Chelmsford 1(64m) City 0

An even game decided by a pen in the 'seen em given' category and the use of subs. A game changing double substitution by Chelmsford provided more zip and purpose to their game which resulted in increased attacking and the pen. City on the other hand, while finishing the 1st half strongly, didn't test the ex City keeper Pentney in the 2nd half and bringing on Brunt and Stearn was way,way too late to change a game where we competed equally and more for 45m, but ran out of ideas in the 2nd half. We play it around nicely but missing that penetrative ball through the middle, round the side or into the box where today we had no target man of stature missing the injured Harvey and it showed. Onto Hampton at home on on Tuesday, lets hope some team is going to pay for our run of defeats to get us back into contention.

At least we won’t suffer the curse from manager of the month award

Jerry is trying different bodies in midfield but we suffer from the samd old affliction - lack of goals. Brunt isn't scoring, Mann isn't scoring, Watto isn't scoring. But second half we didn't create any chances so no wonder.
When Ball is fit maybe if he can go centre half then Harvey Smith can go right back which will enable Raynes to play midfield which will allow him to drive at the opposition a bit more.
We need to be creating panic in the opposition defence and at present we aren't.

Quite scary when BCIR stated Brunt hasn’t scored since January. Assuming I heard it correctly that’s a concern.

After beating Torquay 3-2 in January we have only managed to score 12 goals in 11 home league matches. It's all very well playing pretty football but we have become too easy to defend against. I feel sorry for strikers here having to feed off scraps and after a while they lose confidence. This seems to be happening to Tyler Harvey.

Micawber wrote:I feel sorry for strikers here having to feed off scraps and after a while they lose confidence. This seems to be happening to Tyler Harvey.

I understand the concern over goals scored, but not sure why Harvey has been brought up. Three goals in seven starts is a perfectly reasonable return. Been involved in two or three others too.

The frustrating thing about today is that we have been here so many times before, bemoaning losing a game because of a dubious decision when if we had scored a couple of goals ourselves it wouldn’t have mattered.
I have to say that when I saw the starting line up I wondered where the goals were coming from with Tyler out and Ryan Brunt and Ross Stearn on the bench, and from the commentary I didn’t get the impression that the Chelmsford keeper was overly troubled.
I don’t know whether perhaps Ryan and Russ weren’t 100 per cent fit, but if so why not play at least one of them from the start in the hope that they might get a goal and then take them off rather than put them on with less than 20 minutes to go.
I am also not sure about this policy of throwing in players who haven’t played for a while as with Rooney - I am not sure what message it sends out to the fringe players who haven’t got a game yet and smacks a bit of desperation. While it is good to have a large squad of players to choose from for a change, I am starting to get the impression that Jerry no longer knows what his best team is.
Hopefully Tuesday’s game against Hampton will give us the chance to restore the feelgood factor we all had after Hungerford or those few days at the top will seem a distant memory.

Teams have worked out how to play against us. Jerry will have to do something about that.
Not sure we needed more midfielders

Well, that was disappointing. First half we were fortunate that Chelmsford had forgotten where the goal was. A decent team would have put away at least two of the four 'open goals' that they blasted over. Of course, we could have sneaked one ourselves, I think Harvey Smith should have done better, and in the first half we did look dangerous at times.
Second half was a slightly different story. We didn't threaten, and to be fair, neither did they until their double substitution which changed the game.
What is very annoying is the performance of the officials. Their number 6, a rather big chap from Moldavia, on three occasions in the first half rammed his elbows into our players faces.......no booking. As the ref left the pitch at half time he was reminded that he had failed to act on these three occasions. Second half, the first time number 6 put his elbow into Tom Smith's face, out came a yellow card. Clearly he should have gone way before this booking.
The assistant referee obviously didn't understand the offside rule as he flagged incorrectly to prevent what was a very presentable goal scoring opportunity for the City late in the game.
But, there is no disguising the fact that we really didn't deserve anything out of the game, despite losing for the second game running at Chelmsford to a dodgy penalty decision.
Anyway, onwards and upwards, hopefully Hampton and Richmond will return to Middlesex pointless on Tuesday.

Does anyone know why Matt Bower was dropped from the team and why he doesn’t even feature on the bench ? Also Ashley Harper , he is sat in the stand every week with the injured players.

Bridgeyate wrote:Does anyone know why Matt Bower was dropped from the team and why he doesn’t even feature on the bench ? Also Ashley Harper , he is sat in the stand every week with the injured players.

Well, that's a good question that only Jerry can answer.

Who would people leave out of the 16 to accommodate both?

I think Jerry mentioned Bower in one of his post match interviews and said that he was left out when we switched back to a back four, apparently preferring Hartridge and Harvey Smith. Personally I think he was a bit unlucky as he had good ball skills for such a tall player.

I think Harper is a right back, so can’t really see him displacing Joey Raynes.

Now that we have added Rooney to the squad - at this rate Jerry will have used more players than Alan Pridham! - and the injuries seem to be improving and the flurry of games is slowing down I would expect a couple of players to go out on loan.

And I know I haven’t answered stillmanjunior’s question!

Harper situation is a strange one, 1st signing and not on bench in any game. We need to make more of Raynes, wasted at right back when he is a player that can make things happen when further forward, so would try Harper at full back, Raynes midfield and leave out Mann who doesnt appear at it tbh.

Would have thought Bower would have been a bench option given the traditional height of NLS teams inc Chelmsford and the set piece physicality he brings.

3 defeats on the trot and you would think there would be some significant changes made albeit injuries can mitigate selection options.

I do not think Harper is good enough for this level certainly not as a full back. Bower is not a physical defender - he is cultured. I think Jerry is looking for players who will put their body on the line to stop a goal.

tovid wrote:I do not think Harper is good enough for this level certainly not as a full back. Bower is not a physical defender - he is cultured. I think Jerry is looking for players who will put their body on the line to stop a goal.

What does that mean ? Has he got a degree in Classical Greek or he attends operas ?    

tovid wrote:I do not think Harper is good enough for this level certainly not as a full back.

Is that based on just the 65 minutes of pre-season football he's played, against much higher calibre opposition, or something more?

Midsomer-chris wrote:

tovid wrote:I do not think Harper is good enough for this level certainly not as a full back. Bower is not a physical defender - he is cultured. I think Jerry is looking for players who will put their body on the line to stop a goal.

What does that mean ? Has he got a degree in Classical Greek or he attends operas ?    

Means he's more Rees-Mogg than Derek Hatton

Palms wrote:

tovid wrote:I do not think Harper is good enough for this level certainly not as a full back.

Is that based on just the 65 minutes of pre-season football he's played, against much higher calibre opposition, or something more?

Seems to be how long it took Jerry to decide.

tovid wrote:

Midsomer-chris wrote:

tovid wrote:I do not think Harper is good enough for this level certainly not as a full back. Bower is not a physical defender - he is cultured. I think Jerry is looking for players who will put their body on the line to stop a goal.

What does that mean ? Has he got a degree in Classical Greek or he attends operas ?    

Means he's more Rees-Mogg than Derek Hatton

tovid wrote:

Palms wrote:

tovid wrote:I do not think Harper is good enough for this level certainly not as a full back.

Is that based on just the 65 minutes of pre-season football he's played, against much higher calibre opposition, or something more?

Seems to be how long it took Jerry to decide.

righto