Early Cobblers' thread
 

Can't restrain the anticipation for this game; I suspect the result could be critical to both teams.
Talk about tight! At the moment, with 6/7 games to go, there are 16 clubs (Pilgrims and below) that could (mathematically) get relegated.
And 22 clubs (all but Cobblers and Torquay) that could make it into the top 6 places. Unbelievable.
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After the manner of their defeat to Bury on Saturday, The Cobblers will be fighting even harder for their survival. From what I saw of Bury's goals, I can't imagine Northampton having such bad luck two games running.
Stanley will need to do what they do best, get ahead, and avoid getting drawn into a physical scrap.
Just wish I could be there because following it via Dan's web feed will be agonising.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Think Northhants should be under more pressure than our lads? I think that may work well fer us. After all they really need the 3 pts.

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Another 3 points and I will almost believe we are over the line :)

No doubt a massive game, will take a 1-0 with another Kayode scrambled winner please :D

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They've been our bogey team for long enough - time to redress the balance methinks ;)

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Agree with cash man.
Its essential they win, they are the team under pressure.

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ITS A BIG, BIG, BIG CALL TOMORROW !!!:alc:
We need to get right behind our boys....
Win the match and three points thus distancing ourselves further from the relegation zone.
:alright:
Lets all get right behind the boys and JB and cheer them on to success!:laugh8::laugh8::laugh8::horn8:
ON STANLEY ON
:signbeer:

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

COME ON STANLEY!:)

LET'S ALL GET GEARED UP FOR THE MATCH TODAY!:hehetable

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!:drink:

ON STANLEY ON!
:alright:

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Dont believe in bogeys, they are whats up yer nose.:D

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Or wear a uniform with a funny shaped hat!!

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Looks like Wilson still isnt fit, been a very stop start season for him.
Carver has done his knee aparently :(, out for the season.

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They were both training with the physio a couple of days ago...Wilson will be ready for selection after this week.

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The Cobblers struggled to get team coach on to Livingstone Rd this morning. Hopefully that's a sign of how their day is going to go :)

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They will struggle even harder,to get even a point today i hope.

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Hope you're right, Cashers. But I'm always wary at this stage of the season of a wounded beast. First goal, assuming there is one, will be important. Maybe a good day for Mr.Mingoia's speed to get him behind their defence?

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Simply for us the game of the season a win twelve points clear and a better goal difference and survival all but mathematically possible with five to play.

I do expect Northampton to fight like Tigers for that there are no poor teams in League Two it's been the most tightly fought League Two since we came back to the Football League.

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Nah mate its Hull that fight like Tigers, Northampton are a load of Cobblers.:D

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Same team as last week........

Bettinelli;
Hunt,
Winnard,
Aldred,
Buxton;
Hatfield,
Murphy,
Joyce,
Molyneux;
Gray,
Odejayi.

Subs
Atkinson,
Liddle,
Windass,
Mingoia,
Naismith,
Webber,
Bowerman.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Unfortunately, not the same result, though.
Is this why nature gave most Stanley fans eight fingernails to bite at the end of every season?

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Terrible performance, and we got exactly what we deserved - nowt! Completely flat with no serious threat on the Cobblers goal until the last 10 minutes after the long delayed subs were introduced. How JB kept the same 11 on for the second half is a complete mystery as Gray and Hatfield were in the pockets of the big defenders from the word go. I'm furious.

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I really dont understand how one week we can smash the likes of Chesterfield, Scunthorpe and Morecambe and the next we lose to Northampton ???

By the sounds of it the subs where introduced FAR too late??? Cannot understand why Webber and Bowerman didnt get on?? Surely its worth throwing them on when we have nothing to lose?? :(

York made a brilliant draw with Dale.... needless to say next week is looking rather tough!

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Typical Stanley...doing it the hard way. The officials were rubbish mind you, but that's no excuse for the rubbish we served up The quest for those three points goes on!

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Shocking game to watch today thought we looked very tired having said that if we hadn,t gifted them the goal 0-0 all over. Hope it,s a blip recover some gas for next week at York pressure on them as well as us would take a point.

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Apart from once i dont recall their keeper having a serious save to make, even that was curling wide, As far as i'm concerned putting subs on wi only around 7/8 mins to go is NOT the way to salvage summat, like Redraine i am livid.:mad:

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It's simple, Smudgie. We abandoned the high tempo pressing game which has served us so well recently. I really don't want to hear JB saying the usual "I can't fault the lads" after that show.

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Maybe we should play twice a week every week !!?

They cant be tired, no game since last weekend.

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The officals were usual standard, absolutely crap, But that is NO excuse fer what happened today.Northants were nowt special, but we were worse.:(

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Was talking to a Scunthorpe fan last night who said,besides us,they were the best team to visit them,big,strong,physical and well organised.
Looks like they did a job on us,so we just have to re-group and move on KTF

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Easily the worst game I have seen ALL season terrible performance by our lads, more hit and hope than playing to our strengths on the deck instead their 2 central midfielders lapped it up...and we had NO midfield bite.
When are we going to learn from OUR throw ins to throw it to ONE of ours and Keep possession we lose far too many of these ?
Absolutely no consistancy or style about us today, not good enough....
especially after so wonderful on the road in the 2 previous games.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Gray and Hatfield both worked their socks off with absolutely awful service. Personally I think the criticism should be aimed at the following:
odejaye - can't put more than 2 performances in once he gets his place back in the team, never won a header, took root in the middle of Northamptons half
molyneux - gave us absolutely nothing all day
back 4 - looked as though they had never played together before, gifted them a goal and tried to do it a couple of times after that. Also humped every ball as far as they could for a static odejaye and 5'-10" gray who needs the ball to feet or space.
JB - our set pieces are dreadful - hardly ever miss the first man and when we do hardly ever look like scoring, also game was dead after 55 minutes, 3 attacking subs required

Without Pierro or kal in the team we have zero creativity, with odejaye in the team we go route 1 all day and he goes from 6'4" to 5'-3" when he jumps

Havnt heard JB interview yet, but will be interesting to see if he trots out the usual drivel

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Can't argue that the Better team won we were poor

I don't mind losing if I see a performance but that was hard to stomach today

Shame as it looked like moe people in the Home Ends today won't be in too much of a rush to come back on that showing.

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To be fair just seen JBs interview - fair play to him honest assessment, credit to him I'll go back in my box

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Poor defending and a lack of emphasis on playing high tempo passing football is what cost us today. Chesterfield and Morecambe performances showed us what the benchmark has to be in order to beat teams we need to be fast out of the blocks and get pressure on the opposition.

The goal was a shambles by our defence, they just walked through our defenders and made it look very easy. Kayode looks way off the pace and needs dropping, would've like to have seen subs made much earlier to initiate change a lot quicker. Buxton doesn't look suited to playing left back and think Liddle should start there next week.

Without doubt the worst performance since Dagenham home game.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

After the horrendous error that meant the Reds were always going to play catch-up, and the mistake-strewn first half which could easily have resulted in a result being out of sight, I really hoped that with a gee-ing up of our midfield and positive use of substitutes that JB's
Strategy for a more cohesive second a half performance would materialise into something resembling an all-round team effort .
Sadly, this wasn't to be the case, and more of the same plus some resolute defending from a hardworking Northampton midfield and back four, plus the abysmal efforts of another inept trio of Officials, made for a missed opportunity to ensure near-safety and a dull match to behold also !.
Anyway I could be persuaded that this afternoon's non-performance was nothing but a blip on t'Stanleys road to success, and that another of their sterling away performances at York next Saturday will redress the balance .

PS... Whilst, as you know by now I am always ready to champion the rights and efforts of OAP's....I don't think that they should turn up at t'Storefirst masquerading as FA Referees !...and then go on to officiate a match !...as seemed to be the case again today !....and yes, he really did need to go to Specsavers....ASAP !.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Correct. I don't think that Adam has matched his early strong performances at right back and always seems uneasy on the left. I would prefer him on the right in preference to Nicky Hunt.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

as cashy says (Northants were nowt special, but we were worse)
as usual I applauded the reds as the trudged off the pitch at full time
and it was very evident to see the frustration and hurt on our players faces,
yes it was Northants day today but it will be ours tomorrow

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...just to add insult to injury, bumped into a group of Cobblers fans celebrating in a pub in Manchester. It's a hard job being a Stanley fan, but somebody's got to do it! ��

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Never mind bud can't really blame em. We will be next week, when we get summat at York, Can't play that poor again.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

cashman,
its nice to see you being positive despite a poor performance and result.
In the grand scheme of things, survival is all that counts this season after the start we had.

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Our three remaining away matches are against play off chasing clubs.:( Northampton continue to be a bogey club to us,let's hope they haven't inflicted too much damage?!

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The only way to see things Dav, is a club wi our finances, survival in league is always n achievement, even though we all hope fer better.;)

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Cashy, with some of the comments you make, my hubby says he is sure you went to the same Stanley training school as Mrs Smith (mother of one your old mates, Tony)

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

I'm afraid I wasn't as surprised as I was disappointed by yesterday's result. If there is one thing I know about Stanley it's that they can play their best against good teams, and play their worst against teams at the bottom of the league. So I'm less worried about upcoming games against promotion chasers.
As our friends from Morecambe know, every team has it's bogey and The Cobblers seem to be Stanley's.
By the way, given that yesterday's result appears to be Stanley's 13th defeat by a single goal, I'm hoping it was entirely down to bad luck.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

That's all right, we just can't beat clubs below us at home!! :D

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The flat, lifeless performace from the players can be excused after two long distance away trips andthe relentless fixtures of March.
What must be addressed however is any hint of "we've already achieved safety" in the camp. We could be dragged back into the mire and now is not the time to switch off mentally even if the legs are struggling.
I was disappointed by Beattie's lack of game management; no tactical switches to match Northampton's extra man in midfield (which would have helped the leggy Joyce & Murphy no end) and no subs until ten minutes from time when the game was over.
There's a great virtue in having faith in a team and sticking by them but sometimes tough decisions have to be made. I would have taken off Joyce, Hatfield and Odejayi not long after half time and brought on Windass, Mingoia and Webber. We could have matched their narrow shape and made chances with our quality through the middle - our crosses were abysmal all afternoon.
Hopefully changing a dying game is the next module in JB's football BTEC!

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Well, he has a lot to learn. He has failed to react in time far too often this season at home when we have been struggling to make any impression. We will never really know, but had he been more proactive I think we would be safe by now.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

I'm afraid the result gave credence, from a different perspective, to the old saying,
"It's a load of cobblers!" :(

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

Well, having visited my first Stanley game for an eternity, I can understand why folks don't come back [my reason for not coming was work commitments, but as I am now retired, I will try to get to every home match and a good few away ones as well]. Absolutely diabolical and as others have said, why leave it till last 10 minutes to bring on subs. They should have been on after half time. Odejayi was a complete passenger yesterday. In fact, it looked like we were playing 4-5-1 at home, when in truth, we should have played at least 4-4-2 or even 4-3-3 with at least 2 target men up front in Kal and Odejayi. First time I have seen young Adam Buxton and he has the makings of a great defender but needs to build on his fitness.
Again, as others have said, the officials were worse than useless, at times it looked like an all in wrestling match and we got nothing from it. I too haven't listened to JB but again I will believe what others have said about the interview. Hopefully though, will be at York next Saturday where 3 points are imperative.

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

As I don't get there until after half time for Saturday games, I actually watched the Grand National in the lounge first. At least I missed the more of the game than you lot, so I'm feeling smug :D:D:D:D:D:D

Re: Early Cobblers' thread
 

I agree Shaker..... add to that the poor performance of the referee and a clever abilty to exploit the rules in light of the ref's weakness by he Cobblers and it became almost impossible to get a anything out of the game. They were a big and rough/tough side but also played good football too. Odejayi has come in for a bit of stick, but in virtually every attempt that he made to head the ball he was being held down or pushed in the back by one or other of the two opposing centre backs. (Specsavers for the Ref and liners?... yes indeed!)
Having said that, I agree that on the field our boys failed to change the tactics to try to "get round" the problem. We needed to get the ball down on the deck, instead of the "Route One" stuff that we were constantly playing. We should have been trying to get behind their full backs with our wingers who could then pull the ball back to the penalty spot, thus taking "The Duke" out of the situations created. The Duke caught every ball hit too long, ( too many!) and nearly every cross and corner kick. Our dead ball kicking has not been good enough in recent matches, not just on Saturday. We need to resurrect the clever "Corner routine" used so effectively up to a couple of seasons ago. This would have been a variation to the hit and hope corners of Saturday! Also JB should have tried the subs earlier in order to effect a change in tactics.
Playing 4 - 4 - 2 with Big K and Gray up top allowed them to over run us in midfiled, where I agree that Joyce and Murphy were out run, out passed and out muscled.
Anyway, JB and the team will reflect on this and I am sure they will be up for the matches over Easter.
ON STANLEY ON:)