FAT 3rd Round Southport V Torquay 31st Jan 2009

Mark may not have said much and yes he lacks any training, but for once we got to hear the action, unlike so many other games on the radio, when those doing it get into a conversation and forget there is a match going on. Give me the way it was today anytime, than the ones where you sit listening, just hoping to hear any action.

Some people will say that we can now concentrate on the League.

They need to wake up a bit. There is no way that we will achieve a play-off position if:

1) We play as naively and lacking in creativity as the radio commentary suggested;
2) We persist with this ridiculous policy of playing with a slow target man on his own up front;
3) We don't get hold of a proper goalscorer who, by now, could well have ensured that we had reached the next round of two cup competitions.

This has to be a wake-up call for the manager. The truth is that the players he has at his disposal, despite being stronger as a squad than last season, seem to lack the tactical nous required in the games that matter most.

Starting to cheer up a bit now, but I can't disagree with this.

As hard as I try stewart, I really can't disagree with the points you have made, but the fact remains that we do only have the league left and only that now to concentrate on.

Will we be good enough? will we score the goals we will need? well we do not have the answers and can now only cross our fingers and toes.

I guess I must need to wake up a bit then. Because if there is anything on top of the league that we can concentrate on, it must have passed me by.

The league is the only competition we are left in, so how can we not concentrate on it?

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Not really sure just how much we would lose in the end, yes I know any Wembley game would have been a half decent payday, but winning the cup would not have made us a fortune. Compared to what getting back to the league would really mean financially, then the money side may not be so important.

Just back from Southport and still thawing out. A poor result certainly and we didn't really deserve much but score may flatter Port a bit, considering the last two goals. The wing was with United but the pitch was soft and soon cut up, producing plenty of bobbles, which affected passes and maybe us more than them. Same for both teams though and they adapted better. United started off with a packed midfield of Hargreaves, Wroe and Adams, making 5 if you count Mansell and Nico pushing up. Hodgie and Woods were at the back with Sills up front, Dsane wide left and Thompson on the right - he seemed to be wide much of the time rather than 'in the hole'. Southport struck early when they got a cross in from the left - not sure it was meant to drop low to the near post but their man Daly was quicker to it than our defenders, got in front of Woods and hooked it in from the 6-yard box. We spent a lot of time passing the ball about between our own pen area and the half-way line. Beyond that we either gave the ball away or played it long and more often than not the wind at our backs carried it to their keeper or out. I can only remember one shot, a Sills effort from outside the box which didn't trouble their keeper. They started the second half with three efforts from outside the box, surely the right idea in the conditions. Before long Carayol and Benyon replaced Wroe, who hadn't done too badly, and Adams. Thompson moved back into midfield, so we had 4 up front. We began to look more lively, especially Carayol. Sills headed in but it was dissallowed as the ball had gone out of play. The keeper took the ball off Dsane's head (from a Sills cross !) then quick thinking by Dsane got him in on the left and his low shot beat the keeper but was cleared of the line as we were about to celebrate the equaliser. Then Southport broke and scored again when our defence, either Woods or Mansell I think, let a ball drop behind them and Daly lobbed the advancing Bevan. Two in-rushing United forwards somehow failed to get a touch to a great Dsane cross then Port sealed it with a freak third. The right back hoofed a clearance from his own half, the ball sailed high in the air and, whether it swirled in the wind or Bevan lost it in the lights it seemed to bounce in front of the keeper and high into the net. Still, to their credit United pushed forward but when the ball bounced off Benyon and wide of the far post it was clearly not United's day. Hopefully the team will be able to put this behind them and raise their game for better teams to come. At least there can be no more talk of cup distractions !