Bishop Stortford

[Sparky]

Well , where do you start with this game, two absolutely clueless sides the only difference is one team in the bottom four and on that showing the other team heading that way. We were incapable of stringing two passes together for most of the game and kept giving the ball away. How the ref missed the awful challenge on Aiden is beyond me which on any other day was a straight red,clueless comes to mind yet again with match officials. I fear for Saturday now against Curzon Ashton.

[didier]

Well we didn't lose against a team below us so that's a positive ! We also fought back twice to secure the point in this tough as hell season for us after the mass departures during the Summer !

Other results tonight ;

Alfreton Town 1 - 1 Chester

Blyth Spartans 1 - 1 Chorley

Boston United 0 - 1 Rushall Olympic

Buxton 2 - 1 Hereford

Darlington 1 - 1 Warrington Town

Farsley Celtic 0 - 0 Spennymoor Town

Gloucester City P - P Peterborough Sports

Scarborough Athletic 2 - 0 King's Lynn Town

Scunthorpe United 1 - 0 Southport

South Shields 0 - 0 Curzon Ashton

Tamworth 1 - 0 Brackley Money

[spiritof86]

What was just as alarming as the performance was the attendance, 401 !!!!!
Well that can’t continue

[geoff95]

Home performances/results have been poor for 12 months. First half last night was awful again. Better second half and we might easily have won the game. I felt I was watching a game between two relegation teams.

Injuries are not helping at all, but we are fast approaching the stage when crowds will seriously drop. Several times I heard 'why am I paying £15 to watch this'. Apart from two or three, I don't see this group of players improving things much. The only comfort is that there might be many teams this season in the same position.

Long hard winter to come. The goodwill of the Whingy era is all but gone

[didier]

This season was always going to be really tough going (understatement !) after the Whingy & Co mass exodus in the Summer

The timing of the above was a shocker as players & managers had already signed for other clubs as soon as 2022-23 had finished

We have a bottom third budget and can only have a part-time squad

We're playing at the highest level in our Club's history

No-one likes seeing games where we struggle but we're not exactly used to success over the many years prior to Whingy

If we all viewed this season with a siege mentality with survival being the ultimate goal then a) last night was another point and we didn't lose to a team below us and b) the early Cup exits have hopefully done us a favour with our limited squad and budget

The Club, the Manager and the players really need our support

[Steve T]

Some questions and observations:

1. Has the absence of Jack Tompkins affected the team?
2. This division has some small clubs with low attendances who manage very well. How do they do it?
3. Bishop's Stortford had taken only one point in nine away games before last night.
4. On a ppg projection, the current bottom four will go down in their current order, King's Lynn with 50/51 points (but see below). Banbury will have 63/64 (just like last season!).

Gloucester supporters appear to have given up – there are still rumblings off the field. Darlington's failures are a mystery. King's Lynn have had big budget cuts but have improved after a poor start (i.e. their current projection might be pessimistic). Peterborough and Rushall will probably continue to bump along as they are now. In reality, Banbury might need 52/53 points to be safe. A point a game in 28 equates to W7 D7 L14.

Then and now:

22-23, P18 W7 D5 L6 F28-A23 Pts 26 –  9th
23-24, P18 W7 D4 L7 F16-A26 Pts 25 – 16th

Last season's 18th game was the 4-0 win at Buxton on Nov 12th which took them up 4 places.

[Sparky]

As it stands this is one of the poorest sides that has been put together in recent years. I was hoping that we had seen the last of journeyman players but sadly this is not the case. As always money will be the issue as these days with the odd exception wage demands are always front and centre not club loyalty.I obviously have no idea how the clubs finances are working at this time but we are in desperate need of more quality on the field to progress,as has been said confidence in the team was reflected by last nights attendance and unless things improve it will only get worse. None of us are in any doubt that we are punching above our weight but there has to be improvement sooner rather than later so at least we can maintain league status.

[Steve T]

Two Banbury stars of the last two seasons are desperately underemployed at the moment.

[geoff95]

Yes Steve, and at least one of them knows it

[liamr]

Nov 22, 2023 10:40:32 GMT 1 didier said:

This season was always going to be really tough going (understatement !) after the Whingy & Co mass exodus in the Summer

The timing of the above was a shocker as players & managers had already signed for other clubs as soon as 2022-23 had finished

We have a bottom third budget and can only have a part-time squad

We're playing at the highest level in our Club's history

No-one likes seeing games where we struggle but we're not exactly used to success over the many years prior to Whingy

If we all viewed this season with a siege mentality with survival being the ultimate goal then a) last night was another point and we didn't lose to a team below us and b) the early Cup exits have hopefully done us a favour with our limited squad and budget

The Club, the Manager and the players really need our support

I totally understand people’s frustrations in our home performances (particularly the aimless long balls which have crept into our play) , but I also do think people don’t understand or forget what a dire situation the manager walked into and as I said in another post you could say it’s a miracle we are not bottom!

We have been spoilt with the brand of football over the last 2 years so readjusting our expectations is a tough pill To swallow I know, but it really is all about surviving this season.

Injuries are really unsettling us right now too let’s not forget that

[liamr]

Nov 22, 2023 13:10:36 GMT 1 Steve T said:

Some questions and observations:

1. Has the absence of Jack Tompkins affected the team?
2. This division has some small clubs with low attendances who manage very well. How do they do it?
3. Bishop's Stortford had taken only one point in nine away games before last night.
4. On a ppg projection, the current bottom four will go down in their current order, King's Lynn with 50/51 points (but see below). Banbury will have 63/64 (just like last season!).

Gloucester supporters appear to have given up – there are still rumblings off the field. Darlington's failures are a mystery. King's Lynn have had big budget cuts but have improved after a poor start (i.e. their current projection might be pessimistic). Peterborough and Rushall will probably continue to bump along as they are now. In reality, Banbury might need 52/53 points to be safe. A point a game in 28 equates to W7 D7 L14.

Then and now:

22-23, P18 W7 D5 L6 F28-A23 Pts 26 –  9th
23-24, P18 W7 D4 L7 F16-A26 Pts 25 – 16th

Last season's 18th game was the 4-0 win at Buxton on Nov 12th which took them up 4 places.

To answer your first 2 points Steve:

1. 100%. He could both attack and defend
And was always a 7/10- real asset

2. Some have big backing financially (brackley) some put together a team of grafters, it’s not pretty but works (Alfreton) and some develop local talent to great affect (curzon)

[Steve T]

It was a rhetorical question really! I was certainly thinking of Curzon but also Farsley, who went bust in 2010 but managed to get back to this level.

I think the club found Step 2 a greater leap than expected, especially the management of the ground on match days. Perhaps the board needs strengthening too. The saga of the lease was a big distraction towards the end of last season.

Mark Jones emphasised injuries in his post-match interview last night. He was a good deal calmer than after the Nuneaton match. I don't know what the forum thinks of it but I do wonder if being so critical in public is the right approach. It's not the first time (South Shields). Some Boro fans raised an eyebrow or two at his interview.

[craig]

one thing i think we can all agree on from last night is that this is one of the worst challenges your likely to see.

Foul on Aiden

the state of officiating just gets worse and worse

[Sparky]

The ref last night hadn’t got a clue, all the shirt grabbing especially in the first half went totally unpunished, it wasn’t even subtle but blatant and the challenge on Aiden summed the ref up. It was a straight red all day long.

[Steve T]

There's a Bishop's player on the deck near the Banbury area. Was the tackle on AEW a revenge attack?