Today's game

[David Holden]

Sadly Yes.

 

IMO the first goal was down to his dithering when he had time to reach the ball and do something with it rather than watch Watson stroll past him amd put in a decent cross.

[carjam]

All the Gravesend Players played well. Not only that its the first time ive seen them win this season (and ive been to all but four home games). Hoping now for un un-defeated year at Stonebridge Rd.

[Richard C]

Just in reply to earlier posts about why we want Margate to go down. Well I dont to be honest, but its nothing to do with the club or players or kinnear or any of that, but the FANS. Margates fans have always stirred it up on here and that would be the only good thing about losing marget as a club from this league, their fans would go with them, just take a look at some posts on here!! Pathetic.

[Hempstead Gaz]

Copied from Margit's Confguide forum:

 

Agree about the bookings-utterly stupid and manager must take the responsibility for team discipline.

 

Financial aspect and will lead to future elongated suspensions, plus probably a £10k fine at end of seson for overall disciplinary record .

 

Buck stops and starts with the manager .

 

This is from one their OWN supporters. Tells a trained mind a thing or two !!!

 

See already this week, before today , on confguide we were nominated dirtiest team in conference .

Not a good tag to have .

 

Everyone in club seems to put their head in the sand,and show disrespect to other clubs, conference management, and fans .

 

A completely new mode of leadership and outlook on life is required .

The whole club is absurdly arrogant and unfortunately without justification, at a time when club needs all the friends it can get .

 

Its as though there is a malaise runningthroughout-the very strongest of leadership is required .

 

ied from Margit's Confguide forum:

[el.cartero]

 

I would have to agree with Richard C what a shame to see a club clearly struggling for survival being followed by some less that desirables, I avoid using the term supporters, because I feel that it is inappropriate. they no doubt have some genuine fans, with the clubs interests at heart.

 

it,s a shame when the poor behaviour on the pitch is applauded by those in the terrace, but equally it's not difficult to see why. if the manager lacks discipline and control then so will players and supporters alike

[Alan W (GNFC)]

McClements did have a poor game today, but I suspect that he would prefer playing at right back rather than on the left - ok he played well on the left on Saturday, but to expect him to consistently perform well there , is perhaps asking a bit much.

 

Moore was definitely my man of the match today - 2 goalline clearances plus the goal - who would have backed him to be the first Fleet scorer in both games this week??

 

Haworth and Abbey both did well up front, although Abbey did miss one opportunity to make it 2-0 which, potentially, would have given Fleet real breathing space - I think we just have to accept the good with the bad with him, though - his hold up play and ability to set up opportunities for others has improved no end, as his confidence has grown.

 

Haworth too, missed one opportunity after being set up by Abbey, in the second half.

 

Second half we were generally under the cosh, and I hope we have our defensive heads on, on Saturday, otherwise Chester could easily add to their recent high scoring record - I believe they have 16 goals in their last 3 games (albeit 2 of them against Leigh and yesterdays having 3 goals in the last 3 minutes)

 

Whilst not as fluent as Saturday's performance, I dont think we could expect Margate to lay down twice in the same way, and the 3 points was the most important thing to take from this game.

 

Next step, after Saturday, is to take 3 points from our following 2 home games against Halifax and Stevenage - if we can do that, we will be well on our way to reaching safety for the season.

[behindthegoal]

Most of these posts have got it right. Margate were dirty and could have got a red or two. We just shaded it but with the free kick on to the post and without the goaline clearance it could have been different.

Surprised no one mentioned the lino doing well to spot the Duke's goal. I was in the burger queue and was right in line with the goal line for a perfect view and whilst the ball did cross the line it was only just over by inches and it took a good decision for him to signal the goal which he did straight away.

I hope the Gits don't go bust but go down. Listening to Kinnear at the moment he seems to have nothing new to say anymore and it is hard to see where he goes from here.

Well done to all our lads as we have now shown the right pride and spirit for 3 games on the trot. If we can keep it up we'll stay up.

 

[UP FLEET]

After some of Sodje's Tackles during the game, when he pushed wilko into the net, in my opininion he was lucky to stay on the pitch , there was no intention of getting the ball, wilko had the ball already when sodje and another git player just pilled straight in. The whole game was full of little fouls in an attempt to stop fleet playing the football that steam rollerd margate last week.Card count says it all goals scored for and against say it all you lost we won , your not better than us , end of story, go home, oh you cant you havent got one ........good bye

[Graham S]

The 'Git were obviously obsessed with Kinnear's comment that we physically dominated them last Saturday & tried to stop this happening again. However, 2 or 3 of their players mistook constant foul play for good, strong, aggressive play & there is a world of a difference. Apart from the most obvious examples, Keister was right in front of me for the first half & he was constantly niggling & tugging. Could easily have picked up 2 yellows before half time.

 

I thought Abbey & Haworth looked dangerous together today & the tactic of pushing Moore up to support attacks worked brilliantly for the first goal. Ben did a classic Mickey Cotter, chasing a lost cause down into the left corner & crosses from behind a stretched defence are always hellish to defend. As we discovered for their goal, where we had plenty of time to stop the cross coming in. Shouldn't have hesitated, but then even most of the crowd were jeering ironically for a pass they felt was certain to run out.

 

All in all, we were patently the better side. Margate can point to the deperate bad luck where that great free kick hit the post & to two goal line clearances in the 2nd half. They could have got a point, but we were always far more fluent and consistently dangerous & I think most neutrals would have felt it a bit fortunate if they had taken one.

 

All in all, a fine battling performance from the boys in red.

 

Graham S

[Fleet fan]

wat a load of crap ur talkin i suggest u take a trip 2 ur opticians m8 and get them eyes tested.

[smithyman]

I think that we should actually give the ref and his assistants a pat on the back for their performance. The 'referees assistants' got virtually every offside right and made the fact known to the referee when they saw foul play. How often have we seen 'referees assistants' behaving simply as linesmen and nothing more.

 

I think the ref had a good game also. Yes there were a couple of instances when players could have been booked or sent off but I think the ref generally applied common sense. We cannot have it both ways, we moan when the ref's first instinct is the book a player rather than simply 'having a word' and we have seen refs give straight reds for what are only bookable offences and we have seen refs book players for 'nothing' offences. So let's give the ref credit.

 

Let's also give our players for the restaint they showed in the face of some of the dirtiest play we have seen at Stonebridge Road all season. The ganme could easily have got out of control and we could have suffered from the usual course of events - the opposition start the fouling, we retaliate and it's us that gets a player sent off.

 

Kinnear was upset about three of the bookings but made no mention of the ones that were thoroughly deserved. Perhaps we could have his view on bundling goalkeepers into the back of the net for example!

[Slartibartfast]

The Margate player who caught Wilko was a bit unlucky as it was a 50/50 ball which he had to go for..... but if he had got there first instead of Wilko they would still have collided and Wilko would have definately got a straight red, so he wasn't that unlucky!

[Rotten Johnny Shawcraw]

That was all I wanted for christmas six points from the Git, they really did look a poor side though, how many times were they caught offside?

 

I thought the ref did quite well although how the red card stayed in his pocket all game I don't know, certainly Sodje should have walked again, I'm glad to see the lino flagged for the second goal although it was undoubtably well over the line.

 

A Git fan I spoke to afterwards was adament that Protheroe went down clutching his face in pretend agony hence their constant booing of him, if that is true, and I say if, he can xxxx off back to Canvey, do we really want to see that sort of thing? That cheating xxxx from Accrington a few weeks back was bad enough we can't give him stick whilst condoning our own players doing it.

 

Moore and Abbey both had great games, lets hope we can win at Chester again!

[chilled out entertainer]

MARGATE DISGUST ME. I was at the halfway line, near the git scum and nearly gave myself a hernia shouting in disbelief at the filth that are, oates, keister and eeeuuuggghhh SODJE. I hate him so much it is unbelievable,he is an animal and a liability for margate as a team. And as for protheroe, don't even go there u margate loser. HE is a legend and the fact he went off at halftime says it all.I'm glad we got our 6 points off of you. You don't deserve tobe on the same park as us.We are no angels, but you are the worst.UP THE FLEET!!!

[Fezpian]

It was a hard game for sure, but I well remember hearing and reading about The Fleet needing to adopt a more physical approach and get stuck in and upset the opposition's style. There were games not so long ago where we played with a 'charitable midfield' that suffered readily from 'bully boy' treatment. We have now become harder and more uncompromising and have evolved to become a robust and more organised midfield engine. But an important aspect is that we have generally learned the limit to what is considered a bookable offence. Margate's game plan was to play hard and it nearly worked; they weren't that far away from a draw result but unfortunately for them, they picked up all those bookings. On the positive side they scored a very nicely worked goal where the ball just curled within play on the wing and was crossed accurately and met with a delightful finely timed glancing header. Margate were extremely unlucky with the free kick that hit the post. So called derby games always seem to produce a physical match. This game wasn't bad tempered; it was physical and at times clumsy. It was wet and slippery out there. The jostling of Wilko, a throwback to earlier footballing years, was just frustration on the part of a Margate team that had few chances. The other Wilko incident might have been slightly the wrong side of a 50/50 challenge by the Margate player but the ball was there to be played for.

 

Let's remind ourselves that The Fleet and Dartford shared an unflattering and infamous game in the history of soccer where all of both teams were sent off on a Boxing Day 'battle'. I believe it is recorded in the 'Guiness Book of Records'. I wonder what sort of messages would be posted if that happened today.

 

I have no problem with Margate. Good luck to them; they need all they can muster in these troubled times. But like Dover they always were outside the locality to call the match a real local derby. I hope that Maidstone get back soon to give The Fleet a proper rivalled local derby game. One day Dartford may be back but the closest it has come for years were the Canvey games. We'll hopefully have that rivalry next season.

 

Good luck to all at the club for the New Year. Finishing at the top of the part timers 'sub-league' must be the aim.

[JeremyJacobs]

Agree. Fleet v Margate is not a local derby. Once again Charles and I were exaspiated about the refereeing yesterday.

 

See you all in the Conference (1) next season !

[Ronnie]

Quote:

JJ - MargateFC said:
Once again Charles and I were exaspiated about the refereeing yesterday.

For slightly different reasons I would have thought

[Lager Top]

Quote:

chrisblanc said:
The ground situation at the fleet is fine thanks for asking slappy (apt name by the way).

Why is my name apt? I still can't believe some of the over the top comments on here about the game. Sure it was a tough tackling game and Sodje did bundle Wilkinson into the net and deserve his yellow card. So what! It's football not netball. People moan about how it is a non contact sport these days. But when we get a ref who lets a bit of tackling go ahead some of you start moaning. Still, as I said yesterday I enjoyed myself thoroughly.

ps glad to hear about the ground, last I heard was that Blue Circle were still involved. Looks like Dartford will be out of you hair the season after next as well. Their new ground is (so I have heard) going to be ready then.

[FleetFanatic]

Quote:

slappy said:
.....and Sodje did bundle Wilkinson into the net and deserve his yellow card.

Actually he should have received a red for kicking Wilko when Wilko was lying on the ground in the goal. Disgraceful behaviour right in front of 'us' behind the goal.

[David Holden]

Quote:

ps glad to hear about the ground, last I heard was that Blue Circle were still involved

 

Blue Circle haven't been involved for some 5 years now ever since they were taken over by LaFarge.