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Had a right laugh yesterday. Terrible ground, terrible pitch and couldn't see a thing for the whole first half. Regardless the yellow army were in great voice. The fact that we bring 300 away to an FAT match against a completely unknown opposition 4 hours away says that perhaps all is not doom and gloom for our club. Fans were great, loved the chants for Jimmy Aggrey and Michael Brough.

The boys got the job done yesterday, it would have an easy game to lose. Hemel weren't half bad, light years ahead of Stortford. Ajala was bright, Bowman deserved a few more. He is always a threat when he is slipped through with the ball on the ground, something Young should be able to do for him if he wasn't so worried about his defensive duties all the time. Like McQuilkin at RB, not entirely sure why he didn't start there. Rice and Downes were superb, I think Martin deserves a proper recall now he's had some time out to sort his confidence out.

Richards and Harding were both very poor yesterday. We really could do with some more quality in the centre.

Still, it keeps our season alive and a welcome boost to our finances. Que sara, sara.

My Dad and I came down for this one and neither of us were particularly optimistic.

Vauxhall Road won't make anyone's top ten of away stadia, but I guess it serves its purpose for them, the Portaloo facilities were a highlight as was the Fire Exit UPVC door, but then I guess it's visiting these stadiums that draws such numbers of away fans, I've read there were 200 of us which would more or less fit into my estimate, this was the most cramped I've been on away game for a long time and credit to the number of fans who travelled up and made a good atmosphere. There was more sand on the pitch than at Skegness and the HHT right back definitely knew the lay of the land as he always booted it to the same patch of the pitch were it bounced once and then stuck to the mud.

Onto the game, in the car on the way down I said to my Dad that I think MacDonald should be rested as he's only just come back and we're going to need him a lot in the coming weeks so I was surprised to see him start and CH put Pearce at right back. After he succumbed to injury I briefly thought the management were going to put Richards at centre back which would have been disastrous and in the end with McQuilkin coming to right back we saw how versatile this player is - sign him up on a 18 month contract! The first half was a non event and I would imagine a vast number of the away supporters still have sun spots in their eyes, it can't have made for pleasant playing conditions attacking into the winter sun but there was something missing in midfield which meant many potentially potent moves fizzed out.

Skipping over the penalty (I couldn't see the foul it was blocked by the sun and too far away) and moving on to the second half we shored up a bit but our energy levels certainly dropped whereas as Hemel kept running and running, their number 8 must be a marathon runner he was everywhere and he was a tidy player too. Ajala is fast becoming one of our best players always with the tackles and good going forward, I've heard talk of a bust up between Ajala and Bowman and there were signs that both players didn't really want to pass to each other this is something that CH must sort out. Our goal came from an Aaron Downes goal, the goals which we will miss if anyone does come in for him. We conceded far too many corners - I'm not sure if this reflects poorly on our defence kicking it out rather than trying to pass it out, or whether this reflects the attacking prowess of HHT. I'd be inclined for the later, they certainly deserved a point from us at least.

Rice 8/10 - a couple of decent saves in the first half, a double save in the second half which from the away end looked really good, noticeable that he's coming off his line more and a valuable clean sheet. Something to build on!
Ives 8/10 - Matured in the second half, this was the first time I'd seen him play and I was quietly impressed with him, in the first half he constantly tapped it out or hoofed it up pitch, second half he was finding Ajala, Bowman and Briscoe with his passing. One for the future, if he stays.
Downes 7/10 - Captain for the day with a goal which settled the match, did well in handling their number 8 and 9, there was a couple of times when he was given the slip and Rice did enough to put the opposition off.
Pearce 7/10 - Didn't really see pearce do much but he handled their tall guys well and a clean sheet is a clean sheet.
MacDonald - Unfair to give him a score out of ten as he hadn't had much opportunity to do anything, he's a battler though and clearly wanted to play on - fair play, but we need you fit. If anything I'm disappointed CH didn't take him off immediately, slightly irresponsible when everyone could hear MacD shout in frustration when he first when down.
McQuilkin 7/10 - Didn't see much of him in midfield but he's handy with a pass and calm on the ball which is something we need. He did well at right back and wouldn't be a bad replacement for Berry. I like him and think he can offer us something.
Harding 5/10 - Did absolutely nothing, anonymous.
Richards 5/10 - as above except for one shot where he should've done better.
Chappel 7/10 - why Cameron was playing ahead of this guy in the league I do not understand, quick, good delivery into the (often empty) box and skilled on the ball, probed their defence and played well, from what I've seen and heard of him this year he's relishing his 1st team chances. Good lad.
Briscoe 7/10 - Not sure where he was meant to be playing but sort of floated all over the place, though he's a big lad he can do some serious running if he thinks there's a decent chance at the end of it. Needs to work on link up play with Bowman and Ajala. Had a few chances but tried to do a lot on his own.
Ajala 8/10 and MOTM for me. Ran his socks off, always with a tackle, looked for the pass, made the runs but unfortunately didn't have much opportunity to shoot. I like him and think with a bit more schooling could turn into our best player and one of our most saleable assets.
Bowman 7/10. I've never really liked Bowman but if he wears a yellow shirt then I'll support him. Made lots of runs and got into good shooting positions, I found him very frustrating shooting on at least 2 occasions where there was no chance he was going to score so thin was the margin, especially when Briscoe or Ajala was steaming in at the far post. Bowman, Ajala, Briscoe need to go out get pissed and become best buddies and battle for each other on the pitch. With those three on the same wave length we could score many, many goals.
O'Achie Came on did nothing.

One note on subs, why oh why would you get Ash Yeoman to strip off and do sprints and get ready to replace Bowman/Briscoe only to make him sit back down and then replace Briscoe with O'Achie. I fear we may lose Yeoman when I think he has a lot of potential. He looked totally void of motivation sat on the bench head resting on knuckle. I feel for him because he could have offered us something different in the dying stages.

Into the next round then with my fingers crossed for North Ferriby away. COYY!

Kit_robin wrote:Getting fed up with the criticism Bowman gets. Seeing as the complete dross he normally gets from most of our midfield, and having to play upfront with people who look like they've never played there before, he still manages to score 13 goals so far this season. People forget he's 23, too. At any other club he would probably be the young striker alongside an experienced one, not one of the senior players in the whole side. His movement is light years ahead of any other forward we have, and we would be a much poorer side without him.

Bowman is a frustrating player to have in the team, and I can understand why some people are being critical.

He is the most natural striker at the club, he makes good runs and gets into positions to score goals. His finishing can be poor and he has missed lots of opportunities this season. Early on in the season when we were doing well and still winning, it went a bit unnoticed. Unfortunately now that we are no longer doing so well and other players are not chipping in it's being picked up on. He does need better service from the midfield and somebody else to score some goals to take all the pressure off.

On the positive side though I would rather have a player that keeps getting into the positions even if he does miss the chance.

Mattpuma wrote:If we win our quarter final we wont have a home Saturday League fixture until March 7th against Telford. Our last one was against Barnet on Dec 6th That will be 3 months without a Saturday home League fixture!

Without any revenue coming in from the Home gates, I guess Thea will be dipping deeper into her pockets?

Kev, we play Lincoln at home on a tuesday night too, but yes there will be a shortfall

Thanks for the reminder!

leetufc wrote: Bowman is a frustrating player to have in the team, and I can understand why some people are being critical.

He is the most natural striker at the club, he makes good runs and gets into positions to score goals. His finishing can be poor and he has missed lots of opportunities this season. Early on in the season when we were doing well and still winning, it went a bit unnoticed. Unfortunately now that we are no longer doing so well and other players are not chipping in it's being picked up on. He does need better service from the midfield and somebody else to score some goals to take all the pressure off.

On the positive side though I would rather have a player that keeps getting into the positions even if he does miss the chance.

He could get into a lot more good positions if he learned not to be offside so much as well.

I wouldn't mind if Bowman was a 20-a-season striker getting 20-a-season chances, but he isn't. He's getting enough chances (good chances, sometimes unmissable, not speculative 40 yarders) to score 60 a season, but insists on **** up the vast majority without any good excuse. To borrow from tennis, his 'unforced errors' column is a joke. A Midson or Constable or Akinfenwa or Tubbs would have had 5 yesterday given identical circumstances.
I went to watch the Ladies today. Goughy scored 7 from 10 chances, so you forgive her missing the 3. Bowman would have had, at best, 2, so his missing of the other 8 would have represented a problem. As to being 23, that's hardly an excuse. If he was 17, I'd give him his due, but at 23, he's in his 5th season as a pro and he's been wholly consumed by football for a decade or more. If he doesn't know how to stick it in the onion bag by now, he never will. He needs to convert more of the chances he gets. 1-on-1 from a tight angle, he needs to lift the ball to find the near post. 3 inches out with literally no one to beat, well, he needs do nothing more than fart the ball over the line. Cutting in from the wing having beaten a man, he needs to shoot low and hard, rather than endlessly forcing himself wider and wider for no apparent reason (I'll accept that this is, and probably always will be, a disease caused by wearing a Torquay United shirt). This is the sort of thing that people learn from watching the likes of Messi and copying him next time they play.
I don't want to hear any "it's not that easy" bollocks either. It IS that easy when you're (allegedly) a professional. Ask a professional chef to knock up a nice steak, they can manage it. Ask a professional cabbie to get you from Vauxhall Cross to London Bridge, they can manage it. Ask a professional pilot to land a 747 in a mild crosswind, they can manage it. Ask a professional striker to be able to lift a ball slightly off the ground when he strikes it towards goal... Does that sound insurmountable?

Bowman has the potential to be a really good player. There's no real reason why he shouldn't be a resounding success. He massive, strong, has good touch, he's decent enough with both feet and in the air and seems to find pockets of space all over the place. What he needs now is to add reliability to his game and he's away. You look at Akinde and tell me he's really any different from Bowman in any way other than his reliable and accurate finishing.

I quite liked HHT's ground. The stand was sufficiently steeply banked, solidly constructed and had a roof, three things missing from at least one Football League away end I'm sure we can all name. On that note, has anyone ever stood in our away end? I never have and wondered what it's like.

Matt.

People should really leave off Bowman. The guy has scored 3 times as many goals than any of last years strikers. Centre forward play is not just about goals and he looks the part to me. Ok he is not at Rene Howe level yet but he hasnt hit his peak yet and is still learning. He needs a solid reliable partner up front but this season has had a different one every other game.
Maybe a prolonged run with Briscoe alongside him and we could have a quality attack.
To compare him with someone scoring 7 goals at an amateur level is pointless. A guy scored 9 against my 7 a side team last week, it doesnt mean he could lead the line for TUFC.

When does the draw take place for the next round?

bringbackthecowshed wrote:When does the draw take place for the next round?

Lunch-time today.

Just a home game please!!

Preferably bath City might bring a few fans!

Matt said:

I went to watch the Ladies today. Goughy scored 7 from 10 chances, so you forgive her missing the 3. Bowman would have had, at best, 2, so his missing of the other 8 would have represented a problem.

sign her up, sign her up, sign her up!!!