STAINES V SUTTON

[dof]

Sutton score first thru Hughes 0 - 1
Staines equalize on 20 mins 1 - 1

[dof]

Staines score again on 26 mins 2 - 1

[dof]

Final Score Staines 3 - 1

[Andy K]

Another example of a good game spoilt by dogs*it reffing. He actually started off ok, but then after Staines went 2-1 up he turned to rubbish again - not quite as bad at the fool at Canvey, but still poor.

As for us - well to be honest we deserved a draw and nothing more today, playing 4 centre backs as our back 4 was never going to be ideal, and the defence were at fault for at least 2 of the 3 goals. Saying that no one really had a bad game as such, and for the first 15 mins we really controlled well. Man of the match for me was Jon Munday, a good all round performance with 90mins of hard work, and was unlucky not to get a goal himself with a cracking shot in the 2nd half.

For the statto's in the crowd - we have never won in our new away kit!

[Millsy]

Beaten by the better team in the end and the first few comments on the Staines message board contain comment that it was their best performance of the season against a good Sutton side.

The referee did appear to give a lot of soft free-kicks against us but as stated, the better team won. Jon Munday and Chris Collins were the pick of ours today, honourable mentions to Westy and David Hughes. I am over my initial disappointment and am sure we will get back to winning ways with the return of AJ and Jackson, best put the last couple of games behind us and look forwards, onwards and upwards!

[os]

I thought we made Staines who are a very good side look even better by the way we played today. We got our goal then went Kamikaze, why were we then so far up the pitch why was our marking so woeful when in the lead away from home against one of the best sides in the division? Once we were 2-1 down they used their width and ripped us apart and if it was not for some terrible finishing we would have been 3 or 4-1 down before Gav gave us our best chance of the second half.

I don't think the ref gave us anything and for Staines to escape bookings for cynical fouls in the first half was beyond belief. We have to keep our playoff place in the face of some difficult away games and that means learning how to play away games and if we want promotion we will have to beat Staines.

I am really disappointed with that today as I had thought we had learnt and I did not think we desreved anything out of the game!

[Del]

The defence went missing several times today and now we know what we have to beat in the play offs. Dos has stated that Chukki's goals will help us get out of this league but so far i have been less than impressed every time iv'e watched him.He has been a prolific scorer in the past i know and has been injured but ...................................

[angiepayne]

A message here from a Staines fan (and Commercial Manager). I thought it was one of the best games I have seen at WP all season. Your fans kept up the chanting , which was great, because we are notoriously a quiet crowd. Big thank you to your fans Badger & Rooster, who text me at 8.45 am offering their muscle to help clear our pitch , as they were desperate to see a game today. And nice of them to introduce themselves in the bar before the game.
Your fans are a credit to you. Your back line are huge (what do their mums feed them on?)
Good luck for ther rest of the season, hope we all make the play offs

[Amber Aleman]

As OS indicates, if we're to go up at the end of the season then the chances are we'd have to beat Staines in the play-offs. Dos will now have a clearer idea of the scale of that task!

I think that Staines are the best side we've played in the league this season. Even though they were 2-1 up at half-time, we just about matched them in the first half. But in the second they created far more chances. Let's not allow an inept refereeing performance to disguise thier superiority.

I wonder if we'd have done better with our regular full backs AJ and Jacko instead of Kes and Munday - who are both used to playing in the centre of defence. For the first Staines goal, Newton seemed to find a lot of space between Kes and Collins to fire in an angled shot. For their second, from the other side of our area, Taylor got the better (I think!) of Munday to give himself a clear sight of goal.

At least we're hanging on to 4th place. But only one Sutton goal in our last three league games must surely give Dos food for thought.

[Chalmers]

Positives for me are seeing Chukki get 90 minutes, Kes get a game and Bond looking good and improving, baring in mind these three between them have barely played more than 90 minutes of football in the last 6 weeks them getting match es is invaluable.

[Andy K]

Have to echo AA here - Staines are the best side i've seen in this league so far this year - looking at them today, you'd think they were 25 points ahead rather than the Dover side we saw in November. They were dangerous from start to finish, and they deserve to be where they are. I did think however, we could have nicked a draw today if things had gone just a little more right for us, and perhaps the 3-1 was a little harsh on us...but lets hope the goals start flowing again, it was important we score today after firing 2 blanks the last couple of games.

[frakey]

I said after the 1-1 draw at GGL that Staines was the best side I have seen this season & yesterday cemented that belief. They were better than us in most departments and but for a splendid MOM (for U's) performance from PN in goal it could have been worse.

The lads didn't give up though & kept going until that third goal, like the first ,a fine finish to a flowing move. Well done to the Swans for producing a superb surface after this week's weather and then performing equally as well on it to justify all that hard work.

Now for the ref. No, he didn't change the result but my god he was awful. In the second half U's couldn't challenge for the ball without him blowing up & yet Staine players were allowed to get away with similar challenges. He played one advantage for them & then pulled it back but failed to do the same for U's when given the chance.

I didn't enjoy yesterday not because we lost to a superior team on the day but because I spent so much time questionning the ref (yeah and giving him some (for me) mild abuse). As for the RESPECT campaign, how can ref's moan when one of their number allows a player to swear at him loudly from 20 yards and do nothing as Butler (no 9) was allowed to? Straight in the book on a Sunday, I can assure you.

Graham Poll asked in the Mail yesterday where are all the young ref's, pointing out that many of the senior PL ones are close to retirement. Well, Mr P they are in the Ryman but don't hold your breath mate because while they can keep up with play, they appear to have a consistent level of awful misjudgment and a total disregard for the paying public's expectancy to be entertained and as a result a total disregard for the game itself.

Harsh words maybe but after 39 years of watching NL football & 20 years of officiating on Sunday mornings I have come to the conclusion that the future of the game is in dire trouble because of the standard of young ref's coming through. They may be able to run a diagonal in x amount of seconds but what is the point if they then make clanger after clanger or even worse appear not to show the same level of toleration to both sides during a game as was apparent from this guy yesterday?

The problem is this ref probably thought he had a good game yesterday. How are guys like this going to improve if they cannot recognise their own failings?I know when I've been bad & will admit to it but will this guy? Don' bet on it.

Rant over.

[taz]

Staines deserved the win. A lot sharper in most departments after our initial spell in the first 20 mins. Midfield was a little overrun for the first time this season and it led to their 2 goals.

Second half, we just didn't step up again when we really needed to and they should have added to their tally before Griffiths wrapped it up, except for some woeful finishing and a couple of excellent saves from Nicholls.

Ho hum. We've had a good run, now this is a blip. Just have to get going again and find the form we had towards the end of December. As Dos said to us in the bar after, nothing is won in February.

Final point. Excellent surface yesterday. Staines deserve huge credit for getting that game on yesterday.

[os]

The 2 most cynical fouls in the first half on us went totally unpunished when both should of received bookings with no arguments.

The pitch was excellent yesterday considering the weather conditions we have had and its a credit to them. I was disappointed for them in the attendance of just 376 surely they deserve better support from their locals?

Dover are the best side in the league and that is a mathematical fact by a mile and we played them spot on restricted space and time and got the goal we needed. There is no reason why we cannot do the same to Staines we have the ability because we have showed it. One notable thing from yesterday was that they closed down very early and very high up the pitch making our ball out often hurried and ending up with the ball just coming back at us.

The funniest thing yesterday was on 90mins Staines made a substitution and I was standing about 2ft behind their coach who was holding up his board. The missus said to me why bring someone on with a min to go, he won't get much of a game and I explained that it was a tactical substitution. With this the Staines coach turned and said no and was quite adamant about the fact the change was made because the guy needed to go to the toilet and could not wait "when you got to go you just got to go!". Its the last time I shall explain tactics to the missus

[billy]

Dover are a slight matter of TWENTY THREE points clear and Staines are the best side ?