Cheltenham Town v Walsall

[ctfc-fan]

That last minute goal could be massive come the end of the season and I think we would be bottom again without it with both Newport and Crawley picking up unexpected wins. We certainly rode our luck at times in the 2nd half but equally we played some very nice football and there was not a noticeable difference between the two teams over the full ninety minutes despite the league positions.

Despite our great form the bookies are still convinced we are going down as we remain 5/4 for the drop. Harrogate are 10/3 and Crawley 3/1, Accrington 9/2 then Shrewsbury at 6/1 and Tranmere & Barrow at 20/1.

We will finish mid table. Next window and next summer Cotts with the support of MG will tweak. Promotion challenge next season.

I hope you are right but also wary we run before we walk. They say the bookies rarely get it wrong and they are pretty convinced Newport and ourselves are going down.

The bookies are mugs.

[Warwickshire Robin]

Good performance, great result!

We just look like we have a plan now and the players look like they know what it is! Stevenson outstanding, loving his addition, hope we can extend his contract ASAP.

Just wish Archer and Thomas would switchover every now and again. Our goal came from a right footer going down the outside and pulling it back across goal. Archer and Thomas playing like they are always look to cut inside and so the striker gets no decent service. But that's a small gripe, really chuffed with the way things are looking up!

Absolutely agree re the wingers. Having inverted wingers is infuriating at times as so many times today we were desperate for them to be hugging the touchline, AJB especially had nobody there to knock it to as Thomas had drifted way inside. Still, I'm sure the lads are still only on page 1, phase 1 of SC's guidebook.

You cannot have wingers hugging the touchline in a 4-3-3 formation though especially with no target man to cross for.

I'm not on about wingers hugging the touchline, just having wingers that occasionally look to take on the fullback on the outside, get to the byeline and pull the ball back to the penalty spot/edge of the 6 yd box to give our striker/attacking midfielders chance of a shot on goal, just as Bickerstaff did for our goal today.

[ctfc-fan]

Absolutely agree re the wingers. Having inverted wingers is infuriating at times as so many times today we were desperate for them to be hugging the touchline, AJB especially had nobody there to knock it to as Thomas had drifted way inside. Still, I'm sure the lads are still only on page 1, phase 1 of SC's guidebook.

You cannot have wingers hugging the touchline in a 4-3-3 formation though especially with no target man to cross for.

I'm not on about wingers hugging the touchline, just having wingers that occasionally look to take on the fullback on the outside, get to the byeline and pull the ball back to the penalty spot/edge of the 6 yd box to give our striker/attacking midfielders chance of a shot on goal, just as Bickerstaff did for our goal today.

That Bickerstaff run deserved the goal. Megged the first player on the byline and then their other player looked like he just gave up and let Bicks run past him for the pass.

[art vandalay]

Just seen the highlights. What a superb run by Bickerstaff. Most players would have thrown themselves to the ground out by the touchline but he makes the goal by continuing at pace into the box and you can see their defender is reluctant to commit.

[CS85]

Agree,still chasing balls down and winning it after 90 plus mins of running himself into the ground,a great effort.

[Shade]

Absolutely agree re the wingers. Having inverted wingers is infuriating at times as so many times today we were desperate for them to be hugging the touchline, AJB especially had nobody there to knock it to as Thomas had drifted way inside. Still, I'm sure the lads are still only on page 1, phase 1 of SC's guidebook.

You cannot have wingers hugging the touchline in a 4-3-3 formation though especially with no target man to cross for.

I'm not on about wingers hugging the touchline, just having wingers that occasionally look to take on the fullback on the outside, get to the byeline and pull the ball back to the penalty spot/edge of the 6 yd box to give our striker/attacking midfielders chance of a shot on goal, just as Bickerstaff did for our goal today.

I am
The goal came from Bickerstaff winning the ball right out on the touchline. I'm not talking about players being camped out there, and Thomas does come very wide fairly often, but not as often as Archer. BUt several times, AJB had the ball in the right back position and Thomas was walking around in the inside right channel, when a little burst of energy would have seen an easy ball forward for AJB and a potential one-on-one opportunity for JT. Not sure whether it's game reading, instructions, tiredness, etc, but every now and then I do think he could maybe work a little harder - maybe that's what stopped clubs coming in for him for £250k. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh as he is a forward player. But if Archer and Thomas occasionally switched, yes, there would have been plenty of opportunities for Archer to get to the byline and cross.