This is one of the season defining matches, as in the Brackley thread I committed to returning to post as Johnny Hartley if Yeovil pull off a shock win, so all true Welling fans will have extra motivation to hope for a point or more for Welling!

Last season Ebbsfleet were runaway leaders in our division, won by 20 points, scored 100 goals, so I was fascinated to watch them play us last season to work out why they were so damned successful. The key to me seemed to be that they were fab at having players running into great supporting positions, so whoever had the ball for them had four or more well placed players to pass to. In contrast we had hardly any players running into good positions, so often got caught out on the ball as our players didnt have decent options to pass to. The challenge a division higher is clear, as last season's promoted teams Ebbsfleet and Oxford are currently both in the relegation zone, and League South champions Maidstone getting relegated on their first season in the National.

This season Yeohohovil are the big leaders in our league, 9 points clear at the top, so it will be equally interesting and educational to watch them to work out what their secret of their success is. Looking at the list of top scorers in our league, three of them come from Yeovil, but there is hope, as we may well have Taylor Curran and a moonlighting undercover radio announcer in defence. So no great expectations today, the only fixture best to play one up front, but hopefully we can learn some lessons, and then start applying those lessons ourselves in later games.

-- Edited by Jimmie on Saturday 25th of November 2023 07:52:28 AM

1-1 Adom

Wood on for Curran

3-1 Abraham

Kassarate on for Chambers

Howard on for Lema

Wow, brilliant!

Unbelievable Jeff

Yeovil had plenty of possession in the first half and duly went 1-0 up. The referee booked a couple of our players (for not a great deal) and, eventually, starting penalising Yeovil players as well. We equalised with a terrific finish from Adom and deservedly went in 1-1 at the break.

The second half was a fantastic performance from Welling and our movement was simply too much for Yeovil. They couldn't cope with our slick passing and we were brimming with confidence. We took our chances and Abrahams was in fine form. His third goal was brilliant and he didn't stop running. A well deserved hat trick!

The 4-1 scoreline was a true reflection of the game and, in fact, could easily have been 6-1.

Considering their home attendances, the turnout from Yeovil wasn't exactly great either... and the ones that did turn up, probably wished they had stayed down in Somerset!

We are Wings!

On my way out after the match a wiser fan than me said "enjoy this moment, they don't often happen in football" and that is the best summary possible of a great performance and result.

Three things really impressed me about Yeovil today, which may go some way to explaining why they are so successful

1. Their distribution from the keeper is fantastic, he threw the ball to the half way, as soon as he had the ball he launched it forward to start a quick counterattack.

2. The pressing from their forwards and midfield was really effective, making it difficult to play out from the back.

3. When they were attacking they were very direct going straight towards goal, with none of the sideways and backwards passing that has been one of our weaknesses all season long, as we are coached defensively, whereas Yeovil are clearly encouraged to go straight for goal. There was a funny moment in the match today when we were passing the ball back and forth out wide along the throw in line, and one of our players shouted "get the ball in the fuc_ing box", Yeovil were more decisive in attack.

Great stuff! A really enjoyable decisive win, one of those matches the opposition manager will find hard to get any positives from, I can't think of any, so I'll be interested to see his post match interview.

Jimmie wrote:

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On my way out after the match a wiser fan than me said "enjoy this moment, they don't often happen in football" and that is the best summary possible of a great performance and result.

Three things really impressed me about Yeovil today, which may go some way to explaining why they are so successful

1. Their distribution from the keeper is fantastic, he threw the ball to the half way, as soon as he had the ball he launched it forward to start a quick counterattack.

2. The pressing from their forwards and midfield was really effective, making it difficult to play out from the back.

3. When they were attacking they were very direct going straight towards goal, with none of the sideways and backwards passing that has been one of our weaknesses all season long, as we are coached defensively, whereas Yeovil are clearly encouraged to go straight for goal. There was a funny moment in the match today when we were passing the ball back and forth out wide along the throw in line, and one of our players shouted "get the ball in the fuc_ing box", Yeovil were more decisive in attack.

Great stuff! A really enjoyable decisive win, one of those matches the opposition manager will find hard to get any positives from, I can't think of any, so I'll be interested to see his post match interview.

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Has Danny Bloor  upset you Johnny. He has obviously not agreed to take your constant superior knowledge of football tactics on board. How sad as you did appear to be on first name terms for most of the last few months. You are so pissed off with Danny Bloor you cant bring yourself to praise the performance of his team today. Why dont you cheer up enjoy the win because we did win under Danny Bloors tactics not yours. Try watching a game of football as entertainment and not a reason to preach to the rest of us on this forum on how so very knowledgeable you are about the beautiful game. Have a beer and chill out. Its not the end of the world. We won. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

Danson Mark wrote:

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Wallop wrote:

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Do you think the Curran for Wood had anything to do with it?
No escaping, great result, but the back four looked more settled upon this change.

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 I thought that Taylor Curran was excellent until he pulled up. Will Wood did well too. Maybe centre half is his position.

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 Totally agree. 

You were watching a different game, Jimmie, as Yeovil passed it sideways and backwards for about 30 mins in the game. They were really poor going forwards and had huge gaps between midfield and back four. Grant was superb, calm and collected, just what we need.

-- Edited by 50p head on Saturday 25th of November 2023 10:22:03 PM

Courtjester wrote:

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Danson Mark wrote:

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Wallop wrote:

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Do you think the Curran for Wood had anything to do with it?
No escaping, great result, but the back four looked more settled upon this change.

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 I thought that Taylor Curran was excellent until he pulled up. Will Wood did well too. Maybe centre half is his position.

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 Totally agree. 

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 Taylor Curran played his best game today. Solid as a rock until his unfortunate injury. Credit where its due. 

-- Edited by Riverstown on Saturday 25th of November 2023 11:36:28 PM

The game changed a lot between first half and second half, the first half evenly matched when they started off strongly, closing us down from our goal kicks so it was hard for us to even get the ball to midfield. That defending from the front was interesting to watch and a useful lesson. When the ball was in the final third for them usually whoever had the ball just went directly towards goal to get a shot in, that direct approach was an interesting contrast. The second half was a different story, their manager gave a fantastic honest interview, saying we were much better than them in all areas. That was particularly so in the second half. I fully recognise what a great performance this was by us, we stopped them playing to their strengths, and instead played to our strengths.

That bloody Chippenham game was the final straw for me, poor again, we had made no progress for five months, and got bogged down yet again to a slow scrappy game, that gave us no chance to use the qualities Danny told us he sets his team up as - fast and attacking. There was so much complacency, nothing changing, it just felt like we were heading into a repeat of last season, which was disappointing for all concerned as everyone knew we had massively underperformed with the quality of squad we had. I could see this was on the cards for this season too, as before today we had won 1 in 12 league games and had been in the bottom 4 since the start of the season, yet nothing was changing. There was a big alarm bell when the Boreham Wood manager said he knew exactly how we would play as they had watched us and we had played exactly the same players in the same formation for the previous 3 games. So I realised we were just keeping on doing the same unsuccessful things, that one guy isolated up front half a pitch away from any other team member, and very inaccurate shooting, so us hardly scoring as a result.

Since then we have changed our formation, changes some of the players, dropping ones who dont really have end product of goals or assists, get players to support the striker, and use our pace more often, these changes mean we are finally starting to fulfil our potential. I hadnt spotted we needed to add experience to the team, but Danny saw that, and we can all see the difference Tristan makes to attack, or Antony Grant made today. We are an unpredictable side, we lost our previous league game 1 - 4 to Braintree in a disappointing way, then win 4 - 1 against the runaway league leaders!

Another 27 league games to go, still tons of time to get to safety, hopefully today is the day we look back as the turning point, as there was so much quick clever stuff from us if we can keep playing like that we will score goals, and allegedly goals win games!

I agree with the comments regarding Curran doing nothing wrong, just thought Wood looked more comfortable linking defence into attack.
Mentioned to my mate that we need to drop Abraham and stick Adom in his place.
Abraham then slams in a quick fire hat trick.
Mentioned something similar regarding Curran before he scored the 4-3 winning header.

I am getting good at this.

-- Edited by Wallop on Sunday 26th of November 2023 07:47:41 AM

I'd planned to be at the game, but couldn't make it. I saw Yeovil play twice in the Championship less than a decade ago and I didn't think the Wings had a hope, so an amazing result. It would have been a coupon buster for many.

Really pleased for Danny Bloor as he seems a decent guy, who cares. Hopefully there will be a positive reaction and the Wings can kick on. Only 11 points off the playoffs :)

Watching the highlights of the game Tristan's third goal was even better than I had realised at the time, I thought Cameron Green's early season goal with the great pass from Will Wood was goal of the season, but that Tristan goal is different but just as great.

Our shooting for the first five months of this team was rather Keystone Cops, high, wide, hitting posts, straight at the keeper, rather than following the golden rule of shooting low into corners, preferably the opposite corner across the keeper. This is largely why we have conceded points in 15 of our 19 league games so far, and been in the relegation zone all season long, as we are fine in defence, only 3 bad defensive performances from the team so far, but our attack hasn't matched our defence, and one needs to score a lot to get anywhere in football.

Interesting to see Taylor Curran made the team of the week. That is the great thing about football, it is all about opinions, and though I didn't rate the performance that highly, who knows, maybe there was something about it I missed. My concern about his play is when he clears the ball under pressure he often just hoofs it high in the air without picking a pass to one of our players, and often that clearance goes to the opposition and they just attack us again, so his defence wasn't really that effective and just creates more pressure. Whereas our more skilful defenders clear the ball by accurately passing it out of defence to one of our players, which effectively stops the opposition attack. If he fixed that about his game he and the defence he plays in would be miles better.