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Leatherhead
Views: 3228
The six pointer cliche is an easy one to drop and everyone does it but this time it really is a massive and I mean MASSIVE 6 pointer. This is a game that neither side will be wanting to lose. Neither side can really afford to lose and in their case a defeat will almost be a final nail in the relegation coffin. In our case a defeat will be hard to swallow and will probably result in both clubs having to fight an almost certain losing battle. After Tuesday's fantastic result I said I would take a draw here and I stand by that stance.
If the match ends in a draw the table might look a touch worse depending on how other results go but you have to look at the bigger picture. This will be a good point away from home and our new found ability to grind out home wins stands us in good stead. Having said that I still expect the team to battle for the full three. We have to really. We need to get as close as to 50 as quickly as possible.
Plus we are playing a team in freefall. I was at the game at SJP with Leatherhead. Granted they actually lost the 3 points they won but they absolutely murdered us that day. I am so surprised to see them actually below us in the table. I guess the shock of losing that three points has hurtled them into a sort of disbelief that they are actually facing relegation and they've stopped playing for the manager.
They've won just one of their last 10 league matches which is relegation form in any one's book. That win was a much needed win at home to Sudbury. They do normally tend to get 1 or 2 goals though but defensively they've been shocking and even worse than us in our bad run around xmas time. I still think they can score goals though and they proved it here at SJP when they played us off the park that first half as I recall. They've also recently had a 4-4 draw at Tonbridge and most teams lose there so they can pull off one off spectaculars.
Defensively we need to be at our very best today to nullify their forwards. From memory they like to pass it around like their boss did in his playing days. The problem is passing teams normally get found out at this level sooner or later and Leatherhead are no different. Pretty and neat football can only get you so far before your battling qualities must shine through. Pretty much exactly what we've shown the last few weeks.
I do expect goals in this encounter though and I doubt that we can hold our goal locked for the full 90 against a desperate side. Meanwhile up front we need to be clinical and put away any chances that go begging. We've often been very wasteful in front of goal this season but we can't afford that at all. I am predicting a 2-2 draw or possibly a 3-2 win for either side depending on how up and down it is.
The stakes are very high for the winner and I expect it might get a bit feisty. Bullard will get them pumped and the Greens must keep cool and play to the whistle. Recent refs have been shocking and we've managed to win in spite of them rather than because so let's hope it's a fair match with no controversy but that's quite rare for a Hendon match! We'll see.
Looking at the other games quickly we need H&W to slaughter Sudbury and they should do. Grays and Canvey is gonna be hard. A draw will be ok there but even a Grays win would be better. Hamlet should be too good for Merstham but they still have so many games to play so I'm sort of considering Merstham as safe. 'ricay should really do us a favour though and beat Burgess Hill at home and I'm sure they will..
Good luck Greens. Put one over Bullard's men!
Re: HT
Views: 3047
0-1. Obviously been a cagey affair but we have the lead somehow. Just have to shut up shop and play counter attack football. Easier said than done when you play for Hendon! If we score next we'll win. If they score next then it'll be up for grabs. The longer it stays 0-1 the more desperate they'll get and we might catch them on the break and seal the 3 points. It's a base to build on at half time so come on Greens!
Edit: flashscore said 1-0 ht. Now it says 2. Wicked. Surely the 3 pts are coming back to SJP!
Edited by PF at 16:01:04 on 11th March 2017
Re: HT
Views: 3064
Let me not get carried away. 1-2. Now's the time when the men are sorted from the boys.
Re: come on!
Views: 3155
2-2. We can't make it easy can we. Must get something now or the shit will hit the proverbial fan!
Re: oh dear
Views: 3050
3-2 as I type. Pure disaster. What a nightmare this half has been.
Re: oh dear
Views: 3119
We'll wait for the match report but to get nothing from 2-0 up is painful. I guess we should all be wary of a good run as the form this season has been unpredictable to say the least. But to go 2 up and be in dreamland for a while only to end up with jack is hard to take.
I hope we don't have a bad reaction to this massive set back though. The table looks grim but not impossible. To think 3 points and we'd have been out of the bottom 4 today.
That's a hard one to take on the chin but we have to bounce back somehow but at the moment the disappointment is massive.
Re: oh dear
Views: 3173
*censored* embarrassing bunch of useless *censored* 2-0 up at half time and chuck it in like that. Pathetic. First goal a gift, score a lovely 2nd and go in 2-0 at HT possibly undeserved. Then *censored* themselves in the worst way possible. Lose 3-2. *censored* DESERVE to get relegated. I'm done, see you next season in S1C (if its R1N I aint gonna bother either)
*censored* embarrassment. Gutless bunch of *censored*
(Btw, if you want to ban me from here, the forum and the ground then *censored* do it, be a blessed relief from paying money to watch *censored*)
(HB - no issue with the sentiments Paul, only the language. Feel free to keep posting so long as you moderate the swearing)
Edited by HendonFC at 17:32:18 on 11th March 2017
Edited by HendonFC at 17:32:46 on 11th March 2017
Edited by Hendonboy at 17:34:25 on 11th March 2017
Edited by HendonFC at 17:58:40 on 11th March 2017
Re: oh dear
Views: 3129
Embarrassed right now
Second half the players were honestly atrocious, they have let us, the club and Gary/Fred down badly
One of the worst second half performances I have ever seen in all my days
Useless utterly useless
2-0 up and loose it ?!?!? Disgusting they should hang their heads in shame !!!!
Re: oh dear
Views: 3181
Apologies for the language, heat of the moment and hurting right now
Re: oh dear
Views: 3070
Yeah we all need to vent sometimes but this is a public forum and you have to curb the over the top ranting Paul. I wasn't there and obviously you were so it sounds like you've been through the mill there. However the only thing I'd like to say is that we have to give a little credit to the Leathers. If we had done the same to them from 0-2 you'd have been giving it large but alas we have to take this set back on the chin and win the next game. I think we'd have all just about taken 6 from 9 from the last 3 games. Today was bad, very bad but it's still not completely over either. Just very very much harder.
Re: oh dear
Views: 3182
I apologise for the language but not the sentiment.
1-0 up from the biggest gift you'll ever see. 2-0 lovely counter and lovely goal. Game set and match.
The capitulation in the 2nd half is unacceptable and a performance that deserves relegation on its own.
Re: oh dear
Views: 3220
For the second time this season Leatherhead gave us a footballing lesson.How on earth we were 2-0 up at half time I really don't know,for most of the game we were trailing in their wake.Felt sorry for goalie Tom,very unlucky to be beaten on the rebound after saving the penalty.
After our recent mini revival yesterday was without doubt a big disapointment,hope it was just a blip.and we will be back on course next weekend.
Re: oh dear
Views: 2926
I was waiting to read Paul?s comments ? and censored seems to be the word of the piece. To be honest, censored is right, but for the team censured is more appropriate. Gary was livid because too many players weren?t close to where they should have been.
We did not deserve to be 2?0 up at half-time, except we had played to a sort of system and did look dangerous when we got forward. If the game had ended 1?0 with the own goal being the sole score, ?Stewards? Enquiry? would have been my only thought. I have seen some amazingly bad own goals gifted to us, John Woodley for Oxford City in September (I think) 1974, and the Worcester City captain in the FA Trophy under Frank Murphy spring immediately to mind, but they did not come close to Saturday.
The second goal was beautifully crafted and finished but half-time came when Leatherhead needed it more than us because they looked shell-shocked after the second goal. As for the second half, Stanislaus had a shot at the near post fumbled and saved at the second attempt ? with Barrington well placed in the middle ? and Murphy had a powerful drive blocked for a corner ... that apart it was hard to recall anything close.
There was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach after the game because we really should not have thrown away those three points.
I follow four teams in three sports and all lost (one in an even worse way than Hendon ? leading with less than a minute to go, in possession comfortably, and then the player in possession headbutts an opponent to be sent off and, in that added time of added time, the team conceded a winning score before another player was redcarded), so my weekend was absolutely blank blank blank blank.
Re: oh dear
Views: 2956
Whilst I was stood there on Saturday politely applauding, in my own quietly frustrated manner, our capitulation on Saturday, I also took a moment to consider the previous week.
A win against an admittedly out of form, yet top eight side in Leiston was followed by a win against a bang in form Billericay side. Before kick-off against Leiston, how many of us thought we were dead and buried - or at least would be by the time Billericay had beaten us. How many of us genuinely expected anything better than 4 points, maximum from these three games?
Let's maintain a bit of perspective. Yes, the second 45 Saturday was desperately dismal, but when viewed in conjuction with the rest of the week perhaps not entirely unsurprising.
I saw the word gutless bandied about on Saturday evening. I thought the performance was many things but gutless wasn't one of them. Tired, disappointing, depressing - absolutely - but gutless? Absolutely not. If those wins against Leiston and Billericay proved anything, it was that this collection of players have character, that they care and that they give it all. A misplaced pass doesn't mean they don't care, a missed tackle likewise.
We are still alive and the reason we are is down to this set of players. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt unlike some of those that went before them this season.
Re: oh dear
Views: 2890
Reading this thread and Gary's comments and I have a strange sense of deja vu.
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