropping a couple.

Hendrie really good again, in form at the right time. Hewitt continues to show hes a really good centre back. I don't rate him at all as a midfielder or a full back, but he's been excellent at centre back. Menayese has got stronger the longer he's been here. I've noticed he struggles with really high balls coming down from the clouds though, misjudges it or something but, as he has done previously, he one completely last night (under no pressure) and got another one wrong heading it backwards in the direction of our corner flag.

Clifton was excellent as a defender apart from that one moment not dealing with the bouncing ball that led to their shot on target. I thought he really struggled though when he had the ball. Perhaps suffered from not playing 442 when he has a winger quite close in front of him to pass the ball to. But really poor passing, even when under no pressure at times. His instructions need to be to just play little 5-10 yard passes. Win it and give it to Rose. No shame in that.

Can't really argue with the subs. Coke just slotted in for Rose and carried on with the same job. Green didnt have time to do anything, but I'd have thought Jackson Jr might have been a better option to come on for Payne, just to offer energy and pace. If we're going to keep playing 433 it might actually help Jackson, as it's on the right of a front 3 he played at his last club. Not on the right of a 442 as he did recently with us.

A bit of hope then. Hopefully we can follow it up with a win on Saturday, then things could get interesting. UTM.

Is Matete getting close to 5 yellows?