Gary Owers apologises to fans after Potters Bar performance

As I said last night for the first half hour we did ok, moved the ball around, stretched them and should have been more than 1 up. They got a goal against the run of play and after that we lost our way completely and played into their hands with the quality of the crosses into the box poor making it easy for their defenders and keeper.
We needed somebody to produce something a bit different to open them up but this did not happen. Losing Watkins was a blow but when you are at home to a team 2 levels below you should be able to overcome this and still win.

yuffie wrote:So, what signs were there that the players lacked motivation or were complacent?

I saw a team who ended up in the lottery of penalties because they missed more than a few half-chances - someone said we had 22 efforts on goal - so you can blame it on a lack of quality in that area.

I mentioned motivation and complacency as two possible reasons for our exit - if the players shared your belief that 'we should be beating poor teams like Potters Bar' then that may be an explanation. When a team with the 'right attitude' plays a team 2 levels below, they usually win - I don't think that was the case in either match. And as I've mentioned about some previous performances this season, we don't half faff about with the ball in midfield instead of playing with more urgency.

I can't recall anything like 22 efforts on goal in total from Saturday and last night. But as Beau Nash points out, our delivery into the area was continually appalling, and when those half chances did arise they fell to the wrong player.

A 3rd cup exit to a lower level club in 4 seasons - 2 of them at home - let's not pass this latest one off as a mere hiccup.

Is Fleetwood that bad that he can't play two games on the trot?
If he is why not replace him with the lad that scored 4 or 5 for the under 21s the other night.

I think the figure of 22 came from BCIR last night.

Listening it did sound like a lot of chances in the 2 hours.

In the end I think many of us were beginning to believe we had the kernel of a good team and started to get our hopes up. GO is clearly having doubts now.

Defeat to a team below us is something we have gotten used to in recent years.

Maybe our luck will change next year,

Important now to realise that there is a season to play with league placing at stake and the FA Trophy!

I think GO will be looking again at the squad.............

We are all bound to be disappointed because it matters to us but as always its the long game.......

The whole thing for me felt like Groundhog Day*. I had "I got you babe" lined up to play on the tannoy at the end, but when Chas passed that penalty back to the keeper I wasn't in the mood for jokes.

I'm not sure what it is but sheer panic just sets in for these games against lower league opponents. When they scored with the most against the run of play goal I've ever seen (when everything went Walking Football for about 20 seconds) we lost concentration and made so many mistakes, in particular the final ball into the box. I know it's not easy against teams that defend in depth, which was clearly Potters Bar's tactic, and well done to them, it worked a treat. In three and a half hours of football I can't remember one of our players running through on goal once. Their defence often just resorted to rushed clearances to one man up front, then faced our next attempt of an attack. It was a bit like what Oxford City did to us after we were down to 10 men against them. Frustrating as hell to play against, but if you don't possess a player with that bit of quality to slip passes behind a defence, or a clinical finisher, you're in trouble. Bar a couple of decent crosses for headers, Morgan had little to work off. McCootie worked his socks off, again (and probably covered more ground in the first minute than Fleetwood did in his outing on Saturday) but didn't have the finishing touch we needed.

I felt we missed a bit of experience out there. Could have done with a younger version of the management trio to be on the pitch and help some of the younger lads relax whilst giving guidance. Batten looked like a bag of nerves having been so assured towards the end of last season. During the last cup run under Owers we had Evans in goal for a few games, Owers and Bobby Ford in midfield, Scott Partridge up front. A lot of Football League games and even some international experience.

I'm not sure where to rank yesterday's result in comparison to Aylesbury, Swindon Supermarine and Harlow. I was equally angry after all of them. To be honest I'm just praying that next year we're constantly drawn against sides in our league and a Conference side in the 4th Qualifying Round. At least then if we exit it won't be as embarrassing as recent years. Because of the level we play at, we're bound to face lower league sides in our two main competitions. I'm not saying we have a divine right to beat everyone in a division below, but my word, we made such a mess of beating teams we're more than capable of beating. I can only think of Willand, Bishop's Cleeve and Bridgwater in recent years who we've made light work of, in original ties anyway. Notable that during that ridiculous trophy run we didn't come up against a single side plying their trade at a level below us.

I fully expect us to win on Saturday, regardless of how Eastbourne get on tonight against Hadley. We often seem to win the next game after an FA Cup exit, or at least put up a far better performance. Can remember us keeping a clean sheet against St Albans a week after East Thurrock.

And as for penalties, well, we might as well have shaken their hands before they took place and congratulated them there and then. More chance of me winning X Factor than us winning a shoot-out. I'm still in shock that we scored three of the things.

* even more so with their goal being scored by 'Murray', presumably no relation to Bill.

I'm afraid all our chickens came home to roost in one game. Hair thin cover in defence. No player who can be relied upon to stick the ball in the back of the net and no one with the nous to put in a half decent cross. On top of that I think the team shape was wrong.

For me Manny has to play centre half. Someone else needs to play left back. Possibly this could have been Marshall or even Frankie as he is left footed. Why play Rigg at right back when you have Dan Bowman? I can only presume GO doesn't like him at left back but you do not get the best from Dan as a winger because he needs to be running at players from deeper. He is the one player who would have penetrated  the massed defence once Watkins went off. Hutchinson cannot play on the left. He constantly ran towards midfield and if he did try to go outside the best he got was a corner. Riggs crossing was awful. 

The sum of this is that we cannot deliver a decent cross for Marvin to work with. Basically he is in the team for his heading ability but any half decent cross fell to Josh and McCootie neither of whom can head for toffee.

For a striker McCootie has remarkably few shots. I said pre season that Gary needs to encourage him to shoot on sight and this is becoming ever more imperative as he almost never has a shot.

We do not have goals within the rest of the team so he really does need to step up in this regard. I think we have actually scored a lot more goals this season than I expected because we do not have anyone who looks confident in front of goal. We had enough chances before their goal to put them away but it was all too airy fairy.

After their goal we might as well have all gone home as it was virtually decided from there. We had no idea how to break them down. Yet all it would have taken was a bit of composure. Naby would have given this despite his booking. 

You only had to look at the body language to see who was going to win the shoot out.

I feel GO needs to look at himself here. He cannot blame it all on the players.

Agree with what Junior and Ben are saying. Gary Owers would seem to be pretty much in agreement as well. The reality is we played for 3.5 hours against a team playing at the same level as Larkhall (no disrespect to them) and only managed one goal so the problems are pretty obvious.
Gary has been honest in his assessment but now the test for him is can he do something to improve things.

If you go onto you tube and search for Bath city vs Potters Bar you will quickly find a "Groundhop" video about the match.

I think we'll see changes.

miker wrote:If you go onto you tube and search for Bath city vs Potters Bar you will quickly find a "Groundhop" video about the match.

I think I'll avoid it - I still haven't got the courage to watch our shoot-out defeat against North Ferriby...

Surprised no one has mentioned that we still lack a match changer. Someone who can take a game and change its direction. Requires skill to manage a game as well as courage and leadership. Frankie is not a captain. We need someone the other players fear and respect so that when games start slipping away they can step up a gear and pull it round. That and the lack of a goal scorer mean we will not be successful with this squad unless at least one of them shapes up.

It is a pity that Matt Taylor isn't available because I think a defensive pairing of him and Manny would be very effective. It would also free up Chas to play in the midfield role where I think he is at his best, and we definitely look a better side with him playing there. At the moment though we need him in central defence, especially as Jack Batten is a shadow of the player he was last season.

The atmosphere before the penalty shoot-out was bizarre, as I don't think anyone around me thought we would win it - Chas' shot (if you can call it that) just about summed up the whole evening. After North Ferriby, if I don't have to go through another one it will be too soon.

With 30 league games left, it is important that we don't let the season drift away, and we need a good win on Saturday to kick start it again.

i have been informed that Matt Taylor has declared himself fit and available. How fit ? who knows.
I was told this before the game on Tuesday

SASCHA wrote:i have been informed that Matt Taylor has declared himself fit and available. How fit ?  who knows.
I was told this before the game on Tuesday

Make Matt captain for the Somerset Cup game on 08 November, he could warm up his tonsils by encouraging the young lads, Stuart Fleetwood and other players from the first team squad who need a game.

Roman Mike is correct in that there was no match changer on Tuesday when it was crying out for someone to do something different. I think Hunter could become that player if he knuckles down and we can get the best out of him. Others have tried and failed, hope he realises this may be his last chance.
Agree again about no leader and it comes back to the Jon Holloway Adie Harris player. Many times have I seen Jono giving someone an ear bashing on the pitch as he considered they were giving less than 100%. He would also go round giving encouragement to individuals and go over to the crowd waving his arms to get them going. We need that sort of player.

Marvin Morgan? He has bags of experience, is pretty vocal and all the others look up to him (sorry!)