We still seem to have people on the message boards asking us to sign more strikers. Another three scored last night and two of them were from our front men. Boulding could have had another 3 goals from the game and Thorne was unlucky with the offside (although I had seen the flag go up immediately). We don’t need more strikers!

However, at the other end, especially in the opening 30 minutes, our defence was woeful. When will McCall realise we have better defenders at this club than M.Clarke and TJ? He says he watches the DVDs of the games. Does he skip the parts when the other teams attack?

Finally, another dig at McCall and his management team. Almost 5 minutes before Daley came off, he was clutching the back of his leg after a run. He then passed to O'B to run and instead of going with him, went towards the bench making a gesture about needing to come off. He clearly asked the bench to warm someone up. McCall and his team did nothing. No-one warmed up or stripped for action. Daley was clearly in pain. Instead, Daley was left on the pitch and had no option but to blast the ball when it came to him minutes later.

He was never going to continue after that, but I just don't understand why we didn't do anything earlier when he told the bench he had pulled something. I saw his gestures, why didn't the bench?

As someone said previously on here, a recovery starts immediately if given the right treatment. Leaving an injured player to hobble around for 5 minutes would have done neither us nor the player any favours.

Thanks for keeping our most exciting player out for 4 weeks instead of just a couple.

Waynus wrote:
We still seem to have people on the message boards asking us to sign more strikers. Another three scored last night and two of them were from our front men. Boulding could have had another 3 goals from the game and Thorne was unlucky with the offside (although I had seen the flag go up immediately). We don’t need more strikers! However, at the other end, especially in the opening 30 minutes, our defence was woeful. When will McCall realise we have better defenders at this club than M.Clarke and TJ? He says he watches the DVDs of the games. Does he skip the parts when the other teams attack? Finally, another dig at McCall and his management team. Almost 5 minutes before Daley came off, he was clutching the back of his leg after a run. He then passed to O'B to run and instead of going with him, went towards the bench making a gesture about needing to come off. He clearly asked the bench to warm someone up. McCall and his team did nothing. No-one warmed up or stripped for action. Daley was clearly in pain. Instead, Daley was left on the pitch and had no option but to blast the ball when it came to him minutes later. He was never going to continue after that, but I just don't understand why we didn't do anything earlier when he told the bench he had pulled something. I saw his gestures, why didn't the bench? As someone said previously on here, a recovery starts immediately if given the right treatment. Leaving an injured player to hobble around for 5 minutes would have done neither us nor the player any favours. Thanks for keeping our most exciting player out for 4 weeks instead of just a couple.

Plus, when thorne came on he looked far from ready. He hadn't even been up and down the side of the pitch, he just literally came straight off the bench. I was worried he'd then pick up an injury. I think Osborne had got up to warm up, but this was still a good few minutes after Daley signalled to the bench.

Mind you, perhaps Stu thought he was play acting - it wouldn't have been the first time on the night!

Waynus wrote:
We still seem to have people on the message boards asking us to sign more strikers. Another three scored last night and two of them were from our front men. Boulding could have had another 3 goals from the game and Thorne was unlucky with the offside (although I had seen the flag go up immediately). We don’t need more strikers! However, at the other end, especially in the opening 30 minutes, our defence was woeful. When will McCall realise we have better defenders at this club than M.Clarke and TJ? He says he watches the DVDs of the games. Does he skip the parts when the other teams attack? Finally, another dig at McCall and his management team. Almost 5 minutes before Daley came off, he was clutching the back of his leg after a run. He then passed to O'B to run and instead of going with him, went towards the bench making a gesture about needing to come off. He clearly asked the bench to warm someone up. McCall and his team did nothing. No-one warmed up or stripped for action. Daley was clearly in pain. Instead, Daley was left on the pitch and had no option but to blast the ball when it came to him minutes later. He was never going to continue after that, but I just don't understand why we didn't do anything earlier when he told the bench he had pulled something. I saw his gestures, why didn't the bench? As someone said previously on here, a recovery starts immediately if given the right treatment. Leaving an injured player to hobble around for 5 minutes would have done neither us nor the player any favours. Thanks for keeping our most exciting player out for 4 weeks instead of just a couple.

Starting to see things now,neither Sm or Wj could see or understand Omar's problem surely its time for an experienced number 2 to come in,the defence is more like organised chaos than anything else.Someone at the club has to take the bull by the horns and sort the internal problems out,on saying that we managed to get 3 points but we shouldn't have to make a come back to win the game,come on the powers that be get it sorted.

Scargutt wrote:

Waynus wrote: We still seem to have people on the message boards asking us to sign more strikers. Another three scored last night and two of them were from our front men. Boulding could have had another 3 goals from the game and Thorne was unlucky with the offside (although I had seen the flag go up immediately). We don’t need more strikers! However, at the other end, especially in the opening 30 minutes, our defence was woeful. When will McCall realise we have better defenders at this club than M.Clarke and TJ? He says he watches the DVDs of the games. Does he skip the parts when the other teams attack? Finally, another dig at McCall and his management team. Almost 5 minutes before Daley came off, he was clutching the back of his leg after a run. He then passed to O'B to run and instead of going with him, went towards the bench making a gesture about needing to come off. He clearly asked the bench to warm someone up. McCall and his team did nothing. No-one warmed up or stripped for action. Daley was clearly in pain. Instead, Daley was left on the pitch and had no option but to blast the ball when it came to him minutes later. He was never going to continue after that, but I just don't understand why we didn't do anything earlier when he told the bench he had pulled something. I saw his gestures, why didn't the bench? As someone said previously on here, a recovery starts immediately if given the right treatment. Leaving an injured player to hobble around for 5 minutes would have done neither us nor the player any favours. Thanks for keeping our most exciting player out for 4 weeks instead of just a couple.

Plus, when thorne came on he looked far from ready. He hadn't even been up and down the side of the pitch, he just literally came straight off the bench. I was worried he'd then pick up an injury. I think Osborne had got up to warm up, but this was still a good few minutes after Daley signalled to the bench. Mind you, perhaps Stu thought he was play acting - it wouldn't have been the first time on the night!

Appreciate what you are saying, but it is no excuse. McCall should have told Ossie and Thorne to prepare straight away instead of using his own judgement. McCall isn't (and from my knowledge, never has been) a physio.

I, like you, was worried about Thorne. He has been struggling with back injuries, yet was thrown on without any preparation/warm up. How poor management is that?

To make matters worse, McCall knew Daley had picked up and injury in the first half. On this fact alone, he should have known Daley wasn't "play acting" and should have had Thorne and Ossie warming up from the start of the 2nd half.

I am really annoyed that McCall's actions could have made the injury worse.

I think we should sign Steve Jones (until the end of the season if possible) to play on the right and offer a contract to Seb Carole to cover the left.

First things first.....Great day what with the season tickets offer, then the great fight back!! The last hour of the game was a real cracker!!
However I just cant believe how poor our defence is!
We have 3 defensive coaches at the club.....what on earth are they doing???
Come on Stuart get it sorted!!

Mind you its fun and games down at Valley Parade these days, long may it last!!!!

It may have been a "stunning fightback" in Peter Parker's words, but for me it was the epitomy of our season so far - a slow start, followed by 2 sloppy goals and us realising we need to and can score goals !

Why does it take a goal or some incident to spark us into life ? Surely we should be at it from the off ? It puzzles me !! Even Stuart made a note in his program notes about Sat and another slow start - can he explain why this happens ? Do they just think that we can turn up and win before we kick a ball ?

For me TJ is out of position at RB, he drifts inside too often - as was evident with their 2nd goal - although he should have put his boot in on Lester for the 1st instead of standing off him !

I thought when we went 3-2 up that Stuart should have brought Conlon/Boulding off and brought Ainge on at RB and TJ into rh mid to make sure of the 3 points.

We were lucky in my opinion to get anything from this game, however it is games like this that we would have lost last season therefore an improvement has been seen - but only slightly. Evans must have nightmares about being behind our defence recently - we need someone to come in and get it sorted out good and proper.

Anyway, here's to another 3 points and hopefully a win on Saturday in the cup for us to enjoy !!!

First of all, credit to the lads for not letting heads go down and fighting back to get the three points last night. I thought the defence was awful to start with but with the exception of TJ (who I don't like at full-back) I thought the whole defence improved as the game went on, star man once again for me was young O'Brien...

However, I have to question the comments above. I saw Daley go down last night on the touch line, he stayed down, he didn't call the trainer on, he got up and played on. Then, he went for a shot, he had to sprint to get to the ball and then he appeared to pull something. The physio came on and that was the end of his game. Would you rather have played for 5 minutes with 10 men, against 11 men at 2-2 with 15 minutes left or put on Thorne who is the kind of player who can warm up as he plays?

One has to agree with waynus BD6, Dsaley was telling bench a long time before he was actually brought off, then when he was Thorney was no where near ready, it was off with tracksuit and straight on to the pitch, not even had tinme to warm up i actually feared for the worse when he camne on, cold night, no warm up, I thought it would be certain for injury.
As for needing another striker, in my humble view we need to keep Boulding in his right position up front. There has to be a doubt about thorney and will his back stand up or has he to limit his sgametime. Willy Topp appears to surplus to requirements for whatever reason as he cannot get a look in, so that could put us a striker down and even more so if Thorney is out for any lenght of time

I thought last night we showed great spirit and it was a tremendous fight-back from a team that to me, didn't look like it had a goal in it on paper.
Not sure why Lenny thinks we were lucky? We could have had 5 or 6 by the end though I thought they were impressive up front.
As for bringing on Ainge and holding out well we just aren't very good at that as recent results have shown. Beyond me how we would want to bring anymore pressure on our defence - it was shambolic for the first 30 mins.
If I were Willy Topp, I would get on a plane and go home - appreciate there is little room for sentiment but the lad deserves a chance.
The constant poor starts need to be looked at - maybe the players need a rollicking before they come out?

seems we all agree on two things a very good fight back, and a very poor opening 30 mins from our defence matt clarke in particular. but this defence problem has been going on for a number of weeks and still hasnt been sorted out which is a worrying factor, now im hope,ing that by 12pm on thursday night i think it is. that it is the end of the emergancy loan window and we have at least 2 to 3 loanees in place. hopfully 2 wingers and a defender, no need to get any strikers in althoe you never know another striker might just be needed at a point in the last part of the season. anyway well done all the players and staff for another good fight back. CTID.

Meat Pie - I thought we were lucky due to the fact that Chesterfield could have been 3 up within 25 mins if ward's shot had not gone past the rh upright ! Then had Lester slotted home in the 2nd half we would have had it all to do again !
I think Ainge is a better defender than Moncur and TJ could have brought balance to midfield - i.e 4 players instead of 3 when they had just brought their No3 onto the left wing to expose the gap on that side.
Lets hope Sm gets some loan players sorted before Thursday night and realises that defenders are key in this division - point noted toward Wycombe.

Were the City defenders the only people in the ground who did not know who Jack Lester is??!!. What were they doing just allowing him to walk through the defence inside the area? That defence is getting worse not better. I don't think Wetherall is up to the job. Jacobs the former left back is interesting - how much is O'Brien's improvement down to Wayne's coachng? O'Brien was my man of the match yesterday. In any event Stuart cannot blame the injuries for the defensive disorgnisation. Stuart has to be decisive because other teams watch the videos of our games and will continue to pick holes in the defence.

Maxpowers83 wrote:
First of all, credit to the lads for not letting heads go down and fighting back to get the three points last night. I thought the defence was awful to start with but with the exception of TJ (who I don't like at full-back) I thought the whole defence improved as the game went on, star man once again for me was young O'Brien... However, I have to question the comments above. I saw Daley go down last night on the touch line, he stayed down, he didn't call the trainer on, he got up and played on. Then, he went for a shot, he had to sprint to get to the ball and then he appeared to pull something. The physio came on and that was the end of his game. Would you rather have played for 5 minutes with 10 men, against 11 men at 2-2 with 15 minutes left or put on Thorne who is the kind of player who can warm up as he plays?

Were you still in Bingley last night maxpowers83? Daley had a surge with the ball on the left side and run about 60 meteres. He then hobbled back towards the centre circle, the ball was played to him again and instead of a trade mark run, he just played the ball to O'B. As O'B ran forward, Daley walked towards the touchline gesturing with his hands. I pointed this out to my brother and brother-in-law at the time and we just watched with amazement that nothing happened with the bench. The physio didn't move, the players stayed seated and nobody got stripped for action. Daley kept looking over and saw nothing doing. The ball was played back to him and after running to reach it before their player, he cracked it first time. That is when he stayed down.

You may not have seen the original incident, but I can assure you it happened.

The criticism of the defence is not entirely fair. If you haven't noticed our entire first choice midfield is now missing. However these are supposed to be professional footballers who have had over two days to prepare and organise for the game. Sadly the players did not apear to know what they were doing and at one - nil down were still arguing amongst each other trying to sort it out. Some of the responsibility must rest with the management team. Yes they have had to adjust to the disruptions but it apears that to much tinkering in formations and tactics is often the case. We consistently appear to pick a team based on the opposition rather than our own strengths.Tuesday was exceptonal but i for one think that there was too much disorganisation on show. Well done on the fightback though which in part was down to Chesterfield not knowing whether to defend their lead. I was saying before the game that if Daley was ever to get injured we may be in big trouble thats even with a first choice midfield. He as been that imortant to our current positio in the league table. For me the beter teams ae coming through i.e. Rochdale and the likes of Gilingham who I thought were excellent, especially the effort shown, knocking o the door. Hence this is an important period and if we can survive still been in a decent position throgh to Chrismas will be a major factor i our promotion ambitons.
As for Willy Top he must have shot someone in the back room staff not to get a chance now. Last sason he had albeit brief spells o the right wing but can't get on the bench at the moment despite Osbournes non peformance away. The fitness is just an excuse and he deserves a run. Stuart stuck by Conlon, for more than enough for some, when lets be fair he didn't even look like a footbaler. Either give us an explanation Stuart (and it isn't because he's not good enough or in the glimpses we have seen does not put the effort in) send him home or on loan. Given a run I am sure he will do well and he is definately needed now.

dannbradfc wrote:
The criticism of the defence is not entirely fair. If you haven't noticed our entire first choice midfield is now missing. However these are supposed to be professional footballers who have had over two days to prepare and organise for the game. Sadly the players did not apear to know what they were doing and at one - nil down were still arguing amongst each other trying to sort it out. Some of the responsibility must rest with the management team. Yes they have had to adjust to the disruptions but it apears that to much tinkering in formations and tactics is often the case. We consistently appear to pick a team based on the opposition rather than our own strengths.Tuesday was exceptonal but i for one think that there was too much disorganisation on show. Well done on the fightback though which in part was down to Chesterfield not knowing whether to defend their lead. I was saying before the game that if Daley was ever to get injured we may be in big trouble thats even with a first choice midfield. He as been that imortant to our current positio in the league table. For me the beter teams ae coming through i.e. Rochdale and the likes of Gilingham who I thought were excellent, especially the effort shown, knocking o the door. Hence this is an important period and if we can survive still been in a decent position throgh to Chrismas will be a major factor i our promotion ambitons.
As for Willy Top he must have shot someone in the back room staff not to get a chance now. Last sason he had albeit brief spells o the right wing but can't get on the bench at the moment despite Osbournes non peformance away. The fitness is just an excuse and he deserves a run. Stuart stuck by Conlon, for more than enough for some, when lets be fair he didn't even look like a footbaler. Either give us an explanation Stuart (and it isn't because he's not good enough or in the glimpses we have seen does not put the effort in) send him home or on loan. Given a run I am sure he will do well and he is definately needed now.

Can't agree that the criticism of our defence is unfair. Yes, our midfield is make-shift and yes, we have had disruptions in that area of the pitch. However, to not be able to do the basics is unforgivable.

Lee clearing with his left boot results in the ball going high instead of long.
M.Clarke cannot play football if it is on the floor and uses his hands too much for my liking when the ball is in the air. Gives away too many freekicks, not to mention possession.

TJ looks good going forward but doesn't seem to know his responsibilities when defending. Shirks out of tackes/headers and comes inside too often, leaving the opponents left-wing free.

O'B (whilst being the most consistent) gets caught out at times when getting forward and regrettably, lacks height to win headers.

It is the basics that let us down. True, the midfield haven't been helping, but if you can't clear your lines or find a City player when passing, you can't blame that on the midfield.

Waynus wrote:

dannbradfc wrote: The criticism of the defence is not entirely fair. If you haven't noticed our entire first choice midfield is now missing. However these are supposed to be professional footballers who have had over two days to prepare and organise for the game. Sadly the players did not apear to know what they were doing and at one - nil down were still arguing amongst each other trying to sort it out. Some of the responsibility must rest with the management team. Yes they have had to adjust to the disruptions but it apears that to much tinkering in formations and tactics is often the case. We consistently appear to pick a team based on the opposition rather than our own strengths.Tuesday was exceptonal but i for one think that there was too much disorganisation on show. Well done on the fightback though which in part was down to Chesterfield not knowing whether to defend their lead. I was saying before the game that if Daley was ever to get injured we may be in big trouble thats even with a first choice midfield. He as been that imortant to our current positio in the league table. For me the beter teams ae coming through i.e. Rochdale and the likes of Gilingham who I thought were excellent, especially the effort shown, knocking o the door. Hence this is an important period and if we can survive still been in a decent position throgh to Chrismas will be a major factor i our promotion ambitons. As for Willy Top he must have shot someone in the back room staff not to get a chance now. Last sason he had albeit brief spells o the right wing but can't get on the bench at the moment despite Osbournes non peformance away. The fitness is just an excuse and he deserves a run. Stuart stuck by Conlon, for more than enough for some, when lets be fair he didn't even look like a footbaler. Either give us an explanation Stuart (and it isn't because he's not good enough or in the glimpses we have seen does not put the effort in) send him home or on loan. Given a run I am sure he will do well and he is definately needed now.

Can't agree that the criticism of our defence is unfair. Yes, our midfield is make-shift and yes, we have had disruptions in that area of the pitch. However, to not be able to do the basics is unforgivable. Lee clearing with his left boot results in the ball going high instead of long. M.Clarke cannot play football if it is on the floor and uses his hands too much for my liking when the ball is in the air. Gives away too many freekicks, not to mention possession. TJ looks good going forward but doesn't seem to know his responsibilities when defending. Shirks out of tackes/headers and comes inside too often, leaving the opponents left-wing free. O'B (whilst being the most consistent) gets caught out at times when getting forward and regrettably, lacks height to win headers. It is the basics that let us down. True, the midfield haven't been helping, but if you can't clear your lines or find a City player when passing, you can't blame that on the midfield.

agree with you about moncur. He chickened out at L***DS when it was a 60 -40 i his favour. Also he sometimes looks for a pass rather than 'bomb' o into the space. Perhaps this is also due to him been scared of been clattered. Overall tho he looks a much beter bet than Arnison who was frankly alful at best when he was playing. The defence overall are conceding goals most of them sily and due to a. bad clearances b. bad decision making c. not picking up loose balls from clearances i.e. the second ball d. backing off and letting them run at us e. lee going to ground whe he should stand up (this is mainly du to his lack of pace which is also the reson that Clarke is picked.

Stu cant play Tom clarke above his namesake due to him been on loan (team spirit and that)

ONE MORE POINT:

Is it me or do others worry that Stuarts friendly, matey, pals ethos to team spirit may affect his team decisions e.g. Wily Topp, and Bower may not be a favourites. I know stu has made brave decisions via selecion but their omission even from the bench at times needs explaining. Stu is a legend and this is just an attempt at explanation,

It's ok picking fault with the defence who were without doubt off the pace for the early part of the game but I thought last night our problems were caused more by the midfield.

I'm not sure what sort of system we were trying to play, Stuart said on the radio after the game that Tom Clarke was asked to sit in front of the defence, Daley had a roaming role presumably behind the front two which left Nix and Law in the middle. None of the four looked comfortable in this system, they didn't know where they should be and we were exposed out wide with the full backs left 1 v 2 many times. TJ was playing far too far forward for much of the game leaving a lot of space behind him.

That said, I thought Graeme Lee captained the side as well as he has all season and the players did get themselves organised better as the game went on. At 2-0 down we had been having the better of the game and it was good to see us not panicking, keeping it going and getting our rewards.

Congratulations to Baz on getting his hundredth goal. I feared the worst when he stepped up to take the penalty but pleased he proved me wrong and I'm chuffed for him.

Finally, credit where it's due, I thought the ref was one of the better ones we've had this season. The linesmen got a couple of offsides wrong but generally I thought the ref was very good.

The defence has been suspect all season, I think Bowser is better than M Clarke who as stated earlier uses his hands far too often. Our entire starting midfield is out injured and Willy Topp must have done some dastardly deed.But once again i have to look back to Omars injury, the bench must be blind, everyone saw Omar telling them he was injured, but no movement whatsoever.

I see "Woodface" hasn't explained his little out of the ordinary outburst yet regarding the season ticket deal. Come on fella, explain (or was it a wind-up?). Even "Shaun" was positive this week about the deal and 'recent events down at VP'. What is happening?