Well we where certainly played off the park by Chesterfield. Particularly in the
Second half it looked like Man City against Accrington Stanley. I can’t see anyone competing with them on that performance. They all looked comfortable on the ball and just sprayed passes in our area like a training exercise. I understand they have spent a lot of money and it shows . We fought hard but couldn’t live with them. Thanks to national league tv I missed chunks of the game including our 2 goals so was disappointed that we could not hold on but to be fair to them they deserved all 3 points. Mancini looks like he will be out awhile and Askey has now his next strongest task in securing reinforcements as our cover is not really good enough and thin. I’m sure there are still some gems out there and hope Askey is on to it asap

they only did to us what we have done to others. actually do not think there is that much between both starting 11 if both have everyone available to pick from. main difference is their strength in depth and players they can bring on. we have not got this luxury and if we had been 2 down after a few minutes at the vic i doubt we would have overturned the result against a team of their calabre.

we didnt have a plan B and the one JA thought might work was ridiculous.

we dont have depth in the squad its that simple - we all knew it but didnt think it would be the first month in which we got found out.

need some decent recruits and need them quick

They took full advantage of our misfortune, They won,t play like that every match and neither will we.

yes, and we have been beat by more than the odd goal to far worse sides in the past and have shown the white flag well before the final whistle. at least the attitude of the players yesterday cannot be faulted which is one positive we can take for the future.

Yep agree they didn’t give up

But we aren’t playing them every week are we.
They’ve had their embarrassments as well remember.
We’ve had a great start so why anyone is depressed is beyond me.

[quote="Eiphos_3"]we didnt have a plan B and the one JA thought might work was ridiculous.

Talk about hero to zero That'll take some beating.

think its more how the game panned out and mancini being out for a couple of months more than the actual result was.

Lets be honest we have been torn to shreds by way worse teams than Chesterfield, they have spent a fortune, while we go into the game with one of our best strikers bizarrely stuck on the bench, add mancini to it and it was always going to be one outcome. Thing is if you want to win this league you have to spend decent amounts now, very rarely a team like pools doing it on the bare bones can do it. We have made massive strides and for weeks and weeks we have known we are weak in areas yet we still wait. Get a quality central defender in and another decent midfielder and we wobt be far away.

Yesterdays defeat just illustrated the gulf between the two squads, rather than the starting elevens. They brought on a lad known as the ‘Albanian Messi’ and also another lad on the left wing who was also a very good player at this level.

Our squad is wafer thin in contrast, which is no surprise given the state we were in this time last season. The Manager has done a great job getting us to where we are considering the squad he inherited, good progress is being made - he deserves some patience and support.

Don't disagree but I doubt the 'Albanian Messi' is called that anywhere except North Derbyshire - not even in Albania! Don't forget we've got the 'Albanian Pallister.'

I understand he’s ‘World Famous’ in North Derbyshire

Excatley.
They've been beaten by Altrincham & struggled to beat the mighty Dorking & Oxford City.

I think a lot of words and not enough thought have been spotted about the match..if Mancini had stayed on could have been a different story but they got the points with a minute to go….skin of their teeth….. for ‘playing us off the park’…they nearly got a solitary point….. bad day at the office and fortune didn’t smile.
Tomorrow’s another day.

How much of the match did you see Snowy? We've set ourselves a very good standard to hit now, after a really impressive start to the season. I think it's fair to say that we looked desperately short once Mancini went off - and also fair to say that in order to keep hitting the standard we want to be at, we either need players on the fringes to improve, OR we need to recruit quality. Mancini likely 6-8 weeks out if it is a bad hamstring injury.

It was skin of the teeth that it finished at a one goal deficit as opposed to what should have been 2 or 3 on the balance of play/chances. They were a much better football team than us on the day across 90 minutes. They may well be in a different league/level to us and as Askey says 'one game doesn't define our season'.

We do move on, but we can learn & improve a lot more in defeat than simply putting it down to fortune.

Good post.

Spot on once again. Be careful Snowy you are fast becoming the most balanced and sensible poster on the bunker

Not disagreeing with you.
But no matter how bad we were comparatively, we nearly walked away with a point. The league tables don’t care about the performance.
It’s a numbers game, points mean prizes and that’s what we aim for despite the performance.

Numbers game for last match -

0 points.
3 goals conceded.

We've had good and bad days so far and so have Chesterfield, that's how we were briefly top of the league. They'll have more bad days and injuries and suspensions the same as everyone else. Successful teams are the most consistent ones and if we keep taking 12 points from each 18 we'll be there or thereabouts. Also need to acknowledge our start has been pretty tough. Fixtures coming up look a bit easier on paper.
JA has said he wants more players in and I'm sure there'll be some arriving soon. Got to think that Josh will be off in the next few days too.

The way some are going on - anyone would think it was Man City we played yesterday!

We need to relax a bit- and not hammer the team too much everytime they come up slightly short, given we're we've come from in short space of time under the current Gaffer.
We're going to have games with dodgy ref decisions or if the oppo score a worldie - that's football.

It was the same after the Barnet game, when some on here were almost gleefully preparing for another relegation slog after 1 game- it's just ridiculous. The team are going to make mistakes and go through lean spells- that's why they play for Hartlepool and not Liverpool.

It's a marathon not a sprint- yes it was nice to be top briefly but nothing is won in August and September. Anyway Askey by his admission has still got 4 more games before we judge him!

Agree with all of that Kettering. We are also far from the finished article. Expecting at least 2 good additions to come yet.

The reality check will come in the next few games with no Mancini in midfield, hopefully Dodds will be fit again though.

Obviously, we lost, we don’t win all of them.
But you’re only highlighting my point.
Points mean prizes.
I dare say your Chesterfield alter ego was making the same point when they lost to Altrincham two days earlier.

Agree.
The Chairman now has full destiny of our future.
Its there for the takeing.
We hope as fans as per normal but what will be will be.
UTP.

the only real reality check about this game is our squad being paper thin compared to theirs. apart from the 16 named players in both squads it will be interesting to compare the standard of player both teams have who did not get a place in the squad. actually thought both gateshead and fylde had a stronger bench than we had when their subs came on.

At the end of the day, I’m sure Askey is aware of this.

We have been lucky in recent games that our subs have just had to come on to manage the game out or maybe help in defence when it hasnt really been troubled - we wont come up against a better side than that this season. Really need like for like though and someone to come on and change the game like McDonald did at times last season ! Going to be hard to find those sorts of players though - we just have to live in hope there is a Tshibola / Burey / Daly / Kemp waiting in the wings now for some first team football.
Even Oldham and Rochdale wont give us games like that and by the time we play them both im hoping we have that star 11 back with even some more quality recruits on board.

this season is long and arduous - we must have better options of the bench. JA knows fine well and went into the season knowing this. Unfortunately we are still in the rebuilding stages and hes having to put people like Hastie and Paterson on the bench. Those 2 would never feature at this level for any time in reality - we are just still in that annoying phase of keeping hold of the deadwood. Both have had enough time to adapt and get better - its not going to happen for them and hopefully they bugger off sooner rather than later.

Dolan and Finney too what the crack with them Hearing Dolan is off to Shields now !

well i,ll not shed a tear if dolan is off to them. not an answer if midfield or defence even as a sub or cover for injuries. think even featherstone would need to give him a start in a footrace. if he had not been an ex player in the first place his signing would have underwhelmed more fans.