[ Tue 19th Sep ] v Alfreton Town, KO 7:45pm FAC2QR REPLAY HOME

[sussexdiamond]

Obviously very disappointed to lose but every player put in a full shift. We can hold our heads high and move on to winning some league matches, a really tough one next week v Dunstable but first lets get back to winning ways on Saturday v Arlesley.

We matched them in most areas and for long periods but as Barton Raz says they know how to use free kicks. Four of their 5 goals coming from free kicks although the first Saturday and the second tonight I thought were harsh on us.


What were tonights winning raffle numbers?

[corby diamond]

Think this is going to be the sort of match that we say a bad day at the office let's move on. We done extremely well both Saturday and tonight and for 75% of the 180 mins of football I think we done enough to progress, but it's the goals that count I suppose..

I believe if it had been 2-0 at half time Saturday then it would have been a different story.. but it wasn't to be and for that last quarter of the game tonight alfreton showed the quality where it mattered and the breakaways punished us..

Only thing that I felt was a let down tonight was the formation. Nabil was playing far too much up top on his own at times and quite often would look for support and it wasn't there..

But hey ho all the best to alfreton in the next round and let's hope to continue this positive run in the league..

[FOOTYMAN]

My first visit to our new ground, thought it was a great set up, pitch looked fabulous. The team played well, a good cup match and being honest, they deserved to win. On that performance, this should be a season to look at promotion, especially with the ground and facilities in shape to go up another level.

Enjoyable evening, entertaining, but, not the result we wanted.

See you all again soon.

COYD

[Three of Diamonds]

No shame in losing that game to a higher based team. They sussed us out and although we did our best they had 1 piece of high quality and a bit more luck.
Onwards and upwards. Once we get our two regular full backs and a new centre half alongside Bully we'll be a force to be reckoned with.

[bozzer]

I thought over the two games we were absolutely awesome.

To take a team 2 leagues above to a replay and very close again last night is a testament to the quality of the team. The formation also was spot on, the opposition were very complimentary about us on and off the field.

They had a touch of extra class at set pieces and a lot of luck.

That's the standard we can achieve and if we replicate that more often than not it will be a good season.

There was 3 pages of what went wrong against beaconsfield, credit where it's due this morning to the management the players and the fans.

[sandringhamdiamond]

Agree with bozzers comments,

These two games have again shown the potential in this club, if we can maintain 600+ gates with that atmosphere especially in the 2nd half the causal supporter will become a regular. As fans we all need to keep promoting the club. Promotion is a must this season especially with the extra places and changes to step 3. Full focus on the league now.

[davealbon]

There appear to be some quite conflicting opinions over the two games in terms of who was the better side; I thought Alfreton were the better side on Saturday, just let down by their extremely suspect defence, but for large parts of last night's game we were much the better side.

We bossed the early stages last night, but unfortunately found their defence in a far less helpful mood than Saturday. Alfreton did look dangerous on the break, but up until 5 minutes before the opening goal I thought we were quite comfortable. It looked another soft free kick that led to the opener, but the quality of the delivery was excellent (I'd say that was the biggest difference between the two sides overall), and it helped that they had two 7 foot tall centre halves to aim for. We then struggled for a little while after the goal, but finished the half strongly and I thought we thoroughly deserved to be level at half time.

They then started the second half brightly without really threatening, but we soon came into it again, and dominated right up until their second goal, although struggled to create anything clear cut. Brilliant free kick, but it was a stupid one to concede - that's my one major criticism of our performance last night, we gave away too many silly free kicks, against a side who were clearly very strong from set pieces (offensively and defensively). After that our heads dropped and we were a bit sloppy, with the third goal looking more and more inevitable as the clock ticked down.

A brilliant effort overall though, especially considering we were missing Brown and Westwood, which meant our best midfielder had to play at right back for both games. If we turn in performances like that week in week out with those two back in the side, then a top two position this season should be no problem at all.

[STAGMAN]

Spot on Dave

[Curly]

I think for probably 150 of the 180 minutes of the tie we were the better team but they were much more clinical when their chances came. The lads worked their socks off in both games and if we continue to play like this we'll have no problems in the league.

One really big plus for me over the two games was Punter who didn't look at all out of place and has become a genuine option at CB now going forward.

[TheIncognitoKid]

I think for probably 150 of the 180 minutes of the tie we were the better team but they were much more clinical when their chances came. The lads worked their socks off in both games and if we continue to play like this we'll have no problems in the league.

One really big plus for me over the two games was Punter who didn't look at all out of place and has become a genuine option at CB now going forward.

He played well last night, thought he might have found it tough against their paces attack, but he handled them well