League Two Monkey Hangars v Rovers

[bigmart]

Exeter with late winner to close the gap on us, a bad night.

 

[Sparky]

Poor poor poor

It’s another away game where with our poor goal scoring record fine margins have cost us. Conceding penalties at barrow and Walsall, and an own goal today. Only three goals conceded in three games, but just 1 point from the 9 available.

First half we were mostly second best and their goal was not a shock when it came and they deserved the lead. We had a five-ten minute spell at the start of the second half and if Hemmings had equalised then who knows. After that it was a few half chances but nothing special. Another game where you felt we could have played all night and not scored.

The problem as everyone knows is one goal is only enough if you can guarantee a clean sheet and defensively we’re now making mistakes. Clearly missing spearing, OConnor and glatzel tonight, but we can’t say we deserved anything from the match. Hopefully OConnor is back soon as glatzel and Jay are both weeks away I think, but lots of work to do ahead of Saturday. Credit to the 204 SWA fans who made the trip up north.

Exeter putting pressure on the top 3 with their result

 

[bigmart]

We create very little and play the long ball far too often.
3 defeats out of 6 now, with some very difficult games coming up, need a win quickly now or our season is in danger of coming apart.

 

[Ian]

Pretty awful week and not a great one for Clarke either. Once Hartlepool got their goal, it was then left to us to break down a 10-man defense which of course we could not do. Need a turnaround on Saturday but with the injuries, I hope that doesn't dent us too much.

 

[MancunianWhite]

It is worrying that Exeter Northampton and even Mansfield can over take us with games in hand..

 

[Boz]

Second half was a bit better, at least we had one or two attempts on their goal. However Pools had a couple of chances to double their lead and we can't really quibble about the result.

Should Micky have made more substitutions? We actually seemed to lose momentum for a bit when Mcmanaman came on, but maybe a dose of Burton's raw pace or McPake's ball control could have got us back into contention?

 

[Ian]

I don't think the subs would have made a difference Boz. They packed their defence and there was no way through once they got their goal. Having said that, I don't think the attacking play was good enough anyway.

 

[drwhoman]

Too little too late. Should have been on the front foot to start with not when 1-0 down! I suspect that the half time conversation was not a pleasant one! Or the post match post-mortem come to that! They have to do better if we are serious about promotion.

 

[Ian]

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

A week ago, according to many, we were scintillating and about to run away with second place, but after a couple of average displays away from home the season is 'falling apart'.... Neither is true in reality, and there is still everything to play for.

I thought we should have got a point after an improved second half display. Hartlepool were the better side in the first period, but the back four had coped well with their pressure and they only had one genuine chance in open play, for Molyneux. We were not great by any means, bypassing the midfield too often, but we grew into the game midway through the half and looked like we were going to get to half time on level terms. However, a contentious free kick and an unfortunate (slight) error result in an own goal.

You have got to give credit to the players for the second half reaction, as we were completely dominant territorially and Hartlepool could not get out of their half, other than on sporadic counter attacks. However, a bit of anxiety set in and the final bit of quality was lacking, while there were some heroic blocks from the hosts. All of that said, Hemmings should have equalised with one of his two opportunities.

We have clearly been disrupted by injuries, and the absence of O'Connor and Nevitt must have screwed up our preparation for this game. There is also clearly a loss of confidence and a bit of anxiety in the squad. However, fundamentally nothing has changed. We are not being outplayed and teams are not scoring goals against us in open play, and the form will turn around again. It was completely unrealistic to believe we would not have a bad patch in the second half of the season; a number of our rivals (Exeter, Vale, Swindon) already have.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

It is worrying that Exeter Northampton and even Mansfield can over take us with games in hand..

They won't all win every game in hand, and we still have to play all three teams, two of them at home where we are strong.

A couple of weeks ago Sutton and ourselves had unassailable leads over Exeter and Mansfield. Things change very quickly.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think the schedule of six games in three weeks has also affected us. There were some tired minds and bodies out there tonight, and the schedule eases a bit from now onwards.

 

[ADD]

Just watched the extended highlights and not surprisingly there weren't many!
The Swindon game was perhaps an outlier given how suicidally they played it around the back and myself amongst others probably were guilty of getting a bit too excited with the arrival of Warrington and the return of Glatzel.
With Glatzel injured again and against poor sides scrapping for their season it is down to us to break them down and show quality - quality which MM admitted in his post match interview was sadly lacking. Like on Saturday clearly far far too many long balls and a poor performance.
Also have to question MM's tactics - seems pretty clear that he is going to away games with the intention of playing for a point with the hope that we can nick something - echoes of Keith Hill in fact. Dacres Cogley in particular is clearly under instructions not to bomb forward and overlap unlike earlier in the season which is again why we lack width. These tactics were working it has to be admitted but as RLC says above I also suspect the run of Tuesday Saturday is clearly impacting some players - notably Clarke who has now gifted 2 goals in 2 games. The only saving grace is that the teams below will have that problem when they play their games in hand and maybe a few weeks of Saturday Saturday will allow MM to rejig things and improve morale as these players are better than this I still believe!
Finally, having Mani and Burton on the bench and not bringing either on whilst moving Clarke up to CF at the end sums it up really. We desperately need Glatzel back.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I am not sure there is any instruction from Mellon for the full backs to stay deep. Both of them were very high up the pitch in the second half, but found it difficult to overlap because Hartlepool were defending so deep.

We are not playing for a point away from home. We simply have not performed in the last two games.

 

[Boz]

It’s not compulsory to have a bad spell, Forest Green don’t seem to have suffered one yet. Could also argue that Rovers have already had one losing home games to Northamptonand Sutton and at Mansfield when they were struggling.. I expected a bit of a wobble with the run of difficult games coming next, but not that we’d be entering it is such poor form.

While we played better second half, you can’t ignore Pools having a couple of decent chances to extend the lead. Maybe making fuller use of the subs wouldn’t have made an impact, but if we’re resorting to using Clarke as a makeshift striker, then surely worth giving one of our actual forwards on the bench a go?Given the games are increasing in frequency arguably we should be making full use of the bench for fresh legs.

While Clarke was totally at fault for the Walsall penalty, not so sure all the blame lies with him for the og. It was a well-placed free-kick into one of the corridors of uncertainty.

 

[bigmart]

It's not just the defeats in the manner of them that is the issue, we don't create much, rarely threaten and play long balls far too often.

The real test us now we are coming towards the business end of the season, we have been grinding out results until recently, we need to again as the odd game aside we are not a very entertaining team

 

[bigmart]

I don't think the subs would have made a difference Boz. They packed their defence and there was no way through once they got their goal. Having said that, I don't think the attacking play was good enough anyway.

But if you don't try other subs you will never know, mcpake before his injury was starting to look threatening were as mcmanaman has been largely disappointing all season

 

[Ian]

McManaman hardly had a touch when he came on but I think at that stage of the game it was not one for dribbling past players. Not sure about Clarke in the forward role, I know it's desperation at that point but is Mani that bad?

 

[Ian]

It’s not compulsory to have a bad spell, Forest Green don’t seem to have suffered one yet.

That's 1 team out of 24 Boz. The chances are you'll have a bad spell at some point during the season. FGR might not have had theirs yet!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

But if you don't try other subs you will never know, mcpake before his injury was starting to look threatening were as mcmanaman has been largely disappointing all season

McPake can't play just off the striker like MacManaman and the only other alternative up front was Mani. On Saturday we made all three changes, but there was no significant impact.