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My toes are still warming up as I was exposed to a lot of draughts due to the gaps in tonight's crowd.

Well, we were a Jekyll and Hyde team tonight either looking awful at the back or quite sharp at the front. The first half was relatively even with us playing with the increasing wind behind our backs and Josh Rees put us into the lead with an opportunist goal when he drove the ball under their keeper and into the net after it fortuitously arrived at his feet on the edge of the box. We looked quite comfortable after the goal but the half time team talks must have been dramatically different as we were under the cosh for first part of the second half. The equaliser appeared to be as a result of sloppy defending when we could have cleared the ball. Then we got lucky as Butler made room way out on the left for a cross cum shot despite the attention of two defenders. The ball was well hit and their keeper watched it sail over his head into the far corner of the goal (rewind Cheltenham's goal recent against us).

We couldn't shut up shop though and went onto the back foot again letting them go 3 -2 up (the second seemed to ping around in our box and they got a lucky cannon). I thought that was it with about 10 mins left but credit to the team, they didn't give up and after good work by Wright (again on the left) Iffy Allen put one into the bottom right corner from the edge of the area. We then had a good chance to win it but some last ditch tackles saw that attack peter out.

Negatives were the lack of atmosphere and the second half defending when we resorted to hoof ball and only succeeded in getting them back in our faces for long periods. Positives were good home debuts from Allen and Rees. Allen looks very raw and was caught offside too many times but he does have pace. Rees looked comfortable on the ball and, in the main, his distribution was good. They both took their goals well when given the chance.

Events elsewhere now mean that the only way (hopefully) is up.

They say things have to get worse before they get better. We have now hit rock bottom so it can't get any worse - for this season, at least. This is THE lowest the club has ever been since being admitted to the Football League. A sad, sad night. Also, a draw tonight was the very last thing we wanted. With postponements and now a replay to face, we will be playing two games every week for the rest of the season - maybe even three games some weeks.

Went to the game tonight, some positives, Iffy Allen looks a good addition, real pace, caused havoc in the Macclesfield defence, as said above took his goal well, but personally irritating how many times he was caught offside, basic stuff that, Rees look comfortable as said above and took his goal well, Racchi nothing spectacular from him, apart from two very good long passes, but looks like he'll bring some much needed experience and calmness into the middle.

I've been accused of having some personal vendetta against Lavercombe, which is not, and has never been the case, I only ever try to be honest in what I see, and with my opinions, tonight Dan worried me, I must congratulate Dan on two blinding saves, but his all round performance tonight was poor, and proved once again the mistake of not going for an experienced keeper, none of this is of course is the fault of Dan Lavercombe.

I'm not blaming him for the draw, or directly for any of the 3 goals he conceded, he's clearly been coached to come out and punch, but some of his punching was appalling, even managed to miss one punch altogether, his clearances terrible, Macc could and should have scored from two of them, and hesitant, a lot of this down to in-experience which in our position is not what we need right now.

We all know our back line is fragile, but tonight 2 of Macclesfield's goals had more than a hint of good fortune about, which no manager or team can legislate for, a wicked deflection on the second, and another deflection for the third, that put the ball perfectly in the path of the Macc forward who couldn't miss.

With a few players unavailable tonight cup-tied could have made the difference, tonight proved once again Nicho's days as a player are over, Macc no 11 just went 1v 1 against him, pushed the ball past a ran, Nicho left for dead every time, Ajala/Butler on the left hand side is must, and more composure need playing the ball out from the back, to many over hit long passes.

The league table doesn't lie, our position is desperate, but we stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and concentrate on our games, win 50 % of remaining games and stay up, sounds easy when you say it.

That was a weird, weird game.

I know not how we scored three nor how we didn't score seven. In truth, if we'd have scored with our best chances and missed the ones we actually scored, it would have made much more sense.

Heartening to have played badly against a decent enough side and secured a draw (which had a whiff of fortune about it on both sides, as things played out).

We'll need to be much better to stand any chance of staying up, but tonight's issues were of a lack of time together, rather than a lack of talent.

Matt.

IMO this was the worst result we could have wished for, why on earth did we go for the equaliser!

I guess that there was no instruction to go out with a "sh*t or burst" attitude to the game.


I've got the chant in my head this morning, I hope Im not singing it for the rest of the season!

"Say...... we are bottom of the league! .... Say we are bottom of the league!"

[quote="forevertufc"]Went to the game tonight, some positives, Iffy Allen looks a good addition, real pace, caused havoc in the Macclesfield defence, as said above took his goal well, but personally irritating how many times he was caught offside, basic stuff that, Rees look comfortable as said above and took his goal well, Racchi nothing spectacular from him, apart from two very good long passes, but looks like he'll bring some much needed experience and calmness into the middle.

I've been accused of having some personal vendetta against Lavercombe, which is not, and has never been the case, I only ever try to be honest in what I see, and with my opinions, tonight Dan worried me, I must congratulate Dan on two blinding saves, but his all round performance tonight was poor, and proved once again the mistake of not going for an experienced keeper, none of this is of course is the fault of Dan Lavercombe.

I'm not blaming him for the draw, or directly for any of the 3 goals he conceded, he's clearly been coached to come out and punch, but some of his punching was appalling, even managed to miss one punch altogether, his clearances terrible, Macc could and should have scored from two of them, and hesitant, a lot of this down to in-experience which in our position is not what we need right now.


I afraid everyone realises KN days as as a player were over a longtime ago, apart from one individual I'm afraid.

I hope the expression 'CLEAR YOUR LINES' was used in training this morning. Time after time the defence messed around with it and that's where the 3 goals came from. Who organises that defence I would like to know because it's certainly not our captain.

Atleast we're still in in the competition.

[quote="forevertufc"]Went to the game tonight, some positives, Iffy Allen looks a good addition, real pace, caused havoc in the Macclesfield defence, as said above took his goal well, but personally irritating how many times he was caught offside, basic stuff that, Rees look comfortable as said above and took his goal well, Racchi nothing spectacular from him, apart from two very good long passes, but looks like he'll bring some much needed experience and calmness into the middle.

I've been accused of having some personal vendetta against Lavercombe, which is not, and has never been the case, I only ever try to be honest in what I see, and with my opinions, tonight Dan worried me, I must congratulate Dan on two blinding saves, but his all round performance tonight was poor, and proved once again the mistake of not going for an experienced keeper, none of this is of course is the fault of Dan Lavercombe.

I'm not blaming him for the draw, or directly for any of the 3 goals he conceded, he's clearly been coached to come out and punch, but some of his punching was appalling, even managed to miss one punch altogether, his clearances terrible, Macc could and should have scored from two of them, and hesitant, a lot of this down to in-experience which in our position is not what we need right now.

We all know our back line is fragile, but tonight 2 of Macclesfield's goals had more than a hint of good fortune about, which no manager or team can legislate for, a wicked deflection on the second, and another deflection for the third, that put the ball perfectly in the path of the Macc forward who couldn't miss.

With a few players unavailable tonight cup-tied could have made the difference, tonight proved once again Nicho's days as a player are over, Macc no 11 just went 1v 1 against him, pushed the ball past a ran, Nicho left for dead every time, Ajala/Butler on the left hand side is must, and more composure need playing the ball out from the back, to many over hit long passes.

The league table doesn't lie, our position is desperate, but we stop worrying about what everyone else is doing and concentrate on our games, win 50 % of remaining games and stay up, sounds easy when you say it.[/quote

The conditions were bad the wind was all over the place cut Dan some slack he did okay but missed one cross and yes he did punch and in the conditions it may have been justified.

It was a poor performance but entertaining as at last we have scored a few goals. The pass back where he kicked it high was hit to hard and Dan caught it as it came up off the pitch it was obvious the ball was going to rise. Difficult conditions that why there were so many mistakes during the evening.

HIGHLIGHTS

arcadia wrote:The conditions were bad the wind was all over the place cut Dan some slack he did okay but missed one cross and yes he did punch and in the conditions it may have been justified.

It was a poor performance but entertaining as at last we have scored a few goals. The pass back where he kicked it high was hit to hard and Dan caught it as it came up off the pitch it was obvious the ball was going to rise. Difficult conditions that why there were so many mistakes during the evening.

I don't feel the need here to cut Lavercombe any slack at all. If you read back through my post, everyone can clearly see I congratulated Dan for blinding saves, at no point did I blame him for any of the goals, but I'll be honest, I'll give praise when it's due, I'll pass criticism when it's due.

The wind didn't help anyone, but his all round performance was poor regardless of the wind, and I'm 100% certain Dan Lavercombe himself would not have been happy with some of his work during this game. Which is quality in a young player, a player with the ability to recognise he's not done so well, will learn quickly and develop.

Having people telling him, not to worry it's bit windy, he's brilliant all the time, like you do, when it's not the case, will not help the young lad one bit.

forevertufc wrote: I don't feel the need here to cut Lavercombe any slack at all. If you read back through my post, everyone can clearly see I congratulated Dan for blinding saves, at no point did I blame him for any of the goals, but I'll be honest, I'll give praise when it's due, I'll pass criticism when it's due.

The wind didn't help anyone, but his all round performance was poor regardless of the wind, and I'm 100% certain Dan Lavercombe himself would not have been happy with some of his work during this game. Which is quality in a young player, a player with the ability to recognise he's not done so well, will learn quickly and develop.

Having people telling him, not to worry it's bit windy, he's brilliant all the time, like you do, when it's not the case, will not help the young lad one bit.

Get facts right I do not say he's brilliant all the time these games are an experience for him but as a coach there is a right way to explain things and now he's got a coach with experience I expect he's had a chat with him. Confidence is a big factor when your young.

Some incredibly dirty goals in that game. Although the defending wasn't fantastic, certainly goals 2 and 3 for Macc would best be described as freakish (as would Butler's goal).

Pitch didn't look too shoddy though