Views from the Sieve

Well done Wayne et al. :D

Billy Bingham. What a player.

really enjoyed that game!

bring on plimuff!!

Pretty faultless performance by all of them I thought.Big shout for Medi and Brian Saah all played MOM level performances but Im pleased Femi just nicked it.Wheres that Vindalot ? Just wondered what he thinks of Zavon now,and WB for that matter.

The penalty was right in front of me.......There was some contact but Zav pulled an Oscar performance out of the hat for it I think.This wont help him with other refs once they see the replay which is a shame as he does get chopped on a regular basis.

I've commented previously that Hines sometimes goes down a little easily, but wouldn't say that was the case today, he was clearly caught a few times when going quickly, including for the penalty. The only question over the penalty was which of two players fouled him.

Hines is far from perfect. He was lucky not to get sent off in the first half after a silly foul when he'd been booked. While the first booking was a complete joke, he needs to learn not to get himself in those positions.

I think the ref realised booking Zav for catching the ball was a bit harsh,I'm sure thats why he didn't book him for the foul.

Two things about todays Ref :

He owed us one from our League 1 year when he played on and on and on until Hartlepool scored.

He certainly owed me one as he is a Traffic Cop down this way and once did me £40 fixed penalty for not wearing a seat belt.

Not only in my opinion was the Penalty debatable but the Free kick that led to the second would have had howls of disapproval if it was the other way round.

Anyhow at least today he has dispelled the theory that once a Copper always a Copper once a B...... always a B.......

Another great Team Performance. That early goal like against Rochdale is always a massive help. Still concearned however the amount of free headers given away at dead balls, for a Team that is riding high as them they really should have done better.

The free kick for the second was a pretty clear foul. It was a body check with zero attempt to play the ball.

The only thing that should have resulted in disapproval was that two of their players were then let away with blatant dissent.

SUSSEX DAGGER wrote:Two things about todays Ref :

He owed us one from our League 1 year when he played on and on and on until Hartlepool scored.

He certainly owed me one as he is a Traffic Cop down this way and once did me £40 fixed penalty for not wearing a seat belt.

Not only in my opinion was the Penalty debatable but the Free kick that led to the second would have had howls of disapproval if it was the other way round.

Completely agree with this. Zavon is a top player and I'm chuffed he plays for us. But I've read so much akin to "He dives, but it's fine as he gets clattered so often". Not for me. We'd all be infuriated if a winger for another team dives and wins a key free kick/penalty against us. I'm quite proud that we're well liked throughout the league by other clubs. This doesn't win us any prizes but I enjoy the fact I support a well respected football team. Speaking to a few supporters this season of other clubs, they've been less than impressed with the diving of 1-2 players of us. Just like my opinion of Cheltenham dipped slightly after the way they played to beat us at home, I'd be disappointed if the general view of us from other clubs dipped because of the way several of our players conduct themselves on the pitch. I'm sure most won't agree with this post but that's fine. It's a game of opinions and this is mine.

What a great day, splendid result especially considering Burton were riding higher than us, what I really liked even when we were 2-0 up we still attacked in force as if we just didn't want to settle for the two, that is the big difference from last season, a never die spirit. To be fair I thought Burton really played the ball around well and were very good on building an attack but to our blessing just didn't seem to have a prolific scorer to finish off, although there No.28 Michael Symes looked a handfull. Femi really gave em nightmares down the left and overall the whole team played in together really well, what a perfect weekend to have now and cant wait for Plymouth and just, just imagine a win down there.

I don't necessarily agree with Zav and his willingness to go to ground, but I can see why he does it. The number of fouls that don't get given against him sort of balances out with the number he wins via going to ground a bit more easily. Arguably that doesn't make it right - and for what it's worth I didn't think it was a penalty this afternoon and I'm surprised the referee gave it.

Aside from that I was very impressed with us this afternoon. The four of Zav, Femi, Medy and Bingham were all terrific. When did Medy gain so much pace?! And when did we become a team of dribblers, at least four or five times this afternoon some of our players attempted to go on a run - brilliant to watch. Even Chris Dickson vaguely impressed me, so I'm happy.

NickMurphy wrote:I don't necessarily agree with Zav and his willingness to go to ground, but I can see why he does it. The number of fouls that don't get given against him sort of balances out with the number he wins via going to ground a bit more easily. Arguably that doesn't make it right - and for what it's worth I didn't think it was a penalty this afternoon and I'm surprised the referee gave it.

Aside from that I was very impressed with us this afternoon. The four of Zav, Femi, Medy and Bingham were all terrific. When did Medy gain so much pace?! And when did we become a team of dribblers, at least four or five times this afternoon some of our players attempted to go on a run - brilliant to watch. Even Chris Dickson vaguely impressed me, so I'm happy.

Footballers are being allowed to play Football that's the reason Nick. Medy has always been able to play a bit. From the moment he came on at Yeovil three years ago I always thought he looked the part. He looks even better when he comes inside.

At least three times in the second half we passed it out from the back and created something. Yester year would have seen us hoof it up to halfway only for the thing to come straight back at us.

Make no mistake we have beaten a very good team today and we did that with a fantastic team effort. Thought the back four were very good again when the ball was live ,however as I have already mentioned elsewhere the amount of times Burton found a free man from restarts was my only concern.

Oh and by the way how much has Gavin Hoyte improved. He was always useful but most of us still wanted Abu back there. Now it is a case of if he don't go in Midfield he don't play as there is no way you could even consider dropping Hoyte.

Finally I was absolutely thrilled that Luke Howells got the decisive second. He has been asked to play a slightly different role this year and has been behind the ball a lot more. Today I thought he was one of the unsung heroes as by his standards he has had a very hard month, He showed his worth to us throughout today in my opinion.

Although its fair to say Medi's consistency has in the past been a bit questionable I have always believed and said he is a good player.I don't buy into all this "He's suddenly improved" its more a case of playing in a system suited to him.Think of all the others that probably got away under John Still that couldn't play hoofball.Tomlin springs to mind (Not my favourite ever dagger but it was clear to us hoofy weren't for him).As for Hoyte always been a good right back just unfortunate that Abs was a better one in the same team.That didn't mean he wasn't worthy.

Where are all these people now that wanted us to hoof it rather than pass it about ? Adrian spent hours telling us all how ridiculous it might be if Lewy rolled the ball out to a defender,preferring a throw in at the halfway line to the other team.

ARNU wrote:Think of all the others that probably got away under John Still that couldn't play hoofball.Tomlin springs to mind (Not my favourite ever dagger but it was clear to us hoofy weren't for him).

Funnily enough I was saying the same thing yesterday.

I know its unlikely, but I really hope we can hang on to Zavon.

The whole team played well yesterday and some of the cheeky passes in between the Burton defenders - it was just like watching Brazil. ;)

I didn't bite my nails once during the game which has to be a good sign.

Just echoing most of the other comments that yesterday was an excellent performance but what a bunch of whingers Burton were. When Zavon caught the ball they were straight up off the bench to get a booking, technically correct possibly but not in the spirit of the game at all. And following an innocuous foul they were at it again. I suppose good players attract that but I thought it was poor to try to get fellow professionals off

The penalty was a bit soft but the free kick for the second was quite clear the player ran across Femi to block him off