Banbury

[Dipdodah]

Good luck tonight lads, I  think you need it. A solid performance needed to take into the home game against Chorley on Saturday.

[Burgh Boy]

Happy memories of visiting Banbury Utd on an August Bank Holiday when camping annually in the area. They were in the Southern League and we were in League Two. How times have changed!

[wismo]

Commentary working?.

[gatley pilgrim]

shiels sent off

[Mad Dog]

Our first point... hopefully the first of many!!!

[Pete Brooksbank]

Much, much improved performance! We looked a more coherent unit from front to back, Long commanded his area well, Jordan Archer was a constant menace. Shiels sending off was just one of those things that happens - the manner in which we dug in to grind out a point was impressive. Not great to see Myles and Abbott have a screaming argument mid-match, the kind that suggests there's been no love lost between them in training and it all boiled over.

[Dipdodah]

Thanks for the report Pete. A good point gained last night.

[pieman pete]

Pete  B,  Jordan Archer?  Take it you mean  Jordan  Crawford.  Pleased to hear it was a better performance and hopefully sets it up for 3  points on Saturday

[Pete Brooksbank]

Pete  B,  Jordan Archer?  Take it you mean  Jordan  Crawford.  Pleased to hear it was a better performance and hopefully sets it up for 3  points on Saturday

Yes, Jordan Crawford! I'd just been writing something up for Saturday about Archer's goals in the opening game so got mixed up...!

[Spa Pilgrim]

Some positives & negatives from last night. Positives are the resilience shown & defensive solidity especially after going down to 10 men with half an hour to go. Belehouan was impressive on his full debut. However, the negatives are simply the football is dire & creativity is minimal. We were warned of Paul Cox's hoofball style & I have to say that I didn't really see it last season, but so far this season it is evident that this is the way the players are being instructed to play. Banbury played the ball out of defence all the time, building from the back, looking for the incisive pass, using the midfielders & width. We just bypassed the midfield with goal kicks that went straight down the throat of their centre backs. Fair enough if Burrows was up there, but to Crawford? I was impressed by the quality of the players Cox has brought in, but the style of play doesn't suit them. For instance, Atkinson was good in pre-season, but the ball seems to have passed him by since. If we're playing 3412, surely you need to work through the channels. We're not creating chances because the front three aren't getting the ball. We have quality wing-backs by the look of it, so why not utilise them in a 352 & play with some width in order to be less predictable in our forward play? Oh & find a midfielder who is hungry for the ball, can put their foot on it, look around & make that incisive pass... someone like Shane Byrne!  UTP!

[Wyberton pilgrim]

That sums it up perfectly.

[scottbufc]

Better but a long way still to go. They're a good passing team to be fair. They really avoid going long wherever possible whereas we are going long an awful lot. Hard with ten men but we ground it out well even if they were getting on top. One shot on target so that's an improvement on Saturday. We really could do with winning these next three with two being at home. Seven points as a minimum really otherwise we'll be further off the pace.

[Pete Brooksbank]

Some positives & negatives from last night. Positives are the resilience shown & defensive solidity especially after going down to 10 men with half an hour to go. Belehouan was impressive on his full debut. However, the negatives are simply the football is dire & creativity is minimal. We were warned of Paul Cox's hoofball style & I have to say that I didn't really see it last season, but so far this season it is evident that this is the way the players are being instructed to play. Banbury played the ball out of defence all the time, building from the back, looking for the incisive pass, using the midfielders & width. We just bypassed the midfield with goal kicks that went straight down the throat of their centre backs. Fair enough if Burrows was up there, but to Crawford? I was impressed by the quality of the players Cox has brought in, but the style of play doesn't suit them. For instance, Atkinson was good in pre-season, but the ball seems to have passed him by since. If we're playing 3412, surely you need to work through the channels. We're not creating chances because the front three aren't getting the ball. We have quality wing-backs by the look of it, so why not utilise them in a 352 & play with some width in order to be less predictable in our forward play? Oh & find a midfielder who is hungry for the ball, can put their foot on it, look around & make that incisive pass... someone like Shane Byrne!  UTP!

Good summing up. The thing is, the football being "dire" is acceptable on the road against a tough team, and off the back of two bad defeats. The concern I feel a lot of us have at the moment is that it'll still be dire at home against teams we're expected to roll over. Saturday is another huge game for that reason alone. One of my main emotions walking away last night was one of relief as had it gone wrong I could see the crowd turning on Cox quite quickly. Relief is not something you should be feeling third game in when you're looking to go one better than last season and get promoted.

Also well done to the referee last night. He could have called the game off at 7.30 - indeed I and others were absolutely certain the game was going to be called off. But he gave it another 20 odd minutes, delayed K.O, let the ground staff do their thing in the flooded corner, and got the game on. Excellent call.

[Wyberton pilgrim]

The referee got most decisions right including the second yellow for Shiels but i think the first yellow was harsh.

[Oakham Pilgrim]

[Oh & find a midfielder who is hungry for the ball, can put their foot on it, look around & make that incisive pass... someone like Shane Byrne!  UTP!]

What I saw of pre-season Mbeka had most of these qualities in midfield. Then he plays as a centre back in the disaster v Southport and doesn't start the next two. I felt the same with Elliott: signs decent players and then doesn't give them the chance to play to their strengths.