14-08-2025, 15:54
Sorry, Matt, but I have to disagree with you when you say that I`m being a bit head of myself when I talk about winning the first 3 games of the season. I think I`m being A LOT ahead of myself. That`s why I freely accept I`m risking putting the mokkers on us and incurring the wrath of fate, not to mention all Spireites. Sometimes, though, I just can`t help myself.
I think we were actually the very last team in the Football League to have floodlights installed and that`s why we kicked off at 6:30 that evening rather than the more normal 7:30. Otherwise, it would have been virtually pitch-black when we finished – although I can remember a few games when it was pretty damn close to it anyway by the end.
I watched the Mansfield game on the telly the other night and thought that, particularly in the first half, we played well and were the better team. With more clinical finishing we could have had 2 or 3 goals and the result could have been very different. In the second half, though, Mansfield sussed us out and played a much higher press that stopped our midfield doing their stuff. We seemed to be a bit more constructive than last year and spent less time aimlessly passing the ball back and forth in midfield with no apparent objective. For me, it was much more enjoyable to watch.
So the problems seem to me to be at both ends of the pitch. We aren`t taking the chances that we create and we HAVE to stop these schoolboy errors at the back. If we don`t, it`s going to cost us big-time. Both goals game as a result of shockingly slipshod defending. It always upsets me to lose to Mansfield but, like you, I`m not overly disappointed to be out of the EFL Cup (in which we consistently achieve bugger all anyway) and the game gives me more reason for optimism than it perhaps should.
The bookies have us now virtually on a par with MK Dons in the odds. They`re at 7/2 and 4/5 to be champions and to get promoted respectively; we`re at 4/1 and 10/11. Means nothing at this stage, I know, but there you go..
I think we were actually the very last team in the Football League to have floodlights installed and that`s why we kicked off at 6:30 that evening rather than the more normal 7:30. Otherwise, it would have been virtually pitch-black when we finished – although I can remember a few games when it was pretty damn close to it anyway by the end.
I watched the Mansfield game on the telly the other night and thought that, particularly in the first half, we played well and were the better team. With more clinical finishing we could have had 2 or 3 goals and the result could have been very different. In the second half, though, Mansfield sussed us out and played a much higher press that stopped our midfield doing their stuff. We seemed to be a bit more constructive than last year and spent less time aimlessly passing the ball back and forth in midfield with no apparent objective. For me, it was much more enjoyable to watch.
So the problems seem to me to be at both ends of the pitch. We aren`t taking the chances that we create and we HAVE to stop these schoolboy errors at the back. If we don`t, it`s going to cost us big-time. Both goals game as a result of shockingly slipshod defending. It always upsets me to lose to Mansfield but, like you, I`m not overly disappointed to be out of the EFL Cup (in which we consistently achieve bugger all anyway) and the game gives me more reason for optimism than it perhaps should.
The bookies have us now virtually on a par with MK Dons in the odds. They`re at 7/2 and 4/5 to be champions and to get promoted respectively; we`re at 4/1 and 10/11. Means nothing at this stage, I know, but there you go..