Shameful performance at Rushall

[leekempson]

That was a disgraceful performance by the team today, and it is about time something is done about it.

No passion, no idea, no communication, no nothing. How can any team at this level of football have so little passion and so little motivation at this stage of the FA Cup? And what of the team talk before the game? The manager obviously have no motivational abilities at all. The players were a disgrace, there is no excuse for such pathetic effort. Going forward we had no idea at all and it makes you wonder what is done on the training pitch.
The only players to come out of the game with any credit in my opinion are Adams, Marshall and Wooliscroft. Adams and Marshall played well in defence and kept the score down, Wooliscroft fought a very lone battle trying to make something happen going forward.
I know we had injuries, but those players should have been good enough to win the game, or at least put up a fight, which is the least that the fans should expect. Rushall won todays game because they wanted to win it more than we did, not because they were any better than us, and that is unforgiveable.
It makes next weeks FA Trophy tie at Willenhall very important. The same amount of disinterest will see us out of another cup, and should see Mr Starbuck out of a job.

[abacus]

Question for the Board.Was it acceptable for the manager to shout F*** O** and give the V sign to a fan who shouted out a comment

[Bod]

Question for the Board.Was it acceptable for the manager to shout F*** O** and give the V sign to a fan who shouted out a comment

and from a man of the bible ...sinful,shame on you

[Perton Pitman]

I have to agree with the comments - for Rushall read Stratford, Gedling, Solihull etc etc.

The game was dreadful, but Rushall wanted it more and we simply didn't have the quality to come through what was a fairly flimsy challenge posed by a limted Rushall side.

Gilmartin did not inspire confidence, flapping at a cross in the lead up to the first goal. Sims - what can I say? I can't believe he was on the books of WOlves once (mind you so was Marlon)

We were incapable of keeping the ball - some of the control would not have been out of place on a Sunday morning pitch and apart from Masha, Ross, Adams and Wolliscroft, I don't believe that the players take pride in wearing the shirt. Mario didn't want to know and I am sad to say that PS has to carry the can for this as we have recently let some of our better players go and has not provided effective replacements.

Today we were looking for leaders and Masha put his hand up, but he was outnumbered by Rushall who had a team of 11 desperate to win.

A shameful day for HTFC, but then it is becoming a regular thing when playing in the Cups against lower ranked teams.

A final thing, nobody blame injuries please - we should have enough to beat sides like Rushall easily

Wonder what our owner (I won't say benefactor cos he isn't) thought of it all

[Dobba]

Appauling from most of the side today, Ross Adams was his usual brilliant self and Dyer ran his socks off with little or no support.

By the way, where did Lee Barrow learn to dive as badly as he did in the 2nd half? :D

[Perton Pitman]

Appauling from most of the side today, Ross Adams was his usual brilliant self and Dyer ran his socks off with little or no support.

By the way, where did Lee Barrow learn to dive as badly as he did in the 2nd half? :D

Let's not blame the opposition or the ref - we were woeful

[Dobba]

Well both were not exactly helping to the cause, but it's no excuse for the tripe we were served today.

[Shag]

No two ways about it, today we were dreadful with very few players coming out of the game with any credit at all!!

I also think that Mr Starbuck has quite possibly dug his own grave this afternoon. Quite apart from the shameful performance, yet again, and the revolving door of mediocrity that masquerades as a transfer policy, it is a sad day when our manager feels the need to verbally abuse the supporters of the team!!

I was standing about ten yards from the fan at whom the abuse was aimed and cleary heard Mr Starbuck tell him exactly where to go!! I would like to take this opportunity to remind Mr Starbuck that its our supporters, who consistently shell out week by week to attend games and watch the tripe we are currently producing, who pay his wages and those of his players and that if we all took his advice it would be a very quiet evening at Keys Park on monday!!!

Lets face it, regardless of performances, it is the like of the supporters who turned up today who keep the club going, and who will be there long after Starbuck has moved on!!

We dont expect to be guaranteed success, but the least we deserve is a little respect!

Until you have something to shout about Starbuck, button it and keep your thoughts to yourself :tape:

[pitmansj]

The club are quick enough to ban or repremand the fans who step out of line. What action on Starbuck. The usual line about heat of the moment etc should not be enough and wont wash with the fans this time. If i go to work on monday and tell the people who pay my wages to F... OFF I would be sacked! Now lets see....:tape:

[Prof. Frink]

I went to the game today full of hope an excitement due to it being the F.A Cup but left feeling disheartned and ashamed!
It was a woeful performance by all but the already named 3.
Im not the biggest fan of Masha but he was the only player and staff who had heart today! he ran his socks off!
Tactically clueless Mr Starbuck strikes again!
Who was the lad we bought on for robbo? he was shocking! why didnt blair get bought on instead.
Pedro and Heath weren't given much of the ball but when they did they didnt use it to there best ability. Palmer is well off the pace!
Simms get rid! awful and shouldn't call himself a footballer.
Dyer still lacking abit of sharpness but tried his best with what was around him.
Tom Ward is not a striker!
Rushall were a poor side who we should of slaughtered. But credit it to them they got the first an pressed for more. they will have to be careful tho as the back four are very poor.
there keeper today was a decent keeper who did what any other keeper would do in there teams situation so fair play to him.
Man of the Match for me was the bloke at the turnstiles who let me in for £3 even tho im 22!! woot

end of

[Perton Pitman]

I'm sure it is avery sweet day for Baz, Shevvy, Brinner, Grant and Damo - all of these guys have been deemed to be surplus to requirements at Keys Park.

There is egg on a few faces tonight.

Didn't see the incident with PS, but if it is true any club worth its salt would take some form of action. Let's see if we are club worth it's salt

[Elder Van Van Looper]

As has been said on a number of occasions before, PS was given the job due to the fact he performed best in the interviews and talked himself into the job.

Now he has to forget talking and start playing (not himself!!) and winning.

As I have said in my other post, there should be no excuses for playing as poorly as our side did today, and both Management and players should be making public apologies for their performances which has left me feeling devalued as a HTFC fan who pays hard earned cash to watch drivel.

Having already stopped going away, there are no good reasons to keep going to home games, to watch that kind of football, more often than I see good football.

Is sacking the Manager going to work and be beneficial to the Club? I somehow think that the people who matter will think Not. Perhaps PS is a better hypnotist than Manager :confused:

[harv]

i don't often post ,but i do read the threads everyday, in 30 years of watching the Town i can't remember seeing the most awful, dire, rubbish that i witnessed today . Enough said.

[Howww Much!!!]

Rushall were a good British Gas Business team (pub) and yet at times today we made them look like a Blue Square Premier one! Even a lazy sod like Birch can score says it all really. I hope that Gary was proud of his goal as an opposition player lay injured on the ground awaiting treatment for at least two minutes! Then again maybe one of our lot should have put the ball out!

Too many injuries may be one excuse, but too many players on the pitch did not show up 100% either. Mario frustrates between flashes of brilliance and very poor play.

If PS did respond to a fan as suggested then I agree that is wrong and he should be repremanded by Terry at least. There must have been provokation for him to react in such a fashion though. What was shouted at him?

Losing Jimmy was going to unsettle the team a little, calling for the managers head will bring the whole house of cards down. IMO.

Keep the faith.

[abacus]

After watching a great England rugby performance my spirits are lifted but not enough to erase a truely woeful and inept performance by the Pitmen. Birchy, the manager was wrong to put the lad on.More seasoned players were intimidated today and it was unfair on him.Manager has a lot to answer for today.In truth we should have been out of the Cup weeks ago against Stratford.We had brought in two players in Knox and Macpherson who scored over 50 goals last season only to ship them out and with this squad we simply don't look to have the goals in us yet again.The revolving door may yet have to rotate unless this season improves and that doesn't mean only the players. Next two games are absolutely vital to how we progress.

[MikeM]

We clearly have a manager who is thought to be a tactical genius because he was once in the same room as Brian Clough. We knew we would be playing a team who would close us down from the first moment, and use the slope and dreadful surface to their own advantage. Was there any indication that he had taken a look and thought about how we would counter it? I couldn't work out what that was, if he had. We were weakened but in Mario and Dom had players who could make the chances needed, but we played very narrow. Like most supporters, I could easily name a 1-11 of players released over the last few years who could win the Unibond premier, but I fail to see why Palmer has been brought back. He talks a good game, including yelling at team mates who made errors early on, but he has neither the agility nor the guile to add anything to even this team. it looks increasingly as though the good performances of the early season were the result of the much-missed Mr Mullen's coaching, just as the pig-manure served up last season was the result of his predecessor's. So what does PS do to add to the team - give them bleep tests and work out their body mass index? No wonder Lee Barrow had such a great game for the opposition, as he'd probably fail these, but can read the game a bit. Imagine him alongside Masha. Sorry, but I'm v. disappointed; probably no point in actually sacking Starbuck, but he must be given a clear idea that the football that we saw early in the season must be re-established, as we are slowly going down into the rubbish which is played at Gedling's and Rushall's level, as opposed to such 'fancy dan' stuff as passing the ball to our team's feet. I remember our reserves - and there's another issue he has got badly wrong - used to play them in the Staffs County.

[Unibond Fan]

Is it perhaps the footballing coaching skills departed with John Ramshaw? Today his team battled from 3-1 down against Gateshead with 12 mins to go to earn a point for the 3-3 draw. Lincoln seem in the ascendency whereas HTFC quite the opposite!

[Andy Pipkin]

If PS did respond to a fan as suggested then I agree that is wrong and he should be repremanded by Terry at least. There must have been provokation for him to react in such a fashion though. What was shouted at him?


Keep the faith.

Yes it's true PS did respond,i was standing with Shag just 10 yards away from the guy who shouted. As said in previous posts Mr Starbuck implied to go forth and multiply. It wasn't directed at myself but after watching such an inept performance made it hurt even more. The bottom line is Mr Satrbuck shouldn't of responded and should be reprimanded.


Personally I dont buy the injury patter as everyone who started the game has experience of paying at this level or higher. No passion,no guile,no tatics and no idea. Games like today you look for the big players like Palmer and Pedro to take the game to the opposition?????????????????????

Well done to Rushall by the way and my guess theres a very smug Brinner in the Keys tonight. Brinner for Manager!!!

[Andy Pipkin]

Is it perhaps the footballing coaching skills departed with John Ramshaw? Today his team battled from 3-1 down against Gateshead with 12 mins to go to earn a point for the 3-3 draw. Lincoln seem in the ascendency whereas HTFC quite the opposite!

No Mate they were awful for the last half of last season with JR as assitant.

[Perton Pitman]

Having had chance to reflect on the debacle - it is clear that we are playing without any planning, fore-thought and tactics.

I don't know who the kid was who came on in the second half, but I and those standing with me thought it was unfair on the kid when we had the more experienced Blair available to us.

PS seems more intent on retaining 'yes men' than working with more 'difficult' characters who are more use to us.

I have been very disappointed to see Knoxy and Macca leave whilst others, who shouldn't frankly be wearing the shirt are retained. I also would have thought that we would have waited until we were out of the cup before clearing the decks as there are relatively large sums involved for winning games in the FA Cup.

I accept that we have 2 or 3 very important players missing through injury, but we have gambled with our squad as we have signed some players who weren't even eligibile for today - this no doubt led to appearence of kids on the bench for one of the more important games of the season.

THe next couple of games are very important - we can not afford to lose on Monday as we will all be looking over our shoulders should we do so. No doubt we will have another large contingent of fans at Noose Lane next week and the players and management owe it to us that they have the bottle to overcome teams who will throw everything at us with little subtlety.

The term 'flat track bullies' is one that springs to mind with our side - everything is rosy when the sun is out and we are playing at home against submissive teams. But put us up against sides prepared to scrap and battle and it is a totally different story.

[Nemesis3]

Well this is my first post on here although I have watched the Pitmen for the last 2 years.
Today I witnessed men vrs boys
Two players Pedro and Heath are 'luxuries'that this division can ill afford-dont get me wrong they are NOT 90 minute players and BOTH their workrate is pityful,thus making the other 9 over work!
Hednesford lack ideas when it comes to free kicks and corners and unless this is addressed quickly they will struggle to score.

Calling for the managers head is slightly pre mature because remember it is the players on the pitch who must take a little blame.

**I dont know who that 'sub'who came on up front was but he is utterly useless and lacks a football brain:eek:

[abacus]

Some valid points Perton.I especially agree about Knox and Macpherson.With the unsavoury outburst from the manager (and remember there were a lot of youngsters there in the crowd) it does make me more concerned about how this manager will turn it around as I thought man management skills would include self control.Having a pre-season to bring in Knox Macpherson and Forsdick who scored over 60 to 65 goals last time out we are starting all over again.How many goals will these players conjure up.Obviously a public apology is required to deal with the incident.But I also now need to see as a long standing supporter exactly how this season will be rescued and the next two games will give me some indication of that.

[Bridgtown Buck]

Obviously the manager should not have responded like that to the supporter, and should make a public apology. Looking in from the outside, however, don't forget that this is the same manager who you were all praising after the Frickley game on the opening day, saying what wonderful football he had got the team playing. It seems that for whatever reason several of his signings haven't worked out, Knox being a prime example, and there clearly are major problems at Keys Park but don't forget that you were good enough to go away to a Conference North outfit and win last week! Did your injury situation yesterday play a big part in things?

It would seem though that time may be running out for PS and his outburst won't help. Defeat at Willenhall next week might be the last straw....

[Dobba]

How many of those players from the Frickley game are still here though BB?

[Perton Pitman]

...and Alfreton were dreadful

[Elder Van Van Looper]

And judging by the league position of Frickley, then so are they. That opening day victory was clearly out of context now and we can't judge anything from that.

[Andy]

Here we go again.Macpherson Knox and Forsdyk were not doing it for the pitmen.When we tried playing fancy football against Kendal we got stuffed.We have to learn to compete first and play football later.Heath and Pedro are talented players but I don`t feel you can play both in the same team.I feel for the manager as he can`t win.Just as he gets a good team together and goes five games without losing he loses half the players through injury...yes it does make a difference to any team look at Chelsea!!

It was obvious that Rushall would provide us with our toughest game of the season.Brindley and the ex Hednesford lads would have wanted to win this more than any other game as they had always been proud to wear the Hednesford shirt .The current pitmen team are still learning each others name.
We ourselves have raised our game in the past to win massive cupties why should we not assume others will do the same.

Finally I have supported PS through good and bad this season but sorry Phil whatever the provocation swearing at your own supporters is not on.The club have to act,after all it was PS who transfer listed Macpherson for a lack of self discipline only two weeks ago.

[MikeM]

Macpherson and Knox certainly weren't doing it. Forsdick alas was doing it very well - hence the fact that a bigger club snapped him up. People criticising Pedro weren't looking carefully - some of the balls he threaded through to Ross were amazing on that awful surface and he was bending some good centres in, including the one that their bloke nearly put in his own net and would have been a tap-in for the Hednesford lad behind him if he hadn't (Wardy I think). Yes, when a player tries to do something intelligent and the poor state of the pitch interferes, it looks silly. But I'm old enough to remember George Best looking rubbish on a mud-heap at the Hawthorns, so don't expect flair players to turn it on week in, week out. this needs to be part of the manager's tactical planning. If he can prepare himself so well for an interview, perhaps a bit of planning for a match wouldn't go amiss.

[Unibond Fan]

Interesting that you state both MacPherson and Knox weren't doing it and yet now they are both thriving, Knox is building up his goals tally at Alfreton and MacPherson scored 2 in 2 matches with the UPL leaders Witton. Time to look once more for fault rather than scapegoats!

[abacus]

Knox not doing it? Er he has joined higher league team and scored two in first two games and is still our joint top scorer;Macpherson not doing it he has joined a team bound for promotion and er has scored two for them in first two also.Forsdick not doing it has also joined a team in league above and scored. These players not doing it here but can elsewhere proves what point I wonder????????????? A trio of players who will score in any team and precisely why they were brought in !

[abacus]

Unibond Fan I'm slow at typing and didn't mean to duplicate the points as I was unaware of yours but entirely agree. We need answers to how we replace these players who scored over 60 goals last season.Dovey possibly will score a few Adam when back and possibly Styche. The latter two are a way off with their injuries of course.It's a pity we missed out on a possible further run and money which would have helped considerably in the budget.

[The Beer Hunter]

If you ignore the bit between 3pm and 4.45pm, some of us had quite a good day out yesterday.
Starting in Wetherspoons in Cannock for a swift half of Hobsons Mild (GBBF Beer of the Year) and Beowulf Dictator (brewed at Chasewater) before catching the 12.30 train to Walsall (we missed the 11.30 one :doh:).
We then met up with the others in our party (who had managed to catch the earlier train) at the Victoria (pint of Acorn Blonde) before moving on to the Manor Arms where we enjoyed Jennings 'Worlds Biggest Liar'. Some 105 minutes later we returned to the Manor for more of the same before catching the bus back into Walsall and enjoying a pint of Deuchers IPA (Rebus's favourite) in the Fountain.
Four of us then moved on to the Arbor Lights (a bit posh) where we had Black Sheep Bitter before ending the night at the Royal Exchange in Bloxwich, watching England beat the cheese eating surrender monkeys in the Rugby with a couple of pints of Smiles 'rucking good ale' and another beer which I can't remember the name of... it had been quite a long day...
If only I could forget how Hednesford got on so easily!

[abacus]

I wouldn't remember we even had a team let alone the outcome of one match after a day like that.

[Andy Pipkin]

If you ignore the bit between 3pm and 4.45pm, some of us had quite a good day out yesterday.
Starting in Wetherspoons in Cannock for a swift half of Hobsons Mild (GBBF Beer of the Year) and Beowulf Dictator (brewed at Chasewater) before catching the 12.30 train to Walsall (we missed the 11.30 one :doh:).
We then met up with the others in our party (who had managed to catch the earlier train) at the Victoria (pint of Acorn Blonde) before moving on to the Manor Arms where we enjoyed Jennings 'Worlds Biggest Liar'. Some 105 minutes later we returned to the Manor for more of the same before catching the bus back into Walsall and enjoying a pint of Deuchers IPA (Rebus's favourite) in the Fountain.
Four of us then moved on to the Arbor Lights (a bit posh) where we had Black Sheep Bitter before ending the night at the Royal Exchange in Bloxwich, watching England beat the cheese eating surrender monkeys in the Rugby with a couple of pints of Smiles 'rucking good ale' and another beer which I can't remember the name of... it had been quite a long day...
If only I could forget how Hednesford got on so easily!

It sounds like you had a excellent day,