Play - Off Result

[I sit in the stand get over it]

Unfortunately I couldn't make it tonight, but what was the result? How did they play?

Fingers crossed!!

[redken]

T & M 2 Rebels 0 - final score, no other details.

[maniac]

Well done lads, you gave it your best shot. Still been a good season, proud of you.

[tobycw]

and i was under the impression you were guaranteed promotion??

[Sparky Rebel]

My only response to the news can be 'bugger'

Got a text message earlier inferring that we did not play well tonight (I won't repeat the exact comment as this is a family friendly board).

It has been a strange season; started with a large up followed by large mid-season slump followed by another large upward movement - sadly we were not quite good enough.

Fingers crossed for next season.

[Mr Gumby]

We didn't play badly and had plenty of possesion, but didn't create much up front.

Going two down in the first ten minutes ultimately sunk us, the first from a Banks howler the second a pin point cross and header from T&M.

The Rebel's tactics were a bit strange as well, with Pullers and Jamie B swopping places so that Pullers was up front and Jamie B playing wide. Eventually Hinge & Bracket saw the light and reverted them to their usual positions, but then gave up a few minutes later and took off poor old Pullers. (If ever a player was given the runaround by his management this year then it's been Pullers, who can blame him if he decides to go this summer)

Rebel's threw everyone forward in the second half, then had to backtrack as Andy Alexander was sent off for a second bookable, after getting involved in a handbags punchup.

Tooting looked a very solid and impressive outfit and we were well beaten on the night.

Ah well Crowborough next season..

'My Brain Hurts'!

[sussexbythec]

i dont hail from Worthing but come along a handful of times a seasonn as i still have connections in the town/area and thought Worthing were the better side overall. So why doednt they win? Well T&M were somewhat gifted a simple tap in after 5 mins when the Worthing g/k maybe shouldve done better then an unmarked well executed header on about 11 mins think was T&M 2-0 up.

Worthing heads were very obvious down up until half time. Then it all changed despite i thought Worthing controlling much of the midfield but lacking punch in the final third of pitch they stopped shooting from well outsid ethe box played some very good football at times on an awful pitch. Why sweep it? it shouldnt been played it was like a cow field and i think goven Worthings mood to pass well early in opening 5 mins of game had that been on grass you wouldve seen a far different result.

Brotherton played too deep in first half and saw little of the ball in front of goal. Worthing did hit th ewoodwork but were given offside anyway. T & M awful actors fooling the ref and Alex A should never have been sent off/booked was something of nothing compare dto the way Jamie B took on a T & M player skinned him then was hacked down.

Some very foul mouthed T & M fans in the main stand and thought some of the Worthing supporters mustve not heard what was said as passed nesrby at end else wouldve almost certainly been a punch up.

T & M took there chances but compared to Dover who I thought Worthing did extremely well to besat 1-0, T & M are nothing if they go up they will be straight back down nothing special at all. Good ground and lots of parking makes a change. Ref shouldve played a couple of Worthig advantages that then saw the opposition get everyone behind the ball.

Second half Worthing really did have ago and took the gam eto T & M and deserved something. They got nothing but I asure you i was impressed that was 100% effort. Ben Andrews MOM for me committed. Worthing should be in play offs next seaosn no probs if they keep these youngsters playing football. Anyway good Worthing vocal support and good luck next season.

[Herr Wurst]

In heavy conditions, Tooting adapted the better and on the balance of play, just about deserved it.

Being 2-0 down in 15 minutes, it was always going to be a tall order. The pitch wasn't suited to Worthings natural game although you have to adapt to the conditions. Scott Kirkwood came closest to scoring in the first half. Aside from that, Tooting probably edged it in terms of possession.

The second half saw a much improved performance from the Rebels as they threw everything at Tooting and adapted better to the conditions than they did in the first half. Jamie Brotherton rattled the crossbar, Hughes, who IMO was m.o.t.m, consistently created chances down the right flank whilst the rest of the team also worked their socks off. However, Tootings defence held firm and as the game went on, there was only going to be one result.

The task was all the more harder when Andy Alexander received a second yellow for retaliation. Ben Andrews took an accidental kick in the head & handbags were drawn by players from both teams. Andy A. shoved away a Tooting player who then went crashing to the deck as if he'd been hit with an AK47. The picky ref. who was dishing out cards all night was straight into his top pocket for the 2nd yellow.

It was a brave effort by the Rebels who were down to the bare bones of the squad. So much so that Nko Nkoko was back on the Worthing bench. He made a brief cameo appearance for the last 2 minutes and made his presence felt on one of Tootings central defenders! The extra bit of quality that was needed to snatch a win tonight just didn't happen sadly.

If (?) the nucleus of the squad can be kept together, then with a few quality additions, we can push for automatic promotion. I'm not going to put a percentage on our chances though! At our best, we've shown that we have nothing to fear from any of the other teams. We have to avoid the horror spell that occurred this season From December to late January. Once the team had a settled look, some of the football was a joy to watch.

If only??.......................

[descartes]

Nice touch by the disappointed players to shake hands with the disappointed supporters at the end.
No shortage of effort from either group during the game.

Well done guys, see you next season.

[Adam]

Refrained from posting last night as was thoroughly disappointed. No lack of effort from Worthing, but somehow that touch of quality that was there a few weeks ago seemed to have drifted away. Jamie B toiled hard but didnt seem to be in his natural position, Ben A frankly got out-muscled for a lot of it. Knowing the conditions they did well to snuff out our main aerial threat.

Wingers had a tough job, pullers didnt do a lot wrong but didnt trouble their right back too much, jerahl didnt really come into it properly until later in the second half when legs were tiring.

IF it had been a league game it may not have even gone ahead, puddles all over the pitch and just lucky there was no rain during the game to turn the pitch into more of a farce. Cracking ground, didnt hear any unnecessaries from their supporters but at this level would be a shame if they can't play nicely.

We were beaten on the night by a shocking bit of decision making from Rikki. A shame as without that I think we could have nicked something. NO real complaints about the second goal although the timing was awful and it was always uphill from there. Andy A should have known better but he was obviously not a happy chappy at the T&M guy's reaction to what looked like kneeing Ben A in the face.

Nice touch from the players thanking the fans at the end. Im no mug, they do appreciate it but it wont make any difference to any staying or going. It would be good to keep as many of the young current crop as possible. I won't say that we will go up (as I dont know who's coming down) but Im sure we can mount a top-four challenge.

Onwards and upwards!

[july08]

The pitch last night was a Joke. If you look at the games that have been called of this year then this one would have been called off at 9am before the worst of the rain came down.

Ryman need to look at this situation and allow the chance of games to be replayed or at least give us a chance to have a kick around in Farmer Jone's Pig Farm first so the team could get used to playing in those conditions!!

Rant about the pitch over.

Commitment from every single player involved was 110% they knew what this game ment. However if the same commitment had been shown for 90 minutes on Saturday then we could have Been playing Crays.

Stuart Axten was my man of the Match. Defence sorted them selves out after the two very early goals. But for the next 80 minutes could not see them scoring again, even the last 10 minutes with 10 men we still held strong.

Rikki will have to work on his judgements in the summer otherwise they might look to bring someone in to challenge him for is No.1 Jersey.

Jamie was unlucky not to pull one back in the second half. Thought it was touching the players came over to thank the supporters and some said sorry as they went down the line which shows me that they really want to play for this club.

Can not wait until next season. We need to make the "A2B Worthing Stadium" a fortress next season, way to many games lost at home this year, a team losing more at home that they do away will not get promotion.

Couple of additions needed and some of the younger players need to have a stint in the gym and bulk up a bit to start having the confidence to shrug players off.

Lastly the Fans.

WOW!

You were all brilliant, Loud, United as one voice and outsang the rable at the other end. You lifted the players and showed you will always trust in them to give their best for the club and its fans. If we can get this amount of people to most of our away games next season then we will help make the difference. Thanks has to go to the club for organising the coach, but do not leave it there, it worked lets get it for games next season too.

Same again at home games we will unite as one voice and make the ground sound alive.

The Summer will be full of ideas to get more people though the gates and you never know maybe get to the top of this league, We have the players that have the ability and some more talent waiting in the wings too bring on the 08/09 season. Lets put this one behind us now and look forward to success on and off the pitch.

All together know

RED ARMY, RED ARMY, RED ARMY, RED ARMY

[descartes]

Apr 29, 2008 20:46:39 GMT maniac said:

Well done lads, you gave it your best shot. Still been a good season, proud of you.

Same here.

Apr 30, 2008 9:17:56 GMT @july08 said:

The pitch last night was a Joke. If you look at the games that have been called of this year then this one would have been called off at 9am before the worst of the rain came down.

Cray Wanderers game was called off, being played on Thursday. Toots have 2 more days than their opponents - ask the Ryman league if that's fair?

Apr 30, 2008 9:17:56 GMT @july08 said:

Rikki will have to work on his judgements in the summer otherwise they might look to bring someone in to challenge him for is No.1 Jersey.

I think Rikki's jersey is safe. A young keeper will make the odd error in judgement, but otherwise he's as sound a keeper as we'll see at Woodside Road (unless Chuckles comes out of retirement!)

And finally, in last nights news...
www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/sport/football/tootingandmitcham/tootingandmitcham/display.var.2234893.0.vines_double_takes_tooting_into_final.php

[Adam]

Apr 30, 2008 9:35:08 GMT @descartes said:

I think Rikki's jersey is safe. A young keeper will make the odd error in judgement, but otherwise he's as sound a keeper as we'll see at Woodside Road (unless Chuckles comes out of retirement!)

we were talking about this last night. The 'odd error' is becoming all too frequent. He would be better just sitting on his line because when shots come at him, I fancy him to save them. Man's got big ol' hands. The main thing we were discussing is the lack of competition. It breeds complacency and at his age that's not a good thing, You should need to fight to get in every week.

[descartes]

I don't have the stats, but I reckon Rikki's made more game saving saves than costly errors this season. We wouldn't have got the memorable win against Dover without some heroics at the back from him. I'm not saying he's world class (yet), but I'm sure he won't have any serious competition for the Rebels no 1 shirt for a while.

At the start of last season, after Chuckles moved on we had 2 keepers. Preseason friendlies saw Rikki in goal for one half and Chris May in goal for the other. Guess which one stayed. We had a reserve keeper for most of this season, but he wasn't needed. I quite like Andy Faulkes, the current reserve team keeper, but he won't keep Rikki out of the team either. So while I agree that he has made the odd error, we'd struggle to find a better keeper at this level.

Looking on the bright side, perhaps his occasional stints as sweeper are a compliment to the back four - Rikki doesn't have that much to do and needs a bit of excitement every now and then.

[Brad]

Apr 30, 2008 9:35:08 GMT @descartes said:

(unless Chuckles comes out of retirement!)

no chance of that, he's managing godalming