THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF LIGHT

In my previous post when I said he has shaken things up a bit and given us more belief and organisation I was obviously referring to Gary Owers.

comrade powell wrote:

2weirdtown wrote:I'm not so sure St Albans are doomed.  3 matches under Ian Alinson.  Ist one a draw after going 2 up.  2nd one a 1-0 away defeat to Ebsfleet.
Alinson got the most out of a rather ordinary looking Borehamwood last season and up they went.

19th placed Weston are 7 points ahead of St Albans with 3 games in hand. They will need to equal their points tally from 30 games in their remaining 12 to have any chance.  Their feeble performance today wouldn't fill me with any optimism. A pity as its my favourite away trip.  

I doubt Bath is their favourite trip - six visits (including one against Team Bath) and they've picked up one point, scoring 0 goals.

Thought midfield outstanding today....composed, busy and lots of controlled aggression and some flair. Like the look of Billy Murphy in the holding role and Liam Kelly looks quality. Pity they are just on loan. Elliot Richards had some lovely touches in the first half and Jack Batten also immense ( pity his loan spell coming to an end). The lads look like they are enjoying their football again under the new regime...another big game on Tuesday night. Just got to sort out the penalties!!!!

Result all important. 2 teams at the bottom of form table lacking in confidence. St.Albans looked poor, wouldn't give me much hope as a fan. We looked resolute enough at back. Taylor and Batten looked good as a pair, shame latter is leaving, totally agree he was MOM. Thought McCootie didn't show much, willing but didn't do enough for me to hold up play given his strength. Kelly looks too slight for this level, see how he performs v better stronger players. Let's battle and scramble for the points to stay up then Owers can build his team in the summer.

I've missed something if Martin is now the chairman and we are now a Community Club.

Anyway, today, as a lot of people have mentioned, wasn't the greatest entertainment and I found myself wondering how you would explain the draw of matches to a non-football fan (not a feeling exclusive to Bath City, by the way). What I will say is that, without the publicity involved around the community day today, the crowd would not have been so big considering the weather and the recent woeful results.

It is hard in the circumstances to judge a lot from today aside from the result. Certainly, I am not going to judge anything negatively on just one performance. I saw every player - including McCootie - give more than they have in recent months. I was impressed by Richards and thought that, actually, he should have been given the second penalty. OK, he missed the first but he has a 50% success rate at least. I was also impressed by Phillips as captain. Nothing against Gallinagh at all but I think that Phillips is a more vocal captain and obviously Owers feels the same.

I am one of the biggest fans of passing possession football on the ground and we didn't get that today but we have to be pragmatic sometimes - even if it means corner flagging the ball - and it's got to be said that drawing away and winning at home is exactly what is needed and that is what Owers has delivered so far.

Liam Kelly is bloody tiny, isn't he? My 16 year old son is twice the size of him. Good to see that Owers isn't obsessed with enormous players.

The win was everything today.

Liked the look of Taylor.

A good crowd given the weather.

A very happy Saturday night for a change.

Question. If we had scored both pens yesterday. Would we being calling it a poor performance?

and are missing Dave Pratt, or not?

Elmore James wrote:Question. If we had scored both pens yesterday. Would we being calling it a poor performance?

I thought at the time if the first pen had gone in it would have been a landslide. St Albans really were there only to make up numbers. But you cannot turn a team's confidence round in two weeks from the dismal run we have been on. Plus some of the players hardly know each other.

As Yuffie says if it had been Archie in the dugout then opinion would have been less forgiving.  But there is the rub. Gary wasn't in the dugout. Fans could see  he wasn't sat back with a 'it's out of my hands' posture.

For what it's worth I thought kelly was completely out of the game first half and only showed s brief spark before he was hauled  off. He looked too lightweight for this league. I was left thinking we had a better player here last year. One who has scored two goals against us this season.

McCootie's touch is appaling. His main contribution will be roughing up the centre halves and he does a decent job given the brick outhouses most sides possess. Unfortunately this means someone else has to score goals. It is clear Dave Pratt hasn't been right all season so unless Richards suuddenly shows a goalscoring streak we will be left scraping wins.

And  I'm encouraged therefore that the defence looks more secure. OK Batten is going back but the signs are there will be better organisation at the back. I always felt Gallinagh was the wrong captain.

The main point is thatfor thefirst time in four months I feelwe can avoid relegation.

Well I for one wouldn't have called it a good performance, just a convincing win.

Many fell into the trap back in August of heralding a good team, based on those early wins. We were very fortunate to be paired with teams who have all struggled. Beating St Albans yesterday by a single goal should be seen in the same light as the same size win we had there in August. If Man U beat Shrewsbury tomorrow, does that mean they are on the way back? - of course not. Nevertheless there have been several signs in his first 2 matches in charge that the no nonsense approach of the new manager is paying dividends and it's good to see previous underachievers either leaving or starting to up their game.

In our situation, its about points on the board and not performance.

Any new manager has a limited number of 'levers' to pull to make a difference. The encouraging thing, for me, is that he is smart enough to have identified and acted upon the 2 which are easiest to fix and have most immediate impact i.e. 1) basic organisation and 2) energy levels.

Next I would expect improvements in 3) tactics and then 4) skills / technique (through both coaching and xfers) and with 5) improvements in confidence levels being managed throughout.

Taking forwards off at 1-0 for the last 10 minutes is only sensible if you are organised, have the necessary energy to see out the game and have sorted out the tactics - either agreed beforehand or communicated during the match. We haven't had any of that this season, until now, in my view. I think that is why it made no sense previously but does now.

Yes, there were a couple of people around me who were worried when we were taking forwards off but, personally, I thought it was OK. We rode our luck with not having an outlet for the inevitable clearances to no-one but, in the end, it worked out.

I am not sure why people are saying about how Britton/Howell would be getting grief for yesterday's performance. It seems like a red herring to me. Under the previous incumbents, yesterday's slim and ugly win against a bottom half side would have come at the end of a horrendous run. As it was, yesterday was the first win of a new manager without a huge amount of time and not his team but who has, so far, got a 100% unbeaten record. You have to know nothing about football not to realise the difference.

If you read in the chronicle, Owers' comments are that he would have preferred not to have removed the forwards. Thi seems a positive to me as he has a plan to secure safety for the moment irrespective of whether it is his preferred playing style and / or tactics

Elmore James wrote:Question. If we had scored both pens yesterday. Would we being calling it a poor performance?

I often wonder what would have happened if we had scored the two penalties against Hayes and won that game instead of losing it - could be that the changes we have seen recently might not have happened.

As for yesterday, agree that winning was the most important thing - would have been nice to have put on flowing display of football (probably not possible in the conditions) for those who hadn't been before, but not at the expense of the three points.  

Hopefully the resolve we showed will carry on into Tuesday - if it isn't a must win, then at least it is a not lose. I think 4 points from St Albans and Havant would be a good return n the context of the season.

comrade powell wrote:

2weirdtown wrote:I'm not so sure St Albans are doomed.  3 matches under Ian Alinson.  Ist one a draw after going 2 up.  2nd one a 1-0 away defeat to Ebsfleet.
Alinson got the most out of a rather ordinary looking Borehamwood last season and up they went.

19th placed Weston are 7 points ahead of St Albans with 3 games in hand. They will need to equal their points tally from 30 games in their remaining 12 to have any chance.  Their feeble performance today wouldn't fill me with any optimism. A pity as its my favourite away trip.  

Ahem