Nantwich Town (A) .. Northern Premier League - West

[Del]

Match scheduled for: Monday 01 April 2024 - kick-off time: 3:00pm
Venue: Swansway Stadium, Waterlode, Nantwich CW5 5BS
Link to opponents official website: https://www.nantwichtownfc.co.uk/

Admission prices:
£11 Adults - standing
£8 Concessions (age 60+) - standing
£3 Junior (U16s) -standing
+ £1 to above prices for seating

[PitmanKeith]

Official Match Preview

https://www.hednesfordtownfc.com/2024/0 ... bBU8SogYzM

[Lee K]

I have decided to part company with Hednesford Town and I am going to start supporting Stafford Rangers instead.

[Pete1880]

I have decided not to come to a hednesford game until Ryan Hillback returns

[Del]

I have decided not to come to a hednesford game until Ryan Hillback returns

Best April Fool ever mate -

[Del]

Live match commentary today ....

Pitman Radio will be covering the match this afternoon - LIVE commentary with Lirpa Loof

[Glyn]

Live match commentary today ....

Pitman Radio will be covering the match this afternoon - LIVE commentary with Lirpa Loof

You will be in trouble for that

[Arrows87]

Live match commentary today ....

Pitman Radio will be covering the match this afternoon - LIVE commentary with Lirpa Loof

Still cant find the commentry, even checked nantwhichs mix/lr

[Arrows87]

Oh its april fool backwards

[Del]

NANTWICH TOWN(2) 4 - 3 (2)PITMEN

Scorers : Thorley(28mins), Jervis(31mins), Bailey(73mins),

: Morley,

Official : 463

The Nantwich Refrigeration Player of the Match: Joel Connolly

[njp]

The lads played well in patches today (after conceding and raising the intensity) and given results this season if we were told it would be a 4-3 we probably wouldn’t have been overly disappointed. However to lose it with the last kick of the game with the defence looking disorganised was a real kick to the bollocks. Especially with Trafford losing. In terms of standouts - Jervis played out of his skin today, moke played until he was running on fumes and thorley looked really composed on the ball. I’m hoping Jervis’s wonder volley will shut up certain critics who seem to give him a constant barrage of negative comments even in the past few games where he has given everything he’s got. I can imagine certain people will still say it was a fluke though!

[Lee K]

[Perton Pitman]

An entertaining game and the neutral would have been thrilled with what they got for £12 (more about that later). We scored some excellent goals, with Jervis scoring the best goal by a Hednesford player in many years. a treat in store when dan's highlights appear.

The biggest criticism for me is that when we are out of possession we are too passive and too happy to concede ground. This didn't just happen today, but has been an issue for the entire season. Nantwich are direct, physical and attack in numbers with indecent haste. We struggled to cope with it and allowed Nantwich to get into the final third of the pitch far too easily. Then comes the aerial bombardment or balls knocked into corners for wingers to get on the end of. Contrast this with the treatment Verma gets. Opposition teams have realised that the best way to neutralise him is to get tight and not allow him to turn. We seem content to allow opponents plenty of time to get on the ball and then launch crosses into our box.

Not sure why we play this way, but we aren't going to be a top step 4 side until this changes.

Once again I think the manager got the starting XI wrong and bringing on Berks near the end when the composed head of Brown would have been a better bet was an error. Perhaps Brown wasn't fit.

Edwards started with Morley and both struggled to make an impact, but happily for all concerned Bailey scored a fine goal just after he came on.

The injury to Ryan Brown was unfortunate and he was handicapped for most of the game which meant that our backline was under pressure due to the fact that he couldn't kick. This led indirectly to the injury time winner.

It was a real kick to the guts at the end, but you never really felt we were in control today even though we fought back well.

Jervis was my man of the match but I agree that Moke and Thorley had good games
We appear to be lacking depth in the squad and this bit today as Delfonseu was not to be seen again. With a couple of injuries we are having to resort to playing lads who aren't up to the standard we need in order to fall over the line. I suspect Ryan Brown will be missing games now which leaves us with Rhys Williams. THe treatment of Boucher is also coming back to haunt us.

Given how results elsewhere in the PPG league I reckon one more win will definitely do it as either Winterton or Grantham will then need to turn around a 9 point gap over 5 games which is unlikely to happen.

Not expecting much at Prescot, but then we have Avro which is the game we should be targeting as they have nothing to play for.

Finally, I was annoyed to see prices were £12 / £9 / £4. This is a disgrace for step 4 and at odds with what was on the Nantwich website. Someone told me that prices had been inflated for today's game. Not sure if this is true.

460 odd at the game with probably 130 plus from Hednesford which was great to see. The Nantwich fans were the quietest I've heard at an away ground (except for Hanley perhaps), but I suspect at £12 to get in they are older, more affluent punters and the prices charged today won't entice people to games.

[PitmanKeith]

Having slept on yesterday's result, even though I wasn't there, what do I make of it.
I found the team selection strange, changes from the win against Witton mystified me especially starting the game without a recognised centre forward. MBH (30 mins today) and Junior Brown (unused today) had massively influenced the game on Saturday when introduced, is their lack of game today due to fitness issues? Also Delfouneso not in the squad at all again, why is this?
Another worrying thing is since the release of CMJ and Michael McGrath the defence is picking itself, a disturbing aspect.
Ryan Brown now appears to have picked up an injury which could well force him to miss games so will the release of Boucher now come back and bite us.
This brings me on to the manager and do I have confidence in him, I'm afraid the answer is no. Six games in and he has two wins, two draws and two defeats, one of the two wins was a sketchy one against Northwich the worst team in the league by a country mile and the other against Witton if we'd have been playing against a half decent side we'd have been out of the game by the time we scored considering the amount of chances they missed.
If we survive and he is entrusted with the job next season I cannot see him building a squad or having the know how to even make the play offs never mind pushing for the title. At all his previous clubs he has been a sticking plaster and his record elsewhere confirms that.
The two home games we have left are pivotal to our survival and we must win them. Do I think we will do enough to overhaul Trafford, again the answer is no but I do hope I'm wrong.
Do I think we will survive at this level, yes I do via one of the reprieves. However this will mean the manager has failed to do what he was brought in for, even though he has been given more tools and more scope to bring in players (eight since his appointment) than any manager before him in recent history. A pity Harry Harris wasn't afforded the same luxury.

[TMVP]

post-match

[Lee K]

I’ll get the bad bits out of the way first - defending was unfortunately back to how it was before we embarked on this mini run and as Perton says giving them too much time on the ball all the time is the biggest cause of our problems.
Now onto the good bits - In attack we looked better than we have looked for a long time. Too often under Moore our play has been slow, boring, long ball etc but yesterday we passed the ball well with pace, got it wide, across the pitch and we looked good for a change.
Clearly we were unlucky with Ryan Brown’s injury. He came out and collected crosses but he couldn’t kick the ball and we’ll never know how restricted he was when it came to making saves. We may have to rely on Rhys Williams, we’ll have to see.
The first goal was poor. A long ball over the top, their striker ran through unchallenged to score. Very basic. I can’t remember the second and then we scored two in quick succession. First one was a calm and composed finish from Thorley and the second a wonder goal from Jervis, one of the best I have ever seen by a Hednesford player. Both goals came down the right and especially the second was a good move down that side with good crosses from Morley (I think) and McQuilkin.
For their third goal they waltzed through our defence as though it wasn’t there. We didn’t get a challenge in at all, then Bailey came on and scored with a great shot. We did hit the post just before their third and then came the killer goal at the end. We deserved a draw but poor defending cost us. On the plus side, I saw a better attacking performance than I have seen for some time and it gives me confidence for the trip to Prescot on Saturday.
It is clear that Farmer is a much better player than Edwards and I’m not sure that the change was made. Surely as a young lad Farmer can play two games in three days? I don’t think the likes of Brown and MBH are fit enough to play 90 and it was suggested that Delfouneso cannot play on 3G pitches which would explain his absence. I actually thought Joe Morley played quite well and Jake Jervis was excellent and worked really hard all game. I don’t like one up front but if we have to play that way we must do it with Jervis there.
I left disappointed to lose especially so late in the game but confidence that if we defend better and attack like we did yesterday that we are capable of 1 or 3 points on Saturday.
Paul Moore seemed a bit frustrated by people having opinions on the team and the way we play at the end of that interview but he needs to keep a lid on it or he’ll turn even more fans against him. For what it’s worth we need results and he has been getting them and I think we will finish above Trafford. Then we can thank him for saving us and send him on his way.

[TMVP]

Highlights

[Glyn]

Yes, cracker from Jervis.

Some pretty woeful defending though.

A shame.

Thanks as always Dan.

[Lee K]

Jervis’ goal doesn’t look as good on the video as it did in real life. Maybe that is because I was standing opposite where the camera is and I could be better see him shape his body and see the technique better.

[jackiemaund]

I’m with Pitman Keith I felt that the manager cost us the game he’s obsessed with including at least some of his signings ie dropping Farmer for Edwards which actually made no sense at all and then by taking Verma off and not replacing him with someone who at least could have kept their defenders busy on our left which meant our left side was completely open and their right back had a field day for that part of the game.
Into the bargain Kelly went missing and I’m afraid has to take his share of the blame for the last two goals.
I hope and pray relegated or not that the current manager is not with us come early July.
I’m certain that we can do much better than this.
I don’t believe will will get out of second from bottom of this league so it’s on to the league of eight and hope our points per game is better than at least six others ,we currently stand second in that table and so by all accounts stay up the main threat is Grantham so we must keep an eye on their results.

[Perton Pitman]

Looking at the run-ins for both Grantham and Winterton (both on 25 points from 33 games) it worth noting that both play each other on the final day of the season. Winterton have a difficult run in with a home game against champions elect, Stockton as well as a visit to 3rd placed Dunston so I doubt they will get more than 34 points (assuming they beat grantham and win at play-off chasing Pontefract .

We should perhaps be more worried about Grantham as other than the trip to Winterton their other 4 games are against teams who are mired in mid-table with nothing to play for. Hopefully a couple of their opponents will show a bit of pride.

Ossett are in trouble too and their run in is more difficult than Grantham's but they are only 2 points behind us in the PPG league.

I think we need to win another game and get to 34. If anyone can reach the same mark and over turn the goal difference that is heavily in our favour then good luck to them.

[Perton Pitman]

post-match

A slightly defensive interview. Edwards, Bailey and Berks got singled out for their relative youth and reference was made to the fact that Moore is aware of alternate views on selection and formation.

We've done Ok in the last 6 games - 8 points - and if we can eke a few more out then job done. I do agree with the view that discarding CMJ and McGrath has left us short of options in defence and by bringing in experienced heads we have gambled. I don't doubt their quality, but if they aren't fit enough to get on the pitch in the first place it doesn't really matter how good they are.

[pitmanpipe]

When Farmer came off Saturday, he had icing strapped to his upper leg/thigh area

I think that is the reason he wasn’t starting or came on yesterday

[PitmanKeith]

Highlights

Just watched the highlights, worst 3g pitch I've ever seen, the bounce and run on was absolutely awful.

[TMVP]

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