Invicta vs Hornchurch - Tuesday 30/1/24

[finbarr_in_z]

A big difference in league positions but their form is dipping and ours is rising.

A real test but if we get something out of this that's a great leap forward.

COYS!

[finbarr_in_z]

Visitors have a new manager BTW.

[finbarr_in_z]

Folkestone Invicta

1Joe Coleman
2Kane Penn
3Jason Fregene
12Toby Byron
5Callum Davies
4Ian Gayle
7Dean Rance
8Seidou Sanogo
9Thomas Derry
10David Smith
11Edward Allsopp


6Jake Goodman
14Jordan Ababio
15Ade Cole
16Scott Heard
18Louis Collins

[finbarr_in_z]

Pah
0-1

35 minutes

[finbarr_in_z]

HT losing 0-1

[finbarr_in_z]

Attendance: 560

Cold Tuesday night I suppose

[finbarr_in_z]

Toby Byron straight red for a tackle. We're down to 10 men for at least 19 minutes

[finbarr_in_z]

0-2 on 79 minutes

[finbarr_in_z]

FT lost 0-2

All the results of teams below us today went our way, but can't rely on that.

[stumpy]

There were still some positive things to take from the game. We started well and had them on the back foot for the first 10 minutes. After that they started to get the upper hand. The goal was bad from our point of view; left one of them completely unmarked at the far post, he couldn't miss. Second half we went for it and put them under pressure, but we didn't make any clear chances Then came the sending off - be interesting to see the video, because it looked very harsh. After that we were always likely to concede again, and so it came to pass.

I don't think it's the end of the world; on paper we were always going to lose this game and might well lose again at Billericay on Saturday. It's the eight games after that that really matter - all of them against teams around us in the table. Win four of those and I reckon we will be safe.

[folkestoneclaret]

Agree with Stumpy, plenty to be encouraged about but we are still too static in defending crosses. Hornchurch shaded the 1st half and also hit the crossbar. We were on top in the 2nd until the sending off and that ended it as a contest. I had a good view and didn’t even see it as a foul. Yes it was a lunge with studs up but his foot was on the ground and he won the ball. Shameful writhing on the ground by the Hornchurch player who was up and running as soon as he had won the red card. Referee should at least have consulted his liner who was close by. Spoiled the game.

Invicta created a lot of openings especially down the right flank but crossing was awful. Speaks for itself that their keeper never had a proper save to make all game.

Lynn

[gazza41]

Battled well again tonight, decision making in the final third could have been better, one slip first half gave them the lead . Second half on the front foot looking threatening. The red card comes along which in my eyes the ball was there to be one and was . As with most of the Hornchurch players he went down screaming got the decision and back up and played on straight away.
You can see why the players are frightened to put in tackles nowadays.
Still that’s them out of the way now . Maybe an appeal against the red will happen.

[mackem73]

Mystified that we continually kicked long from the keeper first half. Midfield must have had neck ache watching the ball sail over their heads. Much better second half played through the midfield and were in the front foot until the harsh sending off. Very encouraging overall

[gerryhan]

We can't fault our lads for the effort they put in tonight, but even without our two former heroes, Greenie and Ade Youseff { both injured } in their side, Hornchurch had good players all over the park.

The sending-off finished the game as a serious contest, but, encouragingly, the lads kept having a go, right to the end.

As I see it, to play a 3-5-2 system requires you to have two out-and-out wingbacks, which we do not have. So, while it may be effective defensively it leaves us a bit narrow when we go forward.

I felt we lacked width in our attacks, which will not be helped by the suspension of Toby Byron following his sending-off.

We needed that early goal which our early pressure nearly gave us, to have a genuine chance of a result.

The encouraging aspect about the side at the moment is the real effort being put in by the players, which should be enough to at least make us safe from relegation in the forthcoming weeks.

We had another inconsistent ref tonight, allowing pushing on some occasions and not on others.

It's the inconsistency which is so frustrating!

So, on to Billericay on Saturday where we have played well in the past, COYS!

[gerryhan]

We could revert to a traditional 4-4-2 for now and bring back Ababbio on the right-hand side of that midfield. That gives you cover behind Jordan, and exploits his pace and finishing power down the flank. Also gives you a settled back four with fullbacks. Our goals conceded have mostly come from chances created down our flanks.

We are improving as a team overall. That`s how I would tweak it anyway !

[JimRuoff]

We played some good football last night, and held our own (6 weeks ago I feel it would’ve been an embarrassing scoreline). Thankfully there has been some significant progress in the way the team play, and I feel it is only going to keep getting better.
Chris Lynch has really got the team warming up well and for the first time in a long time everyone looks and sounds engaged during the warm ups (a lot less ar5ing about during the warm up). They actually look like a team!

The goal we conceded 2 thirds into the first half was very similar to the goal conceded early on Saturday, another free header on the back post, none of the defence took ownership of the error and instead blamed each other. Mid field looked strong and moved the ball about well with simple passing, we just struggled in the final third to test the keeper. Both Davies and Gayle had a relatively good game and are always reliable and aren’t afraid of making big challenges but didn’t seem to play out from the back very much and opted for the old Invicta style of lumping the ball up the field without any direction for everyone, from what I’ve seen this isn’t the type of football that Drury is trying to get the team to play as it doesn’t work very well. Until the sending off (not a sending off) we were still very in the game and could see us picking up at least a point. However, even with the sending off we didn't give up and kept pushing. The 2-0 scoreline didn't reflect how we played at all.

The substitutions were far too late in my opinion (and I’m sure others feel the same) to make any real impact in the game.

With all that said, I think we’ll start picking up some more points to safety and if we can keep this team for next season I don’t see why we cant be pushing for the playoffs.

[finbarr_in_z]

Reaction

[finbarr_in_z]

Goals:

[finbarr_in_z]

Report (from their side)
www.hornchurchfc.com/2024/01/report-folkestone-invicta-0-2-hornchurch/

[finbarr_in_z]

Looks like the away fans assessment similar to our feedback above: www.fansfocus.com/topic/209092-9-points-clear/

"Posted Tuesday at 23:30
Delighted with the performance. Folkestone were competitive but maybe lacked a bit of guile in the last 3rd - a few balls going across our goalmouth but thankfully no-one to knock them in. We however looked good, knocking the ball really well on occasions , using the width of the pitch to probe for gaps. As others have mentioned, Sean was quality, my mom but everyone played well, Joe had a really good game apart from nearly dismantling their crossbar with a shot. Folkestone came out all guns blazing in the second half but were never going to sustain that and quite frankly an awful lunge from some distance out resulted in a red card. Pleased with the result, great way for Colin and Lewwis to sign off , not sure the hand signal from Colin is what we were expecting when we sang out for him to give us a wave 😂 Really pleased, the Chatham result is a bonus and it looked like Enfield pushed Billericay as well. Proud of the guys tonight with the injury list we have , well done to all COYU "

[gerryhan]

The video of their goals perfectly illustrates what I put in my earlier post. Wide open down our flanks for both goals. We do not have wingbacks of the experience required at this level currently at the club.

We did have them for a while in the past but had to change when they either left or were injured, e.g Jordan Wright, Greenie and Alfie Paxman .

A solid back four is resilient, particularly with one defensive midfielder in front, and at least one out-and-out wide player, Abbabio for instance. I love wingbacks if you can get them but they are rare. As you see from the video we are leaking goals from playing it without the right players.

So for now I would go 4-4-2 in a sort of diamond shape.

[gerryhan]

Midfield

[finbarr_in_z]

Loadsaphotos www.oysterbayphotography.co.uk/f423557668

[stumpy]

Feb 1, 2024 16:13:34 GMT gerryhan said:

The video of their goals perfectly illustrates what I put in my earlier post. Wide open down our flanks for both goals.

We don't pick up the men that they cross to either - as the Carshalton video shows as well as this: no wonder we concede so many goals.

[finbarr_in_z]

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