Last night was my first viewing on the National League’s streaming service, as I won a free pass on Twitter.
I actually thought we played extremely well, and some of our attacks, and patterns of play were brilliant, and shows what we’d be able to put into play more often if we weren’t hamstrung by our pitch at Roots Hall. Yes, there are a lot of issues at Roots Hall, but a priority has to be sorting that pitch out. Especially as we have a manager who wants to play out from the back, play through the thirds and play attractive, attacking football.
IF we had taken any of our big chances in the first half, we win that game pretty comfortably and we are all saying what a performance, play offs still a possibility etc etc.
Instead, their keeper pulls off a worldy, Murphy, Bridge, Gus & Taylor all miss big chances, and we are on the end of another horrendous decision and it’s all doom and gloom again.
With the penalty against us, what a farce. Kensdale clearly wins the ball, the referee initially isn’t interested, and then bizarrely points at the spot. Brunt dispatches it excellently.
Our penalty, you couldn’t actually see the handball on the stream as there was another defender in the way, but you can see an outstretched arm, so certainly wasn’t in a natural position. The commentators said it was handball and said it was a penalty, and to their credit, actually said the one that Boreham Wood were awarded was never a penalty.
Now, I’m not sure whether some of the referees in this division are just completely inept and shouldn’t be at this level, or they are genuinely cheating at times. I’d guess just completely inept. A lot of the officials I’ve seen, and I’ve not seen a huge amount of our home games due to work/family commitments, are out of shape. I know they aren’t professional, but this is a professional league, 95% of the sides are professional, and this is their livelihood. 3 points on a Saturday/Tuesday decides promotions and relegations, and in turn costs managers/players their jobs. These officials can go back to their day job, and not have a care in the world.
Now, he isn’t the reason we lost. We should have scored a hatful, but Boreham Wood barely laid a glove on us. That game, if we weren’t going to take our chances, should have finished 0-0, and that would have still felt like a defeat for us.
I’ve tried not to be critical of the players. What they have been through, and how they have stuck with us, and what it means for them to play for this great club of us says an awful lot about them as people and professionals. I will hold a special place for this special group of players. They have stuck with us through some horrendous times this season. Whether they do beyond it, only time will tell. You can’t ever accuse them of throwing in the towel, downing tools, or any of the things you could accuse previous groups of players or.
However, we’ve now lost 4 matches in a row, and it has cost us any chance of the play-offs. Yes, all these problems have been caused by one man, and I don’t want to turn this into yet another RM bashing thread. I do think we need a refresh in the summer, not a complete overhaul, but a freshen up.
I’ve got an idea of players I’d like to move on, but that feels disrespectful to start a thread like that, when the players have been so good to us.
We have the basis of a very good side. We lack the cutting edge of the top sides. See Mullin, Langstaff, McCullum, Dallas etc. We lack goals from midfield bar Bridge. We lack players in the box. We lack driving runs from midfield. We lack support from the opposite flank. We lack goals from centre halves. We are defensively solid, we have one of the best wing backs in the division. We have a top rate centre forward in Cardwell. We have the best defensive midfielder in the league in the shape of Miley. Gus has been a tremendous find. Kensdale has really stepped up. We have two terrific goalkeepers.
This season, for me, was a rebuild. A flirt with the play-offs, but ultimately missing out. However, four games ago, we have a phenomenal chance to cement on play off position, instead we find ourselves 7 points outside, albeit with 2 games in hand.
I think this season will peter out now, which is a real shame, but there has been some progress this season, incredible progress and we should be so thankful of Kev & Co, and the posts even suggest Kev Out are incredible.
