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Really enjoyable & high quality game last night. Aldershot lived up to expectations but the extra quality we had in attacking areas was the key. Both our goals were very well finished. Still think we need another body in up top to replace Sithole. Shame about the crowd but our next midweeker at half term & the £5 offer will be much better than last night.

Onto Saturday now which will give us a very good indicator of where our level is & should be a real feast of football. Obviously Dinanga will notch.

I too think he might rotate the CB tomorrow. Gateshead away is one of the toughest games in the league right now, so if you are going to tinker then this is the game of our two this week to do it in. Otherwise in midfield & attack the team pretty much picks itself at the moment.

Noticeable after the last 2 seasons when they only narrowly avoided the drop, there’s a lot more optimism about Aldershot now. They poached Tommy Widdrington off Kings Lynn who bought a few across with him & they will be no mugs tomorrow night. Think we’ll win but it might be a tight 2-1.

Shame United are on the telly in the Champions league & the weather is a bit iffy because the lads deserve a good gate tomorrow too but suspect it might be around the 1400ish mark.

Strange game.

We were awful for some periods of the match, but could still have won it more comfortably via those two late chances for Newby and Amaluzor respectively, plus that deflected Newby free kick which was parried onto the crossbar (three decent saves by their goalkeeper).

Calamitous header by Donowa for their equaliser.

We certainly improved once Parkinson had withdrawn Angus, both defensively and as an attacking threat.

Credit to Baines, yet again, for two extremely timely defensive blocks during the first half.

In his post-match excitement at a third consecutive victory, Parkinson completely forgot about our pivotal three wins in eight days against Woking, Barnet and Solihull Moors last February!

The last three results have been both splendid and rewarding, but the squad is certainly looking ominously threadbare once again.

Good take. We basically turned up for the first 15 minute & then the last 25 or so as part time Oxfords fitness levels visibly dropped. On balance of chances 2-1 to us about right although if Oxford had managed a point we couldn’t have really complained. I thought they were a much better side then Maidenhead mind. Incredible achievement for a side with their support to even be in the Conference so good luck to them.

The injury situation is concerning though, so light on midfield & attacking reinforcements & so many matches coming up. The XI who started today we really need to wrap them in cotton wool between matches.

Fully deserved. I can’t recall them having a shot on target. We almost looked like we had another gear in us, even though it took a cracker to win it. A decent debut for young Sithole, he’ll get stronger. The defensive unit also very strong & our second straight away clean sheet is something to build on. As for Maidenhead they looked s very limited side, low on confidence. If there’s 4 worse sides than them this season I’ll be very surprised.

Got to go for it again Saturday, Oxford on a 8-0 aggregate from their last 2 matches, we’ll get plenty of chances.

As someone married to a proud monkey hanger whose immediate family all still live there, they are known to the locals in Hartlepool as ‘Pools’.

I think the demographic on this forum which tends towards older more long-standing supporters probably skews the results a bit. Wonder what the growing younger elements of our Fanbase would say. IMO Moss Lane sadly looks increasingly out of place in the National League of today & I don’t just mean against the big ex EFL outfits. Think of similar sized clubs in the division to us-Halifax, Kiddy etc.

Much as staying at Moss Lane would be great I think all four sides of the ground need fairly substantial modernisation & doubtless long running & tedious planning permission debates with Trafford & local residents (think of all the trouble we’ve had just doing the fanzone). So, if another relatively central-ish site could be found it may be from a financial & logistical POV that makes more sense. We have the lessons of history re Northwich & Runcorn & moving to the wrong location or somewhere completely soulless but think the challenges of doing up Moss Lane to a fully modern set up can’t be ignored.

Absolute Alty legend & another giant of a man to depart the Alty family after Kingy. I know we’ll get the family along to the game & pay a suitable tribute in due course.

Quote from: MarpleAlty on August 15, 2023, 09:55:42 PM

I would have taken the draw at half-time to keep the unbeaten record going - but we absolutely bossed them as soon as we went back to our usual system.

Roscoe (who missed a sitter of a header) and Joey Jones both look like absolute carthorses - I don't know why Baines was the one to make way.

Dior Angus was pretty dreadful when he came on - couldn't stay onside and thrashed wildly at anything that did come his way.

Strange to hear the commentary team say Linney and Conn-Clarke had good games - I guess we know they're both capable of much better, not much came off for them.

Marriott wasn't his usual influential self but Osborne played really well I thought - looked much more confident and assured, picked some great passes out too.

Onwards and upwards.

For my money, that's a pretty accurate synopsis of the game.

Ultimately, I'm actually somewhat disappointed that we haven't managed to record yet another victory in York, as I thought that we created the better chances.

Linney should have put us 1-0 up inside the opening three minutes, only for him to emulate AC/DC and take a touch too much.

Then there were those two late golden opportunities: CCC blazing over the bar from close range when you fully expected him to score his second goal of the night and Roscoe's inexplicable misdirected free header from that Eddy Jones corner.

I'd still love to see a creative (and goalscoring) central midfielder recruited, but I suspect that they are currently even harder to find than Nadine Dorries.

Agreed. We could be sat here with 9/9, fine margins. For all the money lavished on that York team over the summer they weren’t overly impressive. Dangerous & pacey up top but not the control or flow in their football that we have. Still I’d have taken 4/6 from Woking & York away & now on to another big test in Boreham Wood.

Also a note on our support, to take over 200 to a midweek game 2hrs away is really impressive & we were very vocal too. Hopefully it will continue to grow throughout the season. 3-400 at Fylde perhaps. To end on a curmudgeonly note, Brew York a main club sponsor & their ads plastered all over the ground & just Amstel, John Smiths or cider in the away end. Save us a few bottles next year please.