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Post by davep on Feb 11, 2023 19:20:08 GMT
Not meant to be derisory, Gareth. It's like Matt says, the first target is 50 points and safety - and then let's see what might happen from there.
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Post by garethl on Feb 11, 2023 19:31:11 GMT
Yeah I get that gets talked about but we’re getting 50 points aren’t we. I know we all like to not shout too loud as you can get burnt but in this case it’s just not happening. For a start you wouldn’t put much money on 4 of the bottom 5 getting to more than 45 points.
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Post by Del on Feb 11, 2023 20:27:27 GMT
We have 41 points with 16 games to go. I'm sure we can get another 6 points in that time unless we have turned into the worst team in the Football League.
No, talk of looking down at the relegation places is simply absurd, no offence intended davep. A place in the play offs is a much more realistic aim now and with two very winnable home ties coming up we won't be far off next Saturday evening.
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jr
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,195
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Post by jr on Feb 11, 2023 22:06:14 GMT
That challenge by Finney was absolutely awful. How the hell did he only get a yellow. The ref was right there too. Easty gets sent off for 2 fouls. The first shouldn’t have happened as Smith I think it was , was blatantly fouled and the ref didn’t give it then Easty committed a nothing foul to get booked.
Got to say we look good with 11 men on the pitch. Absolutely battered an awful Pools side who resorted to some dirty tactics early on. Angol looks absolute class and could be a master stroke of a signing. Considering Sam Hart’s injury struggles this season and little game time I thought he was immense and the ball in for the first goal was just superb
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Post by Andy K on Feb 12, 2023 9:34:31 GMT
We have 41 points with 16 games to go. I'm sure we can get another 6 points in that time unless we have turned into the worst team in the Football League. No, talk of looking down at the relegation places is simply absurd, no offence intended davep. A place in the play offs is a much more realistic aim now and with two very winnable home ties coming up we won't be far off next Saturday evening. Worth remembering too that being in a play off spot in February is pretty irrelevant too. It's where we are in May that matters. Bristol Rovers famously spent 10 minutes in the whole of last season in a promotion spot, but that 10 mins happen to be when it mattered. But yeah, I'm pretty sure now we have no realistic chance of even being troubled by a relegation fight this season, so even though we've not passed the "magic 50" I'm also in the "looking upwards" school of thought.
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amberchoc
1st team Player
Blessed is the person who having nothing to say abstains from giving us wordy evidence of the fact.
Posts: 1,501
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Post by amberchoc on Feb 12, 2023 11:09:24 GMT
Matt said in his interview that Easty slipped. Having watched the highlights, I’m not entirely sure about that, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. We all love Easty, but surely he could rein it in by 10% without losing his competitive fire, couldn’t he? For example, on this occasion, all he really needed to do was to change the angle of his run so that he was providing cover for those behind him, rather than charging directly at the opponent. Now, personally, I consider this a little constructive criticism, but I think I’ll still take cover from the anticipated hail of verbal bullets!
On the positive side, it was a lovely dink from Lee for our second. That kind of composure in front of goal is a priceless attribute for a striker. Good early signs that we may have gone some way to resolving our goalscoring issues.
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oohaah
Top Performer
Posts: 3,138
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Post by oohaah on Feb 12, 2023 11:18:53 GMT
Angol looks the real deal to me, and we could see a lot of goals from him. Two outstanding goals from Hartlepool to level, but the 'foul' just before the one that led to their first looked a perfectly executed tackle. Great save by Rose in the second - Did the freekick take a small deflection?
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Post by davef on Feb 12, 2023 11:23:05 GMT
I’m not disputing the second yellow, but Easty definitely slipped: I was thirty or so yards away and made that comment immediately.
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jr
1st team skipper
Posts: 2,195
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Post by jr on Feb 12, 2023 11:34:03 GMT
Matt said in his interview that Easty slipped. Having watched the highlights, I’m not entirely sure about that, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. We all love Easty, but surely he could rein it in by 10% without losing his competitive fire, couldn’t he? For example, on this occasion, all he really needed to do was to change the angle of his run so that he was providing cover for those behind him, rather than charging directly at the opponent. Now, personally, I consider this a little constructive criticism, but I think I’ll still take cover from the anticipated hail of verbal bullets! On the positive side, it was a lovely dink from Lee for our second. That kind of composure in front of goal is a priceless attribute for a striker. Good early signs that we may have gone some way to resolving our goalscoring issues. Personally I wouldn’t ask Easty to change one bit. He’s the champion he is because of they way he plays. He definitely did slip yesterday but it was still a poor challenge. It happens and we have to accept that. We still could have won the game and perhaps Angol should had have done better with his shot. That said I’m rather excited about the rest of the season. I think the signing of Angol could be a master stroke
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Post by Andy K on Feb 12, 2023 11:49:29 GMT
Aside from the disappointment of letting a two goal lead slip, it's worth remembering that their 2 goals were unstoppable. A superb free kick that is up there with Milsom's greatest hits and a volley where, if you watch the highlights, changed direction mid flight. Two massive positives for me - Lee Angol and Sam Hart. The former looks dangerous everytime he gets the ball and wonderfully opened his Sutton account, and Sam Hart who I thought delivered the best cross we've seen all season, almost Mickey Stephens in his prime. Even saying that, it would be hard to pick out any player that had a bad game, which is becoming the norm and a testament to how we're playing. Yes, Eastmond did slip and perhaps was a little silly going in for that sort of challenge in a position that wasn't a danger whilst on a yellow card, but as jr states so succinctly, he shouldn't change. Oddly enough this is quite late in the season for him to serve his first suspension . However much we moan about refs, it's very rare that their decisions change the result. Yesterday was one of those. Firstly, the challenge on Randall was more dangerous and reckless than either Eastmonds at Newport last season and Bugeils at Stockport this season. Yet their chap got a yellow. And then Eastmonds's first yellow was also harsh and set events in motion. One could argue that the former got the wheels in motion. Shame about the Hartlepool fans. Booing an injured Randall off the pitch was pretty appalling although I doubt they would have been so abhorrent if they were not involved in a relegation battle. In 12 matches Hartlepool have still only beaten us once, and yesterday went from a game which we would have won at a canter to game where we really worked hard in the 2nd half to save a point. And all credit to the 10 men in the 2nd half for neutralising a threat where eariler in the season we'd fold.
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Post by paz on Feb 12, 2023 11:50:59 GMT
Cant be getting player sent of like that when 2-0 up.
We have to accept that Randell, as much as he is a tidy player but is very injury prone. and you rarely get more than 3 or 4 games on the trot before he is injured. So that's just the way it is. Perhaps push Milsom up to left midfield while Hart can play left back? As he is a good player.
The plays offs was always going to be a case of if we can keep in touch and put a good run in and I don't see that has changed as of yet. If we make the play offs it was always going to be close. Good to see Ajiboye score again as well as Angel with a good run and tidy finish. And to be fair it was 2 fantastic goals that done us ultimately.
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Post by fourfourtwo on Feb 12, 2023 12:00:11 GMT
Eastmond slipped on the same patch of pitch Enzio had to relay after Omar got nailed early on. A common sense referee would have given a final warning at most. But that has got to be one of the worst refs in the league, clearly swayed by the moans and cry’s of home fans on every decision. On a positive note, Sam Hart was a stand out in a very good team performance. And with 10 men, Lee Angol’s hold up play was even more noticeable and really helped the team get up the pitch on a number of occasions. David is looking sharper each game and Jack Rose is slowly putting himself at the front of the Player of the Season conversation.
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Post by Andy K on Feb 12, 2023 12:04:09 GMT
Cant be getting player sent of like that when 2-0 up. We have to accept that Randell, as much as he is a tidy player but is very injury prone. and you rarely get more than 3 or 4 games on the trot before he is injured. So that's just the way it is. Perhaps push Milsom up to left midfield while Hart can play left back? As he is a good player. The plays offs was always going to be a case of if we can keep in touch and put a good run in and I don't see that has changed as of yet. If we make the play offs it was always going to be close. Good to see Ajiboye score again as well as Angel with a good run and tidy finish. And to be fair it was 2 fantastic goals that done us ultimately. I don't think that's correct about Randall this season. He's played in 26 out of 30 league games this season and has played more minutes than any midfielder/striker this season barring Eastmond. Certainly in previous seasons he was injury prone, but this season he's been pretty solid and I think any player probably would have gone off yesterday with the clattering he got.
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kpinwp
1st team Player
Posts: 1,245
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Post by kpinwp on Feb 12, 2023 12:41:49 GMT
Having only been able to follow the match by checking flashscores my perspective on the the two quick goals that we conceeded was completely altered by seeing the EFL hihglights show. No question (as, in my mind, there had been) about us crumbling following the sending off. Those were class, near unstoppable, goals. Had we kept 11 on the pitch I like to think we would have gone on to win the game. But I think those two Hartlepool goals were always going in.
Like others I also think Angol is a very good acquisition and I strongly rate Hart. Looking forward to seeing more of both of the them.
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Post by cheshire on Feb 12, 2023 12:58:05 GMT
Cant wait for the match when we get battered in the first 25 mins, go behind by a goal or 2, think ourselves very fortunate to still be in the game, get back into it in the ten minutes either side of half time, turn on the style in the second half, equalise after incessant pressure on the opponents goal, pour forward in search of the winner, pepper the other teams goal in the final 15 minutes, strike the woodwork, have shots cleared off the line and in the end come away with a draw, wondering how we didnt find the winner and end up with all 3 points!!
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