Alfreton (h)

[wr3]

Good going forward, but defence is again a shambles. I've attended all home games so far, but every goal we've conceded at home seems to have been soft! Anyway I digress, a cracking game.

[wcfcnb82]

Totally agree, defence is still a huge worry. We don't seem to have that dominance or any organisation at times.
On the positives, going forward we looked good, and of course scoring five will hopefully now spur us on to more wins! Hughes 2nd was a wonderful strike, and bishop took both his goals brilliantly, but I'm still a bit unsure about him. Carl really needs to sort this defence out though.

[thesecondjack]

Hughes' second really was a great goal, and Colby is one of those players who look a little awkward, but gets results - 4 goals already this season, 2 headers, 2 with his feet. I don't mind seeing his name on the team sheet at all.

The defence is an issue - Ross seemed to make a couple of great saves in the first half to keep us in the game, but might have been at fault for the last goal, I'm not too sure. We need a defender who can play the ball out of defence rather than kick it as far as possible away from goal. Chambers can be that man, but needs to get match sharp first.

BPA away is next, they're bottom of the league and yet to win, hopefully we will now be able to kick on and grab a win there, before Brackley next Tuesday.

[ibraslimavic]

I think we need more conviction in defence as the goals seem to come from poor decision making from the defenders. Alfreton are a team that were always going to score and concede so we have done well to be on the right side of the result. Hopefully now the boys have that first victory they can play with the freedom we saw towards the end of the game. Some quality performances out there tonight.

[simples]

The substitution bringing Bishop on worked a treat. His second goal to put us 2 up and give the team breathing space was an absolute cracker, even though the linesman had flagged I guess the referee must have adjudged the 'offside' player was not interfering with play. We got the rub of the green for a change.
As mentioned above it seems every time the ball is played into our area we look vulnerable. I lost count of the number of times their forwards got the first touch to a ball played in.
It was good to see English have a good game, it was as if he was trying to prove a point.
For me Steele seems to be getting better with every game and maybe a goal will lift his performances still further.
Finally congratulations to both teams for an entertaining game, its certainly not going to be dull if you follow Alfreton.

[ibraslimavic]

Yes the substitution completely changed the game as Craig wasn't having much joy at all. Hughes final goal was a great team move and the way he megged the defender beforehand was sublime, I agree Steele is improving with every game an really hurt Alfreton when taking up central positions which is how he set up 2 of the goals. English has chipped in with a goal and great performance so hopefully now we can spread the goals around the team in the coming weeks.

[alwaysnextyear]

I'm just glad that we had our shooting boots on, as with our defence we needed to. Going forward we had plenty of midfield energy and I thought that we scored some good goals. I thought that Steele had another good game, and his dribbling ability took us up the pitch on many occasions. He just needs to have more clarity and steady himself with his end product, but he's only a young lad, and is improving with every game. Keane is fitting in well but just needs to improve the quality of his crossing. He showed what he could do with his corner delivery for English's header, but also over hit plenty. English and Nelson-Addy never stopped running and challenging all night. Hughes class in finishing chances was demonstrated once again, and for his age he is a remarkable player. Craig worked hard, before substitute Bishop was brought on at the right time to score with two chances. For once, our finishing rate to chances created was excellent.

However the defence ! Indecision on many occasions, letting the ball bounce, trying to play out of trouble instead of just launching it, poor decision making, and Ross in goal despite being built for the job, appeared to be nailed to the floor unable to decide whether to come for crosses or not. Alfreton put us under pressure on every cross and corner, and looked likely to score with each one. Ross has got to start to give confidence to the defenders. Carl was a very no nonsense defender himself, and I've no doubt that he's trying to pass on his wisdom.

All in all, a very welcome win with quality finishing.

[lancashirelad]

Sept 6, 2016 21:41:45 GMT wr3 said:

Good going forward, but defence is again a shambles. I've attended all home games so far, but every goal we've conceded at home seems to have been soft! Anyway I digress, a cracking game.

I'm glad to hear it was cracking game and City got a win - and 3 more points on the board - all that counts at the end of the day. BTW what was crowd at VG last night?

I was at Alty v Chorley last night - rooting madly for Chorley as I think Alty are going to be one of our main relegation rivals, and getting updates off WCFC twitter from VG. Chorley were the better side(just) and should have got a winner in the 93rd minute - but the ref claimed the ball did not cross the line (I'm sure it did). The gate was 1,006 (of which close to 300 were Chorley).
BTW. Since our last visit to Moss Lane 2 years ago, Alty have build a massive new social club, next the main stand, its very good for a great choise of beers and food. The old social club is now the Directors/VIP bar.

[thesecondjack]

Attendance last night was 445, 20-25 from Alfreton I'd guesstimate.

[Tim Munslow]

Like others above I ain't getting carried away with that performance: with Alfreton having conceded nine goals in their last two games we were always likely to score a few. So, I'll take the win and the five goals but we must improve that shaky defence somehow. When Alfreton scored their first goal we lost FOUR key tackles on the trot in midfield to allow the goal: we need to win those 50/50 balls.

Do not have 100% confidence in Ethan Ross: the Alfreton equaliser was a replica of one of Joe Hart's blunders in the World Cup, with the goalie in complete no-mans land.

However, it was good entertainment. Missed the English goal as I was in the toilet at the time, and the same almost applied to Hughes's second.

It will be interesting to see how we fare against Telford: their record so far is 7 goals for and 7 against I think, which is not a lot in nine games. Looks like they will have a tight defence. I have to miss this game due to holidays, which I am mightily sick about.

[ibraslimavic]

Defence is still an area that has seen many changes in personal thus far so I think the priority is to get a settled back four. Injuries have played a big part in that of course but hopefully this helps us in the quest for the elusive first clean sheet!

[Dodger]

Probably fair to say that although Alfreton concede goals they also have been banging them in so it was always likely to be an entertaining affair.

They looked pretty sharp at times up front with plenty of running off the ball and into the channels. Some dogged defending stifled some dangerous looking attacks. To me, they looked a good few inches taller than us but in open play we did seem to win most of headers when the ball was kicked from hand by the keeper. Some good goals by City (notably the second one from Lee Hughes). Defensively though we did seem to struggle when the ball was bobbling around our penalty area, and when the ball was aerial into the box we looked nervous. Ethan Ross needs to be more commanding in the air when the ball is floating around the six yard box - he doesn't have to catch, just deflect it away (for a corner if necessary). Maybe it's a training ground thing now so that the goalie is told to stay on his line rather than command his 6 yard box.

Junior English certainly has some power in his shooting and could get us some goals from lurking outside the opposition area at corners/free kicks.

All in all a very good game, a good win, and hopefully a good confidence booster.

A good friendly bunch of Alfreton supporters too.

Dodger.