[ Wed 30th Jul ] v Hinckley AFC, KO 7:45pm SDS HOME

[olio]

Penalty shoot-out won 4-2!!

[Olly]

Well I'm glad they decided to do penalties in the end, who wants to share a trophy anyway! And it was a nice novelty to have a shootout, is that our first one? Good viewing for a pre-season game though, we were a little bit suspect in defence for their 2 goals, but they looked a decent outfit and I know they've even got one or 2 former FL players in their squad, so I'd be surprised if they don't win their league fairly comfortably.

[sussexdiamond]

We lost a penalty shoot out v Welly in our first season in the League Cup.

[Olly]

Ah yes, remember that, 2nd shootout then!

[SouthRushdenJFC]

We got there for the second half and I thought we dominated that and gave them the equaliser.

It was a farce at the end with many people either having left or rushing back into the ground for the shoot out

[blackcountrydiamond]

I understand the two Chairman had agreed on sharing the trophy if there was a draw hence the initial reaction at the end.

Apparently the management and players discussed it while milling in the centre circle and with refs agreement decided a penalty shoot out would be good practice.

I was just about closing down on Radio Diamonds when it became obvious what the players/managers had decided to do, so stayed to commentate through the shoot-out. Bit weird with the Peter Ebdon stand empty, but there were plenty on the terrace and the Peter de Banke and the reaction was loud as all four Diamonds pens were succesful. Finlay always looked likely to make a save, where the Hinckley keeper never looked like getting close.

The previous penalty shoot out was my first full broadcast and was against WTFC in the League Cup first round in our first season. Another 2 2 draw, and defeat on penalties 3-4 with Chris Hope missing the first and Louis Smith later on. I'm getting used to these pens now!!

[Formic]

At least we found our shooting boots for the penalties, as our finishing had been dreadful during the 90 minutes. We really need to stop dragging shots tamely wide, without even a chance of a deflection towards goal. We did at least test the stand-in keeper a couple of times towards the end, but as the game went on you felt we were going to pay for those misses.

[sussexdiamond]

Further to Formics comments I have not been too impressed by what I have seen or read to date, and am frankly a bit disappointed and worried. We have not exactly excelled in the goal scoring department and have just like last season conceded silly late goals.
What has happened to Dolman, Confue and Clarke are they all injured? We have been pretty much dependent on Dunks scoring. We need Turner to find his scoring boots if he is to fill Taylors place.
I was impressed by Confue and Dolman in the one game I saw them play but we are going to need them if we are to make an impression early on.

Early days yet but we will need to hit the ground running, we cant afford to drop any points in our first 4/5 fixtures

[Trek]

At least we found our shooting boots for the penalties, as our finishing had been dreadful during the 90 minutes. We really need to stop dragging shots tamely wide, without even a chance of a deflection towards goal. We did at least test the stand-in keeper a couple of times towards the end, but as the game went on you felt we were going to pay for those misses.

Our finishing still is showing the trend we witnessed through our first two senior seasons unfortunately. We don't work the keeper half enough. We need to get the ball on target more.

As for their stand in keeper in the second half, since he is a full back the lad did very well. Did anyone see him pull down Fazel's shorts when waiting for a corner? Fazel was totally bemused but most on the PDB saw the funny side. I hope the keeper returned the jersey and shorts we kindly lent him!

In reply to Sussexdiamond, Dolman was injured in the second half of the Corby match but was sitting on the bench last evening, Clarke is going to be out some time after breaking a bone in his foot at Bedford, and I take it Confue who played at Lutterworth last Thursday was not available for the last two matches.

[davealbon]

I hate all those "Keep calm......" posters/t-shirts etc that the world seems to be obsessed with at the moment, but couldn't help but post this one: