tonights game v Ashford

[dof]

Whats the real score.........according to twitter Sutton are 3 - 1 DOWN after 30 mins

[dof]

H/T Sky.......Sutton 1 Ashford T THREE...........not a lot one can sayreally!!!..Perhaps we can play the first team in the second half.!!!!!

[vern]

1-4 now - att 383

[fox]

2-4 now

[dof]

Final Score Sutton 2 - Ashford 4....awaiting the excuses now!!!

[garethl]

No excuses. Gifted an average Ashford side 4 set piece goals with not one challenge. Totally weak. Very strange game because they offered nothing from open play until the last couple of mins yet were leading 4-1 at one stage!! We'll go backwards very quickly if we defend like that.

[pault]

We had about 20 chances in the game !! - Fuxk me lads if you dont take your chances you dont deserve to win nothing!!!! 3 nil down after 20 mins!!! we miss JG at the back in a big way, The right back is not for me to be honest, Francis Quarm came on and looked good, the other lad Fraser didnt impress me either.

Any chance of signing someone that can put the ball in the net! we keep banging on about a 20 goal a season player lets get one

[rjg1983]

We certainly didn't deserve the scoreline, we were the better side in posession. Shocking defending from set pieces though :-(

[billy]

Disappointing night all round starting with the poor attendance.I thought 4 - 2 was an unfair scoreline. If Sutton had taken just one of three chances when it was 3 - 1 they would have gone in at HT with just the one goal deficit.

Gargan,six yards out and with the goal at his mercy someoned managed to screw a shot ten yards wide,it looked easier to score.Fraser had a reasonable chance but seemed more concerned with getting any kind of shot on target rather than putting his foot through it,then Hawes blazed just over the bar when he probably should have scored.

I still fancied Sutton to get a draw out of it but their fourth goal right after halftime made it impossible.

[garethl]

Still could have got 4 with all the second half chances we had. Their keeper also made a number of good saves to be fair. Sadly if you're poor in both boxes you get nothing.

I await the inevitable abuse re. the ref. He was atrocious but don't think affected the result in any way. Unsure how he ever managed to get to this level mind - outrageously bad. Only ourselves to blame.

[Andy K]

Well 6 goals, all from set pieces and a penalty. To be totally honest, Ashford were quite a good side and even when they'd gone 4-1 up they carried on attacking. Their defence was strong, and their stalwart keeper, Paul Burgess (who's been playing for them since 1990!) was probably the best keeper I've seen at GGL this season.

But the big talking point of the night was the woeful defensive performance, especially against their set pieces. It really was shocking. If we'd defended those well, I agree with the above that they didn't offer too much up front, but it really was a gift for them. I can imagine they will be going home tonight wondering how a team wanting to challenge for the play offs could roll over so easily.

Yet again the subs made a difference, Quarm had a solid game and showed his higher level experience today, Watts' freekick was a cracker, but the player who stood out for me tonight and actually gave us a fighting chance was Matt Hann who kickstarted our 2nd half bombardment tonight.

And yes, the ref was poor again tonight, but even the best ref in the world wouldn't have changed the fact that we gave Ashford 4 soft goals. I know i'm usually supportive but there are a lot of questions in my mind tonight about the competency of our back 4 - it wasn't even a makeshift one, with the exception of JG its pretty well our strongest.

I appreciate that we are not match fit after our enforced lay off and the fact we had to train indoors, but that's not an excuse to forget the basics of defending set pieces, which we did indeed forget in spectacular fashion in the first 20 mins.

Half of our matches are now played and we are on 30 points. We need a better return on that in the last half to have any chance of making the play offs - we need 40 points out of a possible 63.

[os]

Agree with Andy and others above the talking point tonight should be that defensive display or rather lack of it. Yes we created lots of chances we did not take and the ref was dire but we scored 2 and lost because we defender like a pub side. There is simply no excuse for conceding 4 goals from 4 set pieces without any pressure on the ball within and around your 6 yard box, the ball has to travel 30-40 yrds to get there and not to be challenging when the ball comes in is lazy and sloppy. The first and second goals were from feet a foot off the ground and even when I went to school the first rule is you don't let the ball drop in the box, its page one stuff. Where was Kevin and who was taking responsibility to get to the ball first on any of the 4 goals, no one that's who! If you cannot defend you will not win anything and tbh you don't deserve too even if you create chances and play pretty football which we do at times. I can't agree that Ashford were a good side as we should of scored 10, I thought their defending was pretty ordinary as our chance tally suggests and the reason it was only 2 was because of either bad finishing or lack of composure in front of goal.

3pts thown away tonight and I believe Ashford are now above us and must now think Xmas comes twice a year.

Sorry I was bought up on the old adage that you defend first not as an after thought, if you don't conceed you don't lose?

[markn]

I dont know if it really happened but it seemed to me that 4 balls into our box resulted in 4 goals against us. We never had a chance with that level of defending really.

Overall we played the better football but our final ball was clearly not as good as theirs. When it went 4-2, the Ashford fans standing around me were getting nervous and said that if we got a 3rd with a few minutes to go, they would not have been surprised if we got a point. Sadly, we never got to test their theory.

Quarm in midfield looked decent and lets not judge the other new guy after only his first game. The long unbeaten run will have to start on Saturday now.

[Burtie]

With all the midfielders and strikers that have come and gone over the last few months, I am really surprised that we haven't brought in a commanding, experienced centre-back to cover Goodliffe's injury.

AJ is a terrific full back but I always feel he's a round peg in a square hole in the centre. Not blaming him at all - but I don't think we've helped ourselves with our current defensive re-jig.

I liked Quarmo a lot tonight when he came on, and we certainly created our share of chances, but by the time the onslaught arrived in the 2nd half, it was too much of a mountain to climb.

[billy]

Quarmo ?