Exeter City (A) Tues 18th April

[Guest]

5 hours ago, fred binneys head said:

I’m posting this through gritted teeth, but well done to Derby for a much needed win last night. I thought the first half was very poor from both sides, the only notable moment of quality was the save by your w**ker of a keeper from our header, that was unbelievable. Second half you stepped it up, played a bit better, scored a decent free kick and then a second as we got sloppy, then saw the game out despite us having a bit of pressure in the last 15 and getting a goal back. 
 

I can’t have too many complaints as I knew we’d lose when I saw our line up, and I said that before the game as my mate Rowls will testify (hi Rowls 😉) as we had several key players out with injury and nothing up top (a 17 year old making his full debut and a bit-part striker who is getting back to fitness). Got to say though, I wasn’t impressed with your team, although it’s probably not surprising given how low on confidence you’d have been in your current run of form, hopefully last night will give a bit of that back to you and you’ll improve from here on in 🤞

Regards your fans, hardly heard you at all but imagine you’ll say the same about us, it’s the acoustics. No doubt we were all singing, but couldn’t hear each other. I hope you all enjoyed your visit to our city and the real St James Park.

And final word to your keeper. What an embarrassment of a man he is. I get game management, taking your time with goal kicks and throw-ins, etc (and we’ve been pretty good at that at times this season, including in the 0-0 at your place), but this guy was just a cheat, plain and simple. The incident when our tiny left back ran up to him, your keeper turned and they touched shoulders and he then threw himself to the ground and asked for the trainer to come on was one of the worst bits of cheating I’ve seen. The referee should have sent him off and kicked him up the arse on the way off for that. Or maybe I’m being a bit sensitive. Either way, the bloke’s a w**ker. Sorry.

Anyway, good luck for the rest of the season, please get into the play offs and beat argyle. I’m off to see my therapist having got to bed less than 5 hours ago, waking up and then coming straight onto an opposition fans’ forum. My name is FBH and I have a problem.

Happens to us every week. About time we dished it out. Taste of your own medicine. 

[Mr Tibbs]

I came away last night thinking that was a pretty good away performance but you wouldn't think so reading this thread. For a team struggling for form I thought the formation, changes and performance were more than deserving of the three points. Quite liked having Sibley and NML more central, gave us the opportunity to run at them inside instead of whacking aimless balls down the flanks (which there were still too many - Fozzy especially, just brain dead football). Davies was colossal, Knight had his work cut out at RB with a pair of tricky left wing backs and the rest of the team were generally tidy and competed. 

The only disappointment was JW dropping one in the net - the last 10 shouldn't have been that tight but we do like to make things hard for ourselves. Felt like Dobbin had a chance to seal it but maybe from our angle it wasn't as bigger chance as it felt at the time.

On JW's antics - didn't mind it (proper under the cosh) but don't want to see too much of it if we can help. The fiasco with the Exeter player was laughable but I'm not sure you can hammer JW for it. Idiotic on their players part when chasing the game, probably the most naive thing I've seen since Collins slapped that Port Vale player in the face. Only themselves to blame. He left a bit on JW second time around so would have been more than happy for JW to milk it again to be honest.

Exeter looked a bit disjointed, similar to how we have looked recently. Too many sloppy passes going out of play/straight through to JW but to be fair we pressed ok, especially second half. Never felt that threatened all game but they did have a great chance first half where JW has dug us out. Tidy enough team though.  

Whisper it quietly, 3 at the back is unbeaten in 4...

 

[Archied]

Good win and that’s all that matters at this stage ,, didzy is just a wow for us this season ,just got to love him , big change as the ref was ok apart from one baffling throw in decision near the end when we needed to keep the ball and I had visions of them getting up the pitch and scoring from ,,,, I really hate the play acting / time wasting that seem to have taken over football especially it seems at this level ,that said I don’t want us to be the constant victims of it whilst not using it when it helps us , it’s down to the EFL and the refs to stamp it out for the sake of ALL teams and fans ,, burton on Saturday is massive

[i-Ram]

Rallied well second half, after a lethargic and aimless first 45. I think the players are as baffled by some of our tactics, as I am, but there is clearly a togetherness amongst the playing group. Good win. We really have to win our next 2. 3 games against the Wendies will be lovely. Then a nice day out in north west London in late May. Sheep!

[kevinhectoring]

1 hour ago, Jimbo Ram said:

Special shout out for Wildsmith’s incredible Banks-like save in the first half, as good as a goal in reality…

Better than Banks. Wildsmith used his left hand 

[Jimbo Ram]

29 minutes ago, kevinhectoring said:

Better than Banks. Wildsmith used his left hand 

On a par 🤣

[BramcoteRam84]

8 hours ago, DavesaRam said:

Heaven forfend! My most humble apologies!

I expect a full ref bashing next game if appropriate, although surely we’re due a horrendously poor ref entirely in our favour, minimum 3 dubious penalties and two offside goals/fouls on keeper goals - preferably spread over the 3 games for maximum points return. Seems fair?

[TuffLuff]

The one thing that impressed me last night was our tempo when in attack. If you want to get the best out of Bird, Sibley, NML, Knight and McGoldrick we need movement off the ball and to gamble on passes. Thought we were quite effective with that last night.

[TINMANTED]

3 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

There in lies the problem.

As unfashionable as it is, the ref's really can't be blamed for stopping/delaying play due to injuries (real or fake). They're damned if they do and damned in they don't.

I'd like to see:

1) Players booked if they are off the pitch but role back on in order to delay play

2) None of this nonsense with goal keepers changing their mind over which side to take free kicks from. Book them for time wasting

3) If a player goes down injured and restarting the game is delayed they should have to go off for treatment. Stamp out this miraculous recovery malarkey

4) Ref's enforcing the rule whereby substituted players should leave the field via the nearest touchline

5) Ref's issuing a warning earlier and then issuing a yellow card for time wasting at goal kicks, throw ins and goal keepers releasing the ball.

6) Substituted players forced to jog off the pitch at a reasonable speed and none of this shaking hands with the other players when they leave the pitch.

 

7,ban towels from the side of the pitch,if a player needs a towel to take a throw in,sow it on his shirt so he has to carry it around 

[FKANorwichExile]

Thought Knight was the poorest player on the park last night. Both their fullbacks had him on toast (I'm a big fan of Sparkes and suggested him as a target previously) and he frequently left Fozzy having to cover too much ground when he was out of position. He's just not a wingback, and being bounced around has ruined his form completely.

Otherwise I was pleasantly surprised with the second half. The back three looked mostly assured. NML deeper and central at times was threatening, Didzy is phenomenal and Sibs offered something different. Barely remember Hourihane being involved though.

[Van der MoodHoover]

1 hour ago, Curtains said:

Warne has shown he’s very adaptable which is a good thing. .

Sibley has energy and Bird is just getting back to full fitness.

Always liked the the Irish lads .

What a difference a day makes .

Didzy is something else. 

who's that old bald guy with @Curtains?

🤣

[Rich3478]

33 minutes ago, TINMANTED said:

7,ban towels from the side of the pitch,if a player needs a towel to take a throw in,sow it on his shirt so he has to carry it around 

100% agree with this. Should never take a minute for a throw in

[Anag Ram]

11 minutes ago, NorwichExile said:

Thought Knight was the poorest player on the park last night. Both their fullbacks had him on toast (I'm a big fan of Sparkes and suggested him as a target previously) and he frequently left Fozzy having to cover too much ground when he was out of position. He's just not a wingback, and being bounced around has ruined his form completely.

Otherwise I was pleasantly surprised with the second half. The back three looked mostly assured. NML deeper and central at times was threatening, Didzy is phenomenal and Sibs offered something different. Barely remember Hourihane being involved though.

I think Hourihane’s performance is sometimes overlooked.

He often calms things down or sets things going with a simple pass. Not flashy but effective.

We can’t expect him to be tearing around the pitch though and need two or three with him who can.

 

[Curtains]

34 minutes ago, Van der MoodHoover said:

who's that old bald guy with @Curtains?

🤣

How very dare you 😂 lol

[sage]

3 hours ago, Mr Tibbs said:

I came away last night thinking that was a pretty good away performance but you wouldn't think so reading this thread. For a team struggling for form I thought the formation, changes and performance were more than deserving of the three points. Quite liked having Sibley and NML more central, gave us the opportunity to run at them inside instead of whacking aimless balls down the flanks (which there were still too many - Fozzy especially, just brain dead football). Davies was colossal, Knight had his work cut out at RB with a pair of tricky left wing backs and the rest of the team were generally tidy and competed. 

The only disappointment was JW dropping one in the net - the last 10 shouldn't have been that tight but we do like to make things hard for ourselves. Felt like Dobbin had a chance to seal it but maybe from our angle it wasn't as bigger chance as it felt at the time.

On JW's antics - didn't mind it (proper under the cosh) but don't want to see too much of it if we can help. The fiasco with the Exeter player was laughable but I'm not sure you can hammer JW for it. Idiotic on their players part when chasing the game, probably the most naive thing I've seen since Collins slapped that Port Vale player in the face. Only themselves to blame. He left a bit on JW second time around so would have been more than happy for JW to milk it again to be honest.

Exeter looked a bit disjointed, similar to how we have looked recently. Too many sloppy passes going out of play/straight through to JW but to be fair we pressed ok, especially second half. Never felt that threatened all game but they did have a great chance first half where JW has dug us out. Tidy enough team though.  

Whisper it quietly, 3 at the back is unbeaten in 4...

 

We played ok second half for 30 minutes.

You have to take into account that they had all their forwards missing. That makes our insipid first half all the more puzzling.

[DiggerB]

8 hours ago, Kernow said:

I don’t think there’s any solution to it. You can’t really prove that a player isn’t actually injured, doesn’t have cramp or anything like that. Imagine if a keeper picks up a knock as a result of a challenge, has to go off the pitch and then the opposition smash it in the open goal. There would be uproar.

Time wasting will always happen in every competition. In the World Cup there were vast amounts of added time to make up for stoppages, but it shouldn’t have to come to that. I think even if refs tracked the exact time, and added that on, it would still happen, because it slows the game down and disrupts the oppositions rhythm. It’s again a consequence of the fine margins between winning and losing, financial benefits, impact on jobs etc. Fan’s enjoyment is sacrificed for that by managers and players all over the country.

https://gfycat.com/negligibleconfusedgilamonster

[jrh2254]

Great 😊 win and great support. COYR we can still get in the playoffs !

Picture of us on the train to the match yesterday !

[RoyMac5]

14 minutes ago, jrh2254 said:

Great 😊 win and great support. COYR we can still get in the playoffs !

Picture of us on the train to the match yesterday !

Who's the posh bloke photo-bombing you two?! 

[jrh2254]

4 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Who's the posh bloke photo-bombing you two?! 

I asked if he wanted to join us for a bite to eat in the local Wetherspoons but he said he had a better offer in the Directors box 🤣

[Brammie Steve]

Wildsmith’s first half save reminded me of Banksy’s vs Pële in Mexico ‘70 except for two things:- 
Gordon saved at the right upright and

He had to clear the whole width of the goalmouth to make the save!

Both saved a certain goal though!