Scunthorpe

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

I was saying to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago that December would be the defining month in our season. Unfortunately it falls in with comments made in a previous thread about attandences falling this team will never successfully bring in decent attendences simply because whenever they have the opportunity to actually achieve something they blow it!! In a matter of weeks we have crashed out of the FA cup due to a last minute equaliser, we have undone all the good work against Leeds by not turning up against Bristol and tonight we have crashed out in the one competition we stood a chance of winning, once again in the last minute. The team have no bottle and no balls to hold on in games when they are under pressure. Absolutely gutted tonight .........

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

When we equalised, I thought the least we would get was getting beaten on penalties! Under Ronnie, we've never raise our game in cup matches. OK, this was a tough one, but when was the last time we beat any decent side in a cup match?

This takes most of the interest off the season. This side is too inconsistent to challenge for promotion. It should be good enough to stay away from the drop zone, but Ronnie will need all his motivational skills to lift the team over Christmas.

Keep your fingers crossed. It's going to be tough.

 

[Ian]

Yep - everyones gutted. Ronnie is distraught. He believed we could get to Wembley and really set his heart on it. Wanted to lead his team out. Sadly, that's not going to happen this season.

Last minute goal again! Unlucky? You could say so - but when does that run out? You can't always be unlucky.

Like Ronnie said after tonights game, it's naivity on John Johnson's part, but that's what can happen when you play players with little experience of the game.

I was pleased he started with 4-4-2, showed he wanted to make a game of it, and we were doing OK in the second half. This aint been a good month at all, but we always lose it come Xmas time, just not usually this early!

 

[TheBunnyBellEnd]

Completely agree Ian , sorry to be cliche but you make your own luck. Conceding 2 goals in the last minute in two different competitions is not unlucky it is poor defending and sitting back thinking the job is done before the whistle has gone. We are in december and to be honest the season is now over........we are not good enough to achieve prommotion and we will not go down.......another season of mediocrity is on the cards. The problem is as i see it were do we go from here?

 

[SonkORLY?]

I didn't ever expect us to get this far in the competition, and I think to finish 9th this season would be a sign of good progression from last year. Promotion this season should never have been expected, and tonight we were narrowly beaten by a side 4 places above us in the league, away from home. I don't see why everyone is so generally shocked at how "badly" we're apparently doing. We've just beaten Scunny and Leeds at home in the league - ok, we lost to Posh in the FA cup, and Bristol at the weekend - but, what, do you expect us to win every game? Really?

To have conceded two late goals in consecutive weeks is irritating, but on the whole, we've a decent defensive record towards the end of games. I'm as dissapointed as anyone that we've not made it to the final, but such is football. Sounds like we had a good go second half, and I'm pleased Ronnie opted to play 4-4-2. Perhaps we'll see more of this away from home in future. Plenty of teams have been destroyed by Scunny this year, but we held our own and, without any cup competitions to worry about, must now concentrate on putting pressure on the sides above us. We're only a good run away from the top 6, and there's still a lot of football to be played this year.

Ian makes refernce to the fact that, in fielding inexperienced players, we're leaving ourselves open to making errors. It's true enough, but Ronnie is often criticised on here for not fielding these error-prone little critters on a more regular basis.

Sometimes you just can't win.

 

[Ian]

Sometimes you just can't win.

No - you never win as a manager! :lol:
No matter what decisions you make.

I actually feel it a bit for the lads and the manager. We can't complain about him starting 4-4-2, he made the right choice. They scored, we equalized, we were holding it together quite well.

We may have ended up losing on penalties anyway, but again, its the nature of the defeat. To concede that late on. You can't feel anything but disappointment really.

But these are the kind of games that are easily forgotten about, however it puts the fans on a downer because that really was our last hope of glory this season.

Ahh well ... onwards and upwards! [-o<

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Calm down, lads. We're ALL gutted, but let's not judge this team on tonight but look at the next three - very winnable - league matches. I still think we can make the play-offs (can, not will) - ok it's going to be tough, not pretty but we can do it.

Wasn't there tonight, but sounded like we did ok tonight. Also, we're going to get our best player back in January.....

 

[Boz]

I didn't ever expect us to get this far in the competition, and I think to finish 9th this season would be a sign of good progression from last year.



Ian makes refernce to the fact that, in fielding inexperienced players, we're leaving ourselves open to making errors. It's true enough, but Ronnie is often criticised on here for not fielding these error-prone little critters on a more regular basis.

Think that with the draws we had in the JPT, we would have expected to reach at least this stage. Progress in the League would be to be within touching distance of the play-offs. It sounded a better performance tonight than the gutless one at Bristol. In the past month or so we've had a defensive howler from Goodison and failure to convert chances by Edds and Shuker, all experienced players, which have cost us points or cup progress. Tonight, Kay missed a free header, which would have put us in front. I don't think it good man management to single out Johnson for his error, frustrating as it is.

 

[giantkiller]

thats 7 away games without a win now and we've only managed to score 1 goal during them games. sorry, but that aint good enough for the play -offs. Sorry to say it but mid table at best.

 

[Ian]

I think if were are all honest with ourselves, we know we are a mid-table side. No point picking out the odd games when we've beaten higher opposition. Inconsistency is our Achilles’ heel and gets us every time! You could argue we have been consistantly poor away from home though I suppose ;-)

 

[SonkORLY?]

Yeah, I agree. League 1 is very tight - give or take a few class teams, and a few ***** teams, everyone else is largely the same standard. As it is, we're probably one of the better of these 'average' mid-table sides; not much better than the likes of Walsall, and a fair degree better than Orient, though not to the degree whereby a match against a team of that standard is likely to result in 3 points if we're off our game. Last weekend was an example of this, I guess.

Supporters of Leicester, Leeds, Scunthorpe etc - the big guns - may well be able to rightfully demand a consistent stream of positive results. Simially, for Hereford and Crewe fans, anything other than a defeat is a bonus. For sides like ourselves - and indeed, the majority of sides in this league fall into this bracket; those who aren't really as good as Leicester, nor as bad as Hereford - a perceived sense of 'inconsistency' is bound to become apparent. That's exactly what it is to be generally mid-table - you win an amount of games proportionate to those than you draw and lose. If we finish higher than last season - which is looking likely - I think this can be seen as progression. Remember, when Ronnie took over, we had one of the most pathetic sides in L1 history.

 

[Dickie Johnson]

Yes - agree with these comments. We are mid-table, we know it. Someone has to be and e are one of many sides such. Main question is waht can expect. We don't have a suar daddy, we don't get large gates. But we're not having a Bradford moment (thank God) nor a Scunthorpe or Colchester or Doncaster high (well, recent Championship places anyway). So if we're neither up nor down which way are we going? Thankfully not heading downwards i think, but maybe stagnating or slowly improving. Bottom line, without cash or an amazing run of homegrown young stars being sold, we're about right as we are. Performances are all about how good the players and team are. I accept that. What I won't accept is lethargy. We'll see.

 

[Ian]

Every team struggles with lethargy mate. Even the best ones. I think it sometimes appears that way, but it basically comes down to skills and tactics. We haven't got the skills to get out of this division. I guess it depends on the manager and the players he has available to him. Currently, I can't see any way out, but we live in hope