Fell at the Final Hurdle

Now that the dust has settled on a very disappointing end to the campaign it’s time to reflect on where it all went wrong.

Forget about being robbed of points with the goal that never was and put aside some of the mediocre performances against The Gulls, The Shots and away at lowly Morcambe where the lads deserved nowt – ultimately a combination of inexperience and a lack of a 20 goal a season striker cost us dear in the 2 matches that ultimately mattered.

I do wonder if the lad’s heads sunk once they learnt that Wycombe had pipped us by a single measly point and after that psychological blow we never recovered.

It was excruciating watching us over the 2 legs being systematically out played, out thought and out gunned by a team who had their tails up the moment the final whistle ended the 2010/11 League 2 campaign. Our lack of a match winner was there for all to see despite inspired performances by Taylor and Sharpes who worked their socks off whilst others toiled. Successive substitutions, more in desperation than with any real hope of clawing back a goal, showed just how lacking in quality the bench was and the undoubted experience of McIntyre and Disley was clearly ignored by GT who obviously felt that they had nothing to offer.

So, the rebuild for next season begins on Monday and lets all hope that a mixture of youth and some seasoned pro’s can get us out of this league.!!!

 

Welcome on board FFB.

To be honest should we be surprised with the final league position? We had a definite period of mediocre games before xmas and had some poor results against lowly teams. We also had some fantastic games along the way too. Yes we need a twenty plus goal scorer, preferably two, and a decent midfield to provide the ball and support the defense.

Monday will be interesting...

 

not rubbing it in matster but we did try and tell you harrold wont get you goals

 

Besdides the obvious need for a marksman I'd also hope that GT can root out that sought after 'Holy Grail', a centre midfield player who is creative, quick and prepared to push forward. I saw some stat's that suggested that the greater percentage of Wroe's passes have been backwards or sideways. We need a lad who can emulate the likes of Jamie Tolley who was at his best (which admittedly didn't last very long) when running full tilt at the opposition.

I hear that J Taylor has turned down the current offer so will a revised deal be struck?

 

Benji???

Seriously the squad have a lot of players who can offer skills but the range they can offer seems to specific. As mentioned above a strong, fast attacking midfield would be great. How many shots were there from central midfield on Friday? Wroe and Davies both seemed to pass the ball to Taylor or Wright.

 

Of course we could try Grandison in CM as he can charge well and is definitely not a full out defender.

 

I still firmly believe that Elder will have a role to play next season. The current crop rarely appear to get into goal-scoring positions. You have to get there to miss and that is Elder's maxim. I would not be averse to a Harrold/Elder combination. Harrold has the hold up skills and Elder has the pace and positional nous to play-off him.

 

It will be interesting to see. I really hope that every supporter gets behind Elder and allows him the time to gain match fitness and confidence.

 

HHHHHMMMMM!!!!

Elder, he might do a job, but I've completely forgotten what he's capable of!

 

I've not yet see Elder play- 60-second idiot's guide please anyone?

We will probably need a new LB(if Sadler goes) but apart from that the defence is good. With Taylor/Wright/Ainsworth we're well stocked on the wings too but CM and up front definitely need fixing. Don't particularly want Davis back, and although we have many options upfront none of them seem to be able to forge a real partnership.

COYS- GT needs to take advantage of the riches available in the free market- quality players there.

 

Elder is a fairly tall fella who came to us having recently recovered from a bad facial injury caused by a clash of heads in a game, he had had quite a good season before that injury. He signed around the same time as Kris Bright did and the squad (midfield included) weren't all the greatest. Upon starting with us he had a few goodish games but looked a bit gangly at times, but was strong and could win the ball through determination. Opinions are mixed on him and I don't want to give an preconceptions of his ability as I don't think we saw the full player when he started. He then has his injury and has been out for most of the last season, playing a couple of reserves games towards the end. He has scored in them, i think a penalty and an open goal or two.

I would treat him as a new player and if he plays then get behind him and give him as much support as is possible for the full 90 minutes as he will need as much confidence boosting as possible.

 

In response to KDS's comments I echo FFB's 'hmmmmmmmm'. Will give Elder my support but not sure he is the answer and looked a bit lacking in basic co-ordination etc... to me (maybe he will fit in well in that case, haha). I agree with others in that I don't want Davis back really, him and Wroe too defensive & similar. Think we need a bit more fight in there as a minimum, preferably a bit of quality too.

Think GT has a bit of work to do meself as I'd really only rate Bradshaw of the strikers we have..... and thats more potential than anything - he could yet end up another marco adaggio ('better than baggio'... or not). Jury out on Collins a bit for me but not seen him have a good game yet, Prince harry okay now and again but an automatic promotion striker? - not for me. Occassional 50p head syndrome too as demonstrated a couple of times on friday. Most of our strikers neither one thing or the other for me - certainly collins & harrold - not tall enough to be out and out target men, nor quick enough to be pace merchants. To be fair, its the hardest thing, everyones after 20 goal a season men coz if u have one you've got a chance. I wouldn't have Robbo back - not that he'd come now anyway - as not the answer either.

BTW where on earth did Torquay find that Tomlin and what is he doing at Torquay? Sure he did 'the lollipop' or 'the chewing gum' at one point in the first leg - ridicuolous behaviour and shouldn't be allowed in a league two match!!!

 

Tomlin looked a constant threat on Friday

 

Too many 'like for like' players in the side of 2010/11 which needs some serious thought by GT as we offered little variation in the style of play when sub's came on - granted some of them could run a bit!. However, generally when we came up against the well-drilled and beefier outfits we struggled and the introduction of subs made little difference.

Lots of comment has made of the fact that we often lacked a physical presence (certainly this was the case against the Gulls) and I'd like to see the mid field toughened up a bit as well.

So, not much to ask for then