|
Post by lambethgull on Aug 24, 2010 21:59:02 GMT
Interesting to look at tonight's fixtures in the Conference, and the amount of fixtures involving ex-League clubs:
Crawley Town v Bath City Darlington v Grimsby Gateshead v Fleetwood Town Hayes & Yeading v Forest Green Histon v Eastbourne Boro Luton v Newport County Mansfield v Kettering Rushden & D'mnds v AFC Wimbledon Southport v Altrincham Tamworth v Cambridge Utd Wrexham v Kidderminster York v Barrow
I would say that seven of these clubs are arguably 'bigger' than TUFC. With ourselves currently sitting top of League 2 with a record-breaking defensive record, surely it's time to wonder what things could have been like had PB failed to get us back to the Football League in less than two years.
|
|
|
Post by stuartB on Aug 24, 2010 22:06:03 GMT
unthinkable, frightening etc etc
thank-you Paul Buckle, Paul Bristow, the players, the board and anyone else who deserves some credit for the most pivotal season I have ever experienced in 34 years of supporting the Gulls
|
|
|
Post by chrish on Aug 25, 2010 8:10:02 GMT
Interesting to look at tonight's fixtures in the Conference, and the amount of fixtures involving ex-League clubs: Crawley Town v Bath City Darlington v GrimsbyGateshead v Fleetwood Town Hayes & Yeading v Forest Green Histon v Eastbourne Boro Luton v Newport CountyMansfield v Kettering Rushden & D'mnds v AFC WimbledonSouthport v Altrincham Tamworth v Cambridge UtdWrexham v KidderminsterYork v BarrowI would say that seven of these clubs are arguably 'bigger' than TUFC. With ourselves currently sitting top of League 2 with a record-breaking defensive record, surely it's time to wonder what things could have been like had PB failed to get us back to the Football League in less than two years. I was going to go to the Hayes and Yeading V Forest Green match last night but chose not to at the last minute. It's 14 quid to get in there now. I might have missed a cracker, Forest Green won 4-3 in the last minute but it was only watched by 286 souls. For a BSP club it's really poor I think. They were more at tooting and Mitcham and at Wealdstone and they're two divisions lower. They also only had 20 fans to celebrate their 2-1 win at Grimsby on Saturday. Grimsby's forum "The Fishy" reported of that 20, only 2 were sat together
|
|
Rags
TFF member
Posts: 1,201
|
Post by Rags on Aug 25, 2010 11:11:19 GMT
Interesting to look at tonight's fixtures in the Conference, and the amount of fixtures involving ex-League clubs: Luton v Newport CountyI popped along to Kenilworth Road last night to check up on Toddy, as I did with Tarzan and Sills last season when I had the chance. I was rather impressed with Newport as a BSP side - probably not good enough to get promoted but certainly good enough to stay up. Luton played a variation on a 4-4-2 formation with a standard back four, three midfield players and right-winger Claude Gnapka pushing forward to support the front two of Matthew Barnes-Homer and Kevin Gallen. Newport countered with a 4-2-3-1 formation but altered it to include the classic defensive midfielder in front of the back four but with a creative, quarterback-type midfielder - the ex Man Utd youth player Danny Rose - alongside him. In front of them were a deep-lying forward, Craig Reid, and two nippy wingers with one lumbering striker up front. I think it was this imaginative midfield formation that over-powered the Luton midfield and shackled its creativity. Luton's width usually comes from Gnapka on the right and overlapping full-back Murray on the left but Murray rarely got forward in the first half at all. I had expected the mobility of Barnes-Homer and the guile of wily veteran Gallen to pull the Newport central defence apart but that didn't happen. Toddy took the right side of central defence, Warren the left and they marked whoever came into view. In the first half, Toddy mostly had Gallen to mark and dealt comfortably with anything that was offered to him with some very well-timed tackles and a lot of shepherding away from danger. Barnes-Homer missed a string of chances, with the Newport keeper making some great saves but apart from those Luton didn't threaten much. In the second half, Luton tried the aerial bombardment route and the sight of Toddy heading anything within 5 yards of him well clear of the area almost brought a tear of nostalgia to my eye. Remember Histon away in the play-offs? It was just like that all over again. Newport took a deserved lead after 25 mins following a five-minute spell of control. Their speedy forward play was creating holes in Luton's defence and eventually the pressure told when a corner was headed out to Charlie Henry on the left. He cut inside, taking the ball past a couple of players and hit a low shot from 20+ yards straight through the busy area and past the keeper. Luton equalised a few minutes later from a corner that wasn't cleared and when the ball bounced to central defender Zdenek Kroca, he turned to knock it home from about 6 yards. Luton were awarded a penalty with just under 20 mins left when sub Danny Crow was tripped by Rose but Barnes-Homer's kick was weak and too close to the keeper who made an easy save. I felt that Luton's performance lacked fight, one thing we know that you need to get out of the BSP. Apart from Keane and ex-Stevenage Drury in midfield, they don't seem to want to battle for the ball and this is certainly their weakness up front and in defence. They seem to expect to win by playing pretty football and almost as a consequence they give the ball away too easily. By contrast, Newport fought for every ball and despite not having much size in their team they were winning tackles more often than not Towards the end of the game when Luton began to panic and lose their organisation, there were times when Newport could have snatched the win but they somehow failed to realise this and preferred to take the ball into the corner to wind down time, from as early as the 83rd minute! This was even as they played the last five minutes with an extra man, Luton's Keith Keane having been dismissed for his second booking. Luton were the better footballing team but that alone won't win enough games at this level and Newport were very good value for their point. Their tactics were more imaginative than Luton's and were the reason that Luton couldn't swamp the County area and bully them into conceding goals. I was impressed by Toddy's leadership and performance and its good to see him enjoying his football. I didn't take any big lenses, so no pics from me, but if you want to see some there are a few on the Luton Town website including one of Toddy going in where it hurts: www.lutontown.co.uk/page/MatchAction/0,,10372~2133693,00.html One other point is that Newport's Kerry Morgan has got to be the shortest player I've ever seen - I reckon he's even shorter than Danny Stevens. A bit of rooting around the web reveals that Danny stands at anything from 5ft 1 to 5ft 10 (no chance ;D) and Morgan from 5ft 3 to 5ft 9. I'd be very interested if anyone has any definitive measurements to establish who is shorter. "Rothmans"/Sky Yearbook has Morgan (on loan from Swansea) as 5 ft 10, but Keane towered over him and he's listed as 5ft 9 from a couple of years ago, so that's not right..
|
|
|
Post by chrish on Aug 25, 2010 17:48:50 GMT
You're a brave man Rags. I vowed never to go back to Luton after the last visit in the 2004-2005 season. A horrible ground in a horrible town. It's heartening to hear that Toddy is playing regulary at BSP level. That injury winner at Histon still sticks in the mind.
As for the BSP this season. It's going to be close. I see Steve Evans is moaning about any other BSP club for refusing his bids for their players. AFC Wimbledon turned down an offer for striker Danny Kedwell. He's already spent £320,000 on new players this season and he's quoted today as saying that "We're talking about smashing the Conference record to try and get the right player in." and "We've found a third Conference club who say they won't sell to Crawley Town".
Honestly, what a scumbag.
|
|