Southport 1-2 AFC Fylde - Match Thread

[cobby7]

Our Captain was fantastic when our keeper was out of it and they had two free shots two of our players ran back and one was stopped going in one but was cleared to another whose shot was cleared off the line by Anson Who had run back to the keepers position.
Here’s one for the oldies Anson reminds me of Roger Darvell. Who remembers him ?

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Thinking about this season there have been so many games where we come away aggrieved having deserved better. Good performances and either nothing or only a point to show for it. Now that's an improvement on the second half of last season, when we were playing rubbish and deserving nothing, but it's points that matter.

I will try and be honest and if we've deserved to get beat I will say so, but there seems to be more of these 'we were robbed' matches than normal. In my opinion, we deserved more out of:

Fylde 1-2
Scarborough 1-1
Brackley 2-2
Buxton 1-4
Darlington 2-3
Chester 0-1
Fylde 0-1

You are going to be the better side and lose sometimes that's football, but we are uncharacteristically ineffective and inefficient this season in that we dominate large parts of matches, create bags of chances and it doesn't happen for us. Very un-Watson like, normally his teams are experts at nicking tight games but we are the other way this year. Our goals per shot ratio must be shocking.

Surely it's obvious to Liam and Ian that what's keeping us a mid-table club as opposed to a top six outfit is forward options. We only have two strikers, one of those has never scored a goal above the Northern Premier. If you compare our forward 'options' which amount to Archer and Heath, with all other 23 teams that must rank about bottom.

I look at Chester who were no better than us at the Deva, Kurt Willoughby scored his 20th of the season today. That's all that is between us and them.

I know it's a lost cause as we don't have a pot to piss in, but it's so bloody frustrating to actually have a good team with some good defenders, backed up with the likes of Woods, Hmami, Watson, Walton who cause anyone problems, all to be rendered futile by such a lightweight attack. We are in for a lot more of these frustrating afternoons until we can add that final piece.

This is very well put. I think adding to the forwards will be the difference between Playoffs and Not Playoffs - I am sure Liam et al are aware but it would be refreshing to go into a run-in with a bit of a boost knowing that the club really wanted a go at promotion, because we didn't last year.

As for not blaming refs... they have a thankless job and it can't be easy, but we've been cost a lot of points in the last few weeks by awful decisions. No point pretending otherwise - neither of Fylde's goals today should have happened.

I will say it was a cracking game and Liam got his tactics right - just need a little bit more going forward.

[David_1276]

I think the consensus is essentially that if we had a Marcus Carver type centre-forward and some decent referees this season we'd probably be comfortably inside the top 4, which I totally agree with.

I think up until this season we've had a few lacklustre positions but that seems to have all been ironed out somewhat now. We've got a relatively strong, if inconsistent, midfield trio with Oliver (I know he played RB today through necessity but he's best in holding midfield) Bainbridge and Hmami, a really solid defence captained and marshalled by the best defender in the league by a mile, a really good goalkeeper in Cam and a decent enough back up in Tony, and some, again, good but inconsistent wingers- the most talented of whom is still clearly unfit though. We do lack depth, that much is clear, and when you look at our forward options none of Heath, Miles or Archer should really be our star striker. We're desperate for someone who can hold the ball up, win headers and hit the target from close range, which none of the current crop (not sure about Miles, he is only 17 and shouldn't be relied upon at all for obvious reasons) can actually do. We are absolutely crying out for Carver, or at least someone who fits his mould and can do what he did for this team. He and Jordan played off each other fantastically, as Jordan could play the way he is best at and Carver could essentially do all of the dirty jobs as well as score a fair few himself. Heath does have the potential, I think, to be able to get to a similar sort of level but he won't be there until he's at least in his mid twenties, and probably needs an NPL loan spell before he is ready.

It's not a case of "sack the entire team, they're all shite" anymore, but one of "with a few tweaks here and there, and a few players improving in certain areas, we're good enough to challenge at the top of this league".

[siddle]

That penalty decision was outrageous. We can bemoan missed chances but that doesn’t negate the conversation of how, week on week, inept refereeing is destroying honest games of football. It’s not acceptable.

[cobby7]

That point blank header Of Carvers disallowed because the keeper was unsighted still haunts me.

[Big Mac 1985]

So many comments about Carver. He’s not been our player for a long time now.

[cobby7]

We/I sometimes forget that we are in the 6th Tier of the ladder and subsequently we have 6th tier officials who make mistakes.
Every week on MOD we watch elite first tier officials make howlers highlighted by VAR.
I will still moan at what I think are bad refs making bad decisions but as Liam says, it is what it is ,you get what you pay for.
Even so we do get some good officials, they are usually refereeing the games we win.!
Just a thought.

[Port on the Kent]

Penalty is soft but it's not great defending, Anson does turn his body and check the player - who gleefully uses the opportunity to go down. Adam just needed to show him onto his weaker foot, I am not sure what he's trying to do.

[Redrobe fan]

Our Captain was fantastic when our keeper was out of it and they had two free shots two of our players ran back and one was stopped going in one but was cleared to another whose shot was cleared off the line by Anson Who had run back to the keepers position.
Here’s one for the oldies Anson reminds me of Roger Darvell. Who remembers him ?

Roger was a great centre half and club man; tall and slim player who dominated the centre of defence. I don’t think he played after he broke his leg with us.
The club quickly signed Jim Appleby, Blackburn reserve defender, to replace him; a strong signing. I don’t think he stayed with us after the end of the season.

[TrickyDicky]

That penalty decision was outrageous. We can bemoan missed chances but that doesn’t negate the conversation of how, week on week, inept refereeing is destroying honest games of football. It’s not acceptable.

100% agree and …..to continue the saga I think we’ve got that woman ref on Tuesday who in spite of her poor officiating at Farsley, we managed to win 3-0, so it isn’t just classifying all officials as crap just because we don’t win, maybe we need to change our name to Liverport probably get no end of decisions going our way then!

[yellosoul]

The penalty decision was dodgy, but hardly outrageous

It’s a clear foul or obstruction by Anson (who otherwise was excellent) in a dangerous position. The only issue is where the offence is committed. It’s probably outside the box and sadly this week the linesman, with a clear view this time, doesn’t get involved

[george]

So many comments about Carver. He’s not been our player for a long time now.

Replaced by nobody

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

That penalty decision was outrageous. We can bemoan missed chances but that doesn’t negate the conversation of how, week on week, inept refereeing is destroying honest games of football. It’s not acceptable.

100% agree and …..to continue the saga I think we’ve got that woman ref on Tuesday who in spite of her poor officiating at Farsley, we managed to win 3-0, so it isn’t just classifying all officials as crap just because we don’t win, maybe we need to change our name to Liverport probably get no end of decisions going our way then!

I didn't think she was too bad.

Good crowd and good atmosphere yesterday. On an unpleasant note, some of our LYNX AFRICA BUMFLUFF AGGRO Brigade might want to reflect on the wisdom of singing songs mocking recently deceased Fylde supporters. Depressing, pathetic, inexcusable.

[siddle]

The penalty decision was dodgy, but hardly outrageous

It’s a clear foul or obstruction by Anson (who otherwise was excellent) in a dangerous position. The only issue is where the offence is committed. It’s probably outside the box and sadly this week the linesman, with a clear view this time, doesn’t get involved

It’s outrageous because there wasn’t a foul committed in the penalty area!

[Mr Ah Yes]

You watch the spin of the ball, that only comes from it hitting a defenders foot. I agree we missed chances, but if the opposition get gifted chances by the referee being incompetent, then the officials deserved to be criticised. We had earned the draw. Fylde did not earn that win.

[cobby7]

There were two doubts about that penalty considering a winning result was involved the ref should have let it go as both team deserved to get something out of it.

[optimickstic]

Having watched the highlights [only 3 minutes] our finishing was awful we should have been well ahead before the penalty decision. In the last few league games we dont seem to be able to score more than twice .Glad to see Charlie was credited with the goal his attempt looked to be on target but was it ultimately an own goal ? Pity we cant see the ref assessors thoughts on their first goal, the ref should have stopped play immediately when Tony was down and obviously unable to continue we all make mistakes and he did.

[haigavel]

Our Captain was fantastic when our keeper was out of it and they had two free shots two of our players ran back and one was stopped going in one but was cleared to another whose shot was cleared off the line by Anson Who had run back to the keepers position.
Here’s one for the oldies Anson reminds me of Roger Darvell. Who remembers him ?

Roger was a great centre half and club man; tall and slim player who dominated the centre of defence. I don’t think he played after he broke his leg with us.
The club quickly signed Jim Appleby, Blackburn reserve defender, to replace him; a strong signing. I don’t think he stayed with us after the end of the season.

Many thanks Cobby and Rf..fond memories of Roger..he was a true cornerstone.
Didn't know until today that after leaving us at the age of 34 he went on to amass almost 300 appearances for Banbury Utd.

[Paulisi]

Watched the highlights.
The penalty is clearly in the box. It was soft, but clear why the ref gave it.
No issues with their goal either, Tony was on the floor, but not from a foul.

[loyal jay]

Watched the highlights.
The penalty is clearly in the box. It was soft, but clear why the ref gave it.
No issues with their goal either, Tony was on the floor, but not from a foul.

I strongly disagree with this. I have broken it down by frame and it's quite clear that contact is made outside of the box. That said, decisions are made in real time without the luxury of VAR. it's understandable how the ref was fooled into giving the penalty. We were guilty of some woeful finishing, Hmami's attempt from 10 yards looks even worse on the footage and less said about Archer's wasted chance. You could have replaced Archer with a supporter from the crowd, he offered that little.

I was concerned that going in a goal down with the wind behind us, Fylde would run up comprehensive winners, it proved not to be the case. In fact, we kept the ball down and moved it out wide where Woods found some joy against their left back. Anson was a colossus at the back and could easily make the step up, MacMillan was assured and Carberry had a solid game, while Watson had a good cameo when he came on. All in all, it felt like another missed opportunity, a draw would have been a fair result. It was nice to hear an atmosphere at Haig Ave, there's certainly a shift in the age demographic which bodes well for the future of the club.