November 2007 - Posts
There isn't a game for Boro this weekend, as Exeter have a FA Cup game scheduled.
Hopefully it will give Taylor and the team time to get to grips with eachother a bit more, and start rebuilding the team back to its best.
I am sure some team bonding would have gone on this week, and I think this little extra break could be a blessing in disguise.
Our next game is now scheduled for the 8th of December where we have Salisbury at home. Hopefully the team will be completely fired up for this fixture and we can get back to our winning ways.
Boro managed a win last night which was excellent, as we are now back in fourth. However, it was pretty tight and Altrincham scored early on so we had to fight to get back in the game.
We lacked a spark which was quite worrying, but then again we did have 3 new players in the squad so it is understandable that the play wasn't completely full-flowing.
I thought Dobbo played well last night, not because he just scored 2 goals, but he covered a vast area of the pitch and was our main source of getting something from the game, with his runs down the wing, and his back track play.
Zoltan impressed me last night. He looked nervous but was quite comfortable on the ball, and played some great passes forward. Stokes, I thought was ok, but he didn't really have much service up front so I will have to make my mind up on him when I see more of him. I think White played well. He managed to make some good tackles and worked hard.
I was really pleased with Lewis last night. he fought for every ball, and worked really hard getting back and defending. It was like the past week hadn't fazed him at all. A true professional.
Morison didn't have his best game, but I think he is probably trying to adjust to all the new changes.
The team generally looked shakey, but I think I can forgive them for that. We got the win, which is what we needed. Now we just need to work on getting that team spirit and the spark back into our game.
Boro have Altrincham at home tonight, which is being shown live on Setanta Sports. I always like having Boro fixtures shown on TV because it means that some people who have never heard of Boro before and are just watching the game because it is football, can see how well clubs can play in non league football and if Boro perform well, we can show everyone what a great team we are.
The only thing that suffers is the attendance at the game. Us season ticket holders obviously still go but a lot of people, given the chance, like to watch the game in the comfort of their living room (especially now it's cold!)
However, tonight is a big game for us. We have lost key players, and brought in new ones, so it is a chance for them to shine. We haven't exactly had the best form of late either so it is a chance for the team to improve on this and get a win behind them.
Altrincham are currently sitting 21st in the league, so ideally we should win. But Boro being Boro, you never know. If we win tonight we will skip past Forest Green and Burton and go back into fourth with 39 points. We would be 2 points behind Cambridge, 6 behind Torquay, and 7 behind Aldershot. So it's definately do-able.
We just have to win.
With regards to the team, I assume Lewis would play despite everything that has gone on. He is still a great team player and I know he would want Boro to succeed even if he does move on in January.
I think the team would be something like this:
Julian, Fuller, Henry, possible White and Liptak, Lewis, Dobbo, Molesley, McMahon, Stokes, and Morison.
Hopefully Boro will do the business tonight and I can come back with a very happy post tomorrow, I think we deserve it after the last few weeks.
Boro have drawn either Dorchester or Worthing away in the first round proper of the FA Trophy.
Other draws include:
Torquay have drawn Bashley at home.
Aldershot have Hayes and Yeading United away
Burton have Colwyn Bay or Sheffield away
Cambridge have drawn King's Lynn at home
Forest Green have drawn Dover Athletic or Sutton United away
Ok, so I sort of knew Lewis would end up going. If the other two (Nutter, Miller) were then I knew he would, but it's just annoying that because Gillingham didn't sign Lewis in time last week they will be coming back for him in January.
They don't have a care in the world about ripping our team apart. Lewis now knows he is wanted by them and as a result will probably not perform to his best, not on purpose, but because it will always be at the back of his mind.
I just hope all this nonsense doesn't ruin our chances of promotion. All the players that have gone were great assets to the club and it is such a shame to lose them.
I just wish Gillingham would go away and leave our club to rebuild. But somehow I don't think that will happen. I know they will probably want Mitchell at some point too. I just hope we get promoted, so our players want to stay with us rather than moving on.
Alot has happened overnight at Boro. Various loan deals and compensation for Stimmo's and Scott's departure. I am not quite sure to make of it all.
Miller and Nutter have moved to Gillingham on loan, and their move's will become permanent in January. I am annoyed at the fact that they have gone. I really thought their hearts were with Boro. But at the same time I can see why they have left. They are going straight into League football which is what every non league player wants to do, and I guess they had a good relationship with Stimmo, despite what he did. It is just a bit disappointing to see them leave after everything. Miller can be so influential in a match and I hope someone else picks up this role. Both of them will be missed.
However, I am really glad that Lewis has not signed. Although I have a feeling that he too could end up going in January. He works so hard and it would be such a shame to lose him. Him and Martin work so well together, I just hope that all these transfers haven't unsettled him and the other players too much.
Santos has also moved on. He has gone onto Grays on loan where we will receive £10,000 for him when his move also becomes permanent in January. This move worries me a bit as he was a good replacement when we had a defender out, and has recently been covering Nutter. But now both of the lads have gone so I hope Taylor's new replacements are just as good.
Taylor has signed defender, John White from Colchester, and Zoltan Liptak a centre half from Southend. Both over the 6ft mark which will give us some extra height. Taylor has also signed Tony Stokes on loan who plays in midfield and has come from West Ham.
I don't really know much about these players I just hope they do the business for us. I am still really gutted about the whole thing, but we have to move on and hopefully now we have a bunch of players at our club that want to be here and get us up to league 2.
With regards to the compensation, I think we have done ok. Apparently we have been given a 6 figure deal for the loss of Scott and Mark, which is something for all the troubles they have caused. I knew Phil Wallace would get the best for this club, and I think that is what he has done.
Let's look to the future, where hopefully it will be a happy one.
Following on from my previous post...
Phil Wallace has now issued a statement on Boro's website saying that he will not accept any offer for our players at least until we get the compensation we deserve over the Stimmo saga. I know it's not much but it is a little more reassuring.
He goes on to say that Gillingham offered us some of their players and a bid of £5000 for one of the players. All three of them are worth so much more than that. He describes the bids as 'laughable', which it totally is. He also goes on to say that because these bids are so low, and that the Gills will only be able to pay it after a year, that they obviously were not taking the club seriously enough and just wanted to rock the camp. If this is true, that is a shocking display from Gillingham. I am glad Stimmo has gone if he wants to be a part of a club like that.
Hopefully that will be the end of this mess and we can concentrate on gaining promotion.
I did like Stimmo once, I thought he was a decent guy. I even had a tshirt with his head on it. Now my opinions towards him couldn't be more different. He has damaged our club enough and things had started to look up with a new manager etc. Yet somehow he still manages to shake everything up and ruin any kind of positives that we have.
Today I have found out that Gillingham have made offers for Miller, Lewis and Nutter. It's a joke. We have turned them down obviously but they will keep trying, and let's face it, no player is going to turn down league football. I hope that none of them go, but I do fear the worst as it was announced this week that Taylor will be bringing in more players. Could it be that these will replace Lewis, Miller and Nutter? They can't go, they just can't. No player could replace these 3. Unless they were Berbatov and Gerrard. And somehow I don't think that will happen.
Apart from Dobbo, these are my favourite players and I really admire Miller and Lewis as they are both so influential to the team. If they do go, I think if some people, including myself were beginning to forget the Stimmo saga, and understand why he left, then he has well and truly pushed that now by trying to sign our players. It's an absolute disgrace.
So, the game against Halifax on Saturday seemed to be going really well. Dobbo scored a great goal after 15 minutes and Morison managed to get into the back of the net after 25 minutes.
It was a weird and eventful game, but did not end in a positive way. Firstly after Dobbo's goal, from the kick off Martin got sent off. Don't think it was a sending off but not much we could do about that.
We seemed to be flying at the time. I was looking forward to coming into work today and raving about Boro. We looked comfortable and were playing well despite having ten men after Morro's goal.
Half time came, and as expected we wanted Boro to come out of the traps and score a few more goals. But it was the complete opposite. Halifax started getting in the game more and we just couldn't put any passes together. It was very annoying.
Then around the 50th minute they scored a goal. They were back in it. Then they scored again 2 minutes later. I don't understand how the lads let them equlaise. We were 2 nil up! How could they let that slip? It was shocking. Luckily, their player got sent off pretty much straight after the second goal, so we were back to level pegging. I thought this could be the turning point for us, but again I was wrong. Halifax scored again and we had lost the game. Morro had a good chance at goal just after the 80th minute but failed to equalise.
I don't understand how Boro let 3 goals in, in under 10 minutes. It is shocking. We are supposed to be a team fighting for promotion. It was a game of two halves, and we completely blew it. Halifax should have never had the chance to come back into it, and we gave them that chance. At home aswell.
Now we have slipped right down the table, from 3rd to 6th. I am still in shock from it all. Admittably, the ref didn't help matters but we need to blame ourselves, not him or the lino's.
I amnot going to criticise Taylor, because he has only been in charge a few games, but when you look at the team we had out, you would think we would completely dominate them.
Something needs to be done, and fast.
With last week's result, this week's home game against Halifax is a major fixture for us. We need to, we have to, get a result in tomorrow's game. I know there confidence must be low, but if any team can bounce back, we can.
The team will still not be to its full potential. We have so many players out, it's silly. Just to name a few: Miller, Cole, Allen, John, Martin, and probably Bramble too.
I guess out of all the players that could make an appearance it could be Bramble. At least now we have Morison back, but I don't think he will even be fully fit.
I would think the team would look something like: Julian, Nutter, Fuller, Arber, Oliver (although I hope it will be Gaia instead because Luke has been awful of late), Lewis, Dobbo, Molesley, McMahon, Hakim and Morison.
They have to do the business tomorrow. Halifax have struggled in the league so far. They are currently in 16th place so we are doing really well when compared with them. But they will put up a good fight and we cannot slack just because of their position.
If we managed to win the game we would go level with Torquay on points. They are away at Crawley, so you never know what could happen there. I suppose the biggest clashes this weekend are Forest Green v Histon and Exeter v Burton. Hopefully the points will go our way for those matches.
1 Aldershot 18 14 40
2 Torquay 18 19 39
3 Stevenage 18 19 36
4 Cambridge Utd 18 12 35
5 Burton Albion 18 11 34
6 Forest Green 18 10 34
I think Taylor would have been pushing the lads all week after last weekend's fiasco so hopefully their hard work will pay off, and we can get the result we need and deserve.
Fingers crossed (again).
I was quite positive before the game. I thought we could do it. We knew how Exeter played and we were playing well ourselves. I guess my thoughts couldn't have been more different. Somehow we lost 4-0.
The defence was awful. I don't have a clue what happened to them. Even Arber wasn't at his best and he always plays well. We could barely get it out our half and nothing seemed to work for us. There were too many mistakes and we just seemed to gift them the goals.
I just hope that Boro can improve and learn from this because otherwise our promotion hopes are out of the window. I know I shouldn't be all negative, and I do believe that we have a real chance of going up this year, but when Boro demonstrate a display like that, it is rather worrying.
I suppose the only positives that we have from the game are that Morison came back earlier than expected and now I guess we can focus on the league and push ourselves to the top. We still have the FA Trophy of course, so hopefully we can retain our title in that.
Let's just hope that Boro get back to their winning ways this weekend when we play Halifax at home.
So, we have Exeter away this weekend. This is going to be a big game for us. We have the chance to progress into the next round and draw a club in the League. That would be an almighty confidence booster.
Although it does look like we will have some key players out of the match still. Cole, Miller, Martin, Morison and Ollie Allen look set to be out. Arber could also be out due a tooth abscess.
Henry should be back which is something at least.
I guess the team would be something like, Julian, Nutter, Henry, Oliver, Fuller, Molesley, Dobbo, Lewis, McMahon, Bramble and Hakim.
I think it is going to be a tough challenge for us but I think we can do it. We know their team quite well and Taylor has worked with Perryman which could give us a helping hand with how they play etc.
So that's another fingers crossed from me, and hopefully we will get through on Saturday.
So, Boro played Northwich away on Saturday. This was a big match for us. Firstly. because it was a chance for the team to show how they play and impress the new manager. Secondly, because if the results went our way we could move up in the league, and thirdly because it would be a great stepping stone in getting back to our best.
We managed to do all those things. Northwich did, as expected, play as if every point counts. Lewis managed to score on the half hour mark, which was excellent for us. We needed to have that first goal to spur us on more. Northwich did have chances though and so did we.
From what I have heard Tes played well again, with great hold up play. He seems to be doing really well at the moment, so I am pleased for him as I think many people have doubted his ability. If he keeps working at it I am sure he will get better. And it was a result of Bramble that we scored the second goal.
Tes pulled out a shot at goal and the keeper managed to save it, but McMahon was there to slot in the rebound for Boro's second.
Apparently there was a good call for Northwich to receive a penalty after a hand ball, but luckily for us it wasn't given. Sometimes you get some, sometimes you don't. Over the past few games I am sure Boro should have received a penalty. I guess it was just our lucky day.
We have now moved up to third in the table, which is great news. I do feel quite sorry for Northwich. They have got some good players there, but when you haven't won a game this season, things don't look positive at all.
The top of the table as it stands:
1 Aldershot 18 14 40
2 Torquay 18 19 39
3 Stevenage 18 19 36
4 Cambridge Utd 18 12 35
5 Burton Albion 18 11 34
Things are now quite close between the top five. It was good that Torquay lost out on points, but annoying that Alderhsot won. I can see it being this close right up until the end of the season so we will just have to see how it goes.
Next up we have Exeter away in the FA Cup. They are doing really well at the moment so hopefully we can do the business there.
I think we have met Taylor's expectations so far, and no doubt that the more time he spends with the team the better we will get.
We just have to stay focused.
So, with the appointment of Peter Taylor yesterday, he is set to take charge of Boro tomorrow in his first test as Boro manager.
We have had alot to deal with at the moment, but I think now we are able to concentrate and focus on the matches we have coming up. Taylor of course is a great appointment but now we need to set our sights on promotion.
Northwich's performance of late hasn't exactly been brilliant. They are bottom of the league, but every point is crucial to them so I am sure they will try their hardest out there. I think the first goal is crucial for us. We don't want Northwich to get their confidence up and we need to get that early lead so we progress further and hopefully get a few more goals.
The top end of the table as it stands:
1 Torquay 17 20 39
2 Aldershot 17 12 37
3 Burton Albion 17 13 34
4 Stevenage 17 17 33
5 Cambridge Utd 17 11 32
If we win we go third, but Burton have Kiddiminster at home which I would assume that they would win. So in order for us to stay in contention we have to win tomorrows game without a doubt. One aspect that could play in our favour is that Cambridge is playing Torquay so one of the teams in the top five could drop points, which could really benefit us. Aldershot have got Weymouth away, which could be quite tricky for them , so we will have to see how that pans out.
With regards to injuries, I am not sure if people like Morison and Mitchell will be back. The most likely is probably Henry as he was out and about warming up against Salisbury this week.
So fingers crossed that we do the business tomorrow and that the team make Taylor's first game in charge a happy one.
Stimmo is officially the new manager of the Gills. Funny how he said that he didn't speak to Gillingham, and now he is the manager of them?
I would have a lot more respect for him if he came out and was honest and said he was interested in being their manager. But he didn't. I know it's in the past but it still annoys me.
Well at least now we have a great new manager in Peter Taylor and we can focus on that.
I will not forget what Stimmo did for us, but I will also not forget how he left, and how did not even thank the fans before leaving. Hopefully Peter Taylor will show us how a true manager should treat their fans and players.
Onwards and upwards!
It's official, the new Boro manager is Peter Taylor. What a turn up for the books. I was always hoping it would be him, but there has been so many rumours of late it's hard to believe anything.
Phil Wallace has done a great job in getting him at the club. He must have done a hell of a lot of persuading, I mean an ex Crystal Palace and England Under 21 Manager at Boro, surely not?
It's great news. I am so pleased for the club. We deserve a great manager and now our promotion hopes are definately in sight. He will manage the squad with great promise and he definately knows his stuff. It's a great feeling that someone with his presence, knowledge and success wants to come to Boro, and it certainly shows how he believes we should be in the League.
I wish him all the luck, and I hope he brings us what we have wanted for years... promotion.
It has been appointed at a great time, we have Northwich away and then Exeter away. I believe that he could be the next Boro legend. This is the first step in becoming a team that no-one will forget.
Come on Boro!
View the Boro story here:
http://www.thecomet.net/content/comet/news/story.aspx?brand=CMTOnline&category=SportBoro&tBrand=herts24
&tCategory=newscomnew&itemid=WEED01%20Nov%202007%2010%3A50%3A40%3A197