Welling Game

[Dusty Lynfield]

Here's hoping for a good turn-out. I've done my bit inviting parents and players from my son's football club to attend etc...
Reading in the Chron, it sounds like Morton will be back fit, but I hope that Jerry sticks with Frankie as the "pivot" tomorrow. I think we all know how a Steve King side will play (physical, gamesmanship, on referee's back re every decision, etc...) so we will need all the players to stand up for themselves and not get sucked into their shennanigans.
I have a lot of time for Morton and while he has a great passing range to get moves going (particularly against bottom-half teams), I think he may leave the centre-backs a bit exposed in the type of game I expect tomorrow.
Having said all this - Frankie can sometimes be rash with a tackle and will need to keep a cool head too...so what do I know!

[SteveS]

I think that is a pretty good description of what to expect from Welling. If past King teams are anything to go by then I think they will aim to break play up, niggle, frustrate and intimidate the ref.
It would be nice to have a strong ref who would stand up to them but not hopeful.

[yuffie]

Here's hoping for a good turn-out.  I've done my bit inviting parents and players from my son's football club to attend etc...

You might want to buy a programme (assuming you don't normally)

[Dusty Lynfield]

Always buy a programme....may end up buying a dozen, if your unsubtle hint is what I think it might be!

[Luton Roman]

Disappointing performance against a good team who had clearly done their homework on us.

[Dusty Lynfield]

Very disappointed today, despite the programme(!)
I really didn’t think that Welling were that special, apart from their number 7, and after my previous post about Welling and “Whithawkish” antics, I didn’t think they were that bad compared with Steve King teams we’ve encountered previously.
We were out of the traps really slowly and while we picked up in the second half, we were beaten to the second ball every time. On the terraces we were calling out for Frankie rather than Matt Richards, whose years appeared to have well and truly have caught up with him. I understand from Comrade’s post on another thread that Frankie was injured, but why was he then listed as a sub?
We still seem to be at that stage where we struggle to beat a fellow play-off contender. Sorry if I’m sounding too negative, as I still think the club are making great strides on and of the pitch. Huge well done to everyone who worked to get over 1500 through the gate.....shame we never seem to perform in front of a big crowd though. Got a couple of games that should give us an opportunity to get back into the winning groove before another tough league game against Welling....hope Frankie is back by then.

[comrade powell]

With the possible exception of Dulwich's first half performance at Twerton, I thought Welling were the best team we have faced so far. Looking forward to the return there in April which should decide the title!

[2weirdtown]

Welling looked like a good side to me.  Strong, well organised, chased everything and moved the ball well.  A good measure of what we'd be competing with if City were to get promoted.
For me, a good cup run is the priority due to the prize money which has been markedly increased this season and also the TV money/big gates, should we progress past the qualifiers.

[Dusty Lynfield]

Correction to my message re next league games - St Albans away, then Billericay at home, followed by Woking away.....ouch!

[SteveS]

Very well done to all those who worked so hard to get a big crowd in today. On the pitch it was very disappointing and it seemed to me a case of Jerry Gill 0 Steve King 2.
I don't particularly like SK but he knows this league and did a job on us today. We have had some good results at home but it was against poor sides such as Gloucester and Hungerford who allowed us to play the way we want, Welling didn't and they certainly deserved to win on the day.
We are only set up to play one way and that is fine against the weaker sides but not against the better ones, there does not seem to be a plan B.
I have always felt we need the Adie Harris type player in midfield to give us another option, we certainly needed someone today who could win the ball and enjoys the face to face tussle as Adie always did.
I see us an upper mid table / possible edge of play off team but no more at the moment. Fair play to Welling, not so many antics as I was expecting and they should easily make the play offs. As for us, plenty for JG to think about.

[stillmanjunior]

Just one of those days where we came up against a better side. I'd say that's the best opposition we've seen since at Twerton Chippenham blew us away last year, when we were abject. Whilst we didn't play particularly well, we have to accept that across 50-odd matches this season, there will be some where you just can't get the better of who's in front of you. Welling had a bit of everything, they were quick, tricky, solid (defensively they were immense), could play it around and go long when needed. And they have the resources to do it - their top scorer (Kiernan) is out injured, as is Goldberg, another handy forward. They could even afford to leave Coombes on the bench all game, who could walk into most teams in this league. Therein lies the difference - our subs bench was made up of two injured players, Welling had some star performers missing and still had enough in their locker. Whether this is down to King overspending (again) or not, it's something we can't compete with.

I think Richards is a perfectly good player, but is clearly so short of match practise, as expected. I think he'd played 45 minutes across 11 matches going into this game.

It makes next week's game so vital as hopefully some funds from the cup run will be used to bring in one or two bodies. Whilst the tightness of the squad is fantastic and until today we've been lucky injury wise, we can't get through an entire season with this amount of players on the books. Praying Rigg manages to shake off his knock.

It's a tad frustrating that so many of these games where there's a big promotion etc are the ones where we don't get a positive result. Biggest home league crowd since the Grimsby game in March 2011. Fortunately, a lot seemed to still be giving praise afterwards and realised that it's a setback, not a season-defining result. We have enough to turn it around, I'm sure of it, but we will really need to be at our best to pick up a lot of points in October, as we have a very tricky run. You can probably get away with not firing on all cylinders against Hungerford etc, but not Billericay and Woking.

[tovid]

I am not so downhearted because Welling are quite clearly a good side. They were just too big strong and quick for us. It was not a game where we wanted to have two players who have hardly played this season in the middle of the park. Smith and Richards. That may be the result of injuries and can't be helped but we basically lost it in the middle. When defenders had the ball they had no out in midfield and were constantly trying to hit strikers with dirty great lumps jostling them from behind.
The solution would have been to get it out wide but our build up was so cumbersome that the wide option never bore fruit.
To be honest the game panned out pretty much as I expected. We have quality on the ball but no ruggedness.As Steve says we need an enforcer in midfield, for games like this. Thank goodness not many of the teams will be as grisly as Welling.

[bonzo dog]

I don't think welling were that special either. apart from their two goals can't really remember a real threat against us. We on the other hand just didn't look at the races today. Mills lined himself up rather than let instincts take over.
I gather we had a few injuries to cope with - maybe JG can tap up a few loans to cover the gaps...

[Marc Monitor]

Sometimes, it is comforting to play absolutely crap and get beaten for it. It's not rocket surgery and there is literally is no mystery to it. To be honest, Welling came for a 0-0, would have been happy for that result but we gifted them the two goals. I can't think of a player that had a good game today. Joe Raynes probably deserved the MOTM as he tried hard in both positions he played. Indeed, there was a fair few players who tried hard today - Joe, Ross, Adam - but just nothing came off for them. A fair few players had 'mares. Due to injuries, I think that Jerry had to put out who he could and, when we went 1-0 behind and were chasing the game, tried a couple of things which didn't work. Joe Raynes' natural position may be central midfield but he hadn't had enough games there top play in that position today; Amankwaah just hasn't had enough game time to play against a top side like Welling; the Brunt/Mills partnership just didn't work again; Richards playing didn't work out as envisaged and Tom Smith also hasn't had enough game time.

It's not a huge disaster, it's just a bad day at the office. It's a real shame that it was infant of a massive crowd but 'twas always thus for Community games and, hopefully, people will have enjoyed the event - if not the football - and, let's be honest, that is what football is about really. We have had a wake-up call about the different between teams who are genuinely going for automatic promotion and those who, possibly, the play-offs are the target. I didn't think that Welling were too bad for a Steve King side. They chased us down all over the park, their number 10 was all over the place (hence the first goal) and the number 7 was awesome. OK, they were rolling around like goodness knows what but they were a pretty good side.

The one thing I think is that there are enough ex-professionals in that dressing room along with chopsy players like Stearn that Jerry shouldn't have even had to have a go at them at the end as they were sorting it out themselves. As the saying goes, "we go again" next week in a game that is extremely important.

[comrade powell]

OK, they were rolling around like goodness knows what but they were a pretty good side.

Presumably you aren't a student of the Steve King School of Football. Compared to some of his teams of the past who have visited us, Welling were angels!

[tovid]

Was this because the referee wasn't buying any of it. They kept trying to intimidate him but he handled them very well.
I thought he was the best ref we have had this season.

[LB]

Agree with much of what has been said above - sometimes you just have to accept that you were beaten by the better team on the day. From Jerry’s post match comments he has clearly accepted it as a bit of a ‘reality check’ and will no doubt take the lessons on board.

The injuries to Frankie and Watto explain why we started with Matt Richards and Tom Smith when they had hardly played a game between them this season. I can’t recall Tom Smith ever being so anonymous in a game and I am sure he would have been taken off if there had been anyone to replace him.

As others have commented, it does seem that we reserve our poorest performances for days when we have big crowds. Hopefully some of the newcomers will have enjoyed the ‘matchday experience’ enough to want to come back again - I did though hear someone in front of me on the way out comment to his mate that he wouldn’t need the fixture card again.

[Sir Ged Roddy]

As others have commented, it does seem that we reserve our poorest performances for days when we have big crowds.

Apparently, out of the last 17 home games that have had a crowd of over 1,000, we have won just 2!
Most regular City fans will not have much interest in the other activities at a match, but it may be that, for example, some people who brought their children to play at half-time were impressed by the welcoming nature of the club.

[tovid]

Perhaps someone needs to tell the players being welcoming doesn't extend to them too

[yuffie]

Actually our home league record in front of 1000+ crowds isn't quite that bad.

We have had 38 such crowds since 2000 and our record is:

Won 15
Drew 14
Lost 9

During that time the cup/play-off record is not so clever:

Won 2
Drew 2
Lost 7

Both wins were play-off match during our 2009-10 promotion season. The last time we won a cup game at Twerton Park with a 1000+ crowd was in October 1999 against Stevenage Borough in the FA Cup.

As an aside we are much better away from home in cup/play off matches in front of big crowds with 7 wins and 2 draws from 14 matches.

[Sir Ged Roddy]

Thank you for correcting this. It's not as bad as I was told!

[yuffie]

Thank you for correcting this.  It's not as bad as I was told!

Was it Yorkie who told you!

[SteveBradley]

Thank you for correcting this.  It's not as bad as I was told!

Our results in front of big crowds in recent years have definitely not been great though.

Yuffie will correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd say we've lost the majority of 1,000+ crowd games since we came back down to Conference South (?)

[yuffie]

Mixed record.

[tovid]

It would be interesting to lower the cut off point to say 900. Between 2014 and 2016 we struggled with gates so 900 would have counted as a biggie.

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