Leamington (H)

[Pete Brooksbank]

Last league game under the lights? Let's be honest, it's unlikely, but still a special one not to be missed. Retro programme looks the business again.

Interesting to see if Knowles is back, and especially if Tom Clare's involved at all.

[Tipps End Pilgrim]

Not quite a must win game but we could do with it. Leamington have caused us a bit of bother in the past and are unbeaten in three games so far - and have beaten Brackley. I don't anticipate it being easy. Bookies have us at 7/10, which isn't great value in my book !

TEP

[Oops]

In my mind only one person on the pitch responsible for the sending offs and that was the idiot in black on an ego trip thinking he knows what he’s doing. A refs job is to try and keep 22 players on the pitch at the end of a game. If he had taken control re the fouls, not been biased towards Leamington in the first half, booked their No 2 earlier for his fouling things might have been different. He had no idea who to send off and was always going to send  equal numbers of players off from both sides to maintain equality. What a plonker.
Having said that , what a fantastic win by the best team we have had for a few years who worked their socks off and were well appreciated by the vast majority of the crowd. Each and everyone of them should be amazingly proud of what they achieved tonight. Craig has definitely learned a lot from last season and put together a great squad. Cannot and will not single out any one player because it was a great team effort.
One final thing, there is no way I would have shaken that idiot refs hand, except as a decoy move to distract him from a swift knee in his nuts.

[spannerman]

Knew Jay was going as soon as he put his head in there players face ,he looked to be walking away so there player must of said something to make him react ,very good positive game upto then shame 3 match ban for all involved .

[The Third Twin]

Ignoring the man in black and the 86th minute melee...
I thought we played well as a team, worked hard from front to back, passed and kept the ball well, and made a decent number of good chances. In short, we were good value for the win.
In the bigger picture...
we are still unbeaten (Inc pre-season), we're creating chances, and we're not shipping goals.
If we can keep playing like that, (and I appreciate we are only 3 games in) but there's no reason we can't extend our season by finishing in the playoffs.

[Old boy thin]

Ignoring the man in black and the 86th minute melee...
I thought we played well as a team, worked hard from front to back, passed and kept the ball well, and made a decent number of good chances. In short, we were good value for the win.
In the bigger picture...
we are still unbeaten (Inc pre-season), we're creating chances, and we're not shipping goals.
If we can keep playing like that, (and I appreciate we are only 3 games in) but there's no reason we can't extend our season by finishing in the playoffs.

Best all round performance l have seen for a long time.
A good win and we stay unbeaten, and also a clean sheet.
They were outstanding Top Middle and Bottom with only one hot spot the sending offs.
Luckily we have cover for 3 match bans and can reshuffle the pack a little.

[Old boy thin]

Sorry does anyone know  what the 50/50 draw numbers are please??

[Oops]

Don’t know the complete series of numbers but both began with 40.

[Dave H]

Don’t know the complete series of numbers but both began with 40.

40033 was 2nd prize as I had 40032

[noughtyforties]

In my mind only one person on the pitch responsible for the sending offs and that was the idiot in black on an ego trip thinking he knows what he’s doing. A refs job is to try and keep 22 players on the pitch at the end of a game. If he had taken control re the fouls, not been biased towards Leamington in the first half, booked their No 2 earlier for his fouling things might have been different. He had no idea who to send off and was always going to send  equal numbers of players off from both sides to maintain equality. What a plonker.

One final thing, there is no way I would have shaken that idiot refs hand, except as a decoy move to distract him from a swift knee in his nuts.

And people wonder why there's a shortage of referee's........

I can't see that he had any option, and in fairness he could probably have sent at least another couple of players off. Absolutely shameful behavior from both sets of players, I can see both clubs copping a fine for a failure to control their players, any fine should be deducted from the players salaries if that's the case.

Have a word with yourself, you sound like a spoilt kid with a sense of entitlement. Referee's have a tough enough job without stupid footballers waving their handbags about like a bunch of schoolgirls.

[Oops]

Their No 2 started the fracas with a tackle on Jay. He had not been punished or even spoken to on at least three previous occasions for his tackles and so came to believe he could get away with anything. In rugby the ref is the boss and discipline  is the key. The ref knows what a foul is. It’s about time some of rugby’s methods were adopted. Same thing applies to members of the crowd who shout foul and abusive language language at management and staff in front of youngsters in the crowd. Respect and self discipline is sadly missing by some supporters. Did you know that you never have had to even kick a football in your entire life to qualify as a ref.
I have just had a word with myself and found it was like looking for hair growing on the palms of your hands, a waste of time.

[jimmystars]

Taking away from the incident at the end, the ref was poor start to finish - very inconsistent and constantly stopping the game

[dt woodhall]

First time I've seen the team this year because of holidays etc. Must say very impressed solid at the back and look very good going forward. When this team gels after another few games I belief we could be in for a very good year. Well done Craig and the board for supporting him. Roll on Saturday

[Dipdodah]

I came away from last night very happy.  It was like the old days, some nice football, plenty of commitment and passion shown.  We could and should have won by a much bigger margin, we are missing a " tap it in Newsh " type of player.

Thought MOM was certainly justified.

At one stage in the second half I had to pinch myself, I thought I was watching Brazil We must have strung about 20 passes together.

Keep playing like this and the support will return, well done lads.

[Pete Brooksbank]

Thoughts on the match:

- Ref wasn't great, very inconsistent and some poor decisions, but I am loathe to criticise anyone too much for a job I couldn't do
- Slightly disappointing attendance but suspect school holidays played a part. Thought there'd be a bit more of a last season "bounce" though
- Weathered the first 15 mins very well. Leamington looked a very good outfit and were clearly pressing for an early goal, but once we'd survived that pressure we grew into the game and were the better side in general
- Some exceptional play going forward - both full backs bombing on, some really good spells of passing/possession but I noticed that when we lost momentum we struggled to pick it back up and almost had to reset and start all over again
- That said, not quite clicking up front - three goals (and an own goal, penalty and a gift at that) is a poor return when we threaten so many more. This will come in time
- Knowles looks like a very good signing, when he's back to full fitness and is sharp he'll get plenty of goals for us
- Rollins, not his best game in fairness (although as Duncan Browne pointed out to me, his role was different today than the first two, dropping a little deeper). The headbutt was a clear red card and was a really rash moment of madness. Luckily we have the depth to cover him but it was completely unnecessary
- Thewlis, didn't see what he did in the brawl - I await the highlights with interest!

Overall, a good win against a decent outfit. Thought Elliott got his tactics absolutely bang on in a way that we've not seen since our trip to Salford the season before last, which is probably down to this team being much more settled and "his" than last season's. We need to score a few more but I've no doubt this team is a capable of rattling up some big wins over the course of the season. A good win against a good side. Get in.