v. Kingstonian

[Beaney]

I think we can be fairly please about today, mainly because of those last 10/15 minutes where we pushed so hard and got a goal from it. Watts made some fabulous touches which helped get ahead of the defence. Maybe put him on at KO and replace him half an hour in when we're two up next time maybe? Varied game, but we showed the class that we keep forgetting to use. I have a feeling that was a turning point today.

[billy]

Something should be done on the thankfully rare occasions that we get a band of away supporters behaving in that horrible,foul mouthed fashion , from start to finish.

That lot today were disgraceful,somebody should at least take it up with Kingstonian,i'll write to them if nobody else is bothered.

[frakey]

Over the piece, I reckon 1-1 was about right. We gave them their goal, though credit Huckle for a fine, controlled finish.

I couldn't tell whether JN was offside when he headed in Pouts bullet cross field ball but it was a great header. He was on his own in the box but whether he was o/s when the ball was played is another matter.

Still, it made up for the pen we should have had in the second minute (Bash on Matt Hann), which began a poor afternoon for Mr Croft. He later bottled showing Hustwick a second yellow (he had his hand in his pocket for his book until Duku et al did a Keane & Co). Hustwick's first booking was a joke but having been so quick to show yellow's to our players he didn't have alot of choice.

Billy Hawes yellow, which was correct, means that he misses the Boxing Day derby.

A typical local derby in front of a good crowd. Now, I'm sure the K's fans were being ironic but their "sh*t ground no fans" chant has to make you laugh. At least we have our own ground & an average home gate of 350 (380 v Robins recently) is hardly setting the league attendance table alight, is it K's?

They must have brought 80% of their support with them today & I hope they enjoyed smashing the back of our covering in the second half. Perhaps we should do that to theirs on the return? Oh, sorry, I forgot it's not theirs anymore!!

As for Dowson, having left his technical area by about 40 yards to remonstrate with the ref, the dismissal was hardly surprising. Christ Dos has gone for far less this season.

Entertaining afternoon all round.

[frakey]

Don't worry Billy today was their cup final in terms of league derbies this season. Ours will begin on Boxing Day.

[os]

I still think we lack a bit of physical presence we just don't have that West/Dundo aspect we had last season to soften up opponents so we can play our game. That's said we did well to come back and get the equaliser and we finished looking for the winner. Only a point but not to have to leave GGL defeated to K's was worth a win in any other game

This will be a game I always remember but it will be for the worst officiating I have seen in a number of years, Mr Croft should be banned from every ground in the country after that display. It was truly shocking from the first minute to the last kick of the game, Missed a trip in the box inside 5mins, plus 2 blatant pushes (I mean blatant) which should resulted in 3 penalties. The bookings were a complete joke for both sides with at least 2 being excellent tackles, he clearly had no understanding of just what backing in is allowing one k's player to do it for about 10 yards with no whistle or flag from the lino. Gave us a free kick on the wing for a trip when there was no K's player within 3 yards of him as he just lost his footing in the muddy patch? The very last kick of the game should of been a corner as it was well over the line, our goal 'appeared' way offside.

I don't think that either Linesman (sorry that's what they are) waved their flag for a single foul all afternoon, it just has to be the worst performance from the men in Black I have seen for many a year!

[Millsy]

Our goal wasn't way off side at all, in fact according to one K's player it was well onside.

[os]

Dec 12, 2009 20:42:48 GMT Millsy said:

Our goal wasn't way off side at all, in fact according to one K's player it was well onside.

OK, I have calmed down now as I furious with those idiots in black today, its very difficult to tell from behind the goal but at no time did Norwood look to be behind the defender so it must of been close?

[DaveF]

Their defence sprinted out as he sprinted in, so it exagerated how far he clear was of them, but he looked onside when Pouton struck his cross.

[Amber Aleman]

What was important about today was that we didn't lose! After two straight defeats we really needed to get something from the game.

I thought we were pretty poor overall, and I don't think we can keep blaming heavy pitches as there will be plenty more of those over the next two months. In the first half most of our balls into the box went straight to their keeper. We had a couple of openings just before half-time, but their keeper saved from (I think) Gargan, then Hann was foiled by a last-ditch tackle.

Scriven had a poor game; his kicking was erratic throughout and he gifted K's their goal in the second half, though he did partially redeem himself with a sprawling save in stoppage time. There may have been a touch of fortune about Norwood's equaliser, but I thought a draw was a fair result. K's defended more stoutly than we might have expected from their goals against record this season, but the division's leading scorer Bobby Traynor was so ineffective it was easy to forget he was on the pitch.

I agree that the referee's use of the yellow card was inconsistent, although he was hardly the worst we've had in recent years.

We're still 8th, but with league games being played on Tuesday we're likely to have dropped a couple of places by the time we go to Margate next Saturday. Having stopped the rot today we need to rediscover the winning habit before Christmas.

[markn]

Hi,

Perhaps not the best performance all round but we came back from one down and were the stronger at the end which is a positive.

Ends a run of defeats as pointed out earlier so lets take it on from here and the new year will look much brighter if it comes on the back of a run of wins.

Dos mentioned in the program that the run of wins does not have to start today but I think it would help greatly if we put that run together sooner rather than later and a run of wins over christmas would mean two against carshalton so lets get to it.

[Andy K]

Well if you need an incentive to get out of this league, a bulk of their fans are probably some of the biggest mongs I've seen in a long time. I thought most of the mongy ones switched to AFC, but today I was proved wrong. Obviously they saw this as their cup final, and if so good luck to them. Pillocks from start to finish, taking the mick out of everything in the ground and as some were leaving a few of them trying to damage the "next fixture" board. I'm very glad I'm about as far away in the world as I can be when we play them in April. Its not often I agree with Billy, but he is spot on about their fans!

But onto footballing matter. First plus point was I thought it was a big improvement on the previous Saturday. With an unfamiliar defence (Kes not match fit and AJ in the centre) we generally kept their chances to a minimum, and snuffed out the leading scorer in the league.
The midfield looked a lot healthier, with Danny rightly being man of the match, but also I thought Matt Hann had a decent game too - he was unlucky just on the stroke of half time not to get one, just lost his footing.

Their goal was a combination of a bad ball from Gargan, and a shocking clearance from Scriven. Not his best game in a Sutton shirt, but as he showed at the end, he can still pull off a match saving stop.

Up front seemed a little weak, but I think to the fact that Ks, who had a shocking defence earlier in the season, had a very well marshalled unit at the back, led by the Duku - good to see his sly tugs and "using his physical presence" are still not noticed by refs. Mind you, the ref today probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd run on the pitch as Mr Wimpy today.

Overall a fair result, and to be fair, Kingstonian look not a bad side. They are in form and recovered well from a bad start to the season. On a luckier day we would have won, but it wasn't that today, and we fought for the draw.

One last thing - based only on today's performance, Matt Gray really isn't the player he was when he was here. Maybe the Samson effect....

[garethl]

Actually thought we were comfortably the better side and wasn't impressed with the K's. Can't see them finishing where they currently are and thought Tooting were better last week. If we had taken one of our 3 good chances just before
/after half time we would probably have gone on to win easily. Referee a total and utter joke. Lectured every player after every foul so we all spent our money watching him. The game would have been 10 times more entertaining with someone who actually let the game flow. Actually disagree with Andy about Hann - thought it was one of his poorer matches in a Sutton shirt. Phillips was busy but final ball not there today and we need an end product. Regarding an earlier post I don't think Watts ready to start yet . . . maybe he'll get a bit more of a run out on Monday when you'd expect the fringe players to all get a run out.

[johnboy]

We are the main Ryman Premier report in the NLP today and of our goal Dowson is quoted as saying, "It was blatent offside, nobody said it wasn't offside and, if they do, then they're a liar". That makes me a blatent liar in Dowson's eyes. He was on or about the half way line whereas I was roughly in line. We know how fast James Norwood can be and he made ground very quickly to meet Pouton's cross. The linesman was up with play and made the right decision. End of story.
As it happens, I think we had more claims to injustice for goals against at Hornchuch (handball) and at home to Tooting (Clayton standing offside on the goal line when he "scored") in our two previous games than "K"s did yesterday. That's football.

[Beaney]

Oh, and by the sounds of it someone was filming the match! Did someone come forward?

[os]

Dec 13, 2009 10:14:16 GMT Beaney said:

Oh, and by the sounds of it someone was filming the match! Did someone come forward?

Yep, the game was filmed as I understand all ours will be now and the plan is to get highlights up on U's TV with a compilation DVD being available at the end of the season to offset the costs.