Stevenage Game

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

I reckon it might get to about 11pm

Why do they play half an hour each way in extra time

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Why do they play half an hour each way in extra time

You missed the penalties off

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

You missed the penalties off

Oh gosh how silly of me
ya like your pound of flesh dave

[JC4LAB]

We froze on the Big Occasion..then so did Shrewsbury at Torquay ...Man U at Blackburn..Arsenal at Wembley cup final ..These things just happen to the best..

[football19]

Dont forget Stevenage have the best defensive record in the league,and bullied Newcastle in the cup,so 2-0 is not a disaster.
Thought the ref was also poor,he let go all the pushing and shoving,jumping into the man etc.. which turned the game into a battle.
Considering it was on sky,i would have expected a lot of this to be punished,as it spoiled it as a viewing spectacle,and the higher up the leagues you go,the less you see of it

[cashman]

Agree the ref was very poor, that detracts from the fact we were poorer.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by football19

,and the higher up the leagues you go,the less you see of it

You are joking arn't you

[lancsdave]

Originally Posted by football19

and the higher up the leagues you go,the less you see of it

Thats because the higher up the leagues you go they tend to have dived before getting near the man

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by lancsdave

Thats because the higher up the leagues you go they tend to have dived before getting near the man

You've been watching too many Portuguese and Mexicans in Red shirts Dave

[shakermaker]

We let Stevenage bully us, no doubt about it. I never thought I'd see a Stanley team so lacking in fight and hunger. We were not up for the game at all.

Moving on to the second leg, we've won 3-0 at home against far better teams than Stevenage this season, but we have made things really difficult for ourselves. The mental wall of being 2-0 down may be too much to get past for our young and inexperienced squad.

Feeling really dejected after yesterday. Could not have predicted that.

[Larry Lobster]

Originally Posted by Bernard Dawson

The pity is that some people who don't watch Stanley on a regular basis, but watched last night on telly, are judging the team on that performance. There a lot better than that, and I'm convinced they'll show that on Friday night. I would also stick with the same team for Friday.There the lads don't forget, that have got us in to the playoffs.

My feelings entirely. I've had no end of people telling me this morning that Stanley's performance was the "worst they've ever seen". A bit over the top perhaps, but i'd been telling anyone who'd listen to watch the match and view a pure footballing display. Just did'nt expect the "big" players to completely bottle it.

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Larry Lobster

but i'd been telling anyone who'd listen to watch the match and view a pure footballing display. Just did'nt expect the "big" players to completely bottle it.

Nail on the head yon Larry IMHO, lets just hope Lightening dont strike twice. whilst i'm very disappointed though, it dont detract from fact, no-one i know expected em to be top end of table pre-season, so whatever the score on friday night, the lads have had a brilliant season fer my money.

[Potter]

I was at the match and thought their number 4 upfront was excellent.

I still think we've got a good chance of going through though. If we're one nil up at any point Stevenage will get shaky...They won't like the pitch at our place, they won't like the Clayton End's support for the reds, they won't like the dressing room, they'll have in the back of their minds' that we are excellent at home, they'll know that everyone in the country will be rooting for us, their away fans won't spur them on....I could go on.

Also every Graham Westley side is ill-disciplined -- one season at Stevenage they had 13 or 14 red cards if I remember rightly -- and the one type of football where you can't afford lots of yellows and maybe a sending off is cup football.

Also what you need to remember is if Stevenage go into the match trying to defend what they've got, we will be camped in their half for the majority of the game. They can't keep hold of the football like we can, so unless they look to press us like they did at their place, which they won't because they're away from home and know that they're not good enough to pass the ball, we're going to make chances.

I think the key for us is to start fast. Whenever they're on the ball we need to close them down and stop the delivery to their front man being any good. We will score against Stevenage, so if we can stop their only threat - their physical front 2 - we have one hell of a chance!

My prediction is a 3-1 win for us having passed the one-dimensional Stevenage to death....and then I've no idea what'll happen after that.

Unfortunately I can't make the home leg - I live in Southampton now. But here's hoping for another big night at the Crown.

Harry Potter

[Stanleymad]

Going thro this thread reports of symbols & language as a mod I have to remove it, despite context of passion im afraid - can people curb it & express frustration politely as one gets it in the neck for not controlling the section as to forum rules, please see these at top of Stanley section if unsure.

[AccyAggro]

Second to every ball, they won every 50-50 and were the better side on the day purely because we played right into their hands. Trying to play physical against them lot aint going to get you no where but most of the time thats exactly what we tried to do, the very rare times we got the ball on the deck and passed abit we did look quite dangerous but that didnt happen no were near as much as we should.

Its only half time though, early goal friday and its wide open again