MATCHWATCH : Port Vale (h)

[Stranded]

Why have we played so many more games?

Is it because we are rubbish at cups?

Part of it yeah, some teams below/above us got further in the cups so had to rearrange their fixtures. Course some got some games postponed also. Sucks but all we can do is stay consistent and hope teams below us don't gain a lot of points with their games in hand.

Also mainly that we rearranged our postponed games relatively quickly whilst others have left it later. Oxford, Derby, Vale & Stevenage all rearranged for pretty much the first free midweek.

Means at the business end we are now mostly Saturday to Saturday whilst a lot of the teams around us have to play Sat-Tues-Sat.

The Bristol Rovers game will likely get postponed so we only have 1 midweek game in March & 1 in April. That is likely to br a benefit especially with a relatively small squad.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Happy with the result but a bloody shame the 12 year olds at the top of 1871 embarrassed us again by giving it big to the vale fans who are a credit to their club when the 2nd goal went in.
Cringe.

They unfortunately do that every game. They're just idiots.

Every fanbase has their share of dickheads. Ours are attracted to C1871 precisely because they can antagonise away fans. It is what it is, doesn't take away from the fact that C1871 has been a mostly positive initiative that has improved the atmosphere. Maybe make it an over 21s stand if you want to mitigate the downside.

[Stranded]

View on last night

Bright start for the first 5 mins or so but after that we seemed to struggle with Vale's shape - I think Selles said it was different than they expected mainly as it is a new manager. We did improve as the half went on without looking great but Ehibhatiomhan really has to do better with the free header or the shot after taking it down so well. We go in at 1-0 and likely pick them off in the second half.

As for the second half, Savage on for Craig gave us better balance against Vale's set up and we improved throughout the half - we created plenty of decent opportunities but either wasted them via a poor pass/cross or a terrible shot - as so often seems to have happened this season took a real thunderbastard from Wing to break the deadlock. Wing, Azeez and to a lesser extent Savage seem to be having their own goal of the season competition this year - we are very lucky to have a midfield with that ability.

After that, we always looked likely to get a 2nd and would have been great to see Smith get it but good to see us get a scrappy one. We probably should have at least got a 3rd but all in all ended up being a comfortable win, which sets up nicely for 3 more winnable games now.

[windermereROYAL]

Just a word on Button, what on earth was a doing punching that ball at the end there that my gran could have caught if she was still alive? simple catch into his chest, and they nearly scored from it.

[NathStPaul]

Just a word on Button, what on earth was a doing punching that ball at the end there that my gran could have caught if she was still alive? simple catch into his chest, and they nearly scored from it.

It's called a lack of confidence brought on by supporters such as yourself criticising him for everything he does. HTH.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Why have we played so many more games?

Is it because we are rubbish at cups?

Part of it yeah, some teams below/above us got further in the cups so had to rearrange their fixtures. Course some got some games postponed also. Sucks but all we can do is stay consistent and hope teams below us don't gain a lot of points with their games in hand.

Also mainly that we rearranged our postponed games relatively quickly whilst others have left it later. Oxford, Derby, Vale & Stevenage all rearranged for pretty much the first free midweek.

Means at the business end we are now mostly Saturday to Saturday whilst a lot of the teams around us have to play Sat-Tues-Sat.

The Bristol Rovers game will likely get postponed so we only have 1 midweek game in March & 1 in April. That is likely to br a benefit especially with a relatively small squad.

Agree - its good we've caught up with re-arranged games so early particularly as the international break will take a chunk out of the remaining weeks. Sat - Sat largely now will give us a big advantage

[Hendo]

Goal of the Season competition is going to be a difficult one this year.

Scored some absolute screamers.

[Stranded]

Part of it yeah, some teams below/above us got further in the cups so had to rearrange their fixtures. Course some got some games postponed also. Sucks but all we can do is stay consistent and hope teams below us don't gain a lot of points with their games in hand.

Also mainly that we rearranged our postponed games relatively quickly whilst others have left it later. Oxford, Derby, Vale & Stevenage all rearranged for pretty much the first free midweek.

Means at the business end we are now mostly Saturday to Saturday whilst a lot of the teams around us have to play Sat-Tues-Sat.

The Bristol Rovers game will likely get postponed so we only have 1 midweek game in March & 1 in April. That is likely to br a benefit especially with a relatively small squad.

Agree - its good we've caught up with re-arranged games so early particularly as the international break will take a chunk out of the remaining weeks. Sat - Sat largely now will give us a big advantage

Yep and if we win on Saturday (which if play as we can we should do - Shrewsbury have lost 8 of the last 12 as well) then we can sit back and watch next Tuesday's fixtures from a position of relative comfort.

27th Feb fixtures:

Derby V Charlton
Port Vale V Fleetwood
Wycombe V Cheltenham
Stevenage v Cambridge
Lincoln v Shrewbury

Of the teams at the bottom - surprised to see Cheltenham are on a 3 match winning streak and have a very favourable run of games - can see them pulling away as much as we look like doing.

[Stranded]

Goal of the Season competition is going to be a difficult one this year.

Scored some absolute screamers.

Have to have separate ones per player.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Also mainly that we rearranged our postponed games relatively quickly whilst others have left it later. Oxford, Derby, Vale & Stevenage all rearranged for pretty much the first free midweek.

Means at the business end we are now mostly Saturday to Saturday whilst a lot of the teams around us have to play Sat-Tues-Sat.

The Bristol Rovers game will likely get postponed so we only have 1 midweek game in March & 1 in April. That is likely to br a benefit especially with a relatively small squad.

Agree - its good we've caught up with re-arranged games so early particularly as the international break will take a chunk out of the remaining weeks. Sat - Sat largely now will give us a big advantage

Yep and if we win on Saturday (which if play as we can we should do - Shrewsbury have lost 8 of the last 12 as well) then we can sit back and watch next Tuesday's fixtures from a position of relative comfort.

27th Feb fixtures:

Derby V Charlton
Port Vale V Fleetwood
Wycombe V Cheltenham
Stevenage v Cambridge
Lincoln v Shrewbury

Of the teams at the bottom - surprised to see Cheltenham are on a 3 match winning streak and have a very favourable run of games - can see them pulling away as much as we look like doing.

Cheltenham keep going on these runs as they start getting cut adrift, but never finish the job and climb out. I think they may still go down.

I'd say Port Vale, Charlton and Shrewsbury also look weak, so it's probably 2 from 4 joining Carlisle and Fleetwood. I think we'll get 7 or 9 from the next 3 and simply not be in the equation.

[wally bassoon]

Happy with the result but a bloody shame the 12 year olds at the top of 1871 embarrassed us again by giving it big to the vale fans who are a credit to their club when the 2nd goal went in.
Cringe.

See I dont get this hate at all, they are just young lads, enjoying themselves, always had them, always will do, every club has them.
They will grow up to be loyal supporters, the Vale fans weren't upset by them, especially after they gave them a good clap before the game.

People do silly things when they are young

The only fans upset by them seem to be a few of our own

[Hendo]

Goal of the Season competition is going to be a difficult one this year.

Scored some absolute screamers.

Have to have separate ones per player.

Azeez and Wing have scored some of the best long-range efforts I've ever seen for the club in this one season alone.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Goal of the Season competition is going to be a difficult one this year.

Scored some absolute screamers.

Have to have separate ones per player.

Azeez and Wing have scored some of the best long-range efforts I've ever seen for the club in this one season alone.

Tactically it matters. At this level, being organised and compact can go a long way towards clean sheets, but with Azeez, Wing and a lesser extent Savage, opponents can't give away too many shooting opportunities from 25 yards or so. Makes us much harder to defend against. Plus they look green when they go in.

[RoyalBlue]

Just a word on Button, what on earth was a doing punching that ball at the end there that my gran could have caught if she was still alive? simple catch into his chest, and they nearly scored from it.

I lost it and called him all sorts of names at that point (doubt he heard though!). Had we conceded at that point due to his stupidity/lack of ability, we could've had an extremely uncomfortable finish to the game and possibly lost two points. IIRC it was more at face level but should've been a straightforward W catch.

To make matters worse, it seemed to be more of a palm slap away rather than a decent punch.

[WestYorksRoyal]

If we go on a run and look safe with time to spare, surely it has to be worth giving CBC a run? There is a lot of risk changing your keeper when the stakes are high (see Scott Carson England in 2007), but Button simply isn't very good and can't be the long term solution. But perhaps CBC could be?

[RoyalBlue]

This bloke on the BBC Berks commentary is superior to Dellor in every way.

Weirdly I was thinking the exact opposite.

I couldnt stand the pronunciations of Afeez, Mbengway, and Mawla.

He also got way overexcited a few times when a shot went miles over / wide.

Whereas Dellor and Gooding still completely misidentify players, despite watching them every game. And Dellor gets over-excited about what he perceives to be our manager's failings!

[Snowflake Royal]

I expect having the ball slapped out of his hands at Pompey may have factured in to his thinking.

It was a shit punch, but I'm not outraged he chose to punch. He was going through a crowd.

[RoyalBlue]

If we go on a run and look safe with time to spare, surely it has to be worth giving CBC a run? There is a lot of risk changing your keeper when the stakes are high (see Scott Carson England in 2007), but Button simply isn't very good and can't be the long term solution. But perhaps CBC could be?

It's unlikely to come before the end of March then, which IIRC is the latest that the EFL can hit us with points deductions this season.

[RoyalBlue]

I expect having the ball slapped out of his hands at Pompey may have factured in to his thinking.

It was a shit punch, but I'm not outraged he chose to punch. He was going through a crowd.

I think we may be talking about a different occasion because I don't recall him going through a crowd on the occasion I'm talking about (or at least not until after he'd had sufficient time to have easily caught and held the ball). For a big man he is, IMO, extremely poor in the air. And I still don't believe the ball was knocked with any force, if at all, in that Portsmouth incident.

[Stranded]

I expect having the ball slapped out of his hands at Pompey may have factured in to his thinking.

It was a shit punch, but I'm not outraged he chose to punch. He was going through a crowd.

I think we may be talking about a different occasion because I don't recall him going through a crowd on the occasion I'm talking about (or at least not until after he'd had sufficient time to have easily caught and held the ball). For a big man he is, IMO, extremely poor in the air. And I still don't believe the ball was knocked with any force, if at all, in that Portsmouth incident.

If we are talking about the punch in about the 87th minute or so, then I also have no issue with the punch itself but it was shoddy execution - he had looked pretty comfortable under high balls all evening so was a strange one.