City 1 (Smith 82m) v. Havant 2 Att 922 full time

Rigg for Straker and Dan for Kevin changes from Poole. Matt Tubbs on bench for Havant.

Possibly a season defining day as we are 5 points from the play offs with 7 games to play, other results don't go for us, and next opponents Hemel and Welling get crucial wins. 5 home wins out of 18 games is not good enough.

We played very well today but were the architects of our own downfall. I wouldn't say Havant deserved to win, they are a big strong team with no obvious talent, that we pretty much matched. A draw would have been fair but they got the rub of the green and the referee.
But having said that, my general observation is that we do not look like a team of winners. We try to win but we do not show the determination TO win. So our league position is pretty respectable really.
The only thing I thought we could do any differently was bring on some substitutes. For me Rigg S had an anonymous game and I felt Morton or Oaklan would have had more impact. I guess Jerry may have felt they might have been a bit lightweight.
MOM was Watto by a country mile.

Battled well and deserved a point but hopefully Jerry saw that you need a physical edge to win thisLeague. Havant had it in spades

I agree BenE. I thought City played well and looked really sharp when they pushed it in the second half. Absolutely cracking goal by Tom Smith; after that went in I thought we might nick it. Not to be unfortunately. We were unlucky with the one cleared off the line (plus the Havant keeper pulling off a good save.) The couple of penalty shouts looked bona-fide to me too (that ref could have been a bit more even handed!) but with those big lads at the back, Havant looked a tight unit, it's no wonder they haven't shipped too many this season.
Despite giving away that free kick, I though Matt Richards had a really good game.
Fingers crossed for the next three games (in a week!)

The being muscled out of games isn’t a new thing, but is one that we do need to address - that is why I would have liked to have seen Antoine come on earlier today.

Our passing game is all very well, but struggles a bit when we go behind and the opposition defend the way that Havant did today - we need to be prepared to be a bit more direct sometimes.

It was frustrating having got back level to go behind again so quickly - in view of some of the saves he has made this season I think we can forgive Luke his mistake for the second goal.

As for the referee, I would expect nothing else from Paul Durkin’s son.

It's a bit of a sickener to be honest. Scoring against Havant is an achievement in itself, they are incredibly well-organised (six first half goals conceded all season is remarkable). When they went 1-0 up and we couldn't score from that succession of corners, including the astonishing save from Miles, I felt it wasn't going to be our day and settled for a 1-0 defeat. Then to have that mad three minutes of joy and despair makes it feel worse. I personally think that could spur Havant on to the title because the character to win following the setback is highly commendable.

They remind me a bit of Ebbsfleet rather than Maidenhead last year. Ebbsfleet ground out two ugly 1-0 wins against us but threw themselves in the way of shots and were so hard to break down. And, although I doubt their budget is anywhere near that of Ebbsfleet, when you have players like Tubbs and Hayter on the bench, playing 30 seconds between them, it shows the strength of the squad. We have a strong squad too, but not on that level.

Thought George Rigg did well today and be interesting to see if he keeps his place on Tuesday when Straker will be back.

The home form this season has been poor but that wasn't alongside meek defeats against Weston and Eastbourne. We were unfortunate to not get a point against top of the table. If we were playing anyone else, I think we would have won comfortably.

The attendance is a positive. Average is now effectively 660 in the league. With Easter Monday, Family Day and a final game of the season, which usually encourages a few more, at home, we could make a 700 average.

Considering we haven't been cemented in the play-offs or anything, this is excellent. A lot of effort went into today and I think it'll encourage more to come back. Couldn't really tell how many Havant had?

Did the women at the game project bring in any extra fans?
Felt a bit sorry for the lass performing in the bar after the match as it seemed a "knees up" was the last thing fans wanted after a disappointing result.

Bring back Graham Withey!! But seriously when was the last time we had a commanding, physical, reliable centre forward? Hemel anyone?

I'm there. Crabtree beforehand.

The ‘women at the game’ thing appeared excellent. All tickets were sold out and their room in the stand was packed with a buzzing atmosphere.
Also managed to sell loads of draw tickets.

A great success I reckon

Major Icewater wrote:
Felt a bit sorry for the lass performing in the bar after the match as it seemed a "knees up"  was the last thing fans wanted  after a disappointing result.  

I thought she went down well especially with the H & W supporters.