Rage Online

Another pretty good home performance , I thought. Not quite at the level of the Cambridge game, but still pretty effective. In the first half, we completely dominated, and they barely had a chance. The second half was scrappier, and we had a couple of scares, but overall thoroughly deserved the win.

The ref was a little crap with some decisions, but he generally let the game flow, and Rushden let us play a little. That always suits us. It's stop-start games against teams that get tight on us that we seem to struggle with - i.e. most games in this league!

Special mention to Lewis Haldane - much improved on earlier in the season.

Absolutely agree with all of this, which is why the Woking 0 - 0 was so gut-wrenching. They knew how to stop us playing (time wasting, physical, basic organisation) and we lacked the wit and the skill to do anything about it. In such cases, we need the skill to score an early goal, and make them chase the game. Then everything changes.

Good summaries. I would add that I thought Murray's performance was oustanding. Mentions for Guy and Haldane too.

&quotYellowHoods&quot wrote:Good summaries. I would add that I thought Murray's performance was oustanding. Mentions for Guy and Haldane too.

I don't think anybody had a bad game and there was a lot of good attacking football. As for Haldane he was good in parts but considering his size he can be a bit lightweight when it comes tackling and the physical side of the game. He does tend to turn 50:50 chances into 30:70's with his half hearted challenges. On the other side though I think the goal frame is still quivering from his second half shot, which had it gone in would have been one of the best goals we've seen at the new stadium.

As for the fantastic/amazing/wonderful support I thought the atmosphere was a bit reserved and at best only a couple of hundred responded to the rallying call from the club, OxVox and the local press. We need to keep winning and be challenging for the play-offs to to see a significant increase in ticket sales.

By far Burnell's best performance. I'm not usually a fan but well worth his place. No weak links yesterday.

Agree with all the plaudits (and Mally's assessment of the support), but would just like to add that I thought Clarke and Foster combined superlatively to nullify any threat from Clare and, especially, Knight, who certainly didn't appreciate Clarke's attentions. Even Quinn seemed to be listening to the instructions to keep the ball on the ground, mostly.

What is necessary, of course, is to put in these performances consistently, not every third or second game. If we can do that then there's still hope that this could turn into a very good season. If we go to Torquay and, particularly, Altrincham and play like we did at Lewes then it could be a season of struggle, and KT's hand could be forced as regards Patto.

Also agree on the support. It’s all very well urging fans to turn up but at the end of the day it’s an attractive and winning team that will bring back the missing thousands.

While on the topic of the support, it’s all getting a bit weird up where I sit at the top of the North Stand - and it looks like that situation is set to continue.

(and it's now a nightmare trying to get a cup of tea at half time because of the queues in there!)

&quotSnake&quot wrote:While on the topic of the support, it’s all getting a bit weird up where I sit at the top of the North Stand - and it looks like that situation is set to continue.

Why not return to the normality of the SSU?

Because from where I sit I can see it getting emptier and emptier each game. Have you not noticed the increasing gaps and silence?

No idea where we got that attendance figure from yesterday - it looked a lot less than 4,600 to me.

Foster and Trainer were the best players on the pitch for me. with a mention for Yemi who got 4 headers in, including the pass to Trainer for the second goal.

It's all about having the right mascots. My little boy has maintained the family tradition of leading the team out to victory. This follows a similar feat by his father 32 years earlier.

&quotneilw&quot wrote:It's all about having the right mascots. My little boy has maintained the family tradition of leading the team out to victory. This follows a similar feat by his father 32 years earlier.

Neil - In that case, is he available to mascot for Raging Fever??

Now that's a challenge, John. His Dad could hardly ever contribute towards a Fever victory, so that might be asking a lot. However, he's in training, waiting for the call.

Well done but that has to be the standard from now on, keeping the Ball on the Ground shows that we can play football, R||D try the same but what will we do against a more robust team ? there has been enough negatives lets move on and hopefully up. I'll be at Torquay so come on..

&quotneilw&quot wrote:Now that's a challenge, John. His Dad could hardly ever contribute towards a Fever victory, so that might be asking a lot. However, he's in training, waiting for the call.

Given the increasing age of our squad, that could be sooner than you think. I also led the Yellows to victory (2-1 v Southend in about 1983) Steve Biggins I think got the winner. My main memories of the day are:

- Ken Fish telling me not to swallow the chewing gum he gave me (I was terrified)

- Jim Smith not allowing me in the dressing room for the team's final instructions, I wonder why?

- 'Dumping' Malcolm Shotton to go and take shots at Steve Hardwick in front of the London Road and scoring twice (and he bloody tried on the second one!)

Happy days.........