Was Fish telling the Rainham End to sssshh when he scored. How to win friends and influence people or what !! Phaps he thought he was still playing for Dover .. Perhaps he knows he will be next year.
Wow things certainly went our way this weekend, 4 points off the playoffs now... to quote Fergie "It is squeaky bum time"
I thought Kelvin Jack was number 1 keeper looks that he must have done well as he was playing for Kettering today, just looked at their result see Jack in goal looked down and it is Kelvin LOL>
A good win today with other results certainly going our way. However, sadly after this win I felt we are just papering over the cracks. I just felt a much stronger side would have exploited our weaknesses, need I mention Crewe and Crawley again. Anything can happen, do I believe it will, sadly no but I remain living in hope. In regards to player selections, I have posted my thoughts many times and despite today's win nothing changes. The team today would not have been my selection. So to the positives, well done to Whelpdale just edged MOM for me, although given to hard working Keds, sorry I do not believe this guy is a goal scorer, unless from the spot. Vine in his short showing impressed me. Best description I can think of is a Keds mould but with possibly that missing power punch, want to see more of him to better judge. I came away with one thought though and that is I want to see a Keds & Vine start up front, something feels right about it.
I think when Tomlin comes back that would be a good 3 with Vine infront of Keds and Tomlin by the side of him, however why did Hess drop Obita, he has been great for us, I know Fish got the goal but I was still unhappy not to see Evans in the team that means that Fish will play next game aswell, also King on the bench is annoying.
Vine is a loan player...He looked ok today but I would rather have seen Miller come on .....How are we going to build a TEAM unless players play together regularly. This constant shuffling has been one of our main problems this season. If were honest we struggled a bit in the first half today and no disrespect meant but Macclesfield are heading for the conference. It was good to get three points today and you can only beat whats put in front of you but were not good enough this season simples innit
Hoadie - as I said earlier, despite the win I was not happy with the team selection and in tougher games we WILL be punished. I have no idea why Hessy dropped Obita. As for Tomlin, I said it before, try him on the left wing, not three up front, however, that will affect Obita. As the players come back there will be some jostling for places. Born Again - I like Miller and would include him in my squad but the Macclesfield players would have done to him what they did to Kuffour. Them opposing lads are just to big for our dwarfs (meant in the politest of terms) when playing hoof ball. As the lads become fit, I think Miller will sadly be edged out but he still has his time to come in the future.
I would like to see Miller, Evans, Essam and Gazza all the time. With Tomlin and Charlie Lee available I would go for this. Gazza Evans Essam King Jackman Whelpdale Payne C.Lee Tomlin Kedwell Miller/Vine Subs Hawkes Davies Spiller (If we were to go for 4-4-2 I would have him in the team) Obita/Martin Kuffour (I think personally he should only be on the bench, he don't even score, he has been a bad signing, however when he was on loan he was great, amazing how a player can change so much) I would not have players such as Frampton, Montrose or Fish in the team at all, I know Montrose scores a few but he is a liability, also the same goes for Fish and Frampton, they are players to make up the numbers and when players come back from injury they should not be in the team so I don't see why any of them are in the team. I think Martin may be worth a place on the bench however. I think we should try and get rid of Fish, Montrose and Frampton but I doubt it will happen, I can't see any other teams coming in for them.
Yeah I can't see why he dropped Obita as by the look of him he is one of the hardest workers, he is one of the last players I would drop and he has shown why he from a higher level as at his age he is already one of the best in our league and he will have a great future.
Defo agree with brb about seeing vine and keds start up front next week. I thought he looked very good when he came on today. With regards to the match as a whole, I think we were poor, and almost any other side in the division would have given us a doing over, particularly in the first half. Second half picked up, but still not good enough. Macclesfield must have had about 10 free headers throughout the match in the area, and we can thank only their poor finishing and one superb save from Gazza that they didn't score. We were lucky that they were so poor today! Bonus though was that the second goals was very very well worked. If only we could put together moves like that throughout the 90! Also, despite his goal, I thought Fish was dreadful!! Why isn't Evans playing?
I was also pretty impressed with Vine today, some tidy footwork, passing and one powerful shot which I think our front line is lacking at the moment. It was also interesting to see how Kedwell's hold up play linked in well with Vine. I'm just hoping to find out how long it'll take Vine to get fully fit. Well it's certainly food for thought.
Who thinks we can now make the play offs, I am not sure still as I think that winning is good however you have to look at the opposition we were playing they are a poor side.
We would have been taken to the cleaners on the first half alone, however whilst only judging the second half we would at least be competitive against the standard of our rivals. Sure Macc were poor but the confidence gained through the victory could prove a deciding factor in upcoming games.
Got to agree that Kedwell and Vine seemed to fit together nicely. They seemed to have a really good understanding but as said before Vine is only a loan player and the season will be over before he reaches full sharpness.
Overall it was a competant performance against a very tall but very limited Macclesfield. It was only a matter of time before we would score in the 2nd half. Agree that any half decent team would have probably punished us especially in the 1st half. As for Mr Fish.. for all his pace and effort, was poor in the 1st half. Played better in 2nd half. And for once Hessenthaller called it right with the subs... Kuffs was getting bumped and barged out of the match (despite a great chance early in the 2nd half). Vine showed that despite his lack of fitness, he is a class act for league 2. Plus he had the height and physique to match the Macc defence. 1 win down.. Just 5 more to go then... still not totally convinced though..
Kuffour is not the player he was while he was on loan I wish Hessenthaler would drop him and play Vine or Miller, hopefully Tomlin will be back soon, he is so vital for us.
We were poor in the first half but got better in the second half when we played more football, I thought Fish did quite well, he made a superb goal saving tackle in the first half got up the line to support the attackers all game, something our fullbacks have been guilty of not doing all season, scored a good goal and though his final ball was not always great hence the fact he is playing for us and not Barcelona,he did well, i`m glad he gave some of the idiots in the crowd who have had a go at him all season the shhh sign, some fans think they can abuse players to their hearts content and then throw their toys out of the pram when the player has a little go back , well done Matt, we need to get Tomlin and C Lee back in the team and if Vine, who did look quality, can get fit we still have a chance of getting in the playoffs, cmon u Gills!
My thoughts on the game for anyone interested in a read...http://www.gillingham.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=278083
