Shifnal Town (H) Emirates FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round (replay)

[Lee K]

Match report

We're through

Thanks for that.

[PitmanKeith]

Match report

We're through

Thanks for that.

All there was to say we were dire

[Arrows87]

Couldnt agree with pertons match report more on lastnights game. The biggest player on the pitch last was the referee both bennet brothers should have been sent off last night and how one sided the ref was, was an absoulte joke. Three shifnal players surronded the ref after bennets high lunge on bearne. Not one got booked. Moments later tricky complains at the ref for yet another absurd decison and gets booked. Absoulte joke of a ref.

[Tony J]

Yes, he wasn't good but then neither were we. Grateful for the win, but nothing really positive about the performance.

[PitmanKeith]

Midfield just not performing I'm afraid, creating nothing, been that way for 5 or 6 games now. I'm sure there is a good player lurking somewhere in McHale but at the moment he's a luxury however apart from Holness we have nothing on the bench.
Bearne has stopped taking people on like he was at the start of the season and Jervis is not a striker. Sutherland also appears to have been pushed out.in the last few weeks.
Kingy was very agitated last night and didn't look like a happy bunny at at all.

[stonnall pitman]

Said at the ground Saturday would take a draw. Shifnal won against Belper Step 4 now second in their league and Redditch step 3 and just out of a play off position. The replay in that context was always going to be difficult but we found a way.
That's 7 F A Cup games -more than a number of seasons put together.
Many teams at this level have a settled squad and also improved over the close season Chasetown an example.
Yes things to still sort out but still plenty of time

[Perton Pitman]

I think they beat Belper United, not Belper Town, but I might be wrong. They did beat Wellingborough away from home, who are also step 4.

Will be interesting to see how they fare for the rest of the season. Atherstone surprisingly dumped them out of the Vase so other than the League Cup they have nothing to focus on other than the League.

I expect them to make the play-offs, but Lichfield (who they visit on Saturday) and Northwich 1874 have set off at a blistering pace. Shifnal also need to be able to keep their team together as their bench offered little.

I'm glad that we can return to the league and hopefully rediscover some confidence. The bonus of the game against Gateshead is that we will be huge underdogs and there will be no pressure on us. That said we don't get this far that often and the First Round is within touching distance

[Hoggie]

Well we scraped through. DTS had our second effort on target and it turned out to be the crucial goal. The first half was awful. Shifnal created a few chances which Rose saved, but the game turned when Monetiro put a free header over the bar from 6 yards.

I have to say that our manager's stubborn streak will come back to haunt us. A lop-sided formation (thankfully Bearne had a decent game, but he was subjected to some crude treatment by Shifnal), the indulgence of McHale is starting to wear thin (I would rather him have a decent 45 minutes before hobbling off as opposed to 88 minutes of ineffectual, blinkered play which we have seen lately) and an insistence on instructing the midfield to drop deep and allow the opposition the chance to boss the centre of the pitch.

It made for frustrating viewing, but luckily for us Joe Cuff was either being sponsored to be offside or he had put a bet on himself to beat some obscure record.

I think the cracks are starting to show. Teams are working us out - I'm not talking about set pieces and corners - as we can't break sides down that defend in numbers as the ball is moved at pedestrian pace.

I'm not sure what the dressing room is like, but if I were Rob Stevenson I would be fuming at being withdrawn having worked hard all night and battled hard only to see Duku come on stroll through the last few crucial minutes.

We are back to the league on Saturday and I'm starting to wonder if we have the blue print for success. We need plenty of hard work and effort as typified by Maye, DTS and Stephenson tonight. If we don't match teams for effort we won't achieve anything.

Finally another good turnout by the fans tonight. I though there were nearly 1500 in with a good 250 Telford (sorry, Shifnal fans in attendance).

Gateshead will be confident of progression as we simply don't work hard enough and we aren't cohesive. Confidence appears to have drained very quickly.

Absolutely spot on. Shifnal created far the better chances and if they'd taken them would of easily won. We had 2 shots on target in 2 matches!

Our play has been pedestrian for weeks, and I cannot work out who's supposed to be playing where in the midfield. The gap between the midfield and back four your is huge and Shifnal exposed that and dominated the middle if the park.

We clearly have very good players, they have demonstrated that in patches, but something is not right, be it tactics, formation or the need for additional personnel. I still trust Kingy and his coaching staff to get it right.

[Lee K]

Reading this thread you wouldn’t think we are one game away from reaching the FA Cup 1st round for the first time in 10 years and be 2nd in the league if we won our games in hand

[Hoggie]

Reading this thread you wouldn’t think we are one game away from reaching the FA Cup 1st round for the first time in 10 years and be 2nd in the league if we won our games in hand

Lee you make a very good point, and I think it has gone unoticed how far we have got in the FA Cup this season. This should not be underestimated.

However in general the thread is in relation to the Shifnal game itself, and there is no escaping the disappointment on the level of performance from everyone who witnessed the game last night and on Saturday who wished to comment on this forum. To be honest listening to Kingy's comments following Saturday's game, reading between the lines he was disappointment too.

[Perton Pitman]

It's a fair point Lee, but my main issue is with the lack of flexibility in our tactics. We've played Shifnal and Cashtown twice and we could easily have lost all of the games. I don't recall us changing formation in any game this season and if things aren't going well we either make a rash of changes in haste (the first game v Cashtown) or we do nothing until it's too late (Saturday, when it was clear we weren't at the races in the first half - either way the personnel changes, but the formation doesn't.

The good managers change tactics to suit a situation and I do feel that players are forced into roles they aren't comfortable with. The prime example being McHale playing a very deep role at SHifnal.

We need balance as we offer little down the left hand side and teams recognise this as word has got round quickly.

Promotion is essential and I do think that there is no single team that has emerged as the outstanding outfit as Leek did last season. It is early days, but the 7 league games in October could set us on the right track, but given the dip in performance levels it will be a tough month. If we can take 14 or 15 points from these 7 games then it will be a great return and put us in the box seat.

[sheriff]

i wonder if Dan did any highlights

[stonnall pitman]

Post match interview? We were promised these and surely they should be on the day of the game or the very latest the next morning.Even just the manager on screen as it would make things quicker and more simple to film.

[PitmanKeith]

i wonder if Dan did any highlights

They're done off a remote camera on top of the stand.

[Glyn]

[bix_the_dog]

Post match interview? We were promised these and surely they should be on the day of the game or the very latest the next morning.Even just the manager on screen as it would make things quicker and more simple to film.

It's always interesting experience watching the footage, gives the action a six pint feel.

[Perton Pitman]

A well timed run by DTS for the goal and credit to the linesman for getting an important call correct

[TMVP]

[Pete1880]

Prefer behind the scenes to highlights

[Lee K]

Love the “Kyle Bennett, you’re a wanker” chant from the fans at 9:05. Absolutely robbed a living out of us that lad did for nearly two seasons.