Braintree thread

[Luton Roman]

Presume there will be a pitch inspection early tomorrow. Below freezing here at nights in the east this week.

[BenE]

And here in the West. I wouldn't be surprised if TP was still frozen in places too. Bound to be a few postponements this weekend.

[Steve Whites Missus]

They have had the covers on for a while

[Luton Roman]

With depressing inevitability City suffered another 95th minute defeat as the 2nd half momentum carried Braintree to all 3 points. A largely forgettable 1st half was livened in injury time when from City's 1st corner Batten turned home a wayward shot that the home side vehemently claimed was offside. With the sun shining directly in the linos eyes it may well have been, but City fans didnt care.

The 2nd half was consequently livelier as Braintree upped the pace to get back in the game. With Cody Cooke back leading the line well, getting flick ons, holding the ball up well, the game was even. When Cooke was subbed to manage his return City lost their ability to hold the ball up and give the home side something to think about. Even then Rex Mannings had a golden chance to put City 2 up when controlling a cross well he couldn't beat the keeper when 1 on 1, and the disappointing Wilson couldn't help bundle the rebound home.

With City conceding more and more territory it came as no surprise when Braintree equalised with a well taken goal from the edge of the box. 5 minutes of injury time did not signal any relief and Braintree duly got in behind on the right to square the ball for a tap in and game over.

Defensively City repelled Braintree with some ease in the 1st half but got more desperate in the 2nd, and crucially, we could not win the ball in important areas in the midfield consistently allowing Braintree to move forward in waves and build pressure. Cooke's understandable substitution meant we lost physicality and ball retention, again allowing the ball to come back quick and keep the pressure on.

Braintree were clever and skillful in the 2nd half but a game where City should have been capable of leaving with at least a point. Instead City fans were left looking at a side that looks to have a soft centre, limited squad depth and resilience to manage games out, and growing uncertainty as to how things can improve.

[BenE]

Thanks for that assessment. Pretty much sums up the strengths and weaknesses of the side.
Well done to Braintree for getting the game on.

[Peter Newman]

At least we scored in an away league game (even if by a defender) for the first time since Nov 5th.

[comrade powell]

Even then Rex Mannings had a golden chance to put City 2 up when controlling a cross well he couldn't beat the keeper when 1 on 1, and the disappointing Wilson couldn't help bundle the rebound home.

I think it was the other way round and it was Mannings who missed the open goal. Mind you, for the second week in succession I had virtually dozed off by that stage of the game.

So much for my theory that we play better away from home - the last three have been dire performances. However, I must add that my theory still stands on 3G pitches. Looking forward to the trip to Slough.

Agree with the praise above for the Braintree groundstaff - a pity the club don't allow the visitors to do any filming. This isn't the NL, Braintree.

About 20 fans made the trip, half of them exiles. All pretty disgruntled at the end, some saying they'd had enough. And yet the 'we go again next week' brigade on social media seem content. Sorry, things need shaking up pretty damn quick.

[Luton Roman]

Even then Rex Mannings had a golden chance to put City 2 up when controlling a cross well he couldn't beat the keeper when 1 on 1, and the disappointing Wilson couldn't help bundle the rebound home.

I think it was the other way round and it was Mannings who missed the open goal. Mind you, for the second week in succession I had virtually dozed off by that stage of the game.

So much for my theory that we play better away from home - the last three have been dire performances. However, I must add that my theory still stands on 3G pitches. Looking forward to the trip to Slough.

Agree with the praise above for the Braintree groundstaff - a pity the club don't allow the visitors to do any filming. This isn't the NL, Braintree.

About 20 fans made the trip, half of them exiles. All pretty disgruntled at the end, some saying they'd had enough. And yet the 'we go again next week' brigade on social media seem content. Sorry, things need shaking up pretty damn quick.

Mannings certainly had the shot.

While Braintree fully deserved their win there is an appalling misogynistic match report on their fans forum.

[BenE]

On paper we have a squad of decent players, but for some time we haven't been producing the team performances you might expect, except in patches.
The loss of Fletcher has had a massive impact but before that the goals of him and Cooke were masking dull performances.
Defensively we look sound but we have conceded a lot of goals that can only be down to loss of concentration. We have been playing on the break which means these lapses prove costly.
It all points to a lack of confidence. How you change that is a conundrum.

[comrade powell]

The Braintree fan responsible for that long winded, totally biased report on their forum clearly has an issue with this ref, as I suspect does his club's management team. I'm fed up with this endless torrent of criticism (and often abuse) match officials are having to put up with. If their players made as few mistakes as they expect those in black to make they would be runaway champions.

The ref in question was the same one who was in charge of our game at Farnborough. In both matches I think she was excellent and easily the best we've had this season.

[Jon_BOA]

The loss of Fletcher has had a massive impact but before that the goals of him and Cooke were masking dull performances.

I'm glad someone else has acknowledged that, I keep reading/hearing the comment "but without the two best attackers what can we do?" but we were dire to watch before Alex had his injury, he was just papering over the cracks. How crap were we in the two games against Hartley Wintney for example?

I don't necessarily blame Jerry as such, the modern way of football seems to be fetishizing pointless possession and passing for passings sake, but this side has been appalling to watch, and this season feels much the same as last, just the squad is better defensively, which given last years calamitous defending is damning with faint praise.

[LB]

Listening to the BCIR commentary there only seemed one likely outcome once Braintree equalised - not for the first time (Havant and Worthing come to mind) we squandered the chance to give ourselves a two goal cushion and paid the price. If we took those chances then perhaps last minute 'heartbreak' for us might just have been a consolation goal for the opposition.

I also don't understand our use (or not) of substitutes. Jerry has often bemoaned not having a full bench in the past, but when he does have one rarely uses it to the full. With us having to attack on the break in the second half I would have thought it was worth putting on Thomas on for the last 10 or 15 minutes.

[Rodney]

Lampard is outta work, there's your change comrade powell

[City 'til we're relegated]

City's dreadful form and agonising inconsistency must be testing the many who turn up at T.P. There is a problem so, is anybody going to acknowledge it, and who is going to be held responsible?

[City 'til we're relegated]

1 win in 11 matches (not counting the Somerset Cup).

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