Forrest Green V Torquay United 23rd Sept 2008

I couldn't agree more. When they were taking a corner he looked visibly shaken. He also doesn't seem as tall when he is in goal as he is when up front.

That said when we were on the attack he loved it. Even kept popping back for his bottle of water, just like a 'real' keeper. He seemed to thrive on the cheers from behind the goal every time he did something and more so from the "England's number 1" chants.

More importantly, you have to take your hat off to him. Volunteering to go in goal when your own place up front has been in doubt and then watch his 'competition' score 2 cracking goals. I know a volunteer is better than 10 pressed men but i thought he did a superb job and i hope that he starts up front on Saturday. I know there is no sentiment in football, but it would be very harsh on him in the unlikely event that we were to start with Benyon & Green up front.

I know she will and I also know a great place for her to practice her writing as for twisting me around her little finger, I'll take my chances as she Is a fine young lady who I had the pleasure to meet.

A very pertinent post TUFC01. I'm one of those who have been moaning about 'hoofball'. Just don't like it, don't think it's all that effective in the scheme of getting promoted. But hey! Who do I support? West Ham (my Mum does)? So, yes, I should get a little bit real. If we have to be ugly (OK, I am already), then sometimes so be it.

p.s. I am so jealous you were there. I was going down and then 'issues' got in the way! Pooh! And I can picture you shouting to the car window - get fecking in there! Great!

Okay okay. Stop it! Im sorry I won P.O.W but I can't take anymore of this torment!!!!!

Some valid points there and Would like to comment on those quoted....................

Is "football the way it is meant to be played" actually football the way it is meant to be played or football the way some would like it to be played?

First and foremost football is supposed to be played to achieve a victory,yet sometimes it will be played to limit damage and nick a draw...................witness OUR second leg performance up at York last season in the FA Trophy. If we had gone up there with a lead only to heroically lose the tie through expansively stringing unlimited passes together, how would we have felt?

There is a time and a place for all sorts of football, and no better example of this than last night when Grays had to battle with similar heavy losses to ours through injury (they lost three central defenders through the match) they "stuck to their passing game guns" and promptly threw the game away by getting caught in possession "passing" their way out of their own box and concede two goals to a Stevenage side that are now much better schooled in the art of closing down and defending from the front under the streetwise Graham Westley than ever they were under the more "expansive" Peter Taylor.

Now I know the ways of Grays new manager Wayne Burnett well, and am familiar with the way he preaches "pass, pass, pass" but always said the "beautiful game" he nurtured at Fisher would often get steam rollered in the much more physical and combative BSP and was only discussing this very point with Kevin Hill last Saturday.

Don't get me wrong, Burnett knows the London football scene inside out and will be good for Grays through his knowledge of good young talent that falls by the wayside from the academies of Spurs, Arsenal and West Ham..................good young talent that I can go along to Barnet and watch play the "beautiful game" in Arsenal reserve matches. (If you have access to Arsenal TV, watch it on there it is phenomenal at times) He will be good for those players he picks up through his superb ability to coach and encourage the sort of football they have always thrived in. But he WON'T ever win the BSP that way, and neither would we have won at FGR the other night had we not prioritised the need to battle fight and scrap for the right just to stay in the game and then hit those magnificent two goals.

The same battling and scrapping that Stevenage showed last night in fighting their way back into a match they were being outplayed in, battling and fighting the way Westley has instilled in them in a way that Taylor never did so that they to have now won four on the trot..

As confidence takes a hold in Paul Buckle's side, I've detected a burgeoning tendency to play with more composure and construct moves forward through retaining possession rather than consistently hitting balls down the channels....................and I re-iterate, that is coming through confidence. A confidence that has blossomed through the manager's patience with the players, the board's confidence with the manager; and some of the new arrivals now taking on board the need for extra the physical effort and commitment to standing one's corner that Paul Buckle demands when compared to their old bosses at FGR and York in the cases of Brough and Wroe to name but two.

I've been and watched Arsenal and Real Madrid this season already, I've been watching Torquay United regularly and I've also watched Wayne Burnett's excellent young Fisher side and I'm telling you................there's more than one way to skin a cat!

"Rank bad defending" which emanated from passes from the back being intercepted whilst the team were collectively pushing out.

Aldershot's game consisted of more than merely passing, they too demonstrated defending from the front; and they also knew when to begin constructing a passing move from the back and when to hit the channels as an alternative. Our last three away performances have not been dissimilar in style to Aldershot last season.....................constructive football comes with familiarity and confidence in one another. Loss of confidence and undue pressure is a contributory factor in reducing the "risk factor" and missing out the midfield.

Aldershot's goals against us last season both came from hitting the ball long and early....................one to the area between keeper and central defender and one from finding the channel in the right back position.