Not much between the two sides but we won it with the best bit of Football of the match. These 3g pitches in my view result in more direct Football not less.
The two loan fullbacks had good debuts. Ade Azzez back near his best. Payne another booking, his discipline is just not good enough.
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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh When the Wingssssss
Took the game to Tonbridge for the first 20 minutes with Daniel Nkrumah running them ragged. Sat back a bit after that but defended well with very decent performances from the loan players, especially the left back today. The ref Packman still makes the game a ticking timebomb where you just dont know what he might do next. Great goal where Ade won the ball, bit of passing and he finished it off. Need to back this win up with a run. Delighted with the three points.
A hard fought victory between two evenly matched sides IMO. Maloney and Dunne in midfield were our stand out performers. Payne is a loose cannon just waiting to get sent off. Be good to put on an emphatic display next weekend at home.
After earlier pre match discussion it is apparent the manager wont be going nowhere
There a few on the side that may not wish to tow the company line.
My take is that they will come second in this competition.
As for today, started well, sat back and at H/T was a fair draw.
Got a good second half winner, but if we are honest, rode our luck.
Yes Payne hit the post on a 1 - 1 with the keeper, but the defensive mindset for the last 10 could have found us out.
A win is a win, and I will take that all day long.
Thanks to Polo for sorting out todays coach, shame more didnt take up todays offer.
Feeney and his boss have a game plan to make Welling a semi/pro side.
If the players they have under current contract fit the bill. Who knows?
Whether it works or not, who knows?
One thing is for sure, as a player, you will tow the line or you are out.
This management structure will not be dictated by player pressure.
Pleased with the win and that's that really, heard from the game that it wasn't particularly a good game of football but we battled well and that Craig Belgrave was very vocal on the sideline, maybe he's had a bit of a impact already.
Thought it was a good game and fantastic support yet again. Im just so disappointed with Feeneys post match video, seemed to be fine up until he was asked about the fans. Then decided to go on about fans on social media and their opinions, why can he not just thank the fans for paying his wages and leave it at that.
Constantly says that he does not look at social media but continuously brings it up. I really want to like Feeney and his plans for the club but he is making it difficult for himself
The importance of social media and knowledge of the fans is something Warren doesn't understand or value. Yes, some is toxic, and most is not particularly useful, but useful parts are so usefully educational, and one may not learn those lessons from anywhere else if one hadn't ploughed through all the un-useful parts to reach the useful parts.
It is all how one uses it. When I started posting here I got into criticism and silly rows with long standing fans who knew much more about the club than me, then I realised I was doing that, so stopped that, and just concentrated on having more constructive talks. If he used social media properly he would find it helpful too.
Fans here worked out what is behind 2 wins from the last 14 league games by talking it over between us. But Warren is in his bunker and doesn't do interactive social media, so has no carefully weighed up idea of what he is doing wrong, or what he needs to do to fix it, that the knowledgeable fans here quickly see.
A wise pro player said one can't just only accept good feedback, and block out any potential criticism or negative feedback, one needs to follow social media for a full balanced view, of those that think one is doing well, as well as those that think one isnt. And it is surprising how often criticism or negative feedback longer term proves to be constructive, in a way one didn't realise at the time. Football fans are customers of a club, so it is bad business not to care what customers thinks of the service they get. But it was a relief to get a good result today.
A much needed and long overdue win yesterday. Well done to Warren and the club for getting some loan players in who all made a contribution and added some much needed pace and energy to the side. Nkrumah has done well in the last two games and Powell was possibly motm yesterday. Also the arrival of Craig Belgrave could be a very shrewd addition as he knows this level inside out.
The only downside for me is the continued lack of discipline, particularly from one experienced player who, by now, really should know better. From minute one yesterday he was spoiling for a row, getting involved in other player's arguments and constantly in the referee's face. And then, on being substituted, he ignored a simple instruction to leave the field by the shortest route and picked up another needless yellow card which, by my reckoning, triggers a two match ban. That will mean five games missed through suspension (or 20% of our league matches by the time he is available again) Of the 20 games he has played that's now 1 red and 10 yellow cards in those games. And please don't tell me it's down to passion and commitment because it isn't....the vast majority of the cards picked up have been down to rank stupidity.
Let's build on this win on Sunday and get ourselves higher up the table.
The cynic in me may think that Stefan set out to get that card.
Part of me wonders if at times, he is simply going through the motions and as long as hes collecting a wage, couldnt care less.
A good performances, we certainly rode our luck at times but my god we needed them 3 points. Very impressed with Avan Jones and Aaron Powell making thier debuts, also Daniel Nkrumah on the wing. Should definitely have had a second when Payne was clear though but we managed to hold on with some backs to the wall defending. We need to build on this and another 3 points on New year's day is a must in my opinion, delighted for all the supporters and I said my congratulations to the manager in the bar after. On the subject of Craig Belgrave coming in he could be the "signing" of the season, his experience of this level plus his contacts could really push this club on this season. Really looking forward to New year's Day now
I think the important thing is that the new owners and whoever it is that makes our signings quickly learn from the mistakes in the first half of the season. Maybe I am naive, but I think football is a team game, so one supports ones team mates. So Stefan has massive red mist problems in games, but when he was suspended it was good to see him watching matches to see how his team mates were doing. That was a total contrast to another recently released short term signing Jay Simpson, who I saw took part in his pre match warm up although he wasn't in the match squad, then, as far as I could see, left without bothering to watch the match, which if accurate sums up his commitment and interest in the team.
So the lesson is, if we sign short term players, we need to sign young ones, who we could possibly turn to again in the future, rather than older players who dont really give a damn about us. It was clear to me at least we lacked legs out there in the past few months of sub standard football. So the signings of young much more energetic players is GREAT to see, much needed, and long overdue, glad that penny has dropped with whoever does signings. Although it is lovely to sign experienced guys with 500 games behind them, that is the point, their best games are behind them, so we must focus on younger players who are on fire as they are playing for their future, like say Dipo was, and not older, complacent, see it all as a joke ones.
Another manager in our division was saying after their Boxing Day win how few teams get back to back wins in these two successive Christmas/ New Year fixtures, but it is great the guys got rewarded with a win for all their effort.
Belgrave will be a huge difference and actually something to be happy about. Knows this league inside out and has coached many a team to the playoffs. IF and it is still a IF we start picking up, it will be down to him not feeney.
For a change I watched the post match interview, as it seems rather pointless listening to a guy who clearly doesn't understand what is happening in front of him, so can't fix the problems of the past few months everyone else can see. As usual he made no sense with his interview, coming up with all sorts of contradictory lies or, charitably, inaccuracies.
He said, "People are going "oh were lacking confidence", its easy to criticise but weve never once lacked confidence." Well, that is a load of rubbish as he himself after the Dartford match said, We look as if there is a nervousness, theres a fear to me. I dont know how you can fear having the best job in the world and thats something Ive got to look at."
He says after the Tonbridge game, "Ive got to protect my boys." That's another load of nonsense from him, as he spends his time in matches telling the players how bad they are, and throws them under the bus in post match interviews, I counted five mistakes, four from one player, which is totally unacceptable, said Feeney. I Just told the boys that sometimes its too much for them. We gave ourselves a chance (at 3-1) but the (fourth) goal we gave away again is what you wouldnt see in park football. They are just used to turning up, being comfortable. the demands are too much for them." That isn't protecting your players, it is the poor manager trying to protect himself by passing all responsibility onto the players, when in fact is is supposed to be his job to prepare the team for the pressures, to cut out the mistakes, to play with a sense of urgency rather than comfort.
He said, "I can take criticism, it doesnt worry me." but he has the wrong temperament and mentality to be a manager, so he can't take criticism at all, and cowardly hides from it with his inconsistent and dishonest evasions to avoid facts of 2 league wins in 14 games.
The suggestion of a bigger pitch is also nonsense, as he just lumps the ball up the middle of the pitch to the isolated striker, and ignore the quality in wide play we showed have during our great start to the season, before he decided to bore the fans to death with dull aimless long clearances to an isolated striker who lost most aerial challenges.
What his is too afraid to realise is that fan criticism, if taken the right way, can be constructive. The knowledgeable fans haven't been nasty, they have been realistic, the fans quite rightly think 2 wins in the last 14 league games is not good enough, and the manager unrealistically and arrogantly responds by inaccurately saying they have been putting in good performances and are confident, and that people that don't see it his way dont understand football.
At the meet the manager event I made a clumsy point that the trend of our results was downward, and we were heading for problems. The point I was trying to make, that no one in the club seems aware of, is clearly shown here:
So it is nice to finally get a win, especially as nearly all teams below have been getting better results for the past few months, and at the moment only Hungerford look nailed on for relegation, as the form table clearly shows, everyone else is capable of getting the results to overtake us and get out of trouble.