Viking Supporters Co-operative
Viking Chat => Viking Chat => Topic started by: Haxey-Hood-DRFC on February 10, 2017, 09:44:57 pm
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Could have been a banana skin tonight, and it's another point towards promotion. I'm happy.
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Yes I will take that point, resurgent Newport and crap pitch and injuries..Considered
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Yes, agreed.
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Feels to me like two points dropped. Newport have won 2 home games all season. On a reasonable pitch this was never a tricky game for us, it would be a whitewash.
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Well Fergie and Butler are happy with the team.. And they (Newport) have not won three :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
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Feels to me like two points dropped. Newport have won 2 home games all season. On a reasonable pitch this was never a tricky game for us, it would be a whitewash.
Yes Copps, but taking the conditions into consideration it is acceptable.
I have already said that we are six points clear and have a far superior goal difference.
Give me points in the bag over games in hand any day.
Plymouth will be hard pressed to overcome Exeter.
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Two hard earned points this week against teams that did not want to play football, tonight Williams and Marquis got pulled down breaking away. JM got split head but did kick the pig that give it him..Yes got booked but payback
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We'd love to win every game, but it's not going to happen, no matter how invincible we think we are. What matters most right now is to draw and win more than lose. And that's what we've done. The chasers still have it all to do.
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Not sure I want Exeter to win that one.
I'll be happy when we get to 79 points. As I posted in another thread, only way we would not get to that is a collapse to 1 point per game, which is what we've had last two games with another tricky one against Carlisle.
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And Exactly this time last year it went :turd: :turd: :turd: :turd: :turd: :turd: up
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Not this time though.
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I am with you there..... :welcome: :welcome: :welcome:
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Only feels disappointing because of the draw last week and 3rd and 5th to play next week.
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Yes Andy but they need to win so probably will play football instead of not
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Feels to me like two points dropped. Newport have won 2 home games all season. On a reasonable pitch this was never a tricky game for us, it would be a whitewash.
Newport got rid of 11 and brought in 13 new players in the transfer window , so it is hardly the same team that started the season and got stuck at the bottom of the table.
In fact they haven't been beat in their last 5 L2 games and that run includes 1 of their 2 home wins.
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17 points out of 21 in last 7 games.
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My thoughts entirely. Well earned point against a team fighting to survive, awful pitch etc. Two big games to come now.
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Could have been a banana skin tonight, and it's another point towards promotion. I'm happy.
We've dropped 4 points in two games against teams who are just rubbish . Williams is been given the nod when he should have been given a rest . Two games 1 goal scored . A bad run starts like this , let's hope Carlisle don't pick up all 3 .
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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We're doomed I tell thee 😊
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We can't win every week, look at the state of that pitch tonight. Tough to deal with, we are still top and the chasers have really tough games tomorrow. 10 games unbeaten now!
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Susan: Newport were definitely not rubbish tonight. They're not going to score a shedload of goals but they're not rubbish. They were well organised, very determined, extremely highly motivated and good enough to be a mid table sort of side.
The pitch was basically about 500 tons of sand with an occasional blade of grass poking through. Although the crowd was only 2500 ish the locals were brilliant. Almost non stop noise and it was pretty loud where I was. The match itself wasn't a classic. It couldn't be on that dung heap. We played hoof it and chase. They played hoof it and chase too. Every now and then we had a go down the wings and we looked good then - but it didn't ever fall just right all evening. We didn't really get to threaten their goal all that much although on a different day maybe one of those low crosses from the wings might have found an attacker. Newport didn't threaten us either though I had kittens every time Lawlor punched the damn thing. Why can't he catch it? He made a right balls of 2 or 3 punches and it could all have gone horribly wrong.
Thought Joe Wright was good. Andy Butler did his usual effective agricultural job. Rowe had his hands full with the Newport right back. A gent called David Pipe. Jesus. You wouldn't wanna tangle with him on a dark night. One local told he he spent a couple of years in prison while playing for Brizzle Rovers because he glassed a Brizzle City supporter! I could believe it. He was no pushover.
The ref wasn't as bad as some I've seen - but then he wasn't brilliant either. Several dives by both teams he fell for - Willo did one I'd have sent him off for. The match wasn't as niggly as I expected given the morals of their manager. It did warm up a bit in the second half and the crowd got their dander up a bit but it was all handbags really. Marquis did his usual awesome chasing and harrying job. He ended up sporting a Terry Butcher bandage and showing his naked chest to the assembled throng while mopping the blood off everywhere.
Two hard working teams, a terrible pitch, a freezing night, honours about even I reckon. We looked to have better quality but we didn't, or couldn't, display it too often. Still, I did enjoy the evening.
Bloody expensive going over that bridge though! £6-70!!!
BobG
PS Sorry. I should have said the Rovers attendance looked pretty reasonable. The announcer said it was 397 or something like that. That excluded me cos I bought a ticket for the wrong stand... I didn't hear our lot much but they were out in the open in the far corner while I was under a nice roof with the natives!
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Thanks for the report Bob
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Beat Carlisle on Tuesday and last night was a good point but lose to Carlisle and it will feel like 2 points dropped against bottom of league.
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We are now unbeaten in how many games?
Folks see Newport as bottom of the league but they are on a little unbeaten run of their own..
Don't forget where Exeter were in the table a culoiple of months ago?
We may get a draw on Tuesday too, won't be the end of the world.. if we can still average 2 points per game for the last 16 fixtures we will finish on 95. Plenty!!
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BobG report very entertaining, far better read then BBC sport etc. Thanks.
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Susan: Newport were definitely not rubbish tonight. They're not going to score a shedload of goals but they're not rubbish. They were well organised, very determined, extremely highly motivated and good enough to be a mid table sort of side.
The pitch was basically about 500 tons of sand with an occasional blade of grass poking through. Although the crowd was only 2500 ish the locals were brilliant. Almost non stop noise and it was pretty loud where I was. The match itself wasn't a classic. It couldn't be on that dung heap. We played hoof it and chase. They played hoof it and chase too. Every now and then we had a go down the wings and we looked good then - but it didn't ever fall just right all evening. We didn't really get to threaten their goal all that much although on a different day maybe one of those low crosses from the wings might have found an attacker. Newport didn't threaten us either though I had kittens every time Lawlor punched the damn thing. Why can't he catch it? He made a right balls of 2 or 3 punches and it could all have gone horribly wrong.
Thought Joe Wright was good. Andy Butler did his usual effective agricultural job. Rowe had his hands full with the Newport right back. A gent called David Pipe. Jesus. You wouldn't wanna tangle with him on a dark night. One local told he he spent a couple of years in prison while playing for Brizzle Rovers because he glassed a Brizzle City supporter! I could believe it. He was no pushover.
The ref wasn't as bad as some I've seen - but then he wasn't brilliant either. Several dives by both teams he fell for - Willo did one I'd have sent him off for. The match wasn't as niggly as I expected given the morals of their manager. It did warm up a bit in the second half and the crowd got their dander up a bit but it was all handbags really. Marquis did his usual awesome chasing and harrying job. He ended up sporting a Terry Butcher bandage and showing his naked chest to the assembled throng while mopping the blood off everywhere.
Two hard working teams, a terrible pitch, a freezing night, honours about even I reckon. We looked to have better quality but we didn't, or couldn't, display it too often. Still, I did enjoy the evening.
Bloody expensive going over that bridge though! £6-70!!!
BobG
PS Sorry. I should have said the Rovers attendance looked pretty reasonable. The announcer said it was 397 or something like that. That excluded me cos I bought a ticket for the wrong stand... I didn't hear our lot much but they were out in the open in the far corner while I was under a nice roof with the natives!
Not sure I agree fully Bob, as someone said after the game 'I thought they came for a point' - time wasting from minute 1, niggly fouls, holding and shirt pulls all night. At one point I couldnt work out if we were playing Newport County or Newport Gwent Dragons. Typical Westley tactics. The pitch was awful but it didnt hinder them as much as us as they had no desire to play football merely trying to stop us playing.
This will go down as a good point at the end of the season and JMs head aside it appears we got away without any injuries.
Awful game, great battling performance and the support was awesome, never shut up all game.
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That was surely the worst pitch that I've ever seen us play on and that includes friendlies. Newport put the effort in but half the time were playing something between rugby and wrestling. Why did the referee pull it back to our half when John Marquis was about to break one on one with their keeper? Booking their player could and should have been done when the attack finished. They never stopped time wasting and the incident where three of their defenders were throwing it to each other to stop us taking a free kick ought to have seen at least one booking. Graham Westley is a disgrace and should be charged with crimes against football.
Nothing fell for us in their box and twice anybody following up would have had an open goal. On the plus side Joe Wright and Craig Alcock came in and looked like that they had played all season. We also have an extra 24 hours over our rivals before the next game and no injuries.
It's still looking good. We are in a position where dropping a point or two doesn't harm us as much as those chasing us.
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That's a good report Bob, you didn't mention that Lawler did a great save in the first couple of minutes tat certainly would have changed the game, maybe if we had conceded an early goal then it might have spurred us on to a win as we have done on a couple of occasions this season.
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That's a good report Bob, you didn't mention that Lawler did a great save in the first couple of minutes tat certainly would have changed the game, maybe if we had conceded an early goal then it might have spurred us on to a win as we have done on a couple of occasions this season.
I thought that. On a pitch like that you try to remain solid and not take risks, going a goal behind means you are forced to.
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I said that at half time. We could have done with being a goal down, and we'd have won it 2:1.
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Not sure I want Exeter to win that one.
I definitely don't. I seemed to be in a minority of one when I said it a few weeks back but as much as winning the league would be nice, for me the priority HAS to be promotion. The bigger the gap between us and 4th the better as far as I'm concerned.
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Not sure I want Exeter to win that one.
I definitely don't. I seemed to be in a minority of one when I said it a few weeks back but as much as winning the league would be nice, for me the priority HAS to be promotion. The bigger the gap between us and 4th the better as far as I'm concerned.
Agreed.
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Draw or win for Plymouth would be better - Exeter have been on fire winning 9 of their last 10, so a blip would be helpful... Plymouth still have to play all but one of the top 11 teams and 7 of those games are away from home, so they may find they drop a point or two along the way also.... whilst Donny play 8 out of the top 11, but have 4 home and 4 away...
Would love to see Carlisle slip up against Blackpool - they've dropped points at home of late... and Wycombe have been going well, so would like them to drop points away to Stevenage.
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A draw in both games for me, maintain the position we are in..
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Plymouth v Exeter. A draw would be an excellent result for us. Plus a couple of red cards apiece, of course!
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You're right Jimmy. I forgot about that early save by Lawlor. In fact I was thinking this morning that neither goalie had to make a single decent save all match! I must have expunged that one from the memory bank....
I still think that there was less niggle than normal with a Westley team. We gave pretty well as much as they did I thought. It was never going to be a good match with Westley and that pitch yet I quite enjoyed it even so. It didn't wind me up like Westley teams usually do. We were clearly the better team, but they were determined, organised and resolute. We pulled shirts too so it's not fair to blame them just because they did it too. We played hoofball so I can see why some people would think it was terrible game, bu,t to me it was a way to avoid tripping ourselves up and it was therefore a competitive if agricultural, match with plenty to appreciate on both sides.
Bob
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Bob their keeper parried one shot into the middle of the area but we had nobody following up to knock it in.
The shirt pulling on our part was nowhere near as obvious and frequent as theirs. The part where their three defenders were passing it around to delay the free kick was disgusting. The referee should also have acted on their keeper's time wasting. We had the better footballers and at least tried to play at times.
Had we scored I think that the flood gates might have opened.
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They tried every trick in the book to get a result and got away with it.
Nothing I didn't expect but a strong ref would have clamped down on it early on.
Westley has been doin this for years. If all managers did it the game would be dead. No one can surely wish to watch that level of gamesmanship. Although I should be using much stronger words than gamesmanship.
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Thanks for the reports from those that went to the game.
Sometimes teams who are deemed by some to be rubbish are hard to beat when they set their stall out to defend and possibly try to nick a goal.
It is interesting to me that of the four games that Coppinger has missed, our scoring chances have been severely reduced.
Maybe the old man has more effect that some give him credit for?
Carlisle and Luton will be different again with probably both teams trying to win, rather than set up to frustrate us.
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Completely agree with that, hound. We're a very ordinary team without Copps, even on those occasions when his game isn't up to his usual standard.
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I agree too. Folks also forget that Newport were u beaten in the previous 4 fixtures.. Even teams at the bottom of the table can pick up form and results.. Look at Exeter this season, Barnsley in L1 last season, and us in the Championship in 2008/9..
Another point towards promotion, and a clean sheet..
Next please!
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Draw or win for Plymouth would be better - Exeter have been on fire winning 9 of their last 10, so a blip would be helpful... Plymouth still have to play all but one of the top 11 teams and 7 of those games are away from home, so they may find they drop a point or two along the way also.... whilst Donny play 8 out of the top 11, but have 4 home and 4 away...
Would love to see Carlisle slip up against Blackpool - they've dropped points at home of late... and Wycombe have been going well, so would like them to drop points away to Stevenage.
Got all my wishes - so happy with that. Mansfield are going well though under fatty Evans and may be one's to keep eyes on from the chasing pack - although I would hope we are far enough ahead for it to not affect us.
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IT was virtually impossible to out play Newport with football on that pitch and up against their thuggish tactics.
Believe me even Barcelona would have had a problem.
I said before the game on here it would be one of the most difficult games of the season and it was.
Just because they are bottom does not and never will guarantee 3 points.
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I agree too. Folks also forget that Newport were u beaten in the previous 4 fixtures.. Even teams at the bottom of the table can pick up form and results.. Look at Exeter this season, Barnsley in L1 last season, and us in the Championship in 2008/9..
Another point towards promotion, and a clean sheet..
Next please!
To put it into perspective, both Morecambe and Newport are unbeaten in their last five matches.
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The pitch helped to nullify our natural game but it was the same for both sides they are just used to it. You have to credit Newport for earning the point they battled all game they gave everything they had to get that point.
It was tough for our side to adapt to playing a different style but it could be important getting the point. I don't expect us to run away with the league or anybody else it will be tight from now on.