Match Thread vs. Wycombe Wanderers (30.03.18)

[jackal2]

A good battling performance, a good point, still in 4th, other teams stumbling around us, still a lot of twists and turns to come, enjoy the ride promotion is still on!! Keep the faith angels of doom ��

I suspect our lack of punch up front will be what costs us in the end, unless Jorge Grant starts firing again.

However, if Wycombe do end up finishing third, then it shows how little difference there is between us and them, and where we need to strengthen to move on to the next level. Stead, Ameobi and Forte should all be moving on this summer whether we get promoted or not, and if we jettison one or two of the makeweights and "ones for the future", it should give us the wage flexibility to recruit some quality forwards if the new Chief Scout is doing his job.

[BigFatPie]

The penalty shouts are a bit of a red herring imo, yep the first one was, but Shola was looking for the second one. Stead had a decent shout for a push right at the end as well.

Just never really good enough around their box, they look looked more likely to sneak it second half, and I’ve no idea why Hawkridge was subbed. He was our best player and we looked rubbish after he went off.

The whole game went full on sh!thouse. Something has to be done about players feigning injury to break up play. Managers can’t complain about refs when they’re literally telling their players to constantly cheat.

[Robertomac]

The first pen was too far away from me to see but the 2nd was deffo NOT a pen IMO, tho I have seen them given.

Both clear penalties for me. There was also one corner in the second half where the centre half nearly ripped Stead's shirt off his back which was also a clear penalty.

However, ultimately we didn't do enough work with the ball and shouldn't be relying on penalties to get us goals. That's two goals in the last 3 games and I think ultimately we are just not scoring anywhere near enough to look like solid challengers. The most concerning thing for me in the last couple of games is the complete lack of confidence and composure on the ball - I know we've played hoofball all season, but that has been interspersed with some football, but in the last couple of games nobody seems to want to keep hold of the ball and look for a 'pass' (in the broadest sense of the term) shorter than 60 yards. We have to have much more belief in our own ability.

[navypie]

I thought a draw was a fair result and to be honest, they looked the most likely scorers towards the end. A little surprised when they announced Tootle MOTM. Would have given it to Brisley myself.

ps. Anyone who thinks Hawkridge was our best player can only be a relation.

[i961pie]

Hard to say, the Shola one looked a better shout....there was a lot of play~acting going on from both sides

Scrappy game with both sides more frightened of losing....only two decent chances for us, plus a point~blank header from the Beast that was saved superbly by Collin

It seems to be the norm now that we only have a couple of chances per game.

[DaveSmithRules]

I thought Hawkridge had a good game today. A few fans on here seem to think he's awful, but it's strange how polarised the opinion is. Reminds me of the divide on Craig Westcarr, who I also thought was a useful player.

[BigFatPie]

ps. Anyone who thinks Hawkridge was our best player can only be a relation.

No, not related. You’ve made your feelings clear about Hawkridge and like virtually everyone his performance levels have dropped off, but I thought he was on it today, and we looked much less threatening after he went off.

Can anyone shed any light on why Noble took that corner at the end and not Grant?

[slack_pie]

I thought Hawkridge had a good game today. A few fans on here seem to think he's awful, but it's strange how polarised the opinion is. Reminds me of the divide on Craig Westcarr, who I also thought was a useful player.

Westcarr was a key part of our promotion-winning side, weighing in with double figures for goals and probably for assists as well. He was widely popular as far as I remember, and rightly so. He even had his own chant! He was twice the player Hawkridge is.

[slack_pie]

Both clear penalties for me. There was also one corner in the second half where the centre half nearly ripped Stead's shirt off his back which was also a clear penalty.

However, ultimately we didn't do enough work with the ball and shouldn't be relying on penalties to get us goals. That's two goals in the last 3 games and I think ultimately we are just not scoring anywhere near enough to look like solid challengers. The most concerning thing for me in the last couple of games is the complete lack of confidence and composure on the ball - I know we've played hoofball all season, but that has been interspersed with some football, but in the last couple of games nobody seems to want to keep hold of the ball and look for a 'pass' (in the broadest sense of the term) shorter than 60 yards. We have to have much more belief in our own ability.

Yeah, I agree with all of that. Earlier in the season we were direct, but I remember us creating loads of chances and having better control of the ball. We actually had 'moves' rather than just wild punts up field. It's hard to work out exactly what has changed, but we look a shadow of our former selves.

[Elite_Pie]

Just got back . The ref was awful, couldn't quite see the 2nd penalty but the first was as clear as day . Shola was about to pull the trigger and their bloke just pulled him down . Shocking decision not to give it.

Agree 100% with this. The ref (seeing as his name was Ben Toner shouldn't he be reffing over the river?) was a joke. Him and his team got so much wrong for both teams that the chants of "You don't know what you're doing" from both sets of supporters were fully justified. He completely lost any semblance of control and seemed to be making decisions based entirely on guesswork. Nothing fouls resulted in a yellow card and nasty ones didn't even merit a word. The second half penalty shout on Ameobi looked dubious, but the one in the first half was blatant from where I was sitting. How both him and the lino saw that as a fair challenge is beyond me.