Hemel 2 City 1 (Brunt 32m pen)

A game heading to an uneventful uninspiring draw then saw Hemel reduced to 10 men with 10 mins remaining. All City fans feared the worst and so it proved when Hemel then nicked the points when City unforgivably switched off at a short corner and the ensuing scramble ended in the net. Neither side deserved the win tbh but Hemel certainly raised their game in the last 15m and weren't phased going to 10 men.

The opening half saw little action before City got a pen when the ball was nicked off Bowers head by a hand and Brunt dispatched the ball confidently. City seemed in little danger but equally weren't creating much or getting any width to their game until Riley Lowe got down the flank a couple of times. Then in the 45th min out of nothing an inside pass to the edge of the area was hit into the roof of the net for the equaliser. The 2nd half again saw little activity from either side with City failing to create any real chances or indeed have any real shots on goal. Plenty of passing in our third but little if any penetration. Stearn raised hopes with a free kick that hit the angle of post and bar but apart from a couple of glancing headers across goal that was it. The keeper showed plenty of uncertainty in punching and positioning but City failed to test him with any meaningful shots and the game ended with Hemel celebrating a rare win over City and our players on their haunches wondering why they got nothing from the game.

Well imo they got what they deserved, creating little, no width, a flat performance that did not get the travelling support, a goodly number of the 550 crowd, enthused at all. 4 wins, draws and defeats from 12 indicate a mid table performance meaning next weeks Cup game assumes greater importance to try and kick start our season again.

Luton Roman wrote:A game heading to an uneventful uninspiring draw then saw Hemel reduced to 10 men with 10 mins remaining. All City fans feared the worst and so it proved when Hemel then nicked the points when City unforgivably switched off at a short corner and the ensuing scramble ended in the net. Neither side deserved the win tbh but Hemel certainly raised their game in the last 15m and weren't phased going to 10 men.

The opening half saw little action before City got a pen when the ball was nicked off Bowers head by a hand and Brunt dispatched the ball confidently. City seemed in little danger but equally weren't creating much or getting any width to their game until Riley Lowe got down the flank a couple of times. Then in the 45th min out of nothing an inside pass to the edge of the area was hit into the roof of the net for the equaliser. The 2nd half again saw little activity from either side with City failing to create any real chances or indeed have any real shots on goal. Plenty of passing in our third but little if any penetration. Stearn raised hopes with a free kick that hit the angle of post and bar but apart from a couple of glancing headers across goal that was it. The keeper showed plenty of uncertainty in punching and positioning but City failed to test him with any meaningful shots and the game ended with Hemel celebrating a rare win over City and our players on their haunches wondering why they got nothing from the game.

Well imo they got what they deserved, creating little, no width, a flat performance that did not get the travelling support, a goodly number of the 550 crowd, enthused at all. 4 wins, draws and defeats from 12 indicate a mid table performance meaning next weeks Cup game assumes greater importance to try and kick start our season again.

Everyone is speechless!!!!

Let's hope for a better performance in the FA cup on Saturday at Billericay.  The cup is our annual chance to improve both the club's finances and public profile.  A good cup run is preferable in my opinion to promotion or in an ideal world, as a precursor to promotion.  I just might have posted to this effect in previous seasons!

2weirdtown wrote:Let's hope for a better performance in the FA cup on Saturday at Billericay.  The cup is our annual chance to improve both the club's finances and public profile.  A good cup run is preferable in my opinion to promotion or in an ideal world, as a precursor to promotion.  I just might have posted to this effect in previous seasons!

It feels a bit like we have reached that 'most important game of the season so far' stage again. If we go out of the cup tomorrow, which would be the eighth season in a row when we have failed to get beyond the qualifying stage, and with a currently mid-table position I can see people questioning what progress we have made in the last two years.

It was always going to be difficult this season losing Robbie Cundy and Strakes before it even started, and this was compounded by the injuries to Jack Batten and Frankie - I think a lot of sides would have struggled having lost four such influential players. The loss of Tyler Harvey (whatever the backstory to that might be) and the goals that it was hoped he would score has just added to this.

Hopefully tomorrow will see a win to kickstart the season followed by a favourable draw in the next round. UTC

In my opinion Rigg is the most influential loss. But the success of last season was built on a rock solid defence which has been dismantled.
I feel we have some very talented players but I'm not sure about the balance of the squad. It doesn't help with the injuries of course but I feel we have too many midfielders.
I would have liked to see Harvey Smith at right back with Raynes in midfield but there is a lot of competition in that area. I was surprised that Rooney was brought in but it probably looked a good proposition to Jerry. We were really unlucky with the Edwards injury as we really need his pace but we also need better striking options.

LB wrote:It was always going to be difficult this season losing Robbie Cundy and Strakes before it even started, and this was compounded by the injuries to Jack Batten and Frankie - I think a lot of sides would have struggled having lost four such influential players. The loss of Tyler Harvey (whatever the backstory to that might be) and the goals that it was hoped he would score has just added to this.

The amount of misfortunes this season has been staggering:
Ball injured pre-season
Batten injury having barely missed a match for three years
Clarke injured getting out of shower
Hartridge own goal whilst being fouled
Stearn concussed by Smith
Chelmsford’s penalty
Artus two spells out
Harvey u-turn
Hamblin injury
Edwards out until January

There are probably more, I think the two we sent out on loan have come back with knocks. It’s constant and means building momentum is much tougher. You think we have it sussed then someone trips over a dog or something.

stillmanjunior wrote:

LB wrote:It was always going to be difficult this season losing Robbie Cundy and Strakes before it even started, and this was compounded by the injuries to Jack Batten and Frankie - I think a lot of sides would have struggled having lost four such influential players. The loss of Tyler Harvey (whatever the backstory to that might be) and the goals that it was hoped he would score has just added to this.

The amount of misfortunes this season has been staggering:
Ball injured pre-season
Batten injury having barely missed a match for three years
Clarke injured getting out of shower
Hartridge own goal whilst being fouled
Stearn concussed by Smith
Chelmsford’s penalty
Artus two spells out
Harvey u-turn
Hamblin injury
Edwards out until January

There are probably more, I think the two we sent out on loan have come back with knocks. It’s constant and means building momentum is much tougher. You think we have it sussed then someone trips over a dog or something.

Doesn't he do well!!!

We lost players of great quality last season and have been very unlucky at the start of this. We can't expect to replicate the form of last year, but I agree that it looks like we have too many similar types of player in midfield. Still, Billericay will be my first game since mid August, so I'm hoping to see plenty of spirit.

Thanks to Luton Roman for what is always an honest and considered summary of the game.
Jack Batten is a big loss and I don't think everyone realised how big it would be. Although still young he has experience at this level and is a big lad who teams cannot shove around like they have done to some our young players this season. Artus is also missed.
Having said that there have been some strange decisions. Harper and Simpson were signed and seemed to immediately be out of favour. Harper barely even featured in the friendly games. Also Bower, who has looked one of the better ones in games I have seen, only seems to be in the team on sufferance.
I think Tom Smith has tried very hard in midfield and all credit to him but like many others I think we need Joe Raynes in with him. In his few games in midfield he reminded me of one of the best midfield players I have ever seen at Twerton, George Gibbs. He can win the ball, take on and beat players and shoot from distance. This gives us something different to what we have at the moment.
We have had no luck at all with the cup draws and I really hope we can get something today but it is going to be difficult.