Disappointing to lose the goal at the end as we were the better team overall in terms of chances but we never got the second goal which always gives the opposition a chance. We have had a great run this season but the cracks in our team are starting to show and several teams have been able to work us out. We do not have the fitness levels at the moment to maintain the high press for all of the game and teams are pushing up on us in the second half. Consequently we are finding out that our defense is not quite as good as we thought it was and we have given away some really scruffy goals lately. I thought Abu and Shaun were our best players and Nathan also had his moments though we still needto fully integrate him into the team. I must admit I was a bit disappointed to read Hurst's comments about the crowd. Perhaps the numbers were a bit lower than expected but you cannot expect the atmosphere to be crackling in periods in the game when the team is under the cosh. Hurst has worked wonders with this group of players to get them as realistic promotion candidates. However, we must recognise that most of the other teams in this league (certainly those in the top half) have stronger squads than we have and that will always show more in the second half of the season. If this dip in our home form continues much longer it will cost us automatic promotion but to be in the play-offs will still be a great achievement. Hurst must also recognise that in general his team plays it tight and does not send massive numbers going forward and that also affects the atmosphere(that is not a criticism of the style of play by the way). As for the singing debate I would ask for a bit more tolerance between the different types of fans - we are from all age groups and different backgrounds and not everybody will be jumping up and down all game. It would be nice to have all the singing fans together in the South Stand (seated or standing) and that might also encourage some of them to spend less energy on foul-mouthed insults to the opposing fans and more on positive support for their team. All in all we are having a brilliant season - we have a team fighting with all they have to get promotion and to win a trophy at Wembley so lets all turn up in numbers to as many games as we can and lend our voices in support of a team we can be truly proud of.
I thought we should've deserved the three points, those sat around me thought a draw was fair. Their opinion was that Gillingham bossed the second half and shut us out. I quite liked Whalley being sat behind Morris and Payne and gave us a bit of potency there. However Nolan is the maestro in that area and he should oh we'd that at Charlton.
