[ Sat 27th Feb ] v Potters Bar Town, KO 3pm SL1DC AWAY

[BartonRaz]

26 points taken from the last 48 available. Upper mid-table stuff since the start of December. This isn't a blip, this is just what we are. Maybe we should all reign in our expectations a little bit. Or maybe, if you're like me, you think the squad we've assembled should be capable of a lot better.

Nothing really wrong with our home form, it's one of the best in the league, but our away form has gone off the rails. We've collected 2 points from the last 4 away games. 8 points from the last 7. Whatever we're doing differently on the road is not working.

It doesn't explain how we're getting into these situations away from home in the first place, but I think our squad depth (lack of) has been exposed a bit lately. Our substitutes never influence games and the lack of attacking options is unhelpful. Last year we were able to rely on Scott Joseph to bang the goals in if the two starters weren't able to, this year we don't have that back-up. Unless Nabil Shariff is able to hit the ground running soon, which is both unlikely and unfair to expect given he's been in hospital, then this problem will persist.

[Pigman]

Very disappointing - looked like we hadn't recovered from last week's disappointment! Facing a team full of energy who closed us down fast and gave us little room to play, we just didn't have the guile to test them - they deserved their win!

We go again next week and hope others start to drop points - very flat for the majority of the match today!

I'm now turning to drink !!

[fentiger79]

Very poor, we looked like a rag tag outfit for most of the game. We can no longer seem to do the simple things like pass to each other, keep the ball on the pitch or control the ball. We are the top of the table team yet we have no swagger, no arrogance, no "we're going to come and smash you up, spit you out and take the 3 points home". We look soft, go a goal down and we can't come back. We are hanging on for play offs on our current form however I think we will make it. If we do make the plays offs we need the following to happen in those games
1) get bunts back
2) stop playing Gordon at right back, he is awful in that position. Surely Kennedy is a better option
3) get a new left back, hipwell is not good enough
4) drop Lorraine. Today's performance was shocking. We need another striker which I hope will be filled by Sharif.
5 stop playing the ball back and forth across the back when most of the time we mess it up.

We need to get better and quick.

[Rushden123]

Agree with the first four points definitely.

[Bob's Bitch]

I'd rather we stayed in this division, than limp over the line to promotion through the playoffs. We would be much better prepared for Step 3 with a confident squad that has torn through this league across a whole season. Look at Bedworth, they look to be coming straight back down after winning the playoffs last season.

[updiamonds]

Real disappointing after today result, poor performance from the lads, looked more like individuals than a team.

We need to cut these bad performances out of are game. At least Kings Langley lost, a shame about Egham winning late on.

We need to go again and put on a good performance on Saturday.

[Pigman]

Kings Langley drew 3-3 with a late goal!!

I mentioned yesterday how this time last year we looked a team full of confidence and we had started to play like real champions - we don't look anything like that this year.

If we go up it's most likely it'll be through the play offs, barring a miracle!

I honestly can't see Egham, Kings Langley or Royston dropping points like we have, but I live in hope!

What disappointed me yesterday was that I was looking for a reaction to last weeks defeat, and there wasn't one! I thought Jack played well, but everyone else was flat - if I hadn't known better if day they'd been out on the piss the night before and were hungover - lethargic and lacklustre - that's what it looked like.

The ref was a bit of a "it's all about me" merchant, a real arrogant prick frankly, but our players have got to learn to focus on their game and not berate the officials all the time - it's frustrating when an incompetent fool is in charge making stupid decisions, but you've not got to let that affect your game - yesterday we did let it do just that!!

Onwards and upwards, more in hope and belief than any real conviction now, but we are capable (granted not on yesterday's showing, but we're better than that) of winning our last 9 games but whether or not the wheels will fall off the chasing pack and they'll drop enough points is doubtful - play offs for me, but I'll be delighted to be proved wrong! How those first three draws from winning positions are coming back to bite us - if we could have held firm and not given late goals away those 6 points would see us sitting pretty right now eh? Ifs but and maybes !!

If we don't make the play offs then we will have failed to achieve our seasons target, then serious questions need to be asked in an end of season postmortem about the squad and why that didn't happen! For now we push on!!

[davealbon]

I find a some of you on here perplexing.

The feeling is mutual.

As many people have said, in response to yesterday's defeat and the others we've suffered recently, offered this position at the start of the season we would have bitten your hand off. The fact is though, it is not a strong league this season, and we've assembled a squad who are good enough to win it if they want. Just look at the win over third placed (at the time) St Ives, just 12 days ago, when we played them off the park with high tempo, confident, attacking football and a tough, aggressive defensive display which gave them barely a sniff. Fast forward less than two weeks; no points and no goals from the following two games, hardly a shot on target to shout about, and a team that looks completely devoid of flair, creativity, confidence, aggression, passion or ability (bar one or two exceptions). It's not just been these two games though, Beaconsfield was another obvious example, and even the second halves against Egham and Royston a couple of months ago.

If I was coming away from games having seen us give our all but lose because the opposition were, man for man, better than us, or because we'd been unlucky or not taken our chances, then I could live with that. That's football. But I can't stomach the sort of gutless, half-hearted performances we've put in against Potters Bar, Kings Langley or Beaconsfield recently.

[FOOTYMAN]

I will be able to get to this game, just hope the level of enthusiasm increases as we get nearer to match day.
It is a must-win game and nothing less than 3 points will do.
We shouldn't need any added motivation other than rebuild the pride of a team who sit on top of the league.

COYD

I was wrong about the team needing no added motivation. The performance was half-hearted and when talking to a couple of their supporters, they were surprised at how defensive we were, they expected a fluent attacking onslaught from the start. At the end, we agreed with them, they deserved the win, because we did not put any dangerous attacks worthy of a goal.
Points are not easy to come by and we might be a team that isn't ready to step up a level.

[bozzer]