FL2: Hereford v Torquay United Feb 6th 2010

It's not just away from home either. Personally, given the way the Bradford home game was "heading" (we all knew what was going to happen, didn't we?) I would have brought on Ellis and gone three at the back when they equalised ... to make sure we got the point ... we went for the win .... and ended up with nothing.

Benyon was also booked for diving by the referee. Their player clearly took Benyon off his feet by taking out his trailing leg. Then the referee booked Wroe who, as was quite obvious to everyone else in the ground, was having his shirt pulled off his back! The first minute tackle was a little reckless but deserved no more than a word in his ear. Another booking was a tackle in which the ball was again won first. Those who thought Mr Singh at the Bournemouth match was bad should have seen this fellow! At least Mr Singh gave atrocious decisions against both teams….this referee only was unfair to one side!!! Calling play back for a foul and not playing the advantage when Zebs was through one on one with their keeper springs to mind!
Despite all that we could have played for another hour today I am afraid and we still would not have scored.
This is a young side that is very, very lightweight. The main worry now is that very soon we are going to run out of games in which to put things right.

I seem to recall DT making the comment (many times) that in a relegation dog fight (make no bones about it, that's what we are in folks) you need experienced heads amongst the young ones. At one point he mentioned that one of Thomson's crosses was ideal for, well I'd better not sat

Branston has been bought in and by all accounts is playing well.

Sills should not have gone until a replacement had been found - I think folk were saying this before Scotty broke his arm. Of he and Greavsie, Sills is missed the most.

Still disappointed.

Just back, having dropped my son back to Warwick University which told me was on the way to wales only 8 hours driving today

My only consolation today was listening to the radio on the way back and enjoying the victory over the Welsh. the coming weeks will be most enjoyable in the pub and in work ;D

I must say that I was very impressed with Guy Branston. (yes, Chelston you were right of course )

Not only did he win every header, he was a leader. He was constantly encouraging the young players including Ellis who wasn't even playing. He was in the ref's face to contest issues, not Wroe.

Wroe should be left to concentrate on trying to regain his form and hand the captaincy to GB.

Officials were the worst I've seen for a long time. I thought they were bad in the conference but these took the biscuit. If the ref wasn't bad then he is a cheat!!

No advantage deliberately played to stop Zeb on a one on one, Benyon booked for diving when we all know he is lightweight but not a cheat. Free kicks galore were awarded to Hereford when our player had clearly been fouled. Unbelievable!!

How the hell did Benyon hit the bar/post as it would have been easier to score.

Not a bad performance but a frustrating one. It is a fine line between success and failure. we are not far away from the net victory. a couple of additions will help, a striker (Ademeno) and a decent centre midfielder.

O'Kane played quite well but is one for the future

Now back to the bottle of wine to console myself

Well just back.......lovely drive over the severn bridge and up through Monmouthshire, bit of a culture shock when you get to Edgar Strret though!
Draughty, rusty, decrepid and unloved sum up Edgar Street these days, its been a few years since i last had the "pleasure" and it was a shithole in those days, its got worse!

A gluepot pitch totally negated Paul Buckle's (brave) decision to pick a young, lightweight pacy side that in the end couldn't compete against a totally mediocre but more physical, streetwise Hereford side.

Believe me, it was hard work watching this atrociously poor game between two poor sides played on a poor pitch in front of a quiet, almost depressed crowd...........on todays evidence we are a pale shadow of the team that went up last year, ok we've added some pace but lost the steel and physical prescence as well as the belief that we're going to get results.

When Hereford scored you could visibly see the confidence drain out of the side after a reasonably bright start by us.........it was another very poor goal to give away too and their first attack.........first Cox needlessly gave away the corner when instead of a routine, unchallenged clearance he completely missed the ball and had to scramble back to concede the corner.
When it was swung over to the near post a Hereford head attacked the ball while we stood still and the left winger Mcallum had the easiest of chances to tuck it away at the far post. A few minutes later the same player produced the only bit of class in the whole game when he skillfully created some space for himself in the box but his shot thumped against the post and out. I'm struggling to think of another chance that Hereford created in the whole match........yet they won the game in a bit of a canter.

We had our moments but you never once felt a goal was coming, O'Kane put in a lovely cross before the goal but Carayol couldn't adjust his body position when a tap in looked on the cards. Just after the goal Carayol crossed for Zebroski to miss-time his jump at the near post and the ball rolled gently into the arms of Bartlett in the Hereford goal.

We had a couple of good chances in the 2nd half both falling to Benyon. The first was when a superb Thomson cross evaded the flapping arms of Bartlett and from virtually the goal line, Benyon stretching could only head the ball aginst the post/bar, the second one came from a hopeful punt (we played loads of those today!) into the box, Zebroski jumped with the keeper and both missed it......Benyon was too slow/ too slow to react and instead of tapping it into an empty net, the centre half lunged to get their a split second before......and cleared it for a corner.

Poke had little to do.....but made hard work of it anyway, his confidence seems shot at the moment. In defence Smith was his usual efficient self, Robbo was ok'ish but was outshone by Branston who was commanding. Cox at left back isn't ready for lge 2 on this display, he had a torrid afternoon. In midfield Wroe was head and shoulders our best player and got stuck in well, although often guilty of playing the harder ball when an easier pass is the best bet, i thought he played well but he needs someone with some character and steel alongside him, the ineffectual Thompson isn't the answer often enough and his replacement after an hour today Mansell, can't pass, and is a headless chicken when played there.........he needs to go back to RB with Smith moving back to LB.

On the wings Thomson who played the 1st half just behind Zeb had a frustrating day but at least can create chances and is worth sticking with even if having one of his off days......Carayol, a major suprise and somewhat bizarre choice did little, his replacement at HT Stevens did even less. O'Kane may need to be played inside with Wroe to see him at his best, he looks a decent player to me, Zeb up front, chased well but little came off for him.

We are missing Carlisle and Rendell badly and obviously a new striker is a priority, as i can't honestly see the team that played today getting more than 10 points between now and the end of the season.

This is League 2, a tough, physical league often played on pitches like today and you can really only afford the odd lightweight player.........we've got so many now.

I totally agree with what Paul Buckle is trying to do with our playing style, we had to evolve after coming out of the conference, we all want to see a pacy, younger side playing good football on the deck. The major problem that i see is, that it should have been done over a longer period of time and he's been too impatient and is rushing through young lads who look like they will be decent players but aren't in the main, ready.


Meanwhile.....we've all got to hope that we can scrap a bit better than we did today

Cracking report Wigston.....it was worth you taking that pad and pen!!! Must admit on journey home we did struggle to find a few positives but the main ones currently are Branstons performance/talking and helping the youngsters. On the big picture we have to just stay in front of the bottom 2 but its gonna need a lot of nerve.
I have now seen 4 away performances and am getting desperate to see Wroe perform as he should.
Finally if anyone else in East Midlands ever wants to join us just pm either of us ==cos must admit the endless games of "I spy" that Wigston keeps requesting are making the journey seem very long ;D

It's clear that a few on here, who just a few short weeks ago, were almost "ridiculing" those of us who expressed our concerns on this site, and another come to that, are now beginning to realise that perhaps those concerns (and that is all they are, at least on my part) are beginning to grow in support (not the ideal choice of word, I accept).

Personally, I have been concerned since the start of the season. We failed to add to the squad in the summer like we should have .... you only need to look at Burton to see how they went about their business after gaining promotion to realise that we simply didn't do enough. In fairness Colin Lee (in his programme notes around Xmas time) said as much ... we simply didn't do enough to improve the playing squad at that time.... and now reality has struck home ... we are right in the middle of a relegation dogfight, with a young team that is ill equipped for the battle, I would suggest.

Unfortunately, probably because a few decent results (against mediocre opposition, it must be said) gave us a false sense of security in December, to the extent that we (as a club) felt confident enough to move on nearly all of our most experienced pros ... in the hope (and expectation) that we would have a "much better team in January" to quote our CE.

Of course , Paul Buckle tried extremely hard to bring in better replacements in January, but quite simply it didn't happen. But, it's a fact of life that the January transfer window is a notoriously difficult window to do business in, and of course there is the age old problem of our "budget" and our location ... but surely he knew that anyway?

Some might say, ah but it's all very well coming out with all this stuff "in hindsight" .... unfortunately, I wish I could say that ... but it wouldn't be true. . I am not anti Buckle, in fact I think we have got to stand by him a least for the next couple of months, but in reality if we do go down, then he will unfortunatley have to pay the price with his job.

It's time for all the "back slapping" to stop. Yes, we will be eternally grateful to the consortium for all that they did in saving us two and a half years ago .... but if ultimately we end up back in the BSP next season ..... where is the progress?

We have made a massive cock up in January, I just hope that there is still time within the next six or seven weeks to put it right.