City 1 (Batten 24m) v Hampton & R 0 full time att 576

[Luton Roman]

No Rigg, Stearn starts, 4 on bench.

Phew, City 6 pts in 3 days and up to 3rd tonight.

[tovid]

Very lacklustre performance. Just no oomph at all. I thought Hampton probably deserved something from the game although they hardly troubled Ryan Clarke but nor did we do a lot.

Thankful for the points. We've played better and lost so it is swings and roundabouts.

[stillmanjunior]

Best spell was just after we'd scored. To say 'very lacklustre' is extremely harsh in my view. We've played better, yes, but defensively we were terrific and some games you just have to grind them out. Conditions didn't help.

I'd say we were more deserving of the 1-0 here than at their place when they missed a hatful of chances. Clarke had that one moment at the end to deal with, when I swear the whole place went silent, aside from that he was superbly protected and with all those players out, it's even better.

I'm not feeling remotely downbeat about another win or being up to third. Two games I expected us to be successful in, sure, and you can't do much more.

[daven]

Agree with Mark, these are the games you have to grind out, our defense were great!
Looks like the Wealdstone game will be a cracker, and I suspect a big crowd.

[westonpundit]

For me I think we need to recognise what a good effort and result this was for City last night. As it's said by the premiership pundits.....at this part of the season its all about results and whilst this usually follows performance we can forgive that on occasions. Nonetheless great effort all round especially defensively only 3 days after a tough match on Saturday and players must have realised due to three injuries at Hemel we were going to be short of options on the bench.

So for me great effort boys and a massive 3 points !! Hopefully we get another good crowd on Saturday and a win then would really put is in the mix at the top as if you look at their fixtures a number of the top six will be knocking points off each other.

[tovid]

I think a special mention should go to Mark for the effort he went to to verify the goalscorer.

[stillmanjunior]

I don't know if it's something to do with my eyesight but I genuinely didn't have a clue. Saw someone in an undershirt celebrating and still couldn't tell. Asked BCIR, Michael was pretty sure on Batten but didn't want to 100% commit. Asked people in main stand, not one person knew. Asked Jim, riddle solved.

Ironically I'm sure I've seen Batten in glasses before. I'll need to borrow them.

Funny how Hampton seem to sort themselves at the break. They've conceded the most first half goals in the division, conceded most first half away goals in the division but have conceded the fewest away second half goals, a mere five. I can only think of the Artus header where their keeper was tested after the interval.

I took exception to the lacklustre comment but in hindsight I can see it as a compliment. I'd say our poorest home performances were against Dartford and Billericay. Some would include Welling but I just thought we found opponents on a very good day. I thought we played far better than the Dartford and Billericay games, certainly defensively. If it's seen as very poor it means our expectations are higher.

[LB]

A very important three points especially in view of how close it is between third and seventh with us currently having the best goal difference again. Looking at the table only Wealdstone and St Albans can realistically break in to the top seven and if we win on Saturday we will be eleven points ahead of Wealdstone.

Would be really nice if we could finish third and get a bye at the first stage of the play-offs and guarantee a home game in the second, although fourth or fifth would at least see us at home in the first stage. Can’t help feeling that whatever happens we will have to play Chelmsford at some point!

[comrade powell]

I'd rather face Chelmsford than Dartford...

[2weirdtown]

Yeh, agree that we looked pretty solid in defence and great that we've ground out a result against decent opposition.  My only concern was that City didn't create a lot from open play.
No dispute about the goal (re KKs report) as the ball went at least a foot beyond the post.

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