Cheltenham Town vs Exeter City Official matchday thread!

[oxford don]

Good all round performance against a team whose tactics for survival obviously don't include trying to play football. They were very cynical and to be blunt looked nailed on for relegation.

Defensively we were strong again and tried to link up the midfield with the forwards when we could. Pitch didn't really suit our style of play but it was an enjoyable game and any win away is a good one.

Big downside for me was the wife spent a fortune in Cavendish House !! Doh !

 

[VOR]

Jordan Moore-Taylor looks stronger and stronger each game and thought both full backs played well. Liked the front three and on a horrible bobbly pitch knocked the ball round so much better than a very poor Cheltenham team.

Horrible tackle on JMT yesterday and another example of a ref bottling it by consulting a linesman and then not showing red. I like the fact that Tis tells his players not to moan and chase after refs, but do think it costs us on many marginal decisions.

 

[andrew p long]

**** Pym
Davies Ribs JMT Mcallister
Oakley
Sercs Harley
Wheeler Cummins Nichols

Did we really play this shape, with the full backs pushing far enough on so that two wider forwards could stay as an outlet and attacking force?

Not quite (though others may have seen it differently from me).

I made it a conventional 4-3-3, albeit Sercs and Harley are naturally far more likely to get forward than Matt Oakley who played centre mid.

We did play with a front three; but the centre forward was Tom Nichols, Wheeler wide right and Cummins wide left. (see eg Tom Nichols goal)

I was starting a moan about this formation just before we scored. 'Wheeler is quiet;why is Tom alone down the middle, with Cummins wide etc? Matt Oakley alone in centre mid is asking for trouble because we're likely to be overrun' The answers to those complaints were given respectively by the Wheeler Nichols combo for the first goal and the fact that we dominated midfield for the first 88 minutes (stats say 56% possession?) - albeit that much of our pretty passing culminated in 60 yard long balls into the opposition half; in Grimes times we would have cut through the midfield with the passing.

( I also made it a switch to 4-4-2 when Holmes replaced Wheeler; Holmes went wide left of a midfield four with Harley tucking in alongside Oakley - Cummins went to the centre alongside Tom, hence his location to bundle home the second. Finally I think we went 4-5-1 when Morrison replaced Cummins for the last few minutes, Tom moving to wide right midfield and Mcready tucking inside)

I was going to do a match report, but GoG has covered 95% of what i would have said. In addition the four changes all did really well - Pym, Cummins Wheeler and McAllister - though McAllister had to recover from a shaky start being twice skinned by a nippy winger.

Man of the Match. Arron Davies for me; in complete and assured control of his flank and enough in the tank to get upfield,surge into the area and set up the decisive goal.

Finally it was of course an immense pleasure to see our Number 31 score the clincher and celebrate in front of the away fans.

 

[grecian greg]

Here is the winning goal from yesterday scored by Graham Cummings http://youtu.be/dylHFLYHfeg

 

[grecian greg]

Here's the last few minutes of the game http://youtu.be/TzLL1KrXorg

 

[On the up]

Great 3 points. Hopeless pitch.

Cheltenham are poor but are fighting for survival so it's aksways going to be tough.

We dominated play aside from last 5 minutes. Pym had best game I've seen him in. Commanded box taking high balls early. Mcallister is an old pro and looks our strongest option at LB. Davies put in another shift, good on the ball just laces pace to drive them back. Played well but He scored a ridiculous own goal. No Cheltenham near, Pym about to pick up ball and a sliced punt into the net. JMT got the credit. Ribs and JMT were strong. Back four seems to be working for us. We've benefited from having Ribs's pace in the defence, was asked to cover and sweep up on numerous occassions. Midfield all worked hard on poor surface. If we'd released the ball a little earlier or with more of a pinged pass, we could have got our forwards / wingers behind them on a few occassions.
As it was nichols took his goal very well, cummins as said by everyone deserved his goal and put in a performance for the team. Crowd went nuts when he scored. Big well done. Not sure about Wheeler, he plays as if he's not sure what he is supposed to be doing. Always trying but doesnt seem to find the space he needs to perform. New recruits look useful going forward. Just felt that when cheltenham had the last 5 minutes of absolute pressure we had no cover from midfield to compete, as all the players were attacking midfielders, plus an exhausted Oakley.

Great win, really sets us up for next home game and keeps the seasons dream alive. Away crowd was loud and vocal.
Well done City.

 

[paperclip]

I haven't got much to add to previous match reports, apart from agreeing that the ref bottled it big-style when not sending off their player for a shocking over the top challenge on JMT, he could easily have broken his leg.

Also, congratulations to their centre back (Packwood?) who was comfortably the worst player I have ever seen at L2 level. On that showing of their entire back 5 (the keeper was also dreadful) I very much doubt that Cheltenham will avoid the drop, especially with Hartlepool now only 1 point behind them and on a bit of a roll.

 

[Anonymous]

Nichols is going to be the next million quid mover??

looks all the world like a bigger version of jamie cureton

 

[Willow & Stumpy]

Highlights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtyUUFtuPVc&feature=youtu.be&a

Love Davies celebration after our second.. Straight into the crowd. Slowly becoming my favourite player in a long time.

 

[Grecian2K]

Although their goal has been variously attributed to JMT and Davies, from that clip it looked to me like it might actually gone in off Big Clint?

Any thoughts? Has the big man finally broken his scoring duck??