Kidsgrove Athletic (A) .. Northern Premier League - West

[Del]

Match scheduled for: Saturday 13 January 2024 - kick-off time: 3:00pm
Venue: Autonet Insurance Stadium, Hollinwood Road, Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire ST7 1DQ
Link to opponents official website: https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/kidsgroveathleticfc

Admission prices:
£8 Adults
£5 Concessions
£1 12yrs - 16yrs

Parking is limited inside the stadium, but on-street parking is available in roads around the ground.

[PitmanKeith]

You've gone early.

[Perton Pitman]

8 quid to get in!

[Lee K]

8 quid to get in!

Yeah but…

[Del]

8 quid to get in!

Yeah but…

Seems like Clubs just can't be arsed to keep websites up to date any more ... sign of the times !

[Town Crier]

O-yay, O-yay
I'm back now but been away
followed things closely like the new owner news
hoping the bar will then have cheaper booze.
things looking up is what I hope to see
May finally then get to meet Mister Lee.
O-Yay, O-Yay.

[PitmanKeith]

Match Preview

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

[Lee K]

Match Preview

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

Whilst it is not good to read about such a lengthy injury list, the fact that the fans know who is out and for how long is a fantastic improvement. Thank you.

(No mention of Demetri Brown though….)

[Perton Pitman]

A better effort from the club in terms of the preview.

I guess the only consolation we have is that between now and the end of February we only have 5 league games to play. Hopefully by the time March comes around the vast majority of those injured will be back for the run in.
I daresay that Harris is looking to bring players in to cover the injuries so all is not lost.

[bix_the_dog]

O-yay, O-yay
I'm back now but been away
followed things closely like the new owner news
hoping the bar will then have cheaper booze.
things looking up is what I hope to see
May finally then get to meet Mister Lee.
O-Yay, O-Yay.

Underrated

[Del]

KIDSGROVE ATHLETIC(1) 1 - 1 (0)PITMEN

: Thompson, Endall

Offical : 291

[Glyn]

[Perton Pitman]

Don't know how we managed to escape with a draw today. The writing was on the wall after 5 minutes, by which time Boucher had made 4 fine saves. By the end of the 90 minutes his hands must have been stinging as he had no end of shots to save. The best was a triple save right on half time as Kidsgrove used the slope to great effect and broke through our high line.
The midfield, with the exception of Ali, was very light as were missing given the absentees and truth be told the replacements weren't up to it and were chasing shadows all afternoon. Malbon played the holding role for the hosts and ran the show. His waistline and years are probably the same number now, but his experience shone through. Kidsgrove were generally very direct as they pinged long diagonal balls for their wide players to run onto. They also pressed us when we got the ball and we gave possession up too easily. We were very passive and didn't get Verma on the ball and as a consequence we didn't pose an attacking threat and for most of the afternoon it was attack vs defence. I lost count of the number of corners we conceded, but it was possibly 20 or so.
Had we lost 4 or 5 goals today there could be no complaints as it was like the Alamo. Ironically the goal we conceded had an element of good fortune in the build up, but that compensated for the saves Boucher made.

On the positive side Boucher was outstanding and was responsible for the point we gained. Williams and Kelly impressed with many timely tackles and blocks, but they had their hands full all game and will have been glad when the final whistle went. Kelly put a fine ball into the box for our goal. The centre halves battled hard and did their fair share of last ditch defending.

As daft as it sounds we had a couple of glorious chances at the end with Endall fluffing a free header and Brown rushing a presentable chance with the last kick of the game.

Another good following of Hednesford fans and I had my first oatcake in years at the very cramped, but homely ground (my first visit).

Definitely a point gained, but Newcastle won again, Trafford got an unexpected point against Leek and Widnes somehow won.

Still another 6 wins needed as I reckon we may need more than 40 points to stay up as teams who look pretty rubbish when we play them at home are somehow conjuring up unexpected wins.

We need the break to get our unavailable players back as the run-in comes into view.

[Lee K]

Mixed feelings about the game today. We were probably lucky to get a point because the first half performance was shambolic from front to back and if it was not for Boucher we would have gone in at the break 4-0 down.
We scored early in the second half and that was the time to take over the game but we let them back into it and they had more chances in the last 20. Apart from the odd attack we created very little until the last minute when Demetri Brown had a golden chance to win the game but shot wide with only the keeper to beat. I say mixed feelings because Kidsgrove were on the ropes after 50 minutes and a decent team would have capitalised on their luck and put them to bed. A chance of two extra points lost, but make no mistake about it we were probably lucky to get one. I know we were short in midfield with Thorley, McQuilkin and Carvell all out but still it wasn’t really good enough. We still had Ali, Thompson and Gwilt in there and we didn’t get enough from any of them.
Still, it’s only 1 defeat from the last 7 with 3 wins and 3 draws and if we can keep taking 4 points from every 2 games we’ll be ok.

[Lee K]

Kidsgrove manager Scott Dundas:

[PitmanKeith]

https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/nort ... /predicted

It's gonna be tight, hopefully not that tight.
I know it's rubbish trying to predict it but still interesting.
Personally I don't think it will be that close.
I think Northwich are dead in the water but I don't think Vauxhall will be the other one, but it's anyone's guess who will be, this league is so unpredictable.

[sheriff]

we are in the playoffs !
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/nort ... form-guide

[pitmanpipe]

To echo a lot of the comments, we were very lucky to escape work a draw today.

I won’t go on with my thoughts as they’ve been said in other posts.

The only additional thing I would maybe say is that if we had an out and out striker or getting a bit of luck with our chances falling to different, we could be in a completely different league position.

Away to Trafford, Callum Niven went through one on one with the keeper and hit it straight at him at 1-0 down in the final few minutes. If that had fallen to WMB, could have been different.
That could have been a point gained rather than taking 0 away from a game we couldn’t loose.

And again yesterday, if Brown’s chance had fallen to Boothe we could have had a real smash a grab and taken 3 points away instead of 1.

If those results would have happened, Trafford would have been on 22 and us on 25 level in points with Nantwich but within reach of everyone upto Newcastle in 13th

It’s very fine margins, but we can’t think what could have been and we are where we are.

[Lee K]

I’m not sure I follow your logic pitmanpipe. WMB already had two excellent chances in the first half at Trafford and ballooned them over the bar. What makes you think he would have even forced the keeper into a save like Niven did?
Maybe a better question would be why Dan Gyasi took the penalty at Trafford while Tom Thorley and James McQuilkin were available, especially with their excellent penalties at Tamworth in the shoot-out just a month earlier fresh in the minds…

[Perton Pitman]

The one thing we lack is a natural goalscorer . Yes, they don't go on trees, but our main goal threat is Verma as he is capable of taking the defender on the outside and inside which means he can beat the keeper at his near post as well as the far post.
We are better from set pieces this season as Kelly puts a good delivery in and Endall gives us a physical presence.

We are missing too many chances and as we saw yesterday we have to take them when they come along as we don't create many on the evidence of the last two away games.

Those of us of a certain age will remember us being in a similar situation nearly 40 years ago. We signed two players - Joe Jackson and Fred Rowe (the former a creative midfielder and the latter a rampaging goalscoring number 9). We battered a few teams during the last few months and easily survived the drop back to the WML.

If we can unearth a goalscorer then we will stay up, but I guess everyone in the bottom six is thinking the same.

[Glyn]

Match report..

https://www.hednesfordtownfc.com/2024/0 ... sford-town