coverage of the game today - Page 4

Redraine · 24-11-2007, 17:05

I'm freezing cold outside in the street, having lost my house after betting it on the result prediction against a 0-0 result, but hey I'm happy!

K.S.H · 24-11-2007, 17:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by harwood red

stayed 12th in the table but morecambe have moved above us into 10th with Bury 11th

But the best bit is Hereford dropped 2 places - that'll do for me

Table now updated

AccyMad · 24-11-2007, 17:37

I'm happy with a point from todays game - weird though that the last 0 - 0 game we had was at Edgar Street. I remember that game - really was a bore - bore draw but then again it was the last game of the season & neither had owt to play for, perhaps today's game was more entertaining?
Shocked that McEvilly managed to score(must've been a fluke) but it's good cos now they might want him for keeps

Haggis316 · 24-11-2007, 18:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stanleymad

Wouldnt like to be a Sunderland player either when Roy Keane gets them in the dressing room

maccawozzagod · 24-11-2007, 19:03

Hereford fans having a bit of a moan on their forum about how only 52 away fans turned up!!!

is it any surprise? its a hell hole! attendance of 2804 is lower than their average in the conference

Haggis316 · 24-11-2007, 20:37

Bulls match report:

Bulls News - The Hereford United News Website

maccawozzagod · 24-11-2007, 23:33

I like the parting comments.

Hartlepool visit Edgar Street next Saturday, in what should be a good game of football between two sides who like to get the ball down.

sarcastic Welsh gits

Revived Red · 25-11-2007, 00:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by maccawozzagod

Hereford fans having a bit of a moan on their forum about how only 52 away fans turned up!!!

Ssshhhhhh. Don't tell them but it was actually only 50 of us. There were two chaps next to me who just happened to turn up. They didn't know which team was which - and I had to tell them all about Stanley. Couldn't persuade them to join OSC, though!

Phil Whalley · 25-11-2007, 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by maccawozzagod

I like the parting comments.

Hartlepool visit Edgar Street next Saturday, in what should be a good game of football between two sides who like to get the ball down.

sarcastic Welsh gits

Not so much sarcasm as frustration. This was an utterly solid performance by Stanley. Hereford have some big lads up front, and not just Benjamin, and when they managed to find the through ball they looked dangerous. Hats off then to the back three who contained them well, and also to Bavs, who dealt with everything thrown at him, admittedly not nearly as much as he had to do at Morecambe. They had two near misses, one in each half. The first one was well-created with a nice bit of skill putting one of their forwards through. The second happened when we backed off and allowed their man a free shot on goal, one of the few occasions when we didn’t close down quickly enough. He curled it just wide of the far post. It sounds harsh to criticise in the light of such a competitive display, but one moment of lapsed concentration nearly cost us a point, and though it’s something that I’m sure Coley and Jimmy have emphasised to Rocky and co. time and again, I don’t suppose we’re ever going to eliminate it.
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The wing-back ploy worked well down the right with Leam in fine form, though his crossing let him down, in fact I can’t recall Paul Mullin having a quieter game in terms of challenging for goal-bound headers. Branchy unfortunately just doesn’t have the legs to do the same down the left, and this is a key weakness, what we wouldn’t give for a young Steve Hollis. Coley put Rommy in at left-wing back in the second-half, and as we all know this under-uses his attacking abilities, but he has pace and tenacity and this sufficed well enough.
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Of the midfield three, Harris had another excellent game of controlled aggression, good passing and workrate. One has hopes that he has now largely mastered the old red-mist tendency to dive in, the key thing being that he doesn’t need to do it, he’s a better player than that. Towards the end of the game he won the ball in left midfield and sprayed a beautiful cross-field pass to McGivern, a real touch of class from Jay, just a pity that Leighton couldn’t do anything with the opening. Proccy I thought didn’t quite impose himself on the game as we know he can, but he still made his usual hard-working contribution. Craney was deployed in the attacking midfield ‘hole’. He’s undoubtedly trying his best and while some might question his match fitness, I wonder whether confidence is the thing. He’s trying to reprise his Conference role as the bustling midfield attacker, but it’s not quite working for him, and the wing-back system leaves him less wide support than the days when we had Gary and Toddy always there. It was noticeable how Roscoe kept running wide to find space to receive from Craney, but this of course limited Roscoe’s chances to get through on goal.
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But no-one in the Stanley end was complaining with what was a good away point, even though we had a lot of opportunities for set-pieces, few of which had an end product. Chatting to Mike A as we left the game, he pointed out that Graham Turner has a lot of respect for Stanley born from our tussles in the past, and perhaps approached the game with more caution than we usually find from home teams. They were certainly very quick to pull men behind the ball, and this allowed us to retain possession far more effectively than we usually see on the road. Contrary to the Bulls match report, we played it to feet when we could and fully deserved the point.

Redraine · 25-11-2007, 17:55

Thanks Phil for the report. A nice counterbalance to the sour, sanctimonious and smug stuff from the Hereford lot.

Revived Red · 25-11-2007, 18:24

I agree with almost all of Phil's report. I know the defence has come in for criticism but our back three did a splendid job at Hereford. Poor Graham Branch - yes, his legs have gone. I just cannot believe how he merits a place in the team. Thank goodness he has the splendid Mark Roberts to cover for him for much of the time.

My only disagreement with Phil is about playing the ball to feet. I can recall only one occasion when Bavs threw the ball to a colleague. The big hoof upfield to Paul Mullin is clearly the expected norm. I took careful note yesterday. Whenever the keeper had the ball, the entire team looked away and walked away. Never did any player run back to collect a shorter throw so that we could build an attack. The fact that the players all looked away shows that this "tactic" is the expected one.

DAV007 · 25-11-2007, 22:54

A strong battling performance, their was still a few occasions where Williams or Roberts where caught out ball watching but on the whole a much improved determined performance.

Mcgivern did alot more than Roscoe when he came out in the second half, he pulled their defenders about a bit more and had some good link up play with Harris on the counter attack.

I though Mullin was the wrong choice today, their defenders where class and relIshed the physical battle over Roscoes pace.

Harris MOM again, proctor consistently out of position in the middle which is a bit worrying. No Cav (is he unfit?).
Branch wasnt great and his lack of pace made Stanley one sided going forward - suprsingly, Richardson was not utilised enough in the first half despite constantly getting forward into space.
Boco did ok on the left but didnt seem to hug the line naturally. I thought Craney had an off game. While his touch and ball skills are a class above the rest (with the exception of Harris), he dwelled on the ball and gave Roscoe to many lost causes to chase.
I thought Webb was quality today, read everything.

We deserved our point, but never threatened enough to take all 3.

Its encouraging that we can mix it up away from home. A dogged display similar to the Wycombe game.