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forevertufc wrote:Where do I start, positives none, that's not a clouded view, nor do I need to calm down. lets be honest here, the referee DID NOT COST US THE GAME, ok it was a clear foul on Bodin no doubt, but that happened on the edge of Northampton's penalty area, we had more than enough time to break up there attack, and get in a set position to defend the attack.

The problem the gap between O'Connor and Nicholson was wider than the Mersey tunnel, Sinclair was in between both had all the time and space to be found and score, ok , we may have lost concentration after what happened up the field and it was a mistake, learn from it, just a few minutes later Northampton attack again, this time the gap between O'Connor and Nicholson is wider than the ocean, Sinclair in between the lines again 0.2 and cheers easy . Come on, that's flipping schoolboy stuff that you would expect to see from a local U13 team, not good enough, Manse to be fair isn't a full back, never has been.

The problem part 2this wasn't a must win game agreed, but it was in the first instance a must not lose game, there was a lot riding on it, a massive chance for us to climb out of the bottom 2, and pretty much seal Northampton's fate. So what was wrong our team tonight? Seen more life in tramps vest, second to everything, slow, jogging around, lethargic, looked at times like they just couldn't be bothered, from the 85th minute right through the added 5 minutes they should have busting a gut, get numbers forward quickly, put some pressure on their keeper, who couldn't kick for toffee, just as well lose 1.3 trying get back into it, Poke had the ball in time added on, Lathrope and Labadie were just walking, not the only one's no urgency at all. If I can make the effort to get up after working all night, drive my daughter to the nearest Virgin shop in Exeter high street to get her Phone sorted out, drive back to newton Abbot get some shopping, go home walk the dogs, come back have a shower then drive straight to Torquay, all I want in return is to see my team, who I care about deeply about at least put some effort in, being honest what did I see less than NOTHING.

The fix this performance may turn out to be a one of under Greavsie and hopefully so, but there were things glaringly obvious tonight, a shopping list Mr Hargreaves, with a new left and right back on it, priority no 1 and realisation that Jordan Chapell carries the greatest attacking threat and needs to be playing.

Fair play to both Chapell and Hawley, who both came on and showed more in a short space of time than the rest of the team did in 90 minutes.

i bet your made up Dave.

im wondering (clutching at straws really) if it was also a bit to do with match fitness/practice....??

100% spot on Dave. I hope Chris keeps them in the dressing room until, at least, midnight.shocking performance. No one cared tonight. No urgency or enthusiasm. I put in more effort, after a day at work. Northampton are a poor, poor side and we are even worse. On tonight's evidence these are the two clubs who will be plying their trade in non-league football, next season,

I forgot to mention how ironic it is for Knill to win a match at Plainmoor

This all sounds very depressing. After Portsmouth I really felt we should win tonight.

I bet Downes is back on Sat as an ex Chesterfield player. O' Connor,Pearse Downes Nico or Cruise for me at the back.

At least Chris Hargreaves now knows how good Jordan Chappell is, a real matchwinner, as he proved at the Cobblers.

Football is a funny game and although Chesterfield are top I will not be surprised if we get at least a point.

Finally were would Rovers be without O'Toole.

why did you have to go brucie!

well that, was **** dreadful.

we are truly in trouble, I predicted a 2-1 loss, didn't think it would be that bad though . conference is looking stronger than league 2, uh oh!

ladies and gents at the game, how was manse at RB?

SuperNickyWroe wrote:ladies and gents at the game, how was manse at RB?

Crap. In answer to your other reply, a mate asked the same question on the way back to the car, he said, do you think us not playing Saturday, and Northampton who did play could have had anything to do with. My thoughts, personally, no, I don't think that would have had an effect, if we hadn't have played Portsmouth the week before maybe so.

Something wasn't right with our mentality tonight, maybe our players thought the game would be off, what ever they are professionals and should be able to mentally prepare right for games regardless of the circumstances.

SuperNickyWroe wrote:ladies and gents at the game, how was manse at RB?

Awful; had one good move in the second half & then lost the ball again. We seem to be playing well in one game & then not so well after. Wimbledon = good, lots of attack; Oxford = not extremely convincing; Pompey = good attack, then even better defence; Cobblers = disappointing. Just booked to go to Chesterfield where I'm now expecting us to get 3 points !

taxilady wrote: Awful; had one good move in the second half & then lost the ball again. We seem to be playing well in one game & then not so well after. Wimbledon = good, lots of attack; Oxford = not extremely convincing; Pompey = good attack, then even better defence; Cobblers = disappointing. Just booked to go to Chesterfield where I'm now expecting us to get 3 points !

forevertufc wrote: Crap. In answer to your other reply, a mate asked the same question on the way back to the car, he said, do you think us not playing Saturday, and Northampton who did play could have had anything to do with. My thoughts, personally, no, I don't think that would have had an effect, if we hadn't have played Portsmouth the week before maybe so.

Something wasn't right with our mentality tonight, maybe our players thought the game would be off, what ever they are professionals and should be able to mentally prepare right for games regardless of the circumstances.

dont tell scotty. =D

oh well dave just a thought re the fitness thing..................

Just got in and don't know what to say. Massively depressing. Ok we were not great but we gave Northampton the game with rank bad defending.
Typically after that though Sinclair and Connell never had a kick against Pearce and O'Connor. Connell was worse than useless and having taken his two goals well Sinclair didn't touch the ball after that.
In fact for all their new players Northampton were seriously bloody awful.
The ref - **** useless as usual. Bodin was clearly fouled for their first goal and the ref has left him rolling in agony whilst allowing Northampton to run the length of the pitch and score.
He has then compounded this by blowing his whistle and letting the trainer on everytime one of their players feigned injury.
Northampton must have wasted at least twenty five minutes - at one point their keeper was about to take a free kick on the edge of his penalty area. Ran back into his goal with the ref watching him and did bugger all.
Thought we deserved a point but basically gift goals and our home form means one thing - relegation.

SuperNickyWroe wrote:ladies and gents at the game, how was manse at RB?

Shit and some members of the crowd told him.

Tonight was totally abysmal and after 5 weeks without a game, less than 2000 turn up. Nobody cares anymore about the club. I travelled down from work in Stafford to watch tonight. I'm home now and tomorrow morning, I'll travel back up to Stafford for a 9am start. If only the players gave a shit, maybe a few more of us would.

Seriously questioning my interest in that shower this season and tonight is just another nail in the coffin. Tomorrow night I'm going to watch Stoke v Swansea. Never thought I'd be so keen to watch Stoke City but how times change.........

Well done to those there tonight. Sadly I feel we've been mugged off.

Exceptionally disappointing tonight. Northampton were fired up, were strong and aggressive, and got stuck into us right from the first whistle. We in comparison were laboured, struggled to get going, and had no answer to their forceful bombardment. They had clearly been told to rough us up, and we couldn't deal with it. Its part and parcel of football and you would expect the same of any club desperate for the points. Wind the home team up, wind the fans up, see the game out. Referee was poor, but not the reason why we lost, an early booking would have put paid to the hours of timewasting, but he was far too weak to do that.

We just can't get any momentum going at all, all the positivity after the Wimbledon and Portsmouth matches (plenty to go round) dissipated because of the postponements, we have had too longer periods of inaction after good victories and any continuity has fallen by the wayside.

Full credit to the ground-staff for all their tireless endeavours, I would not want this to be construed as a sleight against them at all, but I am pretty sure the decision to let the match go ahead was touch and go. It looked impossible to get any sort of fluent, incisive football going not to mention the unpredictable bounce of the ball. With that in mind you have to be able to play direct football properly. We can't. Neither Stockley (or Hawley latterly) won a single header and our long balls forward ranged from aimless to useless. To compensate, this resulted in large periods of frustrating sideways and diagonal passing which didn't lead anywhere. We struggle to create chances, our best normally created by the poor technique and decision making of a very dodgy goalkeeper.

Somehow we managed to get a goal on half time, you would expect this to have a massive downer on them, a catalyst for us, there should have been the Alamo in the second half, sadly I agree with others there was no real sense of urgency. Chapell the one flickering bright spark.

So a terrible performance and somehow we have let a desperately poor Northampton side get 3 points nearer to us and safety. You can certainly see why both teams are currently 91 and 92 in the Football League.

Yet, tonight was not really a disaster, we haven't dropped any places and due to the tightness of the league we are still not cut adrift. We have to hope that there are no psychological effects from losing to the only team statistically worse than us, that we can pick ourselves up and move onto the next one, at least we will have a massive point to prove.

Such a shame that Hargreaves' homecoming was such a damp squib, the honeymoon is over and he has hard decisions to make and a lot of work to do. Our home form is pathetic. With a pitch that isn't going to improve discernibly for the remainder of the season we have to formulate a plan where somehow we can pick points up at Plainmoor on a regular basis. Failure to do that will, in my opinion, be what might ultimately cost us.

Plenty of games to go, plenty of twists and turns to come, lots of bad teams in the league. Not worried yet, we just need some consistency. Already gearing up for Chesterfield, we can get a result there, stranger things have happened.

Lastly, big thanks to a certain forum member for the lift tonight, I will make sure to take your side next time you get into arguments with other forum users!