Fair result at Auckland

Bit disappointed that we blew 2 goal lead but to be fair Auckland pressed well 2nd half. Substitutions didn't quite work for me. why nthe lad at the end decided to cross the ball into an empty box rather than hold the ball in the corner was a bit baffling. West scored their 2nd goal straight after. We were on the ropes last 20 minutes but our keeper was fantastic all game. Good game, just a bit naieve.

Superb debut from Young Craig MacGillivray, definately kept us in the game. Afraid to say there were some players that just did not 'turn up' so to speak, hopefully that will be sorted come Tuesday. Somewhat disappointed with the Ref gave a number of decisions that appeared based on the shout from the crowd rather than what he actually witnessed.
Got to agree with the previous post, why he did not keep the ball in the corner with only a minute or so to go is baffling, certainly players were shouting him to do so, and the resultant cross to no-one led to their equaliser.
So we live to fight another day, onwards and upwards (hopefully)

With regard to the original two postings re Fair Result etc etc. There does appear to be a somewhat unfair focus on an ill-judged decision/pass in the 90th minute (Although having said that if his fellow striker had been where he should have been ie, in the six yard box, we would have won 3-1, game and discussion, almost, over!). While I am aware that when playing "lesser" sides that the majority of teams lower themselves to that level. I felt yesterday we lowered ourselves to below our opponents level. The fact that Craig was the outstanding MOM, with no-one else coming even close to matching him. For me speaks volumes. I felt the overall team performance(players AND Management) was lack lustre, disorganised, dispassionate, uninspiring, detached, leaden, unimaginative and at times disinterested. To be fair Simon Weaver does show passion, but unfortunately this is matched with his complete lack of tactical nuance. Although having watched Town for some time now i'm really not sure what Macca brings to the table. He appears to give out instructions (which for some reason, always includes the F word, i'm not sure what that adds!) to the players. Who then appear to ignore him and decide for themselves. There doesn't appear to be much respect for his "Extensive footballing knowledge"!
Finally substitutions, Leon had the worst game i've seen from him. Having already brought Lee Elam on to presumably run at Auckland,on one of the widest pitches i've seen for some time Why oh why did our "master tacticians" give Youhill only ten minutes to give us width and run at people. When it takes any sub at ANY level 15 minutes to adapt to the speed of a game? Unfair on Youhill and his fellow team mates!

Rob Youhill made the wrong decision!
Ignored everyone shouts to hold onto the ball then crossed it into the box without even looking to see if there was anyone there!!!!!
But you win & lose as a team!
Learn from your mistakes & make sure you don’t make them again!
Unfortunately you need every player playing to a certain level if you want to win football matches!
And that didn’t happen on Saturday!

I wasn't there on Saturday but it is the only game apart from Histon that I have missed. Got to say it sounds a familiar story to the past 2 league games, certainly a common theme - " lack lusture" combined with poor tactical decisions by Weaver.

I predict much of the same really in the coming weeks. Once again we have one of the finest squads in the league and a manager who doesn't know how to manage or play them. What gets me is during a game he is as quiet as a mouse, lets see some animation, some leadership and players been made accountable for crap performances!

Finest squads in the league!!!

He has kept faith with a lot of players from last season which nearly saw the club relegated!
How have we managed to change from that to one of the finest squads in the league within a few months?

If we finish in the top half of this league with this squad we will have done well!
His faith in last season players will have been justified & it will have been done on a realistic budget!
There are a lot of clubs in this league with a playing budget bigger than ours!

Keeping on the topic of Weaver, haven't had a manager's word in ages!

Big Lundy wrote:Finest squads in the league!!!

He has kept faith with a lot of players from last season which nearly saw the club relegated!
How have we managed to change from that to one of the finest squads in the league within a few months?

If we finish in the top half of this league with this squad we will have done well!
His faith in last season players will have been justified & it will have been done on a realistic budget!
There are a lot of clubs in this league with a playing budget bigger than ours!

If you take away budget, I think pound for pound the majority of our players individually on their day match any other players in this league. He just doesn't get the best out of them, in the past 3/4 years he never has and he has had some good players over the years. He could have the biggest budget in the league and he would still struggle to find consistency.

You telling me Oxford have a huge budget, no they don't and individually have average players, but what you get with them is that they bust a gut, play well together and have some cohesion!

If you recall over the last 2 seasons we have had periods of the season where we have completely out played teams, usually towards the latter, you can't tell me he had a terrible squad last season or the season before. In actual fact he was the laughing stock of the league, renowned throughout the league for having a good squad and no management/ tactical skills.

I could go on, but I wont, after all I want Harrogate to have a great season as much as the next person.

Also does rsther beg the question, if we have a 'realistic' budget and a multi millionaire owner something seems a bit wrong. Irving must have spent many thosands on the infrastructure (and thats great), a few thou more on getting in a real star striker to support Chib would seem sensible.
I am trying really hard to be supportive of the manager and the team this season and will remain so, at least until 9.45 pm tomorrow night. The 'path' to the 4th qualifying round has potentially opened up for us now. I'm sure Wests are a good team but we really should be able to finish the job tomorrow night, and then Frickley at home. If we wimp out of the FA Cup (again!), I may not be so charitable in future.

Big Lundy wrote:Finest squads in the league!!!

He has kept faith with a lot of players from last season which nearly saw the club relegated!
How have we managed to change from that to one of the finest squads in the league within a few months?

If we finish in the top half of this league with this squad we will have done well!
His faith in last season players will have been justified & it will have been done on a realistic budget!
There are a lot of clubs in this league with a playing budget bigger than ours!

Nonsence, what about thwe likes of Bolder and Killock? They won't have been cheap and were been tracked by a number of other clubs. Money would have been their main motivation.

town supporter wrote:

Big Lundy wrote:Finest squads in the league!!!

He has kept faith with a lot of players from last season which nearly saw the club relegated!
How have we managed to change from that to one of the finest squads in the league within a few months?

If we finish in the top half of this league with this squad we will have done well!
His faith in last season players will have been justified & it will have been done on a realistic budget!
There are a lot of clubs in this league with a playing budget bigger than ours!

Nonsence, what about thwe likes of Bolder and Killock? They won't have been cheap and were been tracked by a number of other clubs. Money would have been their main motivation.

Exactly and in actual fact if you go to away games and get chatting to some of the home supporters, they are envious about our "so called medium budget".......Hence why Weaver is the laughing stock!

Could you imagine Bolder and Killock signing for Halifax, we would all be saying, well it's because they have a huge budget.To conclude, we can't use small budgets as an excuse......Oh hang on, when I questioned Weaver a couple of weeks ago via email regarding an absolute ridiculous team tactical decision, I'm sure he quoted something similar about the budget in his response......at least in his email he admitted he was lacking experience (then move over get some help, you can't learn if no one is around to teach you!)

Home draw v Frickley if we can win on Tuesday!

Big Lundy wrote:He has kept faith with a lot of players from last season which nearly saw the club relegated!
How have we managed to change from that to one of the finest squads in the league within a few months?

Pardon me if I got this wrong, but wasn't the main reason we didn't go full time this season because we didn't want to lose players who didn't want to go full time? If they were that bad, why weren't they let go and we become full time?

Big Lundy wrote:...& it will have been done on a realistic budget!
There are a lot of clubs in this league with a playing budget bigger than ours!

I don't know our budget or that of any of the other clubs in the league. Have I missed somewhere where this is written down?




Unless the weather improves considerably and there's no TV on (even Hollyoaks) then I won't be there on Tuesday. The three home matches I've seen so far have convinced me that there is something fundementally wrong and I'm questioning whether I want to use up my hard-earned when I suspect that I'm going to see a poor team performance.

I'm not planning to be at the Colwyn Bay match either as I'm washing my hair. I'll be at the Brackley game though. Probably supporting Brackley (even though I have no idea where that is) as I'll be interested to see how a few "names I recognise" are looking these days.

After that, I'll make a decision about the rest of the season. It'll be interesting to see how the crowd numbers stack up later on after a good start.

Great news on the achievements of the academy side, improved crowds at Wetherby Road, still in the FA Cup - love it and I will be at Worcester on Saturday travelling from Windsor

Innocent Bystander wrote:Great news on the achievements of the academy side, improved crowds at Wetherby Road, still in the FA Cup - love it and I will be at Worcester on Saturday travelling from Windsor

... but not such good news about the quality of football or the first team's results. Oh well, the new bar is nice, and the general maintenance around the ground is impressive. I suppose that's all that matters!