Rage Online

i went to put my vote for haldane as man of the match, and was genuinely surprised to see that the majority of people who've voted so far agreed with me! that doesn't happen often.

anyway, he got my vote as one of the few players to try and make something happen, and the quality of his crossing yesterday. i can understand patterson wanted to give dorchester something else to think about in our attacks, but given that odubade and guy seemed to provide less threat than constable and haldane... not sure about playing haldane up front, he drifts very wide - that said, i had been moaning that constable and guy look to make the same sort of runs. what did other people think?

as to the game - well done dorchester, compared to the hayes game there were far fewer chances for each team, and dorchester were more competitive i thought. with fewer chances, you would hope that we could show some superiority in our finishing, but we didn't. sad to say it, but i should think dorchester now have an excellent chance of progressing in the competition unless our away form starts to pick up, as i sense the confidence and belief that we'd started to build is waning again. grays would be a good place to start improving on our away performances...

as against york, i thought our second half performance failed to show desire to seize the initiative, and with sam deering having a below-par performance (by the standards he's recently set himself), we had few people who looked like they might create chances after haldane went off.

Agree with you on Haldane but the majority no longer do. LSD, who I also thought had a good game now has more votes.
Haldane was the only one actually creating any worthwhile chances, yet still some saw fit to boo him when he was taken off.

Thought Haldane had his best game,so far, and he is more effective if he has a freer role.

However, there is more expectation when LSD is in the ball.

I am not sure that Haldane was being booed when he was taken off. I thought some fans were booing because he was taken off.

Despite his terrible miss, Constable can lead the line better than Guy. We didn't look threatening with Yemi and Guy up front . Probably just a bad day at the office, though.

&quotnewhinkseyyellow&quot wrote:However, there is more expectation when LSD is in the ball..

Sam is little but not that little.

&quotnewhinkseyyellow&quot wrote: I am not sure that Haldane was being booed when he was taken off. I thought some fans were booing because he was taken off.

I thought that might be the case but sought a couple of other views and we thought that on balance he was probably getting some boos.

I think like Bardbury and others before him in the eyes of a number of our fans he can do no right.

&quotBaboo&quot wrote:

&quotnewhinkseyyellow&quot wrote: I am not sure that Haldane was being booed when he was taken off. I thought some fans were booing because he was taken off.

I thought that might be the case but sought a couple of other views and we thought that on balance he was probably getting some boos.

I think like Bardbury and others before him in the eyes of a number of our fans he can do no right.

As you know I am no fan of Haldane. He had a good first 45 minues yesterday though, admittedly.

But disappeared 2nd half. He's picking up his wages and doesn't really care about the club if you want my honest opinion.

Bradbury was 100% better than Haldane.

[quote=&quotAscension Ox} But disappeared 2nd half. He's picking up his wages and doesn't really care about the club if you want my honest opinion.

Bradbury was 100% better than Haldane.[/quote]

Any others picking their wages up and not caring about the club?

At least he appeared to be able to disappear, I am not sure Trainer even appeared yesterday.

Perhaps he disappeared because of all the running he put in during the first half.

And didn't he get to the bye line and create another good chance right at the start of the second half before he disappeared?

Yes AO - I know you are no fan of Haldane &amp I'm sure we'll have a few more chats on this subject as the season wears on.
I'm not a great fan either it is just that I think he gets unfair stick.

I voted for Haldane for the same reasons. I thought both Guy and Yemi looked below par yesterday. Yemi in particular was very static (and central), which did not help other to find him with the ball.

However, my main complaint (and it often seems thus) is that if something works, we don't try it again. Haldane clearly had the beating of their #3, but after the cross which Constable spectacularly failed to convert, we hardly seems to exploit this opportunity. Why not?

On another tack, is Murray fit? He really isn't at his best.

&quotOld Abingdonian&quot wrote:I voted for Haldane for the same reasons. I thought both Guy and Yemi looked below par yesterday. Yemi in particular was very static (and central), which did not help other to find him with the ball.

However, my main complaint (and it often seems thus) is that if something works, we don't try it again. Haldane clearly had the beating of their #3, but after the cross which Constable spectacularly failed to convert, we hardly seems to exploit this opportunity. Why not?

On another tack, is Murray fit? He really isn't at his best.

agreed and agreed.

on your question about murray, i found this an interesting analysis of our central midfield at the moment:

http&#58//oxblogger&#46blogspot&#46com/ ... -0&#46html

i don't think i agree with the main thrust of the piece though.

&quotAscension Ox&quot wrote:
.....He's picking up his wages and doesn't really care about the club if you want my honest opinion.

I don't know if that's fair about Haldane, but you do have to question the attitude of some players at the club over the last few years. I heard the Histon chairman being interviewed on the radio after their win at the weekend. He said that the £25k prize money would pay the wages for a month. It does make you wonder how a team like Histon (or Kettering) can be in a play off position spending less than a quarter of what we've been spending on average for the last few years.

I thought Haldane had his best game in a yellow shirt and played very well until moved to the wing, where he was out hustled by Dorchester numbers. Undoubtedly a half time Dorchester team talk tactic. Haldance could have countered this by drifting in and out to drag the defence about, and/or playing the ball in earlier. Btu overall he was MoM for me, and I think he has been a weak link this season generally. Interestingly, I think it was at Kiddy that he also played up front and was a real nusance to the home defence as well.

LSD had his moments but it wasn't his best game.
Turley had a good game.

Apart from that I don't think anyone covered themselves in glory.

Carruthers was regularly caught out of position and gave the ball away more times than I care to remember.

Willmott showed why he is no longer good enough, being beaten for pace and turned horribly, repeatedly.

Day was OK, but had to hang back to maintain that and so provided no forwards threat.

Burnell was hopeless as usual. He just isn't good enough.

All the defence were guilty of playing long ball far too frequently, perhaps troubled by the lack of options in central midfield as Hutchinson and Murray provided absolutely nothing of value for pretty much the entire match.

Trainer had another poor game and given his lack of drive, which he is renowned for, I wonder if he is carrying an injury.

Constable had an OK game but his workrate was down on what we've come to expect.

Yemi didn't really threaten much and Dobson was poor trying to do too much when an easier option was often available.

We should have won the game in the first half when we were well on top, and our finishing was woeful again. Second half we were out battled which is always very disappointing.

Draw for round 2 is poor, and we'll have to up our game consderably if we are to be in the 3rd round hat and the possibility of the big money draw.