North Ferriby v County: Match Thread (07/04/2018)

Have to say after the home defeat to Nuneaton I though it was season over. How wrong was I?!

Now it would be a massive disappointment if we missed out on the playoffs.

Huge thanks to Gannon for giving the team (and us!) belief!

Agree that a settled line up is huge and Gannon being ruthless in removing the average (Walkers S and T, Hampton, Stopforth (admittedly he left on his own terms) and bringing in known quality Turner and Turnbull. During he run in we can’t be chopping and changing players and formations.

Come on County playoff place is there for the taking. EP hasn’t had a play off game for too long!!!

You weren't the only one to think that, HH - some fella on here was preparing for a 13th place finish!

Seriously though, it looked grim after that particular loss.  Knowing how many wins would be needed and not having won 3 on the trot, it was hard to foresee a run of six wins regardless of the opposition.  Only two well-funded FT sides - Salford and Harrogate - have had such consecutive wins this season so that puts the feat into perspective.  

Whether it's the new play-offs set-up, I don't know, but I'm guessing most teams and their fans are going through the same range of emotions this season, just in different orders!  Southport looked like they were play-off contenders not too long ago even though they had a run of no win in 15!  But now they've lost their last 3 and dropped away again.  Blyth have posted W17 D1 L18... a strange season.

saw an article about their new owner saying that they weren't sustainable at this level and he was hoping to swap their league place with another club that would be more central to hull and beverley...meaning ferriby would drop five levels into the humber something league. likely that we'll never play them again, but there are still a few (mostly older) hardcore fans there, and however tinpot a club i think it is, i still think the idea of being able to trade off their place to create something else is plain wrong.

so. part of the tinpot was that until a quarter to three, they only had one turnstile open, and a relatively modest queue swelled and swelled and it took ages to get in. looked like there were still plenty coming in well after kick off. no fires on the allotments causing smoke to drift across the pitch this time, but the ground is still tiny and ramshackle. the placcy seats in the stand down the side are the most bendy under pressure i've ever sat on.

the match started with county looking the better side from the off, but nowhere near good. can't remember the order of all the efforts on goal, but they included a low shot from dan cowan that their 'keeper stopped, a couple of headers over the bar, possibly one from clarke and one from oswell. we also had a low shot that the 'keeper blocked, and it rebounded to oswell, at an angle on the left of the six yard box. he side footed it and it clipped the bar when i expected him to finish.

the first half goals were a cross by turner i think, which oswell volleyed in from close range, and a lovely curled free kick from warburton into the right top corner. ferriby got themselves in good shooting positions a few times, but their shooting was absolutely woeful. hinchliffe made one good low save, but the rest were mostly into orbit. that said, their goal was a well taken finish - a sharp turn and shot across hinchliffe into the far corner.

second half their 'keeper made a good low save, clarke hit the woodwork with a header, and we scored with warburton played in, and calmly rounding the 'keeper to the right before sliding the ball in.

not sure there were any star players, but warburton showed two moments of quality, ball and thomas were generally good, and winter broke up play excellently a few times. i was pleased to hear them so much, sitting so close to the pitch - oswell, winter, and several others were all shouting constantly to position people. they didn't play well, but they did what they needed to do.

we were, of course, unfairly assisted as the elderly lady directly in front of me kept pointing out. she'd been doing variants of 'should be wearing a blue shirt ref' for much of the game, and when she said 'playing twelve men today', i couldn't help asking 'twelve men all season was it?' in reference to their 17 points and -75 goal difference. meanness aside, i hope she and their small group of hardcore fans don't get shafted by a chancer and a weak FA. she won't be going to stadium MK, i'm sure.