Well I guess only going down by one goal was a saving grace. By my calculations we are joint bottom. Fleetwoods form has not been that brilliant and the league is a tight one, so a 3 game run could change things. But we do not look like winning end off We need to change something, Management or players or both, you would think that the talent we have in the players and the experience of the management, we should be OK. Or is there a players thing happening that they hope the Gaffer goes and Hessy takes charge again, it has been known. I among many could not face a season of agony watching us humiliate ourselves, with defeat after defeat, we are far better than that, UTG
Yes a loss and a total bummer. However, a look at the BBC stats show that for once, the possession was almost 50/50 as were the shots at 12/12 and we edged the attempts on target. It appears that we had a good go at them (although I await reports from those that were there) and were unlucky to come away with nothing. Our goal difference is not bad for a team in the bottom half and vastly superior to those around us. A few weeks we nearly won at Sheff Utd......which would have put us on the edge of the play off places.....but were undone by two goals in the last couple of minutes. That result, I personally believe, did more to undermine the confidence of the team than anything else (apart from the MK Dons match) this season. The team is better than its position shows, but the belief and confidence is not there yet. Moaning doesn't help anyone apart from the moaner...............if we were that bad we'd have a huge goal defecit. At present we have a position to build from, so let's try and keep the faith.
I only have the radio commentary to go by but we didn't sound that bad, not scoring seems to be habit forming and is costing us dear. There are 9 teams who have conceded more goals than us but only 2 teams have scored less.
It was disappointing, not the performance but the result. This was an occasion when they could and should have won. Fleetwood controlled the first quarter and pinched an early goal when Pritchard gifted Town the ball on the half way line and Bywater only half cleared the resultant cross so that Hancock was able to chip over him into an empty net. Then Gills took over and for half an hour either side of half time they played probably their best hour of the season. Loft and Doughty ran midfield and Martin and Hoyte flowed down the wings into open space. The trouble was they did not score despite the possession and did not look likely to. Kedwell had a quiet game. Most shots came from Loft. Middle of the second half and things just deflated as Kedwell and Loft trooped off. They may not be match fit but boy are they missed when they go absent. McGlashen had also come on and he was anonymous. Gills had a grandstand finish to try and pinch the point that they richly deserved but Town held out. Gills played three at the back with full backs free to roam so overall they were able to dominate midfield but they were pretty toothless at the front. the real problem seems now to be that they have got used to losing and it is a habit that needs to be fixed which is easier said than done when the team is doing most things right and seems well organised. Best performers in my book today were Loft and Doughty, closely followed by Martin and Haus who looked a class act.
PT did not sound a happy man on the post match interview and the reporter had to be very careful in his questioning....certainly indicates to me he is starting to feel the pressure.
Were we a the same match Bristol? I never felt we had a grip on the game at all, even in the stages where we remembered how to pass the ball, which was frustrating short, Fleetwood were still cutting through us at will. I thought the midfield was no existent for large parts, with only Loft really performing; I forgot Pritchard and Doughty were on the pitch during the most of the first half. Too many of our players were not at the races today; Legge and Cody especially. I think only Loft and Egan came away with any credit, the wingbacks were pretty much ignored as an attacking force. I don't feel we were unlucky today, we were never in control and lucky not to concede more; we may have had he same number of shot as Fleetwood but the quality of the shots were worlds apart. If this was the best football we have played all season relegation is certain this season. There is simply no silver lining here, something needs to change if we are to salvage this season
I was definitely at the same match as BSG but and see it slightly differently from the point of view of players performances, but not the overall picture. The Fleetwood goal actually came as a result of a corner that Bywater tried to punch over a crowd of defenders' heads from about 8 yards out. The ball went straight to Hitchcock who hit it straight back over everyone into the net - in fairness a great hit, but as Bywater had come so far out he was never going to get anywhere near it. Whilst Pritchard was largely anonymous I don't think any blame can be aimed at him for the goal. For a player quite rightly that has had a great deal of praise come his way since joining us on loan, Bywater had a shocking game. His distribution was consistently poor, and included a kick out straight to a Fleetwood player, but this time Bywater manager to recover to his 6 yard box to save the resulting shot. Playing 3 central defenders did help in making the defence tighter, although there was a lot of pointing and shouting going on in the first 10 minutes or so, so I don't know how long before the game that plan was hatched. What it did not help in was the effectiveness of the midfield to control the ball. As usual there were too many stray passes, too little movement and little or no progress going forwards for much of the game. Don't be fooled by the possession stats on this one, what would be more telling is the amount of possession in the opponents half, and our figure would be low. What was really depressing was watching a team that had 85+ minutes to get an equaliser play as if they were more set on not conceding any more goals. There were at least 3 occasions in the first half when defending Fleetwood corners that Gills had all 11 players inside the penalty area when the kick was taken. It wasn't totally doom and gloom. We definitely had the better of the game for the last 15-20 minutes of the first half, and for the middle part of the second half, but our lack of ability to cause serious problems to an opponents defence meant that the outcome was horribly predictable. What summed up the difference was Gillingham's last significant kick of the game. A corner that after a bit of ping pong in the area found the ball with Legge in more or less the same position that Hitchcock had scored from. With time to control the ball he just lashed it about 6 yards wide of the left post. At least the rain had stopped so we didn't get wet walking back to the car.
With good reason - league form since beating Peterborough - 7 games, 2 goals scored, 2 points won. That is poor in anyone's language.
Well itsim and BSG i am very sure I was at the match and I had the interesting experience of walking back into the town centre post match with a group of Fleetwood fans who reckoned that it had been the first home game where the opposition looked like the home side and this conclusion is supported by the match stats. on the other hand, rather than praise Gills they described the Fleetwood performance as s**t. Maybe they were right. On the question of fact the goal arose after Pritchard totally undermined a gills attacking move by giving the ball away when under no pressure. Legge managed a "do or die"tackle to give a corner which Bywater half punched to the edge of the area. Bywater had to go for it and failed to get weight on the punch. Pritchard was still apolgising to the defence as they walked back to kick off. There is no escaping the fact that Gills ran large portions of the game and Loft with Doughty were at the heart of the good things with Loft producing several shots but they were not threatening. i agree McDonald worked really hard but it produced poor outcomes and lethal goalscores are often uninvolved outside the opposition penalty area. On the Bywater/Nelson argument i am entirely neutral but i must say there seems to be a mood which finds fault with Bywater but is blind to some of Nelson's shortcomings. i reckon the healthiest thing is to just go with one and stick to it which is much more settling for the rest of the defence. It seems to be self evident that the absence of any alternative to Kedwell and Mcdonald is costing dear in terms of goals scored. The sight of Norris/Dickerson or German warming up deflates the expectations of supporters, I reckon the rest of the team feel exactly the same.
You should have said you were up, we could have put a face to a name. I am surprised by the shots stats, I can't really remember us giving the Fleetwood defence too much to worry about, yes there were a few shots on target but they seemed fairly weak. Possession was probably equal but our final ball was awful, how many crosses went sailing over the last player? As for the Fleetwood fans you met I feel that they were very astute in there quality of the game!!
