Tough choices on Saturday?

It will be interesting to see the team selected for Saturday. Yates surely has to play, but Thewlis was a revelation on Tuesday, it will be tough to leave him out Bench for Knowles? Surely not. I'd love to see Andy Gascoigne get a start on Saturday, and also Tom Stewart in goal. No disrespect to Peter Crook who has been great for us, but I believe there should be competition for all positions, and that includes the goalkeeper. Let us see what Stewart can do. I'd love a run in the Trophy, but this season the league is plainly the priority, so I hope Simon may be a bit adventurous (spelling?) on Saturday.

I am expecting us to field the strongest possible side but would expect anyone carrying an injury not to be risked. The difference been if it were a league game players carrying injuries would play if at all possible. Not expecting Ellis or Swain (both came off injured Tue) to play, Mcgurk & Mcwilliams will probably play instead. Think Gascoigne won't play until county cup. Can't see any point in leaving Crook out at the moment. Would think Stewart will also get a run out in county cup too, he's getting regular games at railway at the moment anyway so Simon will be well aware of what he can do. The tough choice is up front. Knowles needs goals, he isn't gonna get them on the bench, suppose he could be rested for Tues & Sat league games.

CCOB wrote:I am expecting us to field the strongest possible side but would expect anyone carrying an injury not to be risked. The difference been if it were a league game players carrying injuries would play if at all possible. Not expecting Ellis or Swain (both came off injured Tue) to play, Mcgurk & Mcwilliams will probably play instead. Think Gascoigne won't play until county cup. Can't see any point in leaving Crook out at the moment. Would think Stewart will also get a run out in county cup too, he's getting regular games at railway at the moment anyway so Simon will be well aware of what he can do. The tough choice is up front. Knowles needs goals, he isn't gonna get them on the bench, suppose he could be rested for Tues & Sat league games.

Spot on.
Up front, I would say that Yates must play - difficult decision to leave Thewliss out though.

Need a win on Saturday in what will be a tricky game!
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Curzon will have improved from the side we played earlier in the season!

CCOB wrote:I am expecting us to field the strongest possible side but would expect anyone carrying an injury not to be risked. The difference been if it were a league game players carrying injuries would play if at all possible. Not expecting Ellis or Swain (both came off injured Tue) to play, Mcgurk & Mcwilliams will probably play instead. Think Gascoigne won't play until county cup. Can't see any point in leaving Crook out at the moment. Would think Stewart will also get a run out in county cup too, he's getting regular games at railway at the moment anyway so Simon will be well aware of what he can do. The tough choice is up front. Knowles needs goals, he isn't gonna get them on the bench, suppose he could be rested for Tues & Sat league games.

Fully agree with this.

Whilst you suggest Knowles needs goals, I personally felt he was outstanding no Tuesday night. Especially in the first half.

TheNeil30 wrote:

CCOB wrote:I am expecting us to field the strongest possible side but would expect anyone carrying an injury not to be risked. The difference been if it were a league game players carrying injuries would play if at all possible. Not expecting Ellis or Swain (both came off injured Tue) to play, Mcgurk & Mcwilliams will probably play instead. Think Gascoigne won't play until county cup. Can't see any point in leaving Crook out at the moment. Would think Stewart will also get a run out in county cup too, he's getting regular games at railway at the moment anyway so Simon will be well aware of what he can do. The tough choice is up front. Knowles needs goals, he isn't gonna get them on the bench, suppose he could be rested for Tues & Sat league games.

Fully agree with this.

Whilst you suggest Knowles needs goals, I personally felt he was outstanding no Tuesday night. Especially in the first half.

Really ?

Yes really.

Agree. He put in a good shift Tuesday night and could not have been far off the MOM award.

I am a big fan of Knowles and was over the moon when he came back, he started well but he seems to have gone off the boil lately ( maybe thats why you where asking for him to be benched a few weeks back Neil30), there is no room for sentiment in football as Simon showed last season when he benched the under achievers and played the young lads and what a difference that made

Knowles was outstanding away at Corby last week, him and Jerry have being linking up together really well. Personally I'd start them two upfront together next Tuesday maybe give Thewlis another game in the trophy and see how it goes!

That makes things a bit easier. Jerry Yates has been recalled to Rotherham.

He did very well for us and showed tremendous commitment - and ability. Good luck to him (maybe we'll get him back one day?).

Well that's the FA Trophy for another year, blink and you'll miss it. Not too upset really, Tuesday now really important. Still, a home win would be nice, just for a change you know.

Curzan were a vastly improved side to the one we beat a few weeks ago and fully deserved the win. We just could not cope with the conditions and also having 3 players missing plus Sheils going off injured. The ball should have been played on the ground in the 1st half with the wind but Crook did not seem to realise with his long kicks. Finally the ref was a joke

Usually try to be positive, but today was very little to be positive about for about 70 minutes. If we did not want to proceed in this competition, we should have put the youngsters out and charged us half price. We played on the same bog of a pitch, in howling wind and against the same driving rain as our opposition, yet they were first to the ball, won every 50/50 ball, pressed high up the pitch and closed us down in numbers. They then managed to attack with some pace. I' m annoyed, not by the score line, but by the complacent and indifferent attitude on display today. Were they not bothered because they didn't fancy playing in those conditions, or because they wanted to save themselves for the more important fixture on Tuesday, or because they don't have to play for their place?. Whatever the excuse, I don't want to see players who appear to not be bothered about putting in a performance. This is the first time all seasons have been disappointed with their attitude. A loss is not so bad if the team tried, but until Jack came on I saw no drive: the back four struggled, Knowles's reactions and thinking were slow, Colbeck and Turner both had indifferent games, Nyoni pointed and shouted instructions alot, but gave the ball away or missed it all together, so it was a good job that Kerry upheld his usual high standards in central midfield.

I think I have to agree, cost me about £20 today, not to mention enduring the weather. They wanted it, we did not until Emmett came on. And can we stop making excuses for Knowles please, its about time he bloody well started scoring. We plainly don't give a toss for the Trophy, why should the fans?

The best that could be said about this match is that we would have been much more disappointed if it had been the league match still to come. Dreadful first half when we not only had the wind and rain at our backs but we were playing towards the end where it was much easier to play decent football. A bit more commitment in the second half but pressure came to nothing when we put a couple of reasonable chances wide. Not the Town we have come to know and love this season!

Disappointing result today, we didn't play well 1st half, but despite this it was one of the best experiences ever watching football. Town fans stood side by side with Nash fans both chanting at the top of their voices. No aggression towards each other just good natured banter, jumping up and down together arms round each other having a party. This is what football supporting should be all about. Well done both sets of fans it was a privilege to be a part of it & hope Curzon go all the way to Wembley. Looking forward to doing it all again at the end of March in the league game.

I have to confess I don't really buy into all this 'all fans together' love-in stuff. There should be a bit of real needle between supporters, and you should really hate losing. I'm afraid I'm old school as far that is concerned. trike]

Some comments from Curzon fans taken from the conference North page on Facebook:

"As a Curzon fan, I can't give higher praise to the Harrogate fans. They are an incredible bunch and I thank them so much for their hospitality and warm welcome.

On arrival at the ground, they welcomed us with smiling faces and enjoyed a drink with us.

For the first half, both sets of fans stood in the exact same spot, mingling with each other and singing their hearts out, creating one of the unusual but brilliant atmospheres I can ever remember at a non-league game.

No animosity, no nothing, just smiling faces and loads of friendly laughs.

We won the game 1-0 and on leaving their clubhouse, their fans applaud our fans and players out and wished us well.

Can't ask for a better reception and a better atmosphere - just incredible. Harrogate fans an absolute credit to their club and a credit to football. Can't wait to go back in the league over Easter!"

"What a fantastic away day! Harrogate Town what an amazing group of supporters! Stood together for the whole first half singing together I love non-league!!!"

Oh yes, and I hope Curzon get stuffed in the next round!

God Almighty! Is this the Autumn of Love or what? Give me the good old days against teams like Barrow! Now that's real non-_league! Hate all this lovey-dovey stuff...yuk!

Hi Paul, like your attitude I'm not one for all this holding hands and mingling with the opposition...Call me old school, football is a game where us blokes can let off a bit of steam at the end of the working week on and off the pitch.. I saw a different side to my dad at football it was our lads secret a bonding away from normal life, oh for the good old days of Frickley away games....
Just sayin like....

What worries me is that the so-called ' party atmosphere' becomes more important than the result, we bloody well lost yesterday. Nothing to party about.

I'm really pleased that at least some people enjoyed themselves yesterday, so it was not literally a total wash out! My beef with the whole thing is that there were no physical reasons for such a poor performance, so it had to be attitudinal, which, for me, is simply not acceptable. As a spectator at any and every game, I am bothered about the outcome; even though sometimes we just have to accept them. However, yesterday was different - the players did not seem bothered about the outcome. They would have gone home, still picked up their more than reasonable pay packet to enhance their lifestyle, with no repercussions. Next week, most, if not all of them will put the shirt on again and I am 100% certain that they will have a better attitude than yesterday. This won't be because of any twinges of conscience, but because this was ever going to be so, because they deem this game more worthy of actually playing. They have lost out on nothing at all. Even on a purely superficial level, I lost out - financially. Next time, I would like to be told if the players are not bothered about the game, and I'll stay at home. Or perhaps we should just concede and not play at all? Even though we are semi professional team, I have an expectation that the players behave in at least a half professional way.