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Post by bringbacklenwhite on Aug 8, 2015 15:58:17 GMT
Interesting result - Barrow 2 Dover 1 - some away day journey, that !!!
375 miles north. (375 miles south would take you to Menton on the France-Italy border next to Monte Carlo)
Well done Barrow after the step up.
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Post by gazz on Aug 8, 2015 16:19:37 GMT
Sounds like lots of positives, it'll be interesting to hear from those at the game. Pure sound impressed with Rule, Thorniley and Gonzales in particular. Rule was class, as was Gonzales, really has something about him that lad. Good all round team performamce. Midfield was solid, really was good to see us not only competing for possession but also winning it more often than not. Things to improve on in defence, thought Roberts really struggled against their number 7. In truth we should have been out of sight before they equalised, but we got into the positions to score, so I'm confident the goals will come more freely with every game they play together. I have said it already I know but Gonzales really looks like he's got something about him, didn't panic and really composed holding the ball up. i struggled to put names to shirt numbers today as I never got to any friendlies, but that will come. We looked like we were growing with every touch in the first half, but came out after the break and looked poor in comparison until they scored, which seemed to wake us up a bit. There were a few avoidable scares still, but we managed to grab the all important winner to cap a great opening day win. Get in! P.S. Spent the second half with Sandy, Shrops and Fudgie up in UT2, it was good to see us grab the win with you, lads!
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Post by gazz on Aug 8, 2015 17:08:55 GMT
Also have to add how good it was to see Flynny on the touchline shouting orders when we were taking or defending set pieces etc. It really is fantastic to have him on the coaching staff, they can't fail to be motivated by him.
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Post by dudleyhatter on Aug 8, 2015 17:34:20 GMT
Cheers for the report Gazza
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Post by gazz on Aug 8, 2015 17:41:26 GMT
Cheers for the report Gazza I have missed out a hell of a lot to be fair, but that's only because I struggled to name most of the new team Ars and a few others will soon put that right though, matey.
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Post by ceefer on Aug 8, 2015 18:38:41 GMT
Really positive start to the season and great to see goals coming from the midfield. I have to eat my words ref the result predo. Good to see us commanding the midfield for long periods of the game and winning the ball back.
Boston should have been take to task more by the ref as there were some bad tackles in there. Think they got off lightly really. Godd also to see the spirit of these players - really going for it. A thoroughly entertaining game and a lot of noise from our fans. The players really deserved the send off at the end of the match.
Solid foundation to go on and grab 3 points this Tuesday night.
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Post by nonleaguereview on Aug 8, 2015 21:21:27 GMT
A deserved win and an outstanding performance. I thought the opening 20 minutes were shaky for both teams, but County really stepped up and could have been 2-0 up by the time they took the lead. After leading it should have been more by the HT break. After HT, Boston looked strong for a good 15 minutes, and following 2 substitutions deserved to be on level terms. However Garvin had a wonder strike to win it and what in the end turned out to be a fair result. Some really promising displays; Thorniley, Dyson, Rule and Gonzales all looked impressive and I was mightily pleased Garvin got on and scored the winner as I've been majorly impressed with him this pre season.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Aug 9, 2015 1:41:00 GMT
oh football, we've missed you.
so much positive anticipation this time around. even more than normal, but also tinged with the experience of 'yeah, we've felt positive before, and...'
great to walk onto hardcastle road at ten to three and see proper queues and lots of people milling about. lovely sunny day and a perfect looking pitch. it was absolutely as you would want the build-up to the opening day of a season, it was just whether we could avoid the sting in the tail for once.
the opening ten or fifteen minutes were pretty disjointed. after mostly decent performances in pre-season, county's passing was off. lots of good intentions, but pretty much everything seemed overhit. after settling into the game, the first big chance saw county win the ball back in the boston half, and glenn rule play jordan thorniley in on the edge of the area. thorniley beat his man, but then lifted his finish over the bar. we had a header from possibly ledsham or gonzales, which beat the 'keeper, but was nodded over his own bar by piergianni. county had a couple of other efforts from distance, but boston had a free header close in that was directed straight at hurst without a lot of power.
county started to push on, and after a shot, odejayi collected the ball on the left hand side of the box and played it in for glenn rule to throw himself into a powerful diving header from eight or ten yards, giving county the lead. we pushed on after that, and gonzales missed a morton cross which elicited an 'ooh' from the crowd, and then another a second later as the cross dropped just past the post. boston had an effort from which i heard the distinctive 'ding' of ball striking post, even though i couldn't tell visually exactly what happened. county were well worth the half time lead though, and the only disappointment was that we hadn't added to it.
my brother had worked until 2pm in buxton, turned up ten minutes late and therefore paid in through a cash turnstile in the cheadle end rather than go round to the ticket office. i asked the steward nicely and got through into the cheadle end to join my kin for the second half. mentally, it was the first time i'd been in there since that carlisle game in 2006. county started the half well enough, but boston then had a period of pressure for probably fifteen minutes including their goal, which was a bit of a goalmouth scramble with hurst's save only delaying the inevitable. they had a couple of goalmouth scrambles actually, but county rode out everything other than the goal, with hurst also tipping over a volley from the edge of the box. the balance of play then started to swing back to the royal blues again.
i was saying to my brother that sitting low down behind the goal in the lower tier, i didn't feel quite as involved in the match as with the side on view, but seeing county strike the back of the net just in front of us would more than make up for that. he then mentioned something he'd texted me about and i was looking at my phone when his shouted 'ant' caused me to glance up and see the ball about a yard out on a net-wards trajectory. he was able to reliably inform me that the shot from garvin had actually come from well outside the box, and he reckoned had started outside the post and swung in too. i will have to wait for the highlights for verification. obviously, cue goal mental...
boston had to try and come out more again, and that meant we could try and hit them on the break. winning the ball deep in our half saw a couple of long passes to odejayi who was wrestled to the floor on one occasion, and put in glenn rule on another. rule's effort was saved by the 'keeper, and his follow-up went into the side netting. county had a couple of other efforts, including one that colley put over the bar, while it wasn't too tense down the other end.
great to get off to a winning start, particularly with a couple of tough away games up next. thought the centre-back partnership of very old and very young looked very promising; the full backs possibly didn't get forward quite as much as i'd have liked, although that was probably because boston were no pushovers, and roberts, who has looked really good in the friendlies, had a tougher time today. glenn rule is involved in everything, and undersold himself as a water-carrier in his first interview, while lewis montrose had a good game and gave us a good platform. ledsham and dyson both carried some threat, the latter having a lovely touch and one of the game's better chances. odejayi is a handful up front, working across the line and holding up really well, and gonzales is also strong and positive. we look like we can affect things from the bench, with joe garvin's winner after coming on, and a decent cameo from lamin colley.
another great thing, apart from an opening day win on a sunny afternoon, was that from the queues outside the ground to the noise in it, this felt like a football league match. our big chances in the first half were met with more proper 'ooh's than i've heard in a long time, and the goals caused delirium. the attitude was so positive that players were applauded for trying the right thing, even when the execution was off. there were a couple of points second half where the regular groans were back at misplaced passes, etc, but this was a day for the believers - like county are back and today was a victory preceding the next one, rather than an anomaly before the next run of defeats. it's too early to be thinking anything, but it's certainly the right start.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Aug 9, 2015 1:44:04 GMT
good to see a match report from gazz! spot on with your assessment, even if you don't recognise them all yet...
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Post by gazz on Aug 9, 2015 9:02:56 GMT
Fantastic report, ars, as always. I knew you wouldn't let me down! One thing though. I spent the second half in UT2, the first time I've ever been up there. You spent it in the CE for the first time in 9 years, I think we need to do that again, we may just have stumbled upon something here!
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Post by bringbacklenwhite on Aug 9, 2015 9:43:09 GMT
Take care in UT2 - there's a thoroughly unpleasant chap who goes in there.
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Post by gazz on Aug 9, 2015 9:49:18 GMT
Take care in UT2 - there's a thoroughly unpleasant chap who goes in there. So I hear, but I managed to get out in one piece. He's like sasquatch but with a lot less hair, speaks good English though!
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Post by gazz on Aug 9, 2015 11:21:06 GMT
I'd also like to point out that for the first time since coming out of admin (for me anyway), a new manager and indeed a new season has got started without talk of Jim in the air, and although he's always welcome back for me, yesterday felt like the first genuinely new start we've had since we came out of admin.
It felt great.
Neil Young's Blue and White Army!
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Aug 9, 2015 11:25:29 GMT
not sure i can sweet-talk the stewards every week gazz, but it's worth a try if it'll help the promotion cause...
oh and i meant dyson with the first half shot over the bar. getting my evertonians confused.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Aug 9, 2015 11:27:00 GMT
I'd also like to point out that for the first time since coming out of admin (for me anyway), a new manager and indeed a new season has got started without talk of Jim in the air, and although he's always welcome back for me, yesterday felt like the first genuinely new start we've had since we came out of admin. It felt great. Neil Young's Blue and White Army! Spot on, my friend.
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