Other than a 15 min spell in the 2nd half we were well and truly outmuscled & outplayed. Aldershot looked very handy, were clearly oozing with confidence and have to be in with a great shout of making the playoffs.
Yes there was excuses . You cant play a good team like that without a Midfield , you cant knock their effort but we were simply over ran with what we had in there tonight.
As for the two full backs , oh my days.
One could not tackle after two horrendous challenges and a final warning from the Referee. The other one simply does not know how to tackle and must be up there with Batt and Ifill .
Unless we can get a couple of the Midfielders back we are going nowhere. If we lose on Saturday that will mean that York who are third bottom tonight
would have lost only one more game then us . There are some facts you just cant hide from
Just got back from a very windy and wet drive down the A303. Weather matching my current mood.
I thought Aldershot were made to look better than they are. Only one of their players who stood out as genunity quality to me which was their left winger, who absolutely destroyed Sheps in the first half.
We conceded two goals to two players who couldn't get in our starting XI when they were with us - McClure couldn't get regular starts in our eventually relegated squad... We really weren't against players better than ours here, but I'm sure we all know that.
One thing I did realise today as I know he's been getting a bit of stick lately, is that Hawkins had absolutely no service for the majority today. I can't say how it's been for recent games, but for the first half I'm not actually sure he was able to get more than half a dozen touches on the ball, whilst being man-marked by two defenders for the majority. During his 25 minutes in the second half when he did get his head to the ball a few times - rarely was there anyone within 5 yards looking to run onto it.
Is it perhaps times we start with both Hawkins (or Benson) with Romain? He looked far more useful with some support around him. And what exactly did playing a defender in midfield to cover really get us?
Whilst the downturn in form is very worrying and disappointing as we definitely have a capable squad, even if the two teams below us with several games in hand won them all (they won't), we'll still be 5th and clinging onto a playoff spot. We still have a game in hand over Gateshead and Aldershot. It's not too late, even if we lose to York it can still be done - however I think for mentality sake, it's probably must win.