[ Mon 2nd Jan ] v Bedworth Utd, KO 3pm NPL1S AWAY

[Trek]

Interesting you should mention that. I was trying to recall where I had heard his name before. But certainly did not connect him with the former club.
I was only on RD in second half and too much was going on to be overly concerned about him.

I'll let you off, I bet Paul Judd would have known. Not to be confused with Marc Albrighton who plays for Leicester City.

[Formic]

Delighted to get the three points, particularly in those circumstances against a team who were doing their best to spoil things. I don't think that anyone can honestly sit here and say that we deserved all 3 points on balance and but for a rush of blood from their player we probably wouldn't have got them, but it's nice to continue grinding wins out away from home and the boys showed great character.

11 v 11 we struggled again to create opportunities - a feature of our season. The introduction of Lorraine and Curtis definitely helped in that repect, as did the red card, but we're sorely lacking some genuine width. Thought it was a poor call not to put Winters straight back in too but thankfully that was rectified at HT.

I'd agree with that assessment. I don't know if Kyal McNulty was carrying a knock into the game, but he seemed to struggle throughout the first half, and bringing Rory on and moving Brad to full back certainly improved things in the second half. The character of the team on the road is really impressive, given how many times we've come from behind or scored late goals. I was also pleased we didn't choose to start a major bust-up after the challenge on Brad, letting the ref sort things out rather than distracting him by forcing him to sort out a melee which might have resulted in further red cards.

Clearly the ref was far too picky for his own good, but to his credit he didn't bottle the two major decisions in the game - the red card and then only showing Joe Curtis a yellow card for a challenge that other refs would have seen as a chance to "even things up".

It's always good to beat a team that does adopt such spoiling tactics - something they were doing throughout the game, even if it got considerably worse after the red card.

It might turn out to be a blessing we don't have a game on Saturday, as both Nabil and Fazel were struggling at the end of the game - after Nabil started to struggle as well I thought we might settle for a draw, but fortunately we didn't.

[Brownie]

Not sure the Ref wanted to make the decision he did regarding the sending off, we stood right next to the lino when he spoke to him and he looked like he was looking for a way out, good on the lino though, he was in no doubt and made it very clear. The time wasting was some of the worst seen for a long time and was not acted on by the clown in black other than on numerous occasions, holding the game up and running have the length of the pitch to have yet another word with his mate Josh the keeper or his best mate Mark, who even got away with kicking the ball away half the length of the ground, though given he was on a yellow, another one could have resulted in an awkward car journey home for them both. Given that almost every challenge the No 9 made could have been seen as a foul by many officials I was amazed the way the Bedworth supporters turned on the Ref after the final whistle, apparently it was his fault they lost. We won the game about the time the 1st players should have been getting in the shower, as we mentioned to their keeper, it was in Josh time and it was all his fault. A hard earned 3 points deserved if for no other reasons than we battled when it wasn't going well, sorted it out to a degree at half time and kept going until the Non League Mike Dean blew the final whistle.

[sussexdiamond]

Why was Richard Bunting replaced? Was it tactical, was he carrying an injury or was he getting close to a red from the finickity ref for his constant backchat?

[Pete]

To try to give another view, I thought the referee had a fine game. The amount of abuse these guys get from players, ours very much included, is regularly embarrassing so it's pretty harsh to call him picky for sticking to rules.

Also, how a single goal can change opinions on games! It was as if Diamonds were trying to prove the phrase "it's harder to play against ten men" and I can't have been alone in thinking that the long-ball game against solid defenders when you're a man up was utterly insane. I imagine some negative comments may have been on here had it stayed that way. But that goal trickled in and the unbeaten run continues.

I was standing near the tunnel in the opening moments of the second half, chatting to a steward. After the red card this guy gave Harris a bit of stick for appearing to be fine. Our management turned round and asked if he was a steward. "No". "Oh, you just turned up in that luminous yellow coat then?"... haha.

One final thing - does anyone know what the best XI is? What the best formation is? We're half way through the season and I'm not sure I know.

[Trek]

One final thing - does anyone know what the best XI is? What the best formation is? We're half way through the season and I'm not sure I know.

Certainly our best XI, in my opinion, would include both Ashton and Oulton for a start and, as we know, both have been unavailable through injury for some time. As Andy points out many times in his post-match interviews it's a squad game and every one will be needed. He's also said 4-4-2 is his preferred formation but 4-3-3 is used from time to time as a match up against opponents and it's certainly working away from home but, clearly, less successful at the Dog & Duck. After 21 games we are in a great position to make the playoffs.
I think everyone connected with the club would have settled for this position prior to our first match at Newcastle.

[mikerd]

Hello, always a 90th minute is the best, (by some way)

A never die attitude, keep us in the play offs.

[Olly]

One final thing - does anyone know what the best XI is? What the best formation is? We're half way through the season and I'm not sure I know.

Certainly our best XI, in my opinion, would include both Ashton and Oulton for a start and, as we know, both have been unavailable through injury for some time. As Andy points out many times in his post-match interviews it's a squad game and every one will be needed. He's also said 4-4-2 is his preferred formation but 4-3-3 is used from time to time as a match up against opponents and it's certainly working away from home but, clearly, less successful at the Dog & Duck. After 21 games we are in a great position to make the playoffs.
I think everyone connected with the club would have settled for this position prior to our first match at Newcastle.

And certainly after that loss to Chasetown, in August/September I thought we'd be a mid-table side if I'm brutally honest. We may not be playing particularly well and have dropped a lot of points at home we should have got, but to be unbeaten since August, have a decent spot in the top 5 and be just 7 points off the top at this stage of the season is a great position to be in and I'm sure we'd all be delighted to make the playoffs again this year in a new, tougher league. Just hope we have both Ashton and Oulton back in the side for the important months of the season, they could be crucial.

[BartonRaz]

And certainly after that loss to Chasetown, in August/September I thought we'd be a mid-table side if I'm brutally honest. We may not be playing particularly well and have dropped a lot of points at home we should have got, but to be unbeaten since August, have a decent spot in the top 5 and be just 7 points off the top at this stage of the season is a great position to be in and I'm sure we'd all be delighted to make the playoffs again this year in a new, tougher league. Just hope we have both Ashton and Oulton back in the side for the important months of the season, they could be crucial.

Agree with this. Honestly, in the 21 games we've played so far I think we've actually played well on 9 occasions and in some of those matches really it's only been one half of the team that's been functioning properly. For example away at Stocksbridge we defended poorly but our attack bailed us out (without Heath we'd have lost comfortably). Away at Lincoln last month it was the reverse, we were outstanding defensively but created next to nothing. Having said that, i'm delighted with the position we're in. As you say, crucial to be in or around this position by the time Oulton and Ashton return, I just hope Oulton is the same player as before.

[MarkH]