www.altyfans.co.uk

Big big win that obviously meant a lot to the players judging by the full-time scenes - well done to all the supporters that rallied round the team, I have no doubt in my mind that the fire in the belly the players started the game with was in no small part down to the reception they received before kick-off (and I'm not normally a fan of pyros!)

Dorking have obviously started resorting to the dark arts much more frequently than they used to, which perhaps is symptomatic of their league position - I have little sympathy for Regan Linney in those sorts of situations because you're always going to get verbals with opposing players and you can't give the ref a decision to make like that - he needs to learn (and that goes for Matty Kosylo too).

My biggest worry now is that the players will be completely out on their feet - we've never needed a freshen up more when it comes to loans, I wouldn't be surprised to see Dan Mooney come in from the start on Saturday seeing as he should be nice and fresh, hopefully Justin Amaluzor (and obviously Ethan) can make a contribution too.

Regan Linney will be a big loss, given how essential he is to the way we play - we can't get away with Dior Angus I'm afraid, he's not good enough (which was never more evident than last night).

Shout out to George Wilson for his energetic cameo towards the end - he really helped to take the sting out of their momentum with some timely interceptions and ball carries.

I think Maxi is still on loan but United have him back when they want him

I see, thanks.

Hasn't been making their matchday squads, a few on social media seemed to think he was recalled.

I can't disagree with anything MarpleAlty has written.
A couple of things we aren't party to is
a) the number and severity of any niggles that players may be carrying which may or may not affect team selection
and b) the health of the bank balance which would have an impact on dipping into the loan market.

I'm still expecting a top seven finish, just not the third that I did think was on the cards before our last few games.

Two very crucial points - as much as we fans can speculate, we're only ever privy to half the information (e.g. suggestions Lewis Baines has been unwell).

We do also need to cut our cloth accordingly, and let's face it - our recruitment so far this season will NOT have been cheap - far from it.

Where to start with that?

Firstly, play stupid games (leave your best defender and best midfielder on the bench), win sh*t prizes.

We dropped Lewis Baines for a lad we signed because he was Ollie Byrne's cousin.

If rotation is such a big thing, then why doesn't it apply to Elliott Osborne like it does to the others?

And on that subject, today was Osborne-Ball. Slow, ponderous, side to side, backwards... and then, never fear! - a lovely floaty diagonal long ball. Let's just hope it doesn't get picked out of the sky. Oh.

George Wilson has his merits, but he's a Mini-Osborne. Either one of them with Marriott is fine, but we're horrible with those two together.

The one fella I'll give a shout out to is Regan Linney, who did his best despite naff all happening around him. Alex Newby in particular had a shocker.

I think I saw Lewis Banks go down the line once. Every other time he checked back inside and went backwards. That must have been a tactical instruction.

The passage of play between our goal and their equaliser is about as disgusting as it gets. Paid them far too much disrespect and fair play to them for taking advantage. Like the Bronley home game on steroids.

Did I mention that I think Elliott Osborne is a myth? Are we praising him because he's just not been rubbish?

Being honest, I'm yet to be fully convinced by him as a right back in a flat back four - he looked a bit awkward at Hyde, but I suppose they all looked off it.

That's not to say I can't be convinced, I just haven't seen enough of him there yet. He looked brilliant against Stockport in pre season, but I'm pretty sure he was a wing back.

I think he played at full back for Chorley the other night though.

Couldn't make the game last night as working until 6pm, streamed it, commentary from BBC on the stream was overall good and they were bemused as ourselves to the 5 changes. First half looked like a master stroke as we dominated but didn't get that all important second goal we deserved. I thought they would come at us, they changed shape and then errors from outfield players and keeper cost us. bemused why we changed shape and didn't freshen up keeping the shape that was creating opportunities. In the end lost by 1 goal in a game we had by the scruff of  the neck. Looking  to see a positive reaction on Saturday and get our play off push back on the rails. For me the keeper is the big dilemma, if Ross not fit then do we bring in Byrne. I now believe he deserves a chance.

Ollie Byrne is absolutely NOT the answer at this stage.

Matty has enough credit in the bank to go again on Saturday, Ollie (sadly) was consistently costing us results for a prolonged period of time.

How we ended up coming away from that with nothing after that first half is anybody's guess - it looked as if the team selection would pay off, but we did miss some golden chances to go further ahead.

Matty Gould had a horror few minutes, with the decision not to come for the first one undoubtedly affecting his decision to come for the second one which he shouldn't have done.

One potential positive is that we'd probably get away woth more rotation than we think - as long as we have our first choice goalkeeper and back four in place.

In terms of the tactical changes, I think Parky needs to get a glass of wine with Kevin Phillips and understand how to make simple but profound system tweaks that gain maximum results.

They would have been delighted with us taking off our wingers, something the commentary team alluded to. I was pleased to see Matty Kosylo looking sharper than he has done for ages.

Hopefully this will be similar to our Eastleigh/Rochdale blip, ultimately two challenging away ties on paper so we'll need to dust ourselves off and put another run together.

As an aside, after reading today's JL page, is Joey Jones staying on the books/payroll until the end of the season whilst recovering and then goodbye? Or is he in our plans longer term?

Tough one this - a lot depends on the length of contract he'd be on, but I certainly wouldn't be retaining him if it expires this summer.