Think we all knew we was going to lose. Setting ourselves with one up front confirmed it.
No blame on any player, but it is apparent that we are not as good as them.
Do we attack and get stuffed by a hatfull, or accept a gracious defeat?
Keeper played well and caught the ball.
Every cloud.
This was a marked improvement from the battering we took at their place. Unfortunately, we still came up short.
The bottom four continue to help us out by not winning. They won't do this forever though and we will be in the mire if we don't get our act together soon.
First and foremost credit to Boreham Wood. Probably the most comfortable 1-0 win I have ever seen. They are a very solid, organised and professional outfit who never had to get out of first gear yesterday. Anyone who finishes ahead of them will probably win this division in my opinion.
I can understand our tactics of sitting deep and soaking up pressure. First half we defended well, our keeper made a couple of decent saves, they missed a couple of chances and it was job done. However when we had the odd chance of a breakaway we couldn't hold the ball and give the defence some respite. Kennedy, Bramble and especially Martin all worked hard and deserved better reward for their efforts.
Second half we came out slowly AGAIN and conceded a soft goal AGAIN. Even then I understood to some extent sitting back and soaking up more pressure. I was hoping we would keep our powder dry and make some attacking changes for the last 10-15 and have a go at them. I think like most fans I would rather lose by two or three goals having a go than rolling over and accepting defeat..?! We touched the ball twice in their penalty area the whole second half and, as has been said elsewhere, our turnstile operators should have charged their keeper 16 quid yesterday.
We are currently being kept out of trouble by the ineptitude of other teams but we're very much in a relegation battle. On paper there are easier games ahead but we need to show more ambition and intent than we did yesterday and maybe get some loanees in that are starters rather than squad fillers...
I haven't said much for a while because it would have been reputation but in so many games recently we have had as much of the ball as the opposition and created as many chances. Although I believe the opposition have been more threatening with their attacks and scored goals. There is a definite lack of goals in our team. Too often we play hit and hope long ball football which is 50/50 and the ball frequently comes back at us. I think the squad is overloaded with defenders too.
Yesterday was different though, and made me feel I needed to comment. I agree with everything you gentleman have said. I believe we lost the match in the dressing room. I was stunned we started with 6 defenders like we did away at Maidstone. It showed the opposition we were scared of them before a ball had been kicked. It also demonstrated a lack of ambition. It is one thing to play that formation away but quite another to play it at home. I understand you need to show Boreham Wood respect and that they walloped us away but you can show too much respect. On the rare occasions we did show attacking intent we did rattle them. We lost 1-0 away at Maidstone and by the same scoreline yesterday. The system invites pressure and doesn't work. All it achieves is keeping the goal difference down. Once we had conceded and changed the team with attacking players we got at them a bit. I would have preferred to have started with a more attacking team and give it a go for the points, you don't know until you try. I would prefer to go down fighting than with a whimper. It was a training game for Boreham Wood yesterday, attack v defence. Yes we might have lost heavily again but we might have won or nicked a point had we attacked. A loss is a loss with no points whether it's 1-0 or 6-0 it doesn't matter much. I can't fault any of the players they tried really hard. I thought Redfearn ran his socks off with no support up top. I especially thought Perry, Wingate, Martin and Bramble had good games but ultimately I felt our formation was all wrong. I fear we will be sucked into the bottom 4.