A Turning Point?

[SBP]

Well Brucie, i cant agree with you. If we dont make changes and try different things we will never achieve anything. I am not suggesting Maklin is the real deal, what I am saying is that he is quick and direct and on his day he can a game. We need to attack why not try him. I would rather go down fighting. If Mansell is not performing then why shouldnt he be dropped.

[AustrianAndyGull]

That's fair enough Exiledgull and i do appreciate your positive outlook but unfortunately i go on form and probability and we've won 1 game since the 1st of December thanks to a penalty, it is now the 13th of March and we now lose Downes too. Until we get another win then we remain the same regardless of performance. That is the way i view it. I'm not finger pointing, i'm saying that if we beat Southend then we're in business, if we don't we're still the same. It's not negativity, it's how it is. Obviously if i was Knill i would be highlighting the positives from the game and using it to get some more improvement out of the players, anyone in the same position would be stupid not to but i'm sure Alan knows that he is still at first base but now without Downes.

Would it make you feel better if i said we were amazing and can now go and beat Southend no problems?

If you think that's a bit over the top for what we have just achieved then isn't that what i have just been saying?

[AustrianAndyGull]

Whatever Andy is on I would like to stay well clear of it. Incredibly negative and I am not sure there is any benefit to anyone concerned?

We can sit here and point out things in the past etc, but I do not see were that helps anyone. Not many games left and we just need to stay up, no-one wants us to go down and we can all finger point but doing that now is only negative to all.

Andy no-one is saying the turning point will turn us into Barcelona, but if you think when your 3rd bottom in the league and go 1-0 down and 1 man down within the first 5 minutes, to score 2 goals away from home and draw isnt a really good result then you are beyond me. You managed to even pick faults in the game saying they (are a poor side).They are a poor side but the table suggests they are better than us.

Lets just get behind the team and finger point at the end of the season.

Also please find the bit where i said last nights result and performance weren't great and find the bits where i was negative about last nights game.

With regards to saying Dagenham are a poor side. They are poor and they are one of the more amenable clubs in the division to go and get a result from so not detracting from the performance but it is what it is.

[AustrianAndyGull]

We drew as well, we didn't win plus we got it back to 1-1 and then still couldn't hang on.

[Lloyder5]

To suggest that Macklin should start up front is lunacy . Thers is no evidence that this is a turning point at all. It is unlikely that Macklin would provide ninety minutes - if we were to play him (which is unlikely) we should have Thompson on the bench to replace him. Suggesting we should drop Mansell is equally nonsensical as we only have the likes of Easton and Lathrope to replace him.
A defence consisting of Cruise.Oastler and Macdonald would not actually fill me with much confidence.
I take it that Benyon wil not be allowed to play aganst his parent club on saturday? - so this leaves us with Jarvis again.
It all looks a bit weak to me and those screaming we have turned the corner aare clutching at straws.
Minimum requirement is One win in our next two games followed by a win gainst York.

There is clear evidence that this was an improvement; 15 shots, 5 on target, 2 goals, 50% possession. Much better that most if not all of the last 10 games. Add to the the apparent willingnesss to fight, then much better all round. Clearly there were also concerns; Jarvis, Oastler and Mansell. But when you're actually playing in a team that is struggling you need something to build on and we've got to hope that this it. Those players will have been buzzing when they came into the dressing room. The key thing is to take it into the next. I do agree with your analysis of the minimum requirements over the next three games.

[highweekgull]

We drew but...

we played 90 minutes with 10 men and 1 goal down
we conceded a soft goal with 5 minutes to go

but we still bounced back

If i was the manager i would be buzzing in the changing room, gee-ing everyone up for the next game, saying

"well done guys but we still need to do better, let's make it a win next time. Take the lead ourselves and build on it. Not give away any more soft goals and we can bloody well do this and in a few weeks time we will be laughing in mid table mediocrity. Those of you who didn't perform as well tonight as you could have done, you know who you are, now step up to the plate with the others or we've got a few other hungry people ready to take your place. NOW WHO IS UP FOR IT?"

[brucie]

Thats all well and good but really I am not sure how it relates to the next game though. Before the Oxford game Knill stated there were 11 cup finals. Well we hardly played like that against Oxford.
I totally agree that it was a fantastic point last night and we might even have won it - if that had been the case now that could well have been a turning point.
I still think the squad looks weak going into the Southend game - Knill really needs to pull his finger out and sign somebody who can make a difference.

[Colorado Gull]

A turning point? Not so sure yet. If we win our next couple games then yes! But when we beat Exeter, we didn't improve so let's see what happens.

[ROADRUNNER]

we have to believe dan

[hector]

I think there is something about playing 86 minutes with ten men, conceding a goal near the end of the game that looks like beating you, yet grabbing a draw from the jaws of defeat that really could be a turning point. Had we been ahead and conceded a goal at the end it would likely had a detrimental effect. But a draw in those circumstances and in the context of the whole game probably felt like a win for the players so lets hope they can use this to realise that they are not as shit as their current form suggests and to go and get something, a draw even, from Southend.

[Dave]

Is this a turning Point, to early to say indeed, however as said last night, to play the game 1 down and with ten men from the 3rd minute, then to conceed what many felt was an offside goal late in the game only to win a penalty and secure a point will have felt like a win to those players last night.

That should have given the players some re-newed self belief, and with some more help in terms of loan signing arriving at the club should give everyone an extra lift in spirits. Must admit I walked away from the ground Saturday and thought thats it, the game is up we are sunk, with that second half performance and another new arrival once again I am starting to think maybe, just maybe we can pull ourselves out of this terminal slump.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Is this a turning Point, to early to say indeed, however as said last night, to play the game 1 down and with ten men from the 3rd minute, then to conceed what many felt was an offside goal late in the game only to win a penalty and secure a point will have felt like a win to those players last night.

That should have given the players some re-newed self belief, and with some more help in terms of loan signing arriving at the club should give everyone an extra lift in spirits. Must admit I walked away from the ground Saturday and thought thats it, the game is up we are sunk, with that second half performance and another new arrival once again I am starting to think maybe, just maybe we can pull ourselves out of this terminal slump.

Same here Dave if truth be told. Whether i think Chappell will be good for us or not is irrelevant, the fact is that the Daggers performance shows us AND reminds the rest of the team what they are capable of and with the arrival of Chappell, Labadie and maybe someone else it can spark something into life again.

It would be good to win at Southend obviously but not the end of the world if we didn't but we must win our home games and although i am still very sceptical, i've not been this hopeful we can stay up for many many weeks.

[Dave]

Agreed Andy, I for a few weeks have not been able to see a way out of this for us, Oxford home for me was just conformation in way of what I already knew in my own mind, if that makes sense.

On my shift I have a Plymouth and Gillingham fan, me and my Garg mate have a weekly relegation watch meeting, last night I said to him it would not surprise me if we Tufc dropped into the bottom two this weekend, however I also said that would not be the end of the world, with some loan signings about to join coupled with the second half performance I also said to my mate , it would not surpise me know if we put together a little run, and with York and Barnet home there is the chance to save ourselves.

[ferrarilover]

Have a look at Dagenham and compare it with Bradford, a match which was similar in so far as we had a man sent off early on. We didn't touch the ball in the Bradford game, they were all over us and we looked totally inept and lost. Contrast with Dagenham where (I wasn't there, but I am reliably informed) we fell to bits in the first half and allowed ourselves to be pushed around, but came out in the second half and gave D&R a right hiding. Quite how much of this was the sense of injustice at the Downes sending off, how much was talent, luck, skill, Knilly's team talk or anything else is largely irrelevant. The fact is that the team proved that they have what it takes to fight and get themselves out of a hole, not once, but twice.
Judging from the video on the News, their bloke may well have been offside for their second goal, their penalty certainly was stonewall, but Downer did rather fall over, rather than carving the bloke down. It's situations like these which make the automatic red card a bit of a farce. These are the sorts of things which have been going against us recently and have cost us all three points. On Tuesday, we didn't allow that to happen. This is the turning point. The point we got is, essentially, irrelevant. What we really won on Tuesday was the confidence which comes with a performance of that nature. It is often said that when you win (and that is how our boys will feel), you don't feel the tiredness in the legs, the fatigue, the knocks and strains. We will, hopefully, be much fresher, much fitter, much stronger for the match against Southend than we have been in recent matches and than we would have had we not got the late equaliser.

The Exeter game was subtly different in so far as, largely, we were extremely lucky to win that match. We were run about all over the place in the second half and we managed to hold on. Perfectly valid, of course, but hardly the way you set out to win a match.

My real issue is that Southend is probably the hardest match we have left. We could do with having had Barnet or some such other game to play next. It's possible that we could play well and still get beaten at Roots Hall. Still, at least if we give it a bloody good go and get beaten by a better side, that's better than a limp capitulation.

Time will tell.

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

That is it Matt, obviously the result is bloody important especially at this stage of the season but it was all about the performance on tuesday night. I wasn't there either but we gave it a real good go apparently, got forward, tried to create chances and really got stuck in and even if we had gone down 2-1 then we could still have looked back and take the positives from the performance and move forward. As it is we got a point from the game and now it's all about going to Southend and replicating that performance at the very least. Ideally we need to improve on that performance to have a chance of getting a win but it is entirely possible and with the additions of Labadie and now Chappell it finally looks as though we are in a position to start taking control of our own destiny and start getting some positive results on the board. Like i said, until after the Southend game i can't say we've turned a corner because we might get battered and play like frolicking dolphins and be back to square one again at anxiety central. If we play really well and lose then i'm happy with that, like Matt says, it's a tough game and although it's debatable if it's our hardest with Gillingham and a resurgent and powerful Northampton side to come away, a good positive performance is essential regardless of result IMO. If we get some sort of positive attacking consistency in our play then we will eventually win games of football and definately beat the poorer teams left to play no doubt in my mind. IF.