I think Gillingham will line up as follows....................... --------------------------Nelson---------------------------------- Lee------------Legge----------------Barrett----------------Martin ------------------------Mousinho---------------------------------- Weston------------------Dack-----------------------------Whelpdale ---------------McDonald-----------Akinfenwa----------------------- Subs: Howard (GK), Davies, McKain, Hessenthaler, Nyafli German, Kedwell I think we have got to take the game to Brackley Town because for the first twenty minuted tonight they are going to be fast out of the blocks so we will probably name a attacking team tonight ( but then I think we have to as Hollands, Linganzi and Gregory are all out). I think Kedwell will be on the bench tonight, but he will only play if we really need him to, hopefully that won't be the case and Gillingham get a couple of early goals tonight, but I know it won't be a easy game because Brackley Town out-played us at Priestfield Stadium over eight days a go.
Team? Lee/or Mousinho will play at RB,Akinfenwa might replace Kedwell. Nelson Lee,Legge,Barrett,Martin Whelpdale,Mousinho,Dack,Weston Akinfenwa,McDonald Subs:Howard,Davies,McKain,Carter,Nyafli,Hessenthaler,German I`m expecting as tough a game as we had at Priestfield two weeks ago.Hopefully we wont play that poorly again.We need to start well and try and get a goal in the first 20-30 minutes to silence the home crowd.Kedwell,***an,Hewitt,Harriman,and Gregory will be missed,but we still have enough quality to go there and win the game.
That is one strange team. No Cody, Bayo to start, German in, and Butcher at rb. That caught all of us out.
Leon Legge needs a long hard look at himself. Also once again Taylor's substitutions has cost us. German looked so much more of a threat than Whelpdale. We had a great spell until that sub. Poor poor poor
German was rubbish, I would have taken him off at half time. Why though when Weston was causing havic did Gills stop giving him the ball when Cody came on. Well done Brackley for a battling performance, I was impressed with them but Gills were so unlucky not to score tonight.We seem to be jinked when we are on telly, we never win.
Barrett and in particular Legge looked frail throughout; Barrett was not winning the headers he should have been and Legge looked panicked when a player of his experience should have wiped the floor with Mulligan and Diggin. Yes, conditions were tough but there is no excuse for yet again taking our eye off the game. I thought Butcher made a good debut and offered added width in comparison to German who I thought looked lost but offered decent energy. - We can complain that we had a good goal disallowed but I think we should have started the match as we did in the second half; ruthless, bombarding and full paced. We haven't had a good streak on the TV since Wembley and the only silver lining that I can read out of this is that we can now focus on the league. Taylor has stuck with Legge and played him whenever available since coming in, can he do that on saturday?
how did legge play on Saturday, he must have played pretty well it maybe that 2 matches in 2 days may be too much for him and Barrett.
Whelpdale didn't look interested when he came on. We stopped being a threat when German went off but im not saying he played well. Shows how much we rely on Kedwell.
I've been out walking my dog. How did we do ?............................................................................ I do not own a dog. ( I wish I did )
we definitely missed Kedwell who has proven again how much he is missed when not playing, just like last season when the doubters said he does not score enough goals.
Couple of thought from watching the telly. Thought Weston had a good game, but as said above, last 20 mins we stopped giving him the ball. Why? German I thought looked lost and lacking confidence. Bayo put in more effort than I thought, but we didn't seem to give him the correct service (to his feet). Ref did him no favors either. Dack was good imho. Involved in most of our better moments, and scored as well... Why didn't Cody start? He can't need a rest he's hardly played. And surely he'd have wanted to start. If he'd started and scored it might have been a massive boost for him after his goal v Sheff U. Why'd we give their main player 15 minutes to line up his shot? It did swerve, but Nelson should have saved it. Overall, I didn't think we played that badly. Albeit against a team we should be tonking. But I thought Brackley played well. Very organised, defended well, and up for it being their 'final'. On another day we'd have scored at least a couple, but not to be. Once the goal was disallowed, I kinda knew it wouldn't be our night. Good luck to them. Oh, and why did our crowd (pretty sure it wasn't Brackley) boo when we tried to pass the ball around? If we didn't go forward in 3 passes or as soon as there was a sideways or backward pass, there were boos. Do we want passing football or hoofball?
Although PT said we wouldn't i just feel we underestimated the opposition for a 2nd time. We had too many passengers i'm afraid. (BAYO, GERMAN, LEE) For me we were looking pretty good with one up top, unfortunately it was the wrong person in that position. All defenders hate pace, other than Weston we had none. Cody on Sat showed signs of old & should have started on his own up front if that was the formation PT wanted. He is one of the best we have in the air and adds something when we dont have the ball. Without the ball we basically play with 10 if Bayo plays. We stopped giving Weston the ball with 30 mins to go because we went two up front. Brackley all dropped back which meant our midfield was outnumbered and they doubled up on him. More often than not his touch let him down anyway. We passed it about better than i have seen for a long time but there is little imagination in these passes. I fully expect us do to a job against Oldham on Sat and all this will be forgotten. Fair play to Brackley, last nights game shouldn't have even been played but im glad it did for them and us. They get all the media attention and the tv money, we all realise there is an awful lot more work to be done if we want to remain in league 1. Wouldn't rule out another loan signing in the next two days.
I`m really disappointed,and hurt about going out last night.I thought we got out of jail in the first game as Brackley fully deserved to win.I was more confident last night that we would do enough to get through,but like the first game we started nervously which gave Brackley the chance to go at us.They had been at work all day this time,and they came at us really quick again.We gave the ball away early on sloppily,and we nearly conceded a comedy goal when Legge headed back to Nelson,but Nelson already came off his line and had to quickly run back and stop it going in.We did have a good spell before half-time and we had an unfair goal from Dack ruled out,when he looked just onside.If the goal had counted I think we would have gained the confidence and got the win.We started the second half at 100mph Martin hit the post with a great strike that beat the keeper.Weston who had a good game as he should against Conference North players,beat their right back a number of times and put in dangerous crosses.Whelpdale looked like he would certainly score,but his shot was more of a chip when he should have smashed the ball.It was a good period from us,and I said that we need to score in this spell as it wont last all game.It went quiet for a while,but we did have a great chance to score but their keeper made a good save.Then Lee had a header that looked in,but it was some how cleared away.Whelpdale hit the post late on,but that was it we were out. Congratulations to Brackley whe played brilliantly in both games,I hope they go on and beat Macclesfield and get a big Cup draw.But it is embarrassing to not beat a Conference North side over two games,especially when their players had been at work all day.We didn`t have the luck,but we still could not score more than one goal in two games against them.I always want a non league Team in the FA Cup,but I hope not for a few years as it hurts too much when you lose.Thank god I am in London on the 7th December when the second round games take place,as we will have a free week that week.
No free week now...our away game v Notts County has been moved from a Tues in Jan to 7th Dec as they are out the cup too. Should mean we take a better crowd up there COYG
Well I've been thinking of what can be said after getting beaten on TV by a non-league team. I'll start by saying well done Brackley and hope you get to round 3 and a big payday. I didn't think on the whole we played that badly, 61% possession and over 20 shots are the best stats this season, Dack having a perfectly good goal disallowed and Nelson getting caught out by a deflection and 2 shots hitting the woodwork. Charlie Lee, Chris Whelpdale, Adebayo, all among the highest earners in the team but have they shown the highest skill and desire to go with their inflated salaries. The biggest disappointment for me is the loss of the earning potential of a cup run, whilst other league 1 rivals can invest their prize money in new players/loan signings we are left to rue missed opportunities and hope that others financial windfall won't damage our survival hopes.