The FBM view & Ratings

[palexander]

Just got in from the game. Reasonable battling team performance, let down by some bad individual displays.

As you are probably aware, Jimmeh started on the right and Eastwood up top - no Bramble on the bench?! Flavs back between the sticks...

Very dull and scrappy first half until pretty much against the run of play, Gray down the right (again) crossing for Eastwood (again) and Eastwood nods in at the far post (again!!) - 1-0 and cue the chants of "Fredy, Fredy" and "Sign Him Up, Sign Him Up" etc

Scunny scrap back into it with a spell of pressure and what looked like a Prior OG. About 10 mins later, Petts loses it in midfield (for the 1000 time tonight) and Scunny get a deflected equaliser via Barret this time.

HT - 2-1 to Scunny, Prior off, Eagle on. Prior must have been injured as he was doing OK...

2nd half, pretty much all Scunny - lots of pressure and we dont get out of our half for most the 2nd 45. Lots of quality balls in from Scunny, nobody on the end. They hit the bar and test Daryl constantly.

Our only decent bit of football in the 2nd half produces a goal, with some industrious work from Eastwood the ball breaks to JC on the edge of the area, who spins and volleys the ball past the keeper into the roof of the net. By now, I'd more than settle for 2-2 but Scunny come again and put us under heavy pressure with Beagrie delivering dangerous corners, which I thought they looked like they could score from any one.... which they eventually do with about 10-15 to go.

Dudders and Nic-Nic on to little effect and we run out of legs and ideas. Result is probably fair - we battled well, but Sc**thorpe had plenty of chances - especially 2nd half.

Ratings:

Flavs - 9 (MOM) - Some outstanding saves whilst we were under pressure, a 1-on-1 was well saved and 3-4 top draw diving efforts in the 2nd half. No chance with any of the goals really...

Jupp - 5 - Struggled to get into the game, never got forward, but probably due to Beagries pressure on the left.

Prior - 7 - Probably pick of the outfielders in the 1st half - heading away from danger, though maybe could have prevented the 1st goal.

Barrett - 5 - Seemed to really struggle against the 2 tall forwards. When Edwards was coming on, I assumed it was for Barrett.

Wilson - 4 - Oh dear... our left side was toilet tonight, both players getting caught in, or giving away possession.

JimmyC - 6 - Would have been a 5 without the goal. Did OK, but is no Gower.

Maher - 4 - Woeful from the captain. Constantly gave the ball away, ducked challenges and didnt command the game at all.

Hunt - 6 - Battled harder than Maher, though little came off for him. At least he tried.

Petts - 4 - Terrible from the wee-man. Gave the ball away all night and tellingly lost it on a few occassions. Seemed very lightweight against a strong Scunny side.

Gray - 6 - Worked hard again, though without the threat of Saturday. Did well to set up Eastwood for the goal.

Eastwood - 7 - Another 'johnny on the spot' goal from Gray's efforts out wide. A bit like Conny, in the fact that he doesnt really contribute a great deal to the team at times, yet he is there to net the goals. I'm not complaining!! Overall, worked very hard again, links play well and has great awareness of whats going on around him - not afraid to hold onto the ball and look for options, or release the 1st time pass. PLEASE SIGN HIM TILLY!!

The ratings seem a bit low for the performance, so the team performance was probably 7 or 8 - we were just beaten by the stronger side.

Good away support again

 

[Alex]

how have you just got home from the match? i assume you live within an hour and half from sc**thorpe because theres no way you could get back to essex in that time.

 

[fbm]

An imposter!

Listened on the radio and I thought Scunny were the better side, but were we really that poor?

Oh dear.

Must beat Shrews on Saturday if we are serious about a play off spot (at least!).

 

[palexander]

Quote[/b] (Alex @ Oct. 20 2004,00:25)]how have you just got home from the match? i assume you live within an hour and half from sc**thorpe because theres no way you could get back to essex in that time.

yea, I live in Lincolnshire and it took about 1hr 10 to get home last night

 

[palexander]

Quote[/b] (fbm @ Oct. 20 2004,07:55)]An imposter!

Listened on the radio and I thought Scunny were the better side, but were we really that poor?

Oh dear.

Must beat Shrews on Saturday if we are serious about a play off spot (at least!).

Nah, we werent 'that' poor, as I say, we tried hard as a team - but if players are going to keep giving the ball away, or as Petts did a few times, try to run it across the middle of the pitch 30 yards from goal with 3 men around you, then you are always going to struggle.

Scunny were a big, physical side and a lot of our players didnt really get into the game.

I think if we tighten up a touch, we can do the Shrews and set up a ding-dong at home to Northampton - 2 wins there and we are right back in the hunt...

 

[Technician]

It's wierd how Kidderminster can beat them 3-2 [albeit with home advantage], but we lose to them at their place by the same margin...

It's a funny old game!

 

[palexander]

In this division it is - its been said a million times, but anyone really can beat anyone in this league. Thats why the top 10-12 teams are seperated by about 6 points...

 

[Technician]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Oct. 20 2004,09:09)]In this division it is - its been said a million times, but anyone really can beat anyone in this league. Thats why the top 10-12 teams are seperated by about 6 points...

That really is the strength of it. I said in another thread that anyone right the way down to Kidderminster could gain promotion this year as no club seems to be running away with it in the main.

We've still got to be somewhere near the top performance wise and we need to maintain this to stand any chance of being a top three club come MAY.

Tilson & Brush are doing a brilliant job and other than the odd decision that makes you scratch your head, they will continue to do so.

Sign EASTWOOD Uncle Ron...

 

[palexander]

Quote[/b] (Technician @ Oct. 20 2004,11:49)]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Oct. 20 2004,09:09)]In this division it is - its been said a million times, but anyone really can beat anyone in this league. Thats why the top 10-12 teams are seperated by about 6 points...

That really is the strength of it. I said in another thread that anyone right the way down to Kidderminster could gain promotion this year as no club seems to be running away with it in the main.

We've still got to be somewhere near the top performance wise and we need to maintain this to stand any chance of being a top three club come MAY.

Tilson & Brush are doing a brilliant job and other than the odd decision that makes you scratch your head, they will continue to do so.

Sign EASTWOOD Uncle Ron...  

Well we were top of the form table over the last 8 games - when was the last time that happened?!

I think the early stages of the campaign, being top of the form is probably more important than being top of the league - if that makes any sense!?

What I mean, is a few defeats for Orient (or any of us at the top end) will drop us right down the table again.

 

[sufcintheprem]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Oct. 20 2004,08:52)]Scunny were a big, physical side and a lot of our players didnt really get into the game.

Funny you mention that. Nearly every other team's message boards I've been on mention that about us.

I think you've got to take a certain amount of perspective with regards to this result. Sure, they lost to Kidderminster by the same margin but different circumstances. By all reports, they seemed quite complacent and some games you just don't get away with that.

Normally, they've been a very good side this year and to go to somewhere like that losing narrowly is no disaster. Clearly, a loss is never a 'good' result per se, but we can take a lot from it.

Then again, you have to be a little disappointed that we scored 2 away from home and came away with nothing. I'm sure that if we can firm up our defence a bit, we'll be a real handful for any team. Happily, Tilson mentioned this in his post-match analysis so he'll be looking in to it.

At Shrewsbury on Saturday, though, we definitely have to get all three if we're serious about a top half finish.

 

[Upminster Blue]

A tad harsh, IMHO, pboreham. Sc**thorpe were clearly well up for the game, presumably following a rollicking after the Kidderminster loss, and worked increadibly hard. They looked a pretty decent team - good movement and passing. Having said that, despite all their possession they didn't have a chance (or shot in target in the first thirty minutes).

We then hit them with a classic counter attack goal and could have made it two a few minutes later when Jimmy C narrowly missed from 15 odd yards. If we'd got to half time leading I would have been confident of coming away with at least a point.

Both Scunny's first half goals were slightly fortunate, although we did contribute to our downfall. Petts losses the ball for the first but we still had bodies in the box to clear it. The second was a poor Prior clearance followed by a not given foul on Jupp. Again we had bodies in the box to clear it. Both goals looked as though they could have been og's.

It was only really late on when we were trying to push forward that Flahavan had a few decent saves to make.

Having said the above, we did struggle to get going and our passing and movement were not up to recent standards. The third goal was also very sloppy (should Darryl have come for the cross? It didn't look far out although I was at the other end). Overall, I'd have given all the players about one mark higher. The performance was good enough to get at least a point from most games - I expect Sc**thorpe to be challenging come the end of the season.

Final word on Eastwood, he showed the Swansea game was no flash in the pan. Movement, touch and awareness were all top rate and at times almost too good for his teammates.

 

[palexander]

Quote[/b] (Upminster Blue @ Oct. 21 2004,13:38)]A tad harsh, IMHO, pboreham.  Sc**thorpe were clearly well up for the game, presumably following a rollicking after the Kidderminster loss, and worked increadibly hard.  They looked a pretty decent team - good movement and passing.  Having said that, despite all their possession they didn't have a chance (or shot in target in the first thirty minutes).

We then hit them with a classic counter attack goal and could have made it two a few minutes later when Jimmy C narrowly missed from 15 odd yards.  If we'd got to half time leading I would have been confident of coming away with at least a point.

Both Scunny's first half goals were slightly fortunate, although we did contribute to our downfall.  Petts losses the ball for the first but we still had bodies in the box to clear it.  The second was a poor Prior clearance followed by a not given foul on Jupp.  Again we had bodies in the box to clear it.  Both goals looked as though they could have been og's.

It was only really late on when we were trying to push forward that Flahavan had a few decent saves to make.

Having said the above, we did struggle to get going and our passing and movement were not up to recent standards.  The third goal was also very sloppy (should Darryl have come for the cross?  It didn't look far out although I was at the other end).  Overall, I'd have given all the players about one mark higher. The performance was good enough to get at least a point from most games - I expect Sc**thorpe to be challenging come the end of the season.

Final word on Eastwood, he showed the Swansea game was no flash in the pan.  Movement, touch and awareness were all top rate and at times almost too good for his teammates.

See what your saying - but cos Scunny were up for it, does that mean we cannot try to get a foot in?!

Scunny dominated most of the game and deserved the win IMO. Flavs probably could (should) have come for the corner, but Beagrie was really fizzing them in and its obviously a tactic they use well cos it looked like they packed the 6 yard box looking for the near post corner. Will have to see it on TV to see if Flavs had a chance as the view wasnt great from the other end was it?! (who puts a post in the middle of the goal...?)

 

[Upminster Blue]

Quote[/b] (pboreham @ Oct. 21 2004,13:52)]See what your saying - but cos Scunny were up for it, does that mean we cannot try to get a foot in?!

I thought we did try to get a foot in. Problem was, we struggled to retain position when we did get hold of the ball. As you pointed out, Gower was (and will be) a big miss.