I'm not sure Eppiah would take a 50% cut in wages from 5k to 2.5k and I thought he was previously reported to be on 6k.

Correction to GPC's comment that Telford is likely to be out injured tonight as he played in their first 2 games but has missed the last 2. In fact he played in their first game, missed the next 2 but was back in the team last Saturday so unless he picked up an injury in that game it is expected that he will start tonight.

Make your 300th appearance a memorable one Sam - for the right reasons.

Although the only goal Crawley have scored was in the cup they have only conceded 2 goals from the 4 games played so it looks like a low scoring game. Therefore I take us to win 4-2.

2 wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats from our 6 visits to Crawley and the most memorable thing is we have come away with 3 long term injuries, let's hope history does not repeat itself tomorrow. As GPC said the only goal they have scored is their 1-0 win in the EFL cup against Bristol Rovers (good result) but they have not scored in any of their 3 league games but we so far have not kept a clean sheet, so something has to give. One of their fans posted that in those 3 games they have managed only 4 shots on target and also they have an injury crises at centre back.
At least we have an experienced referee who as GPC says has mostly been operating in the Championship and we last had for our home game against Tranmere when we had a crowd of 7379 for our 125th anniversary game.
I posted my suggested team earlier in the thread but it would be extremely disappointing to leave Crawley empty handed and I don't expect us to.

I think we should call the 'keepers law "Bulges Law".

He's the greatest.

Bulge is the affectionate nickname we seem to have given to our new 'keeper.

Who are Leanard and Stoweby ?

Unless Sherring is fit I expect the back 4 to be the same but if he is Magloire will move to right back which would be a little bit harsh on Lintott but as JB says he needs to work on his distribution. As we are away I would keep 2 defensive midfielders (maybe only 1 for home games) which would be McWilliams with Sowerby or Fox.
After his impressive second half display Leonard deserves to start and Hylton and Hoskins won't be left out so that means dropping either Pinnock or Appere to the bench. If Pinnock keeps his place he needs moving back out wide as he has not been so effective in the central role.

Hartlepool manager says they were unlucky not to get something from the game as they posed a threat and created chances, also at the start of the second half they had us on the ropes. I really do not know which game he was watching because apart from the scrambled goal and Bulge's fine save I didn't think they created anything else or threatened at all and they were probably lucky not to leave with a heavier defeat.

No need to pay £3 for a bottle of water at the ground as you are allowed to take your own water in with you providing it is in a sealed bottle. We took ours out of the 'fridge before leaving home and carried them in without being questioned. I am not 100% certain of this without looking it up but I believe any venue hosting an event is suppose to have free water facilities ie water fountains.

I was not expecting anything less than 5 minutes added at the end of the 90. 2 minutes for the drinks break, 4 stoppages for substitutions and the trainer had been on for an injury (McWilliams).

So we are saying ex Premiership referee Pete Walton does not know the laws of the game as he said it should have been a red card, perhaps Tim can raise this with him again on Tuesday night when he is due to summarise on the Crawley game. I would not say the referee had as good a game as some indicate but he was an improvement on the Colchester referee and tried to let the game flow by playing advantage when possible. As Manny points out the 3 minutes added at the end of the 1st half had long passed when Hartlepool scored and he had the whole stadium wondering what the hell was going on when Appere scored. All he needed to do was point to the centre circle to show the goal stood and then decide what colour card he was going to issue for the handball, instead he let the situation drag out into a 3 act play.

Several times during the game when we had the ball in wide areas we only had 1 or 2 players in the penalty area as Appere played a lot of the game out wide on the right. McWilliams and Sowerby never make runs into the box to support the forwards but hang back outside the area waiting for the attack to be headed clear instead of trying to make something happen, this explains why they rarely score. In the Wilder promotion year when Byrom and O'Toole were the 2 central midfielders O'Toole always tried to burst forward into the box and scored many goal, as Richard Hill use to before him and more recently Ryan Watson. We are missing this type of player.

No way we will be going with that team.

Our sometimes summariser and former referee Pete Walton says It should have been a red card.

We were the better side but we made hard work of getting the 3 points. 2 scrambled goals in the first half but before they scored Hartlepool hadn't threatened at all and we also had not looked like scoring, a few weak shots easily dealt with by there 'keeper. The free kick leading up to their goal was a bit soft.
Total confusion after our second goal as nobody seemed to know what was going on and the goal had not been announced or added to the score board but it seems the player who handled the ball should have been sent off which presumably is what Hoskins got his yellow card for. However, within 60 seconds Hartlepool should have equalised but for a magnificent save by Burge but that is all the produced in the second half.
Leonard made a big difference when he came on and McWilliams, Guthrie, Lintott and Hoskins all had good games. I am not sure what has happened to Pinnock but he was poor today and nothing like the player of last season. Again Appere had a better game although he seemed to be operating mostly wide right, lets hope his 2 goals this week helps his confidence. We were again guilty of giving the ball away too often either with a poor pass or getting caught in possession.
Strangely Brady said he thought the referee had a good game but I doubt many fans share that view.

We have been giving the ball away too much this season so today we need to retain possession better, don't want to be chasing in this heat.

"non promotion clause" is probably pure speculation and unlikely to be substantiated. Guthrie said he was delighted to extend his contract in the knowledge that his future was settled for the next 3 years instead of having to worry about  what may happen at the end of this season.

It would have had nothing to do with Magloires performance as he only joined us 3 weeks ago and negotiations with Guthrie were opened well before that. Great news that Jon is staying as I thought he was the better part of the Guthrie/Horsfall partnership. Regarding Magloire he is still young and likely to be a little inconsistent but shows he has the ability to become a vital asset, probably why he was given a 3 year contract.

2 comments having watched the ITV highlights programme:-
I think Roberts should have done better with the goal that won the game for Barnsley, the shot was straight at him and he parried it to one of their players. Several posters on Middlesborough forum thought he was at fault.
Danny Rose missed an absolute sitter from a few yards right in front of goal although he did get a tap in late in the game. Noticed he was only on the bench last Saturday.