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Sorry its Bristol Rovers on Boxing Day!!!

Just got back home. Get in! Not seen us win since Northampton away...that was long overdue!

It was an odd game, a draw would probably have been about right given the number of chances they had, but Poke pulled off a few outstanding saves to keep them out, and lady luck was finally wearing her TUFC bobble hat as Rhys Murphy hit the post from point blank range.

The first half was real end to end stuff, plenty of chances for both sides. Dagenham were always dangerous on the break, and Pokey had to pull off a good save to his left at his near post from Hines after a neat triangle move. At the other end, Mozika headed onto the roof of the net, and Chapell found the side of it after great work from McCourt and Bodin.

The best chance of the half probably fell to Marquis, when Chapell's cross from the right dipped after taking a deflection, allowing Marquis a volley with the goal at his mercy. Lewington in the Daggers goal pulled off a save not too dissimilar to Poke at Histon to keep it out.

We also could, and should, have had a penalty when Marquis was clean through on goal from the left, only to be tripped from behind by the defender. The ref, who had a shocking afternoon all round, gave nothing (the first of many odd decisions).

After the break, we only took four minutes to grab a deserved goal. Bodin chased a long ball on the right, beatthe keeper to it and rounded him, only to try and cross it rather than shoot, meaning it ended up getting blocked for a corner. From the resultant corner, Downes lost his man and thumped in a header from the centre of the box. 1-0!

From there, though, we regressed massively and seemed content to sit on what we had (perhaps not without reason), and had to withstand an onslaught from the Daggers. D'Ath curled one just wide, Murphy - as I mentioned before - hit the post, and Pokey had to make several smart stops after some excellent build up play...but somehow we did it! A huge three points - I'd forgotten what that felt like!

Poke - 8 - Solid. Few outstanding saves, kicking a bit iffy at times but horrendous conditions.
Tonge - 6 - Got given the runaround by Hines, particularly in the first half, but tightened up in the second.
O'Connor - 7 - As usual, solid, calm, dependable, brings the ball out of defence and looks for a pass.
Downes - 9 - MOTM. Nothing got past him, absolutely herculean effort. And of course the winning (and only) goal.
Cruise - 5 - Our poorest player for me. Absolutely no positional sense, and disappointingly ducked out of quite a few challenges.
Manse - 6 - Not much went through the middle today, so a little subdued, but no complaints.
McCourt - 7 - Best I've seen him. Few sublime cross-field balls and gets stuck in. Wayward passing as well at times but did well.
Mozika - 6 - As per Manse. Lots of running, determination and effort, but didn't see much of the ball.
Chapell - 7 - Bit quiet from him, but looked a threat with the ball at his feet, was direct and put in some useful crosses.
Bodin - 8 - Best I've seen Billy in ages. Played with confidence and made a huge difference.
Marquis - 8 - Really like the guy. Bustling, physical striker with great composure, was unlucky not to score or win a pen.

Massive three points - and if we were lucky - who actually cares? - Lets face it before the Southend game we looked like we were in danger of seriously being cut adrift. Bugger all points and bugger all wins to go with it. Southend and Dagenham followed by three local derbies looked like painful viewing really.
Thats really given us a platform - I can seriously see us turning over Bristol Rovers as well - luckily I have got my ticket.
Not out of the woods yets and we seriously do not need a Knill relapse but its looking far better than it did a fortnight ago.

brucie wrote:Massive three points - and if we were lucky - who actually cares? - Lets face it before the Southend game we looked like we were in danger of seriously being cut adrift. Bugger all points and bugger all wins to go with it. Southend and Dagenham followed by three local derbies looked like painful viewing really.
Thats really given us a platform - I can seriously see us turning over Bristol Rovers as well - luckily I have got my ticket.
Not out of the woods yets and we seriously do not need a Knill relapse but its looking far better than it did a fortnight ago.

optimism from brucie. Come on hector where are you?

Having witnessed the important win over Southend I was really keen to see whether we could put two decent performances together one after the other, I was not disappointed.
Despite the driving rain and wind this was a great advert for League 2 football - end to end with chances for both teams. For a time it could have been one of those 3-3 draws but in the first half Poke pulled off several remarkable saves while Lewington had to push over a great effort from Marquis (or was it Mozika?). Both teams certainly had chances to score.
After half-time when Bodin rounded the keeper we thought the opening goal had arrived but it did from McCourt's resulting corner when Downes lost his marker (Saah) and headed into the roof of the net.
Dagenham changed their shape and for a while took control and should have scored on several occasions, Murphy the most unlucky when he hit the post. But we held out and that bit of luck Knill has asked for seemed to come along this afternoon.
A great three points, a great Christmas present - off the bottom!
Interesting to see, as I predicted earlier, Geoff Harrop alongside Knill by the dugout.
Good too to chat with Jak McCourt's parents who drive down from Liverpool to watch their son home and away - good on them, especially as he had a great game today.

Just got back, absolute amazing day out!! perfect 1-0 snatch and grab away win!! dagenham were dreadful, but we dug in and probably deserved what we got from it, now if we can get a good run in these big festive games there is no reason why we can't get away from the position we are currently in. COYY

Back home 20 minutes ago and delighted to see the result. Halfway through my prediction that we will win all our December games. Plus, dare I say it now, the game on New Year's Day..!!

berkshire yellow wrote:Just got back, absolute amazing day out!! perfect 1-0 snatch and grab away win!! dagenham were dreadful, but we dug in and probably deserved what we got from it, now if we can get a good run in these big festive games there is no reason why we can't get away from the position we are currently in. COYY

Really?

Matt.

ho ho ho

yellowsmiffy wrote:YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Fantastic result, back to back wins is superb. Let's get a proper run going now! Can't wait for Rovers now

That is more like it Smiffs!

ferrarilover wrote: Really?

Matt.

Surprised that you are surprised. I understood that in your world, the opposition were always poor and fortunate, the officials biased, and the pitch and weather unconducive to whatever TUFC were up to.

Are you going to grant another team a shred of credit, for once?

jonnyfive wrote: Surprised that you are surprised. I understood that in your world, the opposition were always poor and fortunate, the officials biased, and the pitch and weather unconducive to whatever TUFC were up to.

Are you going to grant another team a shred of credit, for once?

Yeah i thought so, considering that we were bottom of the league, they had a lot of the ball but never really looked like scoring, we should have had at least one penalties and when they hit the post it was not only a bit of a half chance but also slightly lucky to get a shot away anyway. Both keepers pulled off great saves and honestly think we deserved 3 points, they on the whole were poor.

Fair enough, I guess. Thanks. Just for your effort, have a Penguin -

Matt.

What a difference two weeks can make, before the Southend game I'd pretty much accepted our fate, and was on the point of giving up, two weeks later we've seen some fight and character at last 6pts and now we have hope. Fantastic result.

Doesn't matter whether we play football like Barcalona or Barton U7'S , nor whether we were lucky, or for once the ref got one wrong in our favour, the position we're still , it's now all about winning games, so what where ever the team started doing before Southend keep doing it.

Great win credit all round manger, players and esp. to the yellow army I could hear them, obviously enjoying themselves, throughout the commo.

Like others have said not out of the woods by any means but 6pts from two games you can't ask for anymore than that. I'm in no mood to eat humble pie as I still don't think AK is the right guy for our situation and with Martin Allen favourite to take over at Northampton he has the players and the set up to do what's required to turn things around there. But this league is so tight now there's no reason why we can't beat anyone. I just hope the board have at least marked AK's card to let him know that sacking isn't an option they won't use and if they have then credit to them too.