Line Up On The Carpet

[SUSSEX DAGGER]

Other then a win the next best result . Difficult conditions, had to see the game out after the Ling sending off,

Their nil has to be the most posative thing . Big test Saturday coming up ,let's hope we can get back to winning eays

[ARNU]

Down to ten men very unfairly we gotta be happy with the draw. Ref was terrible and I don't normally dig the ref out. As for the team today in terrible hot conditions can't dig anyone out particularly but pennell didn't have his best game and gave the ball away carelessly a few times, also why the reluctance to hoof it into row z rather than faff about in the box ??? I really want Hawkins to return to form but another game has passed him by today. Maybe we should play him at the back, seems far more effective in our box these days. Lokko my man of the match today. Big shout for Savin Hines today, he took the banter well and it was good to hear daggers singing his name at the end.

[RM1Dagger]

Agree about Lokko, thought he was excellent at the back. People still keen to dig Hawkins out, they expect him to win balls that are two feet behind him. A player like that needs service and he barely got any but he still worked hard to hold the ball up and link play, as well as his customary defensive headers. Clearly Ferrier(still had a decent game) and Hawkins is a different dynamic that didn't come off today but I think a point gained given the circumstances.

[nomis]

Spot on with your summary there Arnu
Really hoping Cheek's injury is short term as Hawkins looks a shadow of the player he once was
Couldn't fault his commitment today but needs a goal badly to get he's confidence back
The referee was shocking especially with the two yellow cards for Ling. The second one issued you could see Ling clearly slipped on that dreadful plastic pitch and at first looked like he'd given him the benefit , but after a couple of Maidstone players moaned he then got his book out. At the end I was glad we took a point and judging on this defensive performance things have improved.Really can't see anyone turning us over at the moment , and if we can keep this unbeaten run going I really feel we have a great chance of gaining automatic promotion this season

[Daggernewbie]

Overall a fair result loved the stick Zavon Hines got and the cheer when he got booked but in the end he still got his round of applause from us at full time.As for the ref well best not say nothing don`t want to get in trouble.

[Dagdale]

Bit of a comedown after Saturday's Spectacular and wasn't a particularly good game to view but most of us agree a draw was about right and on seven still unbeaten and up there and a Cheeky out there would probably have changed the outcome, must say I found Maidstone as a first timer a pretty good place to wander around and their fans pretty hospitable, mind you don't they like wearing the gold and black shirts, all ages. We move on and get ready to take some revenge Saturday style again on Heed, we owe them a big slap.

[stanton101]

To be honest I thought we'd nick a 1-0 win, never an easy place to go and play on that rug of a pitch. We missed cheeky today but in fairness a draw was probably about right, after all we were playing against 12 men if you include the ref!
Onward and upward.

[A S dagger97]

In late response to that should we play on a plastic pitch thread.. NOOOO!!!!!
Well done today though lads. Finally get our clean sheet and hopefully cheek will return soon, we will be in great shape.

[DI Mike Dashwood]

Very much a case of job done I would say. We started brightly I thought but the second half got scrappy and then with the sending off it was a case of just holding on for the point.

I thought the centre halves were excellent, Robinson very impressive and Ferrier showed a lot of strength and mobility up top, especially in the last 15 minutes.

Hawkins did ok I thought, although I would have taken him off rather than Corey at the re-shuffle. Pennell is a liability in my view. Looked shaky again throughout and then his error in injury time to head the ball straight into path of their player 18 yards out was shocking. Luckily it was Stuart Lewis who was the Maidstone player it fell to.

[DaggerJoel11]

Considering a lot went against us yesterday; the pitch, the red card, Cheek's injury, thought it was a very impressive and well-earned point. Could have gone either way until the sending off really, Maidstone were the better team, but we looked quite dangerous on the break although there were some poor throughballs and attempts at controlling them, could be down to the ball bouncing differently on different surfaces maybe?

Maidstone are another really tough team and they had certainly done their homework on us yesterday, especially when dealing with one particular free-kick. They gave us very little time on the ball, pressed very well and doubled up on Ferrier, but other than when Zavon had the ball never really looked like scoring. Hawkins needs a goal desperately, so many times we had the ball in acres of space out wide with Whitely or Ferrier and he was nowhere to be seen in the box so we had to go back with the ball.

Another pathetic refereeing display but hopefully stuff like this will even itself out in the end. On Saturday, a Bromley defender done that three times and was only booked once, yet Ling slips twice, with no intent, and is sent off. The referee was never going to do that but was influenced by the crowd and home players, very weak official. And we could've even nicked it, but the ref pulled it back for the foul when we were through on goal, an absolute joke. Might have to mix it up for Saturday now with maybe three at the back, N'Gala, Robson and Lokko, or somebody like Howell coming in for Ling.

[Mark]

Surely Nunn will just take over. He's played in squad games.

Red card was pathetic from a terrible referee who seemed intent on giving the home side every opportunity to score. Some of the free kicks given against us and stopping us having advantage were beyond belief. One of the most one sided performances I've seen in a while. Hope we slaughter him in the official report.

Agree that Pennell was again woeful. His main problem seems to be his attitude. He won't be rushed and seems to think he has all day to do everything. So casual in his clearances. The one where he won the ball twice and let them back in both times was typical of him. Watch him when we get a throw regardless of the score it takes him an absolute age to get the ball and take it. He needs a rocket up his backside.

[DevonDagger]

Surely Nunn will just take over. He's played in squad games.

With Ling out for a game - he'll almost certainly play next game if available for selection.

Agree with more or less everything said previously. I felt we had some good moments but I don't feel like we ever stamped our authority on the game. I can't really remember a period where we put them under sustained pressure bar 2-3 successive corners.

- Pennell did have a poor game, though ultimately a defender having a poor game and still not conceding must be some kind of positive!
- You can see Corey is well on form, but a bit disappointed with his finishing yesterday, the lovely curler of a shot which was tipped on to the bar was his only effort I recall being on target.
- I was very pleased with Lokko who had a difficult start to life here by most accounts - my man of the match for yesterday. Also thought Matt Robinson was very good.

- Hawkins again showed his value defensively, several decent headers away. However today was the first time I felt he looked a frustrated figure up top. But on several occasions when we were breaking forward with mainly Whitely or Ferrier, Corey in particular had a couple shots flash across the goal - I was hoping to see him in the box ready to pick up those or any rebounds but he seemed to lag behind a bit. He had a reasonable game but I think he has a lot more to come.
I must mention disappointment in some of the grief he got from fans including on a couple occasions for not getting headers when the ball was a couple yards above and/or behind him. I know his future is up in the air at the moment, but I feel the stick was probably more relevant to this than genuinely expecting him to get those crosses. I'm not really sure what he's supposed to do, he's not gone on strike or refused to play and personally I think he looks like a player trying to regain his form rather than not giving us 100%.

What did everyone think about Howells? I thought he did pretty well when he came on too.

- Ref poor, won't go too much into this as it's already been said - but agree that it looked like Ling slipped and their player fell over him - particularly for the first. Linesman had a mare on several occasions changing his mind.

- Wasn't impressed with the pitch. I think they're acceptable for perhaps this level and below - but confident you won't see them in the league anytime soon.

Was glad to see Zav took the banter well, was a good player for us when he could play. He's been posting some nice things about us/to our fans on Twitter too for those who don't have it. A lot of compliments on his game yesterday but I thought much like a couple of our players, skillful and tough to defend, but not really any end product from him.

Might've been disappointed to draw that if we hadn't been reduced to 10 men. We had our chances and finally got the elusive clean sheet. But it was a very enjoyable day out. Not happy about their ticket stubs though :evil: I collect those things and can see this fair ground ticket style thing getting lost quite rapidly!

[Mark]

I'm not a fan of Hawkins really but some of the moans at him for not getting to balls nowhere near him were silly.

He did do well in our box but had no real impact up top. Compare his hold up play with Piggott for example. He didn't really get in good positions and seems to hang around outside the box too much.

[ARNU]

I can't see how a player that hasn't scored since February whilst struggling to get a start is going to be worth a punt for a bigger club. I'm not saying he isn't trying but I got exactly what I expected from him yesterday, a lot of jumping in the air nodding the ball to there defenders and not being in the box when the crosses are raining in. He should play at the back, drop pennell or ngala for him as his defensive qualities are pretty impressive at least. He can hold the ball up pretty well certainly that part of his game is ok. I can't see him scoring if he played for 5 hours right now, has he even had a shot stopped or on target this season? He's no jon nurse lol