V Chelmsford City 30th Sept A

[Irishadrian]

Chelmsford having a recent bad patch last 7 games 1 win 2 losses 4 score draws  After Chippenham no reason we shouldn't expect something imo

[Irishadrian]

Well that's disappointing We are out of the playoff group again and the 4 clubs immediately behind us have either 2 or 3 games in hand I look forward to a report from someone who attended!

[GlenSTFC]

Very disappointing after such a great result and performance on Tuesday night. We really shouldn’t have got no points from today and home to Welling. Hopefully we can get back on track v Salisbury after a morale boosting thumping of Maidenhead (who like to concede!).

[Irishadrian]

1 hour ago, GlenSTFC said:

Very disappointing after such a great result and performance on Tuesday night. We really shouldn’t have got no points from today and home to Welling. Hopefully we can get back on track v Salisbury after a morale boosting thumping of Maidenhead (who like to concede!).

Is that the Salisbury who just tonked HH 5-0 ?

[GlenSTFC]

1 hour ago, Irishadrian said:

Is that the Salisbury who just tonked HH 5-0 ?

Yeah but it’s Hemel who can’t buy a win (but somehow the manager keeps his job!).

[Reading Rebel]

We really shouldn't be surprised by our loss to Chelmsford.

This division is ultra competitive and when you have a small squad like ours it's pretty certain sooner or later you are going to pay the penalty.

We have suspensions, illness and injuries to key players and our squad cannot cope with those players missing.

I'm also sure this won't be the last time and is the reason why we won't be consistent enough to reach the play-offs.

 

Edited December 1 by Reading Rebel

[Holyport Rebel]

Thank God that's over.
Sorry Chelmsford fans, but when the fixtures come out in the summer, there are some games I look forward to going to, and others that don't appeal very much, and to me  Chelmsford away is probably the least anticipated match of the season.
(Especially when it takes place on the eve of winter!)
My memories of going to Croydon are worse though, and I never had the "privilege" of going to Gateshead in our Conference days which looks equally dismal, but Chelmsford is so unappealing.
At least we only have to go there once, the poor Chelmsford regulars have half a season there.
At least they can call it a home I suppose,, which in the great scheme of things means quite a lot, as we all well know.
In their favour they have a decent club house and at least the terraces behind the goals couldn't be closer to the pitch .
Travelling down on the coach, word went around that Charlie was going to have to be very careful today, as a booking would mean he would miss the big one next week.
After the disappointment of last week ,we then had two very tough away games to play, and I was concerned that we may lose both of them and go into the Maidenhead game on a bit of a downer.
That fantastic 3-0  away win at Chippenham put that fear to bed, and I thought if we got anything from the Chelmsford game that would be a bonus.
I got through the turnstile at Chelmsford having paid my £15.44 for an online ticket, saving me only £1.56 because of the booking fee ,compared to their on the day price of £17-.
Not much of a saving compared to their match day price, but something I suppose.
I headed straight for their programme kiosk.
When I got there I noticed a small sign saying
 " Programmes £3.50".
"THREE POUND FIFTY ?"  I said to the man in the kiosk.
In a friendly, joking way he said
" Yes, £3.50 but it has just won the award for the best programme in the league."
" OK"  I said,   " BUT THREE POUND FIFTY?"  
He then said in a friendly way that I could come back and tell him what I thought of it after reading it.
I handed over my whopping £3.50, and then headed for their clubhouse.
Inside, on reading their "award winning programme" it was first of all apparent that it was a double edition, covering both our game with Chelmsford AND their game v Boreham Wood on Monday Dec 2nd.   
So half of it wasn't even relevant to our fixture.
Also, inside it, it said we were playing In YELLOW shirts !!!!!
Chelmsford, we do NOT play in yellow shirts.
Farnborough do.
We play in AMBER shirts !
So much for their "award winning flippin' programme".  
Nearer to kick off the teams were announced, and it became clear that two of our players who performed very well at Chippenham were not in the squad.
Disappointingly  the new full back Kwadwo who played on Tuesday, had received a knock during the game and was to miss out.
Doubly disappointing was the news that there was no Dan Roth, ( or Dan Rith according to the award winning programme ), absent through illness. 
I thought about going back to the gentleman in the programme kiosk to point out  the faults in their celebrated match programme, but to be honest, I couldn't be arsed.
The game kicked off and the ball spent most of the time down at the other end.
Charlie worried us when he went down injured right after taking a drop kick which went into touch.
Thankfully after treatment he got up and to me seemed to be ok for the rest of the game.
One occasion when we got to the halfway line , John Gilbert made a silly tackle and to my eyes got a deserved yellow card, which obviously for the rest of the game put him at risk of receiving another one. 
Especially with the way the Chelmsford players reacted to incidents like this.
We would definitely not want John red carded at any time, but even more especially when numbers seem so stretched and with a massive game coming up next week.
Scott didn't play midweek v Chippenham, and having seen the photo of his ankle on the Saturday evening I would doubt if that swelling had disappeared completely by kick off time yesterday, but I wondered if Scott played because he felt there was no other option ?
When I was at my playing peak many years ago, playing for Barclays Bank Slough Queensmere branch mixed 7- a-side team, if my ankle looked like Scott's did last week, and I knew I'd be playing the following weekend against  Standing Order clerk "Big Bertha" of Windsor branch , I think I'd have  pulled a "sickie".
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, I got distracted thinking about "Big Bertha."
And did you see the size of those Chelmsford attackers ?
Not much in it between them and Bertha.
I often hear retired Premier League players saying that in their careers they rarely played when they were 100% fit.
And that's with all the money in the world to pamper these pro's to get them match ready.
What chance do our semi-pro lads have then, when they have a full-time job to do as well during the week ?

We on the sidelines  can't really have any idea what knocks or strains these players are playing matches with. 
On one of our rare excursions into Chelmsford's penalty area, we nicked a goal to go one -up.
Very similar I thought to the 3rd goal on Tuesday, great play by Slavi on the touchline, who pulled it back across the face of the goal for Sam to smash in.
Sadly we couldn't hang on till half time , and Chelmsford got a deserved equaliser.
Couldn't complain really.
Second half was a bit more even I thought, but two quick goals by one of their subs with 25 minutes left, more or less secured for sure the 3 points for the home team.
The Chelmsford players all through the game I thought were trying to get the Slough players into trouble with the referee, especially their number 6 and the number 16.
Any touch and they would go to ground for a free kick, in apparent agony.
The number 16 was particularly embarrassing, as in one incident when the game was halted, he stood in front of John Gilbert.
John raised his arm to wipe his brow or pick his nose or something , a nothing movement, and the number 16 went down pole axed, holding his face.
So embarrassing.
His team mates must surely be ashamed of him, it was so pathetic.
Soon after that, John was subbed, a sensible decision after what had just gone on.
I thought the new full back Noah had an encouraging debut.
He made several attacking overlapping runs on the outside of Chelmsford's penalty area which sadly came to nothing, but I thought he should be pleased with his performance.  
So we lost, 3-1.
Still, in my eyes it's three points out of six from two very tough away games.
I would have settled for that for sure after the Welling defeat.
Better tally than getting two draws and only two points !
Maidenhead next week.
I'm really looking forward to it, as are all of us.(?).
Delighted to see that the Magpies got their wings clipped 6-2 yesterday, and their captain got a straight red card.
Surely that means he misses our tussle ?
As someone else on here has eluded to, now only 6 sleeps to go.
Bring it on !.

 

Edited December 1 by Holyport Rebel

[Irishadrian]

Excellent report as always!