[Dancingwilldoit]

95mins with 1 left we concede. Not only did it bugger up my score prediction but it ended our 100% record. OK we won a point and all others failed to get wins but its so annoying because we had it in the bag.

The only person to blame for that loss was the manager. To instruct the team to start time wasting and running the clock down with 13 minutes of normal time (19 minutes with added on time) to go was lunacy. We have done it before and held on but sooner or later it was going to bite us in the balls and yesterday it did. We had them on the ropes but made no attempt to add a third even when they pushed for an equaliser and left gaps at the back. We had 2 fast strikers on the pitch but instead of going for goal they went for the corner flag and stayed there.

Cant fault the team, they did what was needed but sooner or later we were going to do something rash and end up paying for it. That was Miller going for the ball, completely missing it and leaving their winger an open run on goal with a short cross to some great big lump of a no 9 who always does us Michael bloody Cheek.

Not too despondent but I think somebody needs to change his ideas. Run down extra time or the last few minutes OK but he knew that there would be a minimum of 5 minutes added so why try and hold on for so long. It was frustrating to watch and I think everyone knew what was coming.

Dover next then Barnet who both seem to have improved. There's no easy ride in this league.

[Devongone]

Bromley may not have gone off to a good start, but they carry a lot of threats. Cheek got 20 goals last season didn't he and Louis Dennis just came back from the EFL after scoring well at this level ...... and Whiteley used to get double figures from midfield when he was at Boreham Wood. They have a decent keeper and a defence that did well last season too. I thought we might play a limited game, try to stop them scoring and hope to snatch one, as if we were the away team ......... but that was just fantasy.

Teams have always indulged in what is now fashionably called game management, but you can take it to extremes. The trouble with it is that it can be very hard to get going if the other team equalises anyway ...... and it is impossible if they do it with only seconds remaining. And if you manage the game by falling back on defence and getting men behind the ball, you are encouraging the opposition forward aren't you? Equally if you break from defence and ONLY head for the corner flag you are telling them you aren't even trying to score. They are safe to throw more men forward aren't they? Certainly the corner flag can be a useful tactic when not over-used, but the safest way to manage a game is to put the ball in the opposition's net. Okay it might end up with their keeper and he can hoof it downfield if he makes a save, but a defender can do the same if he robs you by the corner flag.

I'm sure Rowe is right to have his team managing the game when they are in the lead, but they have to do it intelligently - and one thing that makes that difficult is the huge amounts of injury time etc in games these days. You think oh five minutes left, let's take a bit of care and manage the remaining minutes and suddenly you find the ref is adding 8 minutes - so when you are winding down to the last few minutes there's really a seventh of a normal game left to play!

Stockport and Boreham Wood managed only 3 efforts on target between them.

MOM for King's Lynn with 9 out of 10 again was Joe Rowley. Seems I'm not the only one with some humble pie in the fridge Dancing.

[Dancingwilldoit]

Always said there was a footballer in there Dev but for whatever reason he just didn't show to us for the past 3 years under 5 different managers. Rowe gave him an extended contract so he saw something as well. Rowley never came close to a MOM performance in a blue shirt, maybe its make or break time for him.

Jack Clarke looked as if he pulled his hamstring yesterday, he had a great game before that. Maybe Rowley will be called back.

[spireitematt]

Annoys me when teams do that, they might be 1-0 up or 2-1 up and they start running the ball into the corner flag to run the clock down. If you are only ahead by 1 goal you need to look for a 2nd to put the game to bed. You can't rely on a 1 goal lead to win. Also time wasting means the referee and the officials adding time on to added time.

The positives are we are still unbeaten got 10pts from a possible 12 and as long as we keep going about our business and picking up points then it will lead us in good stead for a promotion challenge this season.

Remember in the 2013/14 season under Cook we played Morecambe away and we went 3-0 up at HT and we ended up losing the game 4-3 in the 2nd half. That was the same season we won L2. The season isn't won in September or October and it's a marathon not a sprint, we will lose games and drop points home and away and we have no divine right to win unlike some fans of teams who believe they should win every game and be back in the Football League. It's a tough competitive league with very poor officials and in my view it's technically League 3.

[Devongone]

I think it is a matter of intelligent interpretation of team orders. Keeping the ball away from the opposition is an extraordinarily effective way of preventing them scoring, but if you pass it around in your own penalty area you are just asking for a fcku-up to happen. Equally in a game based on scoring goals, if you are offered a chance of going in on goal or heading for the corner flag, you'd better have a pretty convincing reason for choosing the latter. And the truth about game management is you are winning a game and the possession stats over 85 minutes have been 48% to 52% why on earth would you think you can change that 75% to 25% in your favour for the closing minutes just because you need the passing game you've been messing up all the game would effectively close the game down.

Some of the time game management doesn't work, however it is operated, because the opposition will eventually get the ball and if they then just hoof it forward that dopey-looking gink at centre forward might just bundle it home.

On any parameter I can think of the National League looks better and more competitive than EFL2.

As for Joe - that's a very harsh assessment Dancing. If Pooch were alive he'd be having a conniption fit. He has been very disappointing ........ but never a MOM in three years, really? Personally I'd sign a player rather than bring him home from King's Lynn. I'd leave him there till the New Year at least. Ian Culverhouse was a very shrewd midfield player, if a few weeks with him has made Joe into what he should be I'd be willing to see what we've got after a few months. Surely you wouldn't loan out a player who was only one injured first-choice away from a return? Though with Mr Rowe I'd never be sure of anything.

[Dancingwilldoit]

I agree 100% that the National League is better and more competitive than League 2. The only issue for me is the standard of refereeing. In League 2 it was just bad, in this league its simply woeful. Apart from the odd ref who lets the game flow and barely shows a card, the majority cant wait to get cards out and ruin the game. There is no consistency as on Saturday, it wasn't a dirty game but 80% of the free kicks went Bromley's way. If Maguires foul was a penalty which he gave, then their keeper bringing down Clarke had to be a pen but no, he books Clarke???? Its just mind boggling.

Dover next. Not an easy one at all but fingers crossed.

[Devongone]

The main point I would offer in referees' favour is that human beings tend not to be consistent when making decisions of any kind and perform even worse when under pressure. So why would refs do better than the average Joe, just because they get dressed in a silly-looking black kit? And we don't make it easy for them either. Last night I watched Bolton play Burton, a poor game in which Bolton's superior ability was cancelled out by Burton's hard work and towards the end the pint-pot pip-squeak of a ref' flounced over to the touchline crackling his taffeta to book an angry Ian Evatt. Other than sending Charles Hawtrey in to fight Anthony Joshua it is difficult to imagine a more ridiculous sight. We get the refereeing we create. We question every decision, we expect the referee not only to be consistent himself but to somehow be part of a consistent decision-making process across the whole game ......... and at every moment we cry unfair unfair when in fact the referee is only present because the players concerned are prepared to cheat at every opportunity at what in the end is only a game.

When referees at the top of the game make mistakes and get jeered what do we expect when we get down to National League level? The whole point of sport is surely for us to enjoy ourselves whilst learning about life. If the referee is honest and doing his best to be fair to both sides than that is the best we can expect. It isn't life or death. We have to learn to take the rough with the smooth, or the alternative is a permanent questioning of decision-making and the only people who will be attracted to referee will be those who want to be the centre of attention and are happy to be involved in controversy.

Referees are us. We reap what we sow. Referees always have been imperfect. The Corinthians, when they were conceded a penalty were so ashamed to have done so that they made no attempt to save the the kick. Batsmen walked when they edged the ball at cricket. Haven't we now created an environment in which cheating is endemic? Aren't we now asking referees to police it and remain consistent throughout? How long would the career of a centre forward last who runs to the ref' pleading, "No ref' it's not a penalty, he never touched me, I just stumbled ......." Ten minutes after he gets substituted maybe?

What disturbs me is that if we continue to play the game as we do now then we'll recruit the wrong type of people into refereeing, the power-hungry and show-offs will rise to the top and those with a genuine love of the game, who want to be involved to make it better will be in the minority. The standard in the National League does look poor, and unfortunately the better the teams at this level become the more that will show up the standard of refereeing. Every challenge, every tackle ends up with someone writhing on the floor apparently at death's door, every time the ball enters the net an entire team can find reasons to challenge the goal's validity, and at big games thousands of US echo all their complaints.

Let's for a minute imagine the game is ONLY a game. And the ref' is just a kindly old dud, doing his best, but he certainly doesn't look his best in shorts.