The Hotel End

After a brilliant but hot four days at the County for a record winning chase to beat Surrey, Emma Radacanu an absolute joy and pride to watch...it's Becket's Park tomorrow for the Northamptonshire Beer festival!

FGR away, staying in Gloucester...and hoping it's not so hot in Nailsworth...that hill is a shocker!

Feeling confident that the Cobblers will get at least a draw.

Their Forum very confident of a home win

Going to this one. My first away game for 2 years.
Any advice on parking and a pub for a pre match drink?
Thanks.

FGR are the divisions highest scorers but only 5 teams in the division have conceded more and they only managed to score once against our very makeshift defence last week.
After going unbeaten for the first 5 games they have not won any of the 4 games since, let's even that up and make it 5. We can definately get something from this game if our defence maintains its good form.

Only been the once but when we did we managed to park in the high street. We had a very nice meal in The Britannia pub, although this is going back a few years so no idea whether it's still as nice.

Brace yourself for the ascent to the ground - that hill is a killer!

Last time I looked (a few seasons back) their forum comprised of a woman from Cinderford, intimidated by Cheltenham fans in the Prestbury Tavern for the El Glosico encounter...and two weirdo exiles that rarely go to the games!  ;D

Sounds just about perfect from where I'm sitting, its blowing a gale and pissing down in southern Thailand.

Would love to have soaked up the Northamptonshire sunshine watching the County actually see out a run chase, unlike some well paid others, Emma's legs and some proper beer in Beckets Park. 

Are you sure you want to spoil it?

;D

Not a lot different to this one then...

I'd look in your own back garden before judging others 🤣🤣

When I went there I parked on an estate near the ground (Highwood Drive looking at the map) then went down the hill to The George pub....decent ale and food and pretty pleasant overall.

I resisted from putting that... ;D

Very small carpark, ergo street parking only. Keep some room on your back seat for Sherpa Tensing to assist you in your ascent to the top of the hill, take a raincoat. an exposed standing terrace awaits.
Cant help you with pubs, except to say, there are none near the ground. I only went to Stroud.

Home game for me! 

So here we are again, our second visit to The Fully Charged New Lawn to face Forest Green Rovers.

It will be only eleven days since two second string teams battled to a 1-1 draw before The Cobblers prevailed on penalties in the Papa Johns Trophy. This game has three league points at stake, and three league points is the gap between the two teams in the fledgling League 2 table....FGR with 13 points from five games and us with 10 from four.
Rovers made eight changes from the starting 11 we faced when they played Exeter City in their last league game, that ended in a goalless draw. Rovers are now four games without a win in all competitions but have only lost once in the league, a 0-2 reverse to Port Vale in their last home game.

Head to head wise, well the record books will show our PJT games as a draw, which still means that the Greens have only beaten us once, that was the only league encounter on their patch to date back on New Years Day 2019when goals in the first and last minutes led them to a 2-1 win.

Present and past connections probably end at Joseph Mills.....the former FGR skipper made 75 appearances for the club between 2018 and 2020 before making the switch to Sixfields. He won't appear on the pitch for the Cobblers on Saturday due to the injury he picked up at Crawley....he is however scheduled to be Forest Greens VIP guest in their hospitality suite where apparently he will be fielding questions from the fans and sharing stories about his two year spell at the club.

Scott Oldham will be the man in the middle, he's been on the league list since 2017. We have seen him a few times over the past few years most recently for our 2-0 home defeat to Burton in February this year. A week later he took charge of Forest Greens 2-0 win at Newport.  So far this season he has issued 16 yellow and one red card in his seven games, Only 70 yellows and no reds in 33 games last season puts him low down the list when it comes to handing out bookings. 

 

That really was a fantastic 4 day win for county. A great advert for the game. I should have asked my boss for an emergency holiday for day 4. Another one of my regrets.

Words fail me!

Haha! Good to have a 20 mile round trip as opposed to a 160 mile one and, with shorter ones planned, Bristol Rovers & Swindon (both 60 miles) this makes a change.  ;D Pity we lost Cheltenham (20 miles) and Oxford (60 miles).

Fear not Everbrite, the Horsham Cobblers will be easing themselves out of their IKEA armchairs and putting the miles in.

A bright energetic game in store. 1-0.

Think we'll lose this one. 3-1 FGR.

Two away games in succession where we can either stamp our mark on the season going forward or look very average. Both opponents have more modest support than we have so we should be looking to win these.

 ;D

And once again, the new Villa lad does not even make the bench.

Cobblers XI v FGR: Roberts, McGowan, Horsfall, Guthrie, Koiki, Hoskins, McWilliams, Lewis, Flores, Rose, Etete.

Looks solid. McWilliams in for Pinnock.

Not fit enough yet, he might be needed soon now Nelson is out.

To confirm the subs are:

Maxted, Harriman, Sowerby, Kabamba, Connolly, Pinnock, Pollock.

Be nice to see what Sowerby offers

Where is everybody?
I'm worried sick.

Sounds scrappy

Van Veens on the score sheet for Motherwell, Orient sticking on Curle today. Be ironic if Smith plays apart in a manger who signed him demise.

You're a worrier CJ, make no mistake.

Thank the Lord.
Well be OK now. Forest Green have nothing on us.

Good afternoon all….how are we doing?

Well we're a bit concerned about CJ because he's worried about everyone else. I'm hoping that my intervention pointing out that he is a worrier will help him reflect on this and hopefully his worries / anxieties will subside and we'll win the game at a canter.

Talking of missing people on here. No Doctor Feelgood again. Part timer!!!

should we go take a look up the Panhandle for him?

It's odds on that he's there CJ. Go and have look for your own piece of mind.

You're right. My cortisol levels are through the roof right now.

Good Afternoon

Don’t worry, I’m here lurking at the back, been asked to do a bit of surveillance work by Mr Flynn. Now, who is playing well today?

Phil in Cognito

Phil!
Damm, you showed up at the wrong time Jamille.

Are we hoping that league 2 is more his level as he offered very little last year

It was coming. We’ve been poo. Their right wing back is taking us apart and I’m afraid to say we don’t look much up for it!

Sack 'em all!!!!

Jim's our Johnny on the spot this afternoon.
Phew, we were all worried sick.

Terrible substitutions again, completely lost our shape, Pinnock and Connolly all over the place.

We could go a couple of years without scoring here

Along with super Sam, isn't that exactly where they are supposed to be Mano?

Yep

Really can’t see a goal in us and, to be frank … the best team (by some distance) is winning!
Midfield has been shocking today. Too slow to get up too slow to track back.

[email[/email]Didn't La Bamba just go close?

We can’t seem to get a decent ball in the box. I feel sorry for Kion and now Kambamba. Playing CF for Cobbs today really is like pissing into the wind!

Shaun McWilliams has been truly awful, he’s spent most of the game tackling his own players

I keep saying, he's not as good as everyone thinks he is.
1-0 FT. Mediocrity returns.

Gate = 2,576

FGR now top.

At least Toggle is consistent talking utter bollox

We looked pretty solid for about 55 minutes without creating anything of note, then FGR started getting the upper hand. Maybe we needed subs to try to make something happen - to try to find an outlet, but we only looked vaguely threatening after their goal and we didn't have anybody to put their foot on the ball and try to pick a pass. FGR look a decent side to be fair, so it could have been worse, but we still look like we're lacking in terms of creating chances.

Now if all our team stopped eating meat and fish we would have won that game. ;D

They might go bald !

Or pushing water uphill. Roberts MOM

;D

I said last week Connolly does not strike me as someone who has a good reading of the game at all.
No doubt about it he is lightening quick and caused Scunny few problems but they got battered today, and look like they will struggle.

Only the extremely virile lose their hair.
That's what my barber told me the first time he pointed out my bald spot.

Well played CJ.

Every team will lose a few this season, and FGR will be there or there abouts come May.

However, I can't help thinking Brady sacrificed tactical cohesion for defensive solidity with his starting line up. Pinnock has been our best winger and assist maker this season, so why was he jettisoned to accommodate another central midfielder? Was that Brady giving FGR too much respect?

There's no point in playing 4-4-2 if you're not going to pick proper wingers and the fact is we're still simply not creating enough from open play.

Then he goes to the opposite extreme and puts Pinnock and Connolly on as wide forwards in a 4-3-3 with Danny Rose in the middle, meaning that they're crossing in for a lone 5ft 9' centre forward which was never going to work. The result: we sit deeper and deeper until they score.

As we've said many times, the defence is very decent at this level and will grind us out some results. However, we are a long way from the 'bums-off-seats' fluent attacking football which Brady intimated we could forward to.

Whether the subs or formation(S) made any different is a tad subjective! From what I saw the midfield and strikers were rendered Ineffective. On this showing McW is going to spend a lot of time on the bench!
What is wrong with Sowerby? We need a couple in who are not overawed by the oppo; even fighters!
Very disappointed with McW, Connolly, Kiochi and possibly Lewis?

This is not a Brady team, it is a Calderwood team. The defence is fairly rigid but there is no venom, fire or intent uppermost. The squad has now shown itself in these first few games and it don't look too charming. We witnessed the invisible season and now we are experiencing the transparent season (except from the owners obvs). It is how we are now. See-through and teams will exploit it.

Well, that was a load of old shįte wasn't it. I think probably the only positive we can take from today's game was Robert's, who was excellent and kept us in it and but for him it could have easily been 3 or 4. Pretty even first half, Rose won plenty of headers, Etete held the ball up, defence pretty solid, ref shocking, gave us nothing. Second half we started sitting deeper and deeper and just invited them to attack us. When we did bring the ball out of defence, Koiki especially, he'd bring it so far, then punt it hopefully  upfield and just about every time it went to a defender who cleared it. We had a couple of chances, notably when the ball came across the face of the goal with the keeper out of position bounced down towards the goal line, 2 defenders on the line and none of our players anywhere near it, I think it was about the 80th odd minute before we had our first and I think only shot on target.
We could have played 'til the cows came home and not scored today and looks like we're going to struggle in that department.
5 goals in 6 games is píss poor if we have aspirations of play offs. I was very positive before the game, I'm not now. Oh and Forest Green were nothing special, although better than us.

100% with you apart from the last comment. I thought FGR were good. They bossed us from the start. They didn’t seem to me to be put under any sort of pressure by us and looked both quick and composed on the ball. Their numbers 7 and 21 controlled central midfield, I really liked their right wing back (we couldn’t cope with him cutting inside on us) and Matt is what we need - a big CF who knows where the goal is.
FGR will be top 3. Not sure where will be though. Between 6th and 12th is my best guess at the minute!!

Noticed in the pictures on the Offy site that we see Etete three times and he is being pulled back by a defender each time, but he never wins a free kick >:(

I'd be very concerned if either of our two quality Central Defenders got injured.

nb Didn't see the match just listened to the commentary on BBC Radio Northampton.

I’ll tell you the most frustrating thing of all…

In the build up to each game the club post a video on Instagram with some daft saying or emoji showing one of the players supposedly on fire tucking practice shots into the corners of the goal…

It’s about time one of them managed it in a game don’t you think!?

Cheers Jim. I think they controlled midfield because we never really had one and I think they probably looked good because we let them boss us and they seemed to want it more than us. I know it's only early doors but on today's performance and the last away game at Crawley, between 6th and 12th is the best we can hope for.

I think it’s time for some significant attacking changes the small changes here and there aren’t working. Maybe a change to 4-2-3-1, I would love to see Pollock get more game time, in his small cameos he’s impressed on the attacking side.

All the problems lie in the midfield.  We don't create enough.

And from the 60th minute onwards, we let the game drift and the inevitable happened.

First half was fine.  FGR weren't anything special, and they were particularly poor in the final third with lots of balls going out of play - but their midfield definitely knew how to keep & move the ball.

For me the turning point was the substitutions, taking off Flores and Etete, our most creative midfielder and the one guy most likely to score.
Lewis still doesn’t do it for me, doesn’t put enough tackles in and doesn’t create, Shaun had a terrible game and for me should have come off.
BTW what’s happening with Sowerby? Got to be worth a look with a start in a league match ?

Manny

Its not often you and I agree but I think you nailed it there. Only small issue is I didnt think Shaun was terrible,he did what he does,but his assets are limited.

Agree with Manny and Corno - our problem seems to be midfield. Don’t know if it’s formation, tactics or player quality but it clearly didn’t work yesterday. Agree though that McWilliams wasn’t the worst midfielder on show. In fact he may have been the best of a very bad bunch!
I’m a great fan of JB but his post match comments yesterday were deluded and way off. FGR we’re better (much better) in every position on the park apart from the keeper. We’re not that bad an outfit snd I still think we can have a good season but we need to wake up and smell the coffee. We were comprehensively beaten by a better side. Hopefully they’ll top the league in May and we’ll be close behind them!?

Agree with Shoey. This is definitely not Bums off seats football, it’s better than Curle but only just. As already has been said, Brady’s comments delusional on that performance. Positives were Roberts, Horsfall and Guthrie. I don’t think it’s just the midfield that’s the issue, I don’t see Kabamba offering anything so it’s all on the shoulders of Rose and Etete. Rose could have scored yesterday but for the defender somewhat fortuitously nicking Hoskins cross away from him and he also won a fair few headers but they went straight to FGR players. Taking off Etete and Flores lost us the game I feel but we were never going to win it. Letting Smith go is now looking like a massive mistake by Brady. We will be lower mid table unless we start scoring goals and my arse looks like it will be remaining firmly in its seat for the season.

Absolutely - how many 1-0 victories were there in CC’s promotion year - tactic was clear with a very solid defence and nick a goal - not great to watch but effective and looks like the same this season with the current concern on striking power to nick that goal.

They usually say that you can see where you are after 10 league games but I think we know already where our strengths and weaknesses lie.
4 goals conceded in 6 games, only 1 team with fewer.
5 goals scored in 6 games, only 3 teams with fewer.
Yesterday we finally met opposition from the top end of the table and almost escaped with an undeserved goal-less draw. It could have been a heavier defeat but for Roberts and a fine goal-line clearance from McGowan but I'm not sure FGR deserved more than the single goal victory.
But we failed to lay a glove on them as an attacking force and herein lies the problem. A lack of creativity of scoring opportunities means rely heavily on our defence to keep us in the game.
Our victory against  a poor 10 man Scunny team can now be seen in a different light after they got hammered by Exeter 4-0 at home yesterday.
Probable time to give Sowerby and Pollock a chance to show what they can do although last week Lewis was getting into the box regularly and should have had a goal. I also thought it strange that Pinnock was dropped yesterday.
Anyway onto Newport and if can get the win 3 points from 2 away games will be a good return.

I agree I think there is something off about us as an attacking unit as a whole. Whether that’s defenders aimlessly booting long balls, central midfielders keeping possession, wingers creating chances or strikers losing the ball or not making the best of what we do create, it’s clear the odd bits of tinkering here and there by Brady aren’t working and I don’t see an odd player coming in will fix things,  I think it’s time for a bigger rethink.

Sorry to continue this moany theme but …
I’ve never known a big (ish) away crowd to be so quiet. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a singer but there really was nothing to get excited about. 100% agree with the comment that the pendulum has swung firmly away from JB and to Cc. That said, I would have been delighted with a 1-0 win to us yesterday!
Keeping focus though, we are only 6 games in and if we had picked up 3 pts from our game in hand we would be 4th.
I did think shipping out Harry was a mistake. He would have been good with a Brady team but let’s be realistic, he would have been fcuking ineffectual with the service received from yesterday’s midfield!

Any individual result is pretty irrelevant, I don’t think that Exeter results makes any difference. People moaned about the Port Vale and Colchester wins because around the time they both were near the bottom of the table, now they are top half does that make those wins better? not for me.

Irrespective of exciting or entertaining performances if we average close on 2 points per game we will get promoted - with a result on Tuesday we will be achieving that and the CC/JB plan is working but only a bit better as a spectacle than the KC years.

I simply do not understand the reasons why Sowerby and Pollock are not getting selected.

I didn't go yesterday, listened to Tim. Even his usual excitable style commentary was missing, so it was bloody clear that the game was a bore fest.

I try to avoid picking on certain players, but if someone could tell me what Lewis is bringing to the party Id be very interested? Other than missing a series of sitters last week, I don't recall ever seeing a single significant contribution from him during a phase of play. Maybe I'm being harsh, maybe I haven't got the footballing knowledge to see things that the 'experts' do? Please someone, tell me why he is being picked?!!

Because he’s a scouser. It’s an unwritten rule that you’ve got to have at least one scouser in your team. Watson goes, Lewis in. Simples!

I think you raise a good point specifically re Pollock who in my opinion will contribute much more - probably  I’m wrong but I get the impression newer signings will always get more benefit of the doubt selections than young home grown players

McGowan is also a scouser, so that rules that idea of yours out.

Three reasons
-Open air terrace
-We were spread across the whole length of the west stand (would have been much better if half of it was closed)
-FGR had about 50 singers behind a goal

Brady out!!!

There's no way Harry Smith would have scored 5 goals for us given the way we're playing. It's not like we have a striker who has missed 5 good chances which would have been goals if only we'd had a predatory finisher.

Agree with others: I like JB but his post-match comments yesterday were delusional. One thing I also liked about Wilder is that he told it how it was: if he or the players got it wrong and fell short he would make that clear.

For all our impressive defensive solidity, one shot on target yesterday and two goals from open play in the league so far isn't good enough. The local media should be asking when this much-heralded 'bums-off-seats' attacking football is going to materialise.

In retrospect, I think Brady was probably trying to switch up the tactics and play a 4-3-3 yesterday with Hoskins and Rose as wide forwards and a solid middle trio of McWilliams, Lewis and Flores.

However, much as I would like us try something different we simply don't have the personnel to play 4-3-3: Rose doesn't have the pace to play wide (as he showed last season) and we don't have a number 10 type who can run the midfield.

For me, he either has to stick to 4-4-2 and play proper wingers or try a 4-2-3-1:

                         
                              Roberts
                  Macgowan Guthrie Horsfall Koiki

                             McWilliams   Sowerby

            Hoskins/Connolly      Pollock/Flores      Pinnock

                                       Etete

    I agree on Lewis. I think JB brought him in hoping he'd be a goalscoring midfielder and a Watson replacement given that he scored 7 odd for Tranmere last year. However, he's clearly not going to create much himself and I think we'd be better off with Sowerby as a holding/passing midfielder.

Players who are not in the side are often better than those who are.

Agreed, normally the longer they are out the side or the poorer the previous performance the better that player gets.

Wouldn’t be against this

The away support was strangely quiet particularly in the second half. Even their goal was almost an anti-climax. Certainly in parts of the second half they looked the better side and made serious inroads on our left flank. The midfield did nothing . Ete must have been poor second half to be removed from the game. Flores is our only creative output we have so he must have been useless first half. Cannot understand why we don't use Connolly/Hoskins and Pinnock as wide players with Ete and Rose as the two strikers as they are the most likely to score...perhaps. In my opinion we need to have 3 midfielders, perhaps McW,Sowerby and Flores. I wouldn't play Okay-Dokey at left back better to have in midfield adding some drive. Currently we appear to be playing a system which does not really function. Be tempted to consider 4-4-2 or even the old 5-3-2! 

So 5-3-2 :

Roberts
McGowan and Villa lad
Guithrie, Horsfall, McWilliams
Hoskins, Kioki, Rose, Ete, Pollock

Of course the two of the forwards would alternatively need to drop back assist the midfield and/or defence and above all collect the ball and pass it! Therein lies the issue. Will need some coaching on positional play! Go back to basics bigtime!

With our current crop of midfielders you would have thought that Pollock would have been in the side by now! I suspect that JB  may feel he is too lightweight to make a lot of difference..... just yet. If that is the case I would agree with him.
 

i think both Lewis and particularly Flores need to offer much more .
Lewis is pretty much the player we expected but Flores has shown very little so far . Pollock is unlucky not to have been selected in his place.
One of the reasons Smith went was because there were concerns over his knee injury . He was also offered considerably more money by Orient .

I agree with this and it's why we're not seeing the exciting football promised by JB. I'm not knocking it exactly. As others have said, a solid defence should ensure that we pick up points regularly, but we need a balance. We don't attack enough and even when we get decent balls into the box there rarely seems to be a player in the right place to get on the end of anything.

Isn't it a CC defence, who are doing what they are required to do?
It's the forward facing part of the team that needs addressing, to get the goals that win the games.

I have said before Lewis brings very little, got to be worth giving Sowerby a start?

FGR seemed to have a plan and idea of what to do go forward, we simply didn't have a clue.

(trying very hard not to have a go re data recruiting etc, where you would think they would fit easily into the system)

We battled hard and stop them playing quite a bit, but always felt if they clicked they would score.

That´s a good assessment ... I thought on the few occasions be broke well forward with the ball Koiki looked fairly pedestrian and lacking in ideas for bringing the likes of Etete, Pinnock, Rose into play. Nothing snappy when either playing out from the back as runners or through the midfield.

This fixture for me just sums up where we are at the moment.  All new teams take time to gel.  I'd say the defence is far more solid than I expected under Brady and has settled quicker than I would have expected although most of the players in it have good pedigree for this level.

Forest Green have had lots of time to build a side and play the way they do.

I've got loads of patience for Brady this season and I hope others do as well.  Nobody manages to sign all the players they need in one window.  It's a buidling process that has started but not yet finished.  Some of the signings will fail and fall by the wayside while others will thrive.

I know this will sound negative but I hope we have a good season but I genuinely wouldn't mind us not getting promoted as I worry the foundations aren't in place and moving forward too quickly may damage the long term foundations we need to put in place.

I've no doubt the football will get better from an attacking perspective just need to be patient and not expect too much too soon.

Sensible summary MCH - I too feel that the football may get better but unlike you hope that Brady does secure promotion this season. I also believe that the foundations have already been laid with the appointment of J Brady. With Newport appearing to be improving game by game and we still a puzzle in midfield!

From what I saw FGR were the more confident of the two sides particularly second half. This was exemplified by their midfields ability to maintain consistent pressure during that period after which they scored. The strange thing is FGR supporters seemed to treat the goal as a bit underwhelming. Judging by your comments would suggest you are more articulate on the games we play as opposed to your somewhat uncoordinated comments on Exeter and your arch - enemies on the NTFC board. Square pegs and round holes!

No team can choose the season to get promoted. You can have the foundations in place and have a bad season or you can go up without the foundations in place, as we did with KC. It really doesn't make much difference in the end as, either way, we always seem to lose a number of key players and have to start all over again when we get to L1 in any case. That's the biggest problem.

My thoughts entirely.
What are these 'foundarions' people speak of anyway? Beyond signing a better class of player in the summer window, what else is ever going to change at this club?
Or are we talking about ground developments...that would be a novel way forward?

That is an outrageous suggestion!

I din't say you could pick and choose when to get promoted I simply said I wouldn't mind if we didn't this season as we aren't ready and it could actually cause more damage than good.

What I mean by this is that I think Jon Brady needs time to build something and that is, in my opinion, more easily achieved in league two.  In this division there is more likelehood he will be able to bring through young players, implement his coaching ideas and build a side in his own image.

The new recruitment processes will take time to be embedded and bear fruit and I'm hopeful we can improve further our training facilities and methods over time.

I rate Brady highly as a coach and for once I feel like we have a manager that's in it for the long haul and wants to make a genuine difference to the club as a whole not just get a promotion on his CV and move to a better job.

But of course underlying all of this is the bread and butter of winning games of football so you keep that job and giving you that time to build.  My opinion is all of the above would be massively more difficult to achieve in the league above.  If we went up and then struggled he would inevitably get sacked and we would be back to square one.

Think Kidderminster Harriers back in 94 for anyone who thinks all proceeds should only be ploughed into the team...though the Cobblers did alright out of it!

I'd disagree a little. Sure, his first promotion didn't do Curly a lot of good but we have a stronger backroom team (on paper) to be in a better position.
It would probably all come down to the resources we are afforded to compete.
Last seasons relegation was an absolute waste, so the quicker we get back up the better.

If he does see some success then I'm sure Brady will either stay or go regardless. There is something about him that makes me think he is a bit different to the likes of Wilder and happier with his lot, probably not as ambitious, although could be totally wrong. Every man has his price and he is still young. A good start would be to have a manager who can keep us in League one for a few seasons! 
You're right about him getting the bullet if it goes pear shaped. We've never been a club to hang on and see how things pan out! You have to take the promotions whenever they come.