BCFCGav

Ok, maybe not the team we wanted to see. But it’s still a good XI imo. We need to win tonight, keep us in touch with the playoffs after no league wins in 4… we’re due one. You reds.

Twine is injured. Maybe what we deserve for doing a silly, expensive loan with no option! 
 

Backwell leaves the MD20 as Williams comes back in after suspension.

Injured:

Atkinson

Naismith

Benarous

Twine

Sykes

Loan wages well spent! Lansdown’s having an absolute stinker this season. 

Anyone heard any more regarding Twine's fitness?

I was against the finances behind the deal and still am, but given he's here we need him tomorrow night.

1 minute ago, Curr Avon said:

After we beat Forest and County beat Man Utd!

Dream scenario!

11 minutes ago, elhombrecito said:

Nah, Maidstone at home please.

Maidstone away a ground we may not visit again for decades and (surely?!?!) a win! 
 

If we get that draw and lose to Forest in the replay I’ll be gutted.

Rare lapse from me yesterday, apologies! Twine and Williams (cup-tied and suspended) were replaced in the MD20 by Backwell and Nelson. No new injuries on the night.

I’m honestly a bit gutted we didn’t take any of our chances. A replay at their place will be bloody tricky! But we did WHU second time around so all not lost.

Rumours Twine has a knock. Hope they’re wrong.

Injured:

Atkinson

Naismith

Benarous

Sykes

Great scenes. I’d be dreaming of Maidstone in R5 if we stuck one of our chances away last night!

We need to fight like animals to keep the 5 defenders that started today for next season, it could be the rock we build promotion on. I can see dangerous interest in Pring and Dickie, but wouldn’t be shocked to see any of them linked with moves. All well under contract right?!

Just now, maxjak said:

One day we will get it right?  We either seem to have and excellent defence and an ordinary forward line...or we score goals , but the defenders are not keeping clean sheets?   As i say..........One day we will get it right?

Haha - verbatim what I’ve been saying to my pops post game. Story of our time back in the Championship!

11 minutes ago, 38MC said:

I feel for Tommy. He’s just not suited to the way we play unfortunately. He’ll still contribute because he has that touch of class, but if he’s going to be a lone striker with quote ‘wing-hugging’ forwards either side, I understand why he might want to move on. 

And I have no rebuttal to that. It’s true we need to do more. I think it comes down to us having a really good striker, who doesn’t quite fit in with our team unfortunately. 

Agreed, I rate Tommy highly. I think he has ‘it’ and will do really well. I’d love him to stay. 
 

It’s more Bell, Mehmeti, Knight for me. They get into some great areas that should lead to a really high quality chance, and it just never quite drops. I rate all three, they just need to find that last bit far more frequently.

4 minutes ago, 38MC said:

3 of those games against Premier League opposition? Is that not worth bearing in mind - and 2 goals were against premier league opposition.

It absolutely is, but the flip side of that is we’ve scored 1 in 4 against Championship opposition!

9 minutes ago, cidercity1987 said:

It isn't the forwards especially, it's no bloody creativity and a hesitancy to get the ball into the box 

I disagree, we’re getting the ball into good areas where the forwards need to make things happen. The forwards need to create for themselves and each other.

I thought we were very very good tonight. Played good football, looked sharp and outplayed a premier league team.

But my god… forwards, stand up. As another poster says, our defence is amazing. Feels like we’re wasting it!

Hope he signs off with a title. Like the bloke and brought lots of entertainment to the sport/PL.

One of the best things about supporting City of late is seeing who will be the next to ‘burst on to the scene’ a la Scott, Semenyo, Kelly, Conway, Bell, Pring. 
 

Next up… Stokes, Murphy, Bak, Knight-Lebel, Nelson, J James. Who knows how high their ceilings are. It is exciting. 

1 hour ago, Shotsfan23 said:

@BCFCGav :laugh:, no offence taken but no, I don’t have a more glamorous second team to support. Top flight football is kinda fun and I do watch games when they’re available for free, but it’s just so unrelatable as a fan now that it doesn’t mean anything beyond being just another form of light entertainment.

It'll be interesting to see how things pan out once all the biggest clubs have buggered off to join a super league in a few years The benefit of supporting a small and distinctly un-sexy club like Aldershot is that the fans still matter and the bond still exists (for good and bad!). Presumably that’s the case with BCFC too.

Not sure how the loan back to us of Josh will work out for the remainder of the season, we’ve been laughably bad over the last month and I imagine it’ll be hard for him to have 100% commitment for fear of injury now he knows that he’ll be somewhere else by the summer.

Good answer mate. Proper support that, love to see it. I see Shots are just outside the play-offs, here’s hoping you creep in. 

1 hour ago, Shotsfan23 said:

Aldershot fan here. Very sad that Josh has gone but happy for him, though if the fee really is £250k then that sounds a lot lower than we were expecting (like half).

He’s a great talent, makes and scores goals, strong and athletic for his age and I really think he has a good shot at playing at a really high level. It’s always tricky trying to keep things in perspective and remember that he’s only been playing in the national league, but he has the technical ability, work rate and physicality to play at the top, IMO. I can’t remember the last time a teenager made such an impact.

Good luck for the season.

Hello mate, thanks for the input. Hope he bangs in a few more for you before the season is out.

Random question: do you have a second team/prem team? My mate posited people who support 'smaller' teams (no disrespect intended) ALWAYS have a second team. I disagreed, saying every club has a core fan base of 'one club and one club only' type supporters. So you can help settle a debate for me if you don't mind!

Important run of games and as said, if we can still be in with a sniff of PO's after them it should be a good end to the season. 

Lose to Forest then pick up 3 or fewer points in those 4 games and it's sadly time to look forward to the Euros and next season. 

As we stand today, we're still just about fighting on two fronts. Let's keep the dreaming alive as long as possible and go from there.

Welcome Stokesy!

Seems to be in the same bracket as Adam Murphy and Alex Scott a few years back as signed for the academy but may well see a first team subs bench very soon (well, next season as he's going back to Shots for 6 months). Like the look of this one.

I like the 3-4-3 (early days). The removal of wingers and use of split 10’s means rather than being very light on the right wing, we’re suddenly well stocked (as those split 10’s can be Twine, Knight, Mehmeti, Sykes, even TGH or Conway in a bind). We’ve looked a little more dangerous going forward, some good chances against WHU and 6 SoT against Watford (albeit set-piece driven - granted). 
 

Depth in the WB positions is my main concern - but I think Sykes for the right and Roberts for the left is good cover. Roberts looked very good high up the pitch in the League Cup (small sample size).

On Anis - I too think he’ll start against Forest where Twine was. We’ve got a small squad but with players back to fitness there are some who will miss out. Hopefully he smashes it against Forest and gives LM no choice but to drop Knight/Twine against Cov. I hope that’s Anis’ mindset. You’ve got the shirt, play to keep it.

They wrote off another season because their egos couldn’t handle Nigel. And given we’ve been treading water for 9 seasons now, we shouldn’t be writing off seasons. We’ve been patient enough. 
 

I like Liam and think he’ll do well. I thought his record was better than the thread title so I’m a bit surprised by that, but the three wins on the spin and West Ham games show he has something. We’re defensively resolute more often than not and if he can find a way to get the goals flowing, we’ll be in a really good place.

But it’s bloody annoying we’re in a transition again because some billionaires don’t like a straight talker.

Good enough point and performance in isolation, I think the 3-4-3 is making us a little more dangerous without sacrificing our defensive solidity. Would have been another clean sheet if not for some handy defending. Play-offs drifting away a wee bit, need a win soon.

No new knocks (which I’m going to start abbreviating to NNK, because I’m a trailblazer).

Injured:

Atkinson

Naismith

Benarous

Sykes

Liked the look of him. Unlucky not to add an assist to his goal with one of those set-pieces. I just can’t see a world of where Burnley and us agree a fee in the summer, especially if they’re down. So a loan player I won’t let myself fall in love with. 

Quick one today as I was running late. Knight is well enough after illness to start rather than take a place on the bench. One change to the MD20 - Nelson out, Twine in (and starts ). COYR ️

Injured:

Atkinson

Naismith

Benarous

Sykes