[SaltergateBorn]

As I was coming down the steps out of the East Stand at the end of the game, the lady next to me said “How the hell did we get a point out of that?” Good question; I wish I knew the answer.

Factually, we got a point because we were given a penalty in the last few minutes. I`ve no idea whether or not the penalty was justified, because just at that moment one of the two people in front of me decided to leave early (why do they do that?), the bloke next to him got up to make way for him and, whilst they were at it, they decided to have a bit of a conversation. As a result, I couldn`t see why the penalty was given. I`ve a suspicion it was for handball, but I wouldn`t swear to it; no doubt SD will reveal in due course.

(If either of the 2 individuals concerned happens to read this, please bear in mind for future reference that some of us go to a match to watch the whole 90 bloody minutes and please show just a little consideration for those behind you if you don`t; have your conversations outside, please. Mind you, if they`d overheard the invective that the guy sitting next to me and I were coming out with, they will have got the message already.)

There we are then; rant over – well, perhaps not.

You may gather from the above what sort of mood the game put me in – and you`d probably be right. Having tried very hard to convince Matt that we have improved no end over the past few weeks, I was as pissed off last night as I`ve been for a while. I went along thoroughly expecting a win – cf Prediction League forecast – but to be honest we didn`t even come close. Defence and midfield were okay, bearing in mind the conditions, but up front? No imagination, no creativity, no nothing. We really didn`t look like scoring at any point. All completely stereotyped and by the end of the match it was obvious from the fans` reaction to yet another unproductive long throw-in that they thought exactly the same.

What`s going on with the coaching? The players didn`t seem to have a clue when it came to getting through their defence, which wasn`t that good in fairness, and the free-kick just outside the area was a complete farce – I`ll bet SD doesn`t show that in the highlights. I think that was the point when a lot of the crowd, including me, finally lost patience. We really didn`t have a clue last night against what was, it has to be said, a very average team.

To date, I`ve been a strong defender of MA and have stuck to the principle that a manager has to be given time, but after last night I really am starting to wonder. Sorry to be so negative, but there we are. Were you there, Dancing? What do you think?

[Dancingwilldoit]

Had every intention of going but came out with a bad cold Monday, looked at the weather last night and thought sod that.
I'm glad I didnt go though. I started to listen on Bromleys live link (how come other teams can do that for free but we get bog all?) but gave up after about 60 mins. I knew it would be a bit one sided but thought it cant be that bad surely but it seems they were correct.

[Devongone]

All I can say in defence is that we all know that in the greater scheme of things we are a pretty ordinary team in a league full of other ordinary teams, both marginally better and/or even marginally worse than us.

Unfortunately I think that means when we are a bit off it after a tough away fixture a couple of days earlier, then we run the risk of being moderately to completely dreadful. And clearly we were!

I don't understand why MA benched Lee Shaw, when from all reports he has been the main danger in recent games. It seems he is reluctant to put Shaw and Hines in there together, but as they seem to give the opposition more trouble than anyone else, they'd be among the first names on the sheet for me.

Bob's has already gone cheese-eating surrender monkey after Grimsby stuck five past Tramcar, whilst I think it is the ideal set-up for Chesterfield to tear The Mariners apart as they search for a repeat of Tuesday's fluency. It's not as though they've previously shown anything to suggest that 5-2 was more than a flash in the pan, and is the bottom third of League 2 really any better and full of flowing football than the Vanarama?

Of course, MA does have to select a team and motivate it, which could be a problem, especially in Maguire's absence, but Grimsby are the first opponents we've had this season who have everything to lose against us. For everyone else, anything they got against us was a plus, but for Grimsby a win is only the expected, and losing would immediately destroy all Tuesday's good work.

The truth about Tuesday is the Vanarama need not have quite such a clutter of fixtures, which guarantee poor games, with poor attendances, long journeys that fans cannot make after work, and false results.

The other truth is that fans who stand up early should be loudly and embarrassingly told to sit the xxxx down. And maybe there could be an announcement before every game that should any fans need to leave early their first consideration should be their impact on other fans and their enjoyment of the game.