⚽ Match Thread vs. Crawley Town FC 28.11.23 [EFL L2]

[Magpies1959]

Notts78. I am not vasing it on 45 mins, I just think we can do better and also need someone more comfortable with ball at feet. He may be young, but he will never have the skills of Baldwin, nit getting at him, just think we need different/better.
Disappointed to have had to watch the game from a hospital ward at the City, but it was warmer I hear 😊

[Elite_Pie]

A poor first 25 minutes, but we created loads of good chances after that and were well worth the 3 points. A bit surprised there were only 4 goals in the game, both sides could easily have scored a couple more. Two dodgy defences, and for the first time this season I saw a team who pass it back to the keeper more often than we do!

[countygump]

Notts78. I am not vasing it on 45 mins, I just think we can do better and also need someone more comfortable with ball at feet. He may be young, but he will never have the skills of Baldwin, nit getting at him, just think we need different/better.
Disappointed to have had to watch the game from a hospital ward at the City, but it was warmer I hear 😊

Hope you're OK 1959. It was the usually calamitous defending at times. Equally worrying and amusing in truth, though it's asking a lot for 3 players to do the majority of it. Good win in the end. Another 3 points and on we go. U Piessssss.

[Carlton_Pie]

We've been suicidal In defence, but we've got away with it, we won't many times playing like that

But we do, even a division higher.

Must be lucky.

[jackal2]

Bit of calamity in the first half but walked away on a very cold night feeling like I’d been entertained which you sort of expect now, would we want it any other way?

No I wouldn't. Every game these days is entertaining, and most of the time we get a good result too!

Tonight was a test, going one down after the loss on Saturday. Heads could have dropped, but in the end we were probably unlucky not to score double what we got. The defensive fragility was still there at times, but we more than deserved the win.

The Langstaff/Morias combination looks promising, even though we probably won't see it often. I noticed it against Newport and again tonight. Obviously they lack height between them, but they both work extremely hard off the ball and I think that really helped to unsettle Crawley's attempts to play out, applying the kind of pressure that led to the third goal.

Macari for me did okay. He's more positive than Brindley and he looks like a player who could do a good job in as many as three positions. He certainly doesn't look out of place in the team considering his relative lack of experience, and of course he's a player with the potential to improve a lot as he gets more game time. I certainly won't object if we sign him.

What we definitely do need, however, is more bite, especially in midfield. Sam Austin - as versatile as he is - looks lightweight in the centre of the park. It's just not his position. In terms of snapping at heels and putting in tackles, Jim O'Brien is our most combative player, but we need someone else (younger) in there with a nasty streak who can hold their position and screen the defence properly, allowing more adventurous and gifted players to go forward without leaving the space empty behind them. That might be the role they envisage for Gosling, but it depends how long it takes to get him match fit.

Great result though, and proof again that we can more than compete with the majority of teams in this division, especially at home. If we gradually add a bit more defensive resilience, height and aggression over the next 18 months or so, then we'll probably begin getting more results away from home too.

[Proactive not Reactive]

Thought Baldwin was very good tonight imo and by far our best defender and we should be looking to recruit at least 1 defender that is as good as him
Glad for Junior scoring his 1st goal and worked hard for last half a hour - probably start Friday will be a decent squad player giving Macca and Didzy rests as his fitness improves
Stone looked confident and made a couple of good saves let’s hope this is a new start for him

[hissingdwarf]

Firstly, bloody cold there tonight! Cold enough I couldn’t even be arsed to take my gloves off and argue on here earlier!

Shaky first half hour or so imo. Sam S looked dodge, but overall, not convinced Stone is any better.

We huffed and puffed in the middle and didn’t do a tremendous lot tbh. The loss of Palmer and Bostock can’t be underestimated.

Defence looked suicidal at times as usual, but found they grew into the game. Thought Macari looked wobbly first half hour, along with the rest, but grew in confidence as the game went on and looked established by the end. Hope he stays in the team now and gets a good run and Brindley is kept on the bench along with Rawlo. Love Rawlinson as a person, but our defence will continue to be an issue if Brindley and Rawlinson are the answer.
Good to see Junior grab his goal. Was a bit worried Didzy was injured, but I think it was planned sub tbh.


Hot chocolate in a flask? Can’t beat a steaming bovril in a flask at half time.

[hissingdwarf]

Thought Baldwin was very good tonight imo and by far our best defender and we should be looking to recruit at least 1 defender that is as good as him
Glad for Junior scoring his 1st goal and worked hard for last half a hour - probably start Friday will be a decent squad player giving Macca and Didzy rests as his fitness improves
Stone looked confident and made a couple of good saves let’s hope this is a new start for him

Baldwin is our best defender by a long way. The issue is his ‘foggy’ moments. Or the suicidal back passes etc… If he cut those out, he’d probably be at least a division above if not more.
As you say, we need someone as good, if not better than him moving forwards. For me, it would be a left sided CB and leave Baldwin and Macari where they are. Cameron on the bench and rotation.

Stone needs another run of games to prove he is ‘different’ to Slocombe tbf. On his first run the overall impression I got was “ much of a muchness.” Let’s see how he does Friday now.

[Proactive not Reactive]

Firstly, bloody cold there tonight! Cold enough I couldn’t even be arsed to take my gloves off and argue on here earlier!

Shaky first half hour or so imo. Sam S looked dodge, but overall, not convinced Stone is any better.

We huffed and puffed in the middle and didn’t do a tremendous lot tbh. The loss of Palmer and Bostock can’t be underestimated.

Defence looked suicidal at times as usual, but found they grew into the game. Thought Macari looked wobbly first half hour, along with the rest, but grew in confidence as the game went on and looked established by the end. Hope he stays in the team now and gets a good run and Brindley is kept on the bench along with Rawlo. Love Rawlinson as a person, but our defence will continue to be an issue if Brindley and Rawlinson are the answer.
Good to see Junior grab his goal. Was a bit worried Didzy was injured, but I think it was planned sub tbh.


Hot chocolate in a flask? Can’t beat a steaming bovril in a flask at half time.

It was cold the Pavis was quieter than usual apart from the guy who decided to abuse the Linesman after a few minutes and carried it on for the majority of the first half
Thought Stone did everything asked of him made a couple of decent saves and was a lot better than Slocombe tonight who was very poor
Don’t be surprised to see Rawlinson or Brindley starting on Friday or even both with it being FA Cup

[nw6pie]

Two games against Crawley this month and both could have finished 5-5 - we are nothing if not entertaining. As bad as we were in the first half hour, once Jodi Jones started running at them we could have been comfortably ahead at halftime.

Much better in the second half as Dan Crowley came alive, our pressing improved and we ran out easy winners - especially as Crawley started impersonating our defenders when playing suicidal passes out from the back. All in all, another fun night at the Lane.