Last Night

Obviously disappointing but one of the things I couldn't understand was the situation with the subs.

In the closing stages the team looked physically exhausted and probably mentally to. Adam Mann was crocked at the end of the first half and clearly at the end, as he made his way across to clap the supporters, could hardly walk.
Save for HMR we had two un-used subs at the end.

Maybe JG thought that if we got to extra time then that would be the time to inject some fresh legs, since player exhaustion might have dictated that some on the pitch could not continue to be effective.
But with them scoring so late there was no reaction.

I'm no coach or manager but am puzzled at why you bring a footballer into the club, name them as sub (am OK with that) but with seemingly no situation existing in the game that would induce that person to be brought on.
They might be young, they might be untried, they might make a mistake that would lead to us loosing the game. But they might not.

Interested in thoughts.

and which of the walking wounded will take the field on Saturday

To be fair it was a bit late to try to change anything. But generally I think there are some players Jerry does not have confidence in.
But the squad is very exposed at the moment.

tovid wrote:To be fair it was a bit late to try to change anything. But generally I think there are some players Jerry does not have confidence in.
But the squad is very exposed at the moment.

I think Jerry's post match interview covered this. Interestingly the club released Matt Bower during this shortage of players so maybe shows how much he didn't fit the requirements.

Such a shame that Jerry 'bleats' about a lack of body's to fill the bench on Tuesday, when we released a couple of defenders only a day or two before - especially Ash Harper who is ironically a right full back! If I am correct, this lad was Jerry's first signing of the season, yet had no game time other than in pre-season friendlies.

By the way, can anyone shed some light on why our latest 2 loanees from Bristol City were not in the reckoning that evening? (Zak Smith and Harper?)

Zac Smith is injured, was referenced in the Wealdstone interview. I think Vince Harper was ineligible for first cup tie but no idea on second.

The side we started with was good, as you said we had a lack of options on the bench. Do you think the two you’ve referred to would have come on and changed the game? I wouldn’t have thrown on two players released because we didn’t think they were good enough.

The problem lies with lack of contracted players.

Whilst City have 8 loanees only 5 can be in the squad of 16 for any game.

With injuries City are down to 7/8 contracted players.

The situation will get worse as players pick up cautions / suspensions;  there are two or three contracted players close to automatic suspension due to the "totting up" rule.

Jerry has worked an almost miracle to put the Club where it is;  staying there will be another miracle.

The solution is to spend big money on Football League standard players, but are there funds available? Are there players available?  Presumably not?

Long term the formation of a reserve / "youth" team playing close to Southern League standard is essential so they can be of a high enough quality to play in the first team.

I believe that bookings in FA Comps are kept separate from those in league matches so that apart from a sending off we are probably ok on the suspensions front.

I've just gone cold to the bone thinking about what the score could have been at Wealdstone if Bower had played

stillmanjunior wrote:Zac Smith is injured, was referenced in the Wealdstone interview. I think Vince Harper was ineligible for first cup tie but no idea on second.

The side we started with was good, as you said we had a lack of options on the bench. Do you think the two you’ve referred to would have come on and changed the game? I wouldn’t have thrown on two players released because we didn’t think they were good enough.

Thanks for the info Mark.

As for your question - No, probably not, but never say never. That was not my reason for enquiring after them though - I was purely thinking that one or both of them could have come on to replace very weary legs of players who we would not want to knacker with another important game due in four days time.