Away Match Day Thread 16/03/24 - L1: Port Vale v OUFC

[Northstandboy]

POST MATCH PACK:

Post Match Discussion

Interview - Des Buckingham

Interview - Darren Moore

Interview - Gavin Massey

Match Highlights

Match Report

Ref Watch

Fans View

 

[tonto]

Love a good sign! Credit to all of you,you deserved it.

 

[RgYellows]

We are going to win.

I know loads about football.

Enjoyed my first visit to Burslem far more than I expected. Good pub pre-match, fairly interesting walk to the ground, friendly stewards and a home team that didn’t offer any quality at all.

I’ll try and keep it mostly positive:

• Glad Des showed a bit of steel in making some changes.
• We also didn’t sit back too much at 1-0.
• Whilst we were very deserved winners, we could have played with still more intensity. It wasn’t quite a snarling, aggressive performance from a team wounded by the 5-0, Des himself spoke about not wanting an “overreaction”. When you add that Port Vale were truly awful, this was a 7 rather than a 10.
• Dale was my MotM but credit to Henry. He showed a bit of class and craft in linking opportunities for the other three attackers. Made more happen than Bodin or RR in less minutes, for my money, and we played more like a team I wanted to watch with him on.
• I watched RR closely because he was high on my s**t list after Tuesday. Some classy bits of skill in his own half under pressure, got fouled a couple of times, took some risks with his forward passing (which we need), did some running but his off-the-ball could still improve. Pass marks for me.
• Need to play the ball out of defence through the middle a bit more and be willing to carry it forwards centrally to keep our play from getting too predictable.
• Voice gone today - not used to making a noise at football in my old age.

I had a thoroughly miserable time watching us look so poor on Sky, so I’m taking the @Scotchegg positive bus to the end of the season.

 

[dickwalton1964]

It looks certain that we will have to beat Lincoln to be in with a chance.

There will be too many twists and turns to say that with any certainty. It looks that way right now but everyone up there will drop unexpected points and probably pick up some points where least expected. The timing of the game now though undoubtedly makes it a six pointer as there isn’t many games left after that to recover from.

 

[stokeu]

Vale fans have taken it badly. From their forum: "Ainsworth is the guy we need".

Manay wanted him before Moore was appointed, he is a club “legend” amd my mate who I met in The Bulls Head pre game was devastated when he wasn’t appointed. We’ve talked for weeks about how bad they are but it was hard to believe exactly how poor they were despite this. Only Ripley and one other are considered L1 standard. We could and should have scored more and 2 other mates messaged in the game that we should have had a oenalty.

Decent day out, few beers before, no real drama on the pitch to worry about, no silly chavs looking to kick off after the game and home by 5:20. Shame they are going down, and that Joke City will avoid the drop……

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Watched game from overseas. Vale shockingly bad, our wingers the cream of the crop and Henry (!), best midfielder. Des made good changes to the starting 11. Though Goodwin needs to play as part of a pair, he’s not mobile enough.

Some of the chances we missed were painful.Harris

We’re back in the game.. the remaining fixtures seem manageable. Stevenage and Peterborough will be key.

However,we are painfully lacking in pace at the back and any winger with any quality will have a field day against Long. Thank goodness Dale is there to offer support.

 

[Symp59]

Yes my gardener goes to every home game and as been telling Me how poor the Vale are. And my word he was right. I liked it when the commutator said Vale made us look like a premier league team. We are a team too good for bottom half but not good enough against the top teams ,even yesterday we seem to get into little ruts in games where it all happens to slow not pressing enough almost like we believe we are too good and don't need to do the dirty work. But we won Both wingers were good we are back in it. A 12 day break 3 games that we need 7 points from and then 3 matches to see where we are all at home so it will just be great to be in with a chance of the top 6 with a few games to go.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Manay wanted him before Moore was appointed, he is a club “legend” amd my mate who I met in The Bulls Head pre game was devastated when he wasn’t appointed. We’ve talked for weeks about how bad they are but it was hard to believe exactly how poor they were despite this. Only Ripley and one other are considered L1 standard. We could and should have scored more and 2 other mates messaged in the game that we should have had a oenalty.

Decent day out, few beers before, no real drama on the pitch to worry about, no silly chavs looking to kick off after the game and home by 5:20. Shame they are going down, and that Joke City will avoid the drop……

Despite some of the local hostelries, Burslem looks to be a severely deprived and run down town - one of six that makes up the Potteries.

I was shocked to see so many crumbling and derelict old buildings dominating much of the landscape. So many takeaways and slot machines and not much else

Really sad to see. The locals are no doubt decent, hard working folk who are now seeing the Vale fall on hard times. I hope they stay up as they’re a proper club.

Vale play Burton next in a relegation dogfight.

 

[oufc1991]

It was good to put in a solid performance and get the 3 points also nice to see us keep a clean sheet ( when was the last time that happened) .I was pleased to see Des drop some players who weren't deserving of a place in the team . We've got 3 games coming up now where we should be looking for at least 7 points ( 9 would be wonderful) especially with the 3 games after that against teams around us

I'm starting to wonder if RR is a kind of Adel taarabt kind of player I remember watching a video of Neil Warnock telling the players if you pass to him in our half you will be fined lol ... He's a luxury that isn't very luxurious unfortunately

 

[Benox]

A bit late, but my thoughts on yesterday.

- Port Vale were one of the worst league 1 teams I’ve seen. Couldn’t have asked for a better opponent after a 5-0 defeat.
- We didn’t sit back at 1-0 and got the 2nd, which was good to see. When it got to 2-0 we did however seem to want to kill the game, but still created a lot of chances to score more, so fair enough I guess.
- Bennett should keep that LB slot until Leigh’s form reappears. He’s reliable and assured, as well as making a great block 2nd half to keep the score 2-0. Arguably never deserved to lose his place.
- We play better with one holding midfield player & 2 players in front with more freedom & attacking intent. Was the same when we did this against Northampton, but our defending let us down that day.
- Dale and Murphy look like a dangerous combination. Murphy is probably the only real positive of the Des era to be honest. However, despite their good build up play and beating a man the end result when we cross it rarely comes to much. It looks good, but I question how effective it is.
- Long seems to have at least one error in him each game. He’s also not defending 1 on 1 very well. Between him & Steven’s I’m not sure either can be particularly relied on. Although they are very different players that should suit different opponents, it seems like it doesn’t really matter which one you play.
- We need to be much more clinical. Harris, Brannagan & Murphy should have made much more of their 2nd half opportunities.

Overall we did the job, but I’m not sure we answered too many doubts or displayed that something had clicked and we’ve turned a corner. Probably because Vale were just so horrifically bad that even a 5-0 win might not have answered all those questions. 2-0 certainly didn’t for me. The run in we have should give us every opportunity to secure that playoff spot with winnable games and 2 home games against our direct rivals for that 6th spot. But I think it needed more than a 2-0 win against a team that looked doomed to convince me we’ll do it.

 

[Northernyellow]

Can't make too much of that. Better performance, but Vale were very poor. We looked better without McGuane. I've never been a huge fan. Great technique, but seems to endlessly re-cycle ball with 'safe' passes. Baffled by Matete's absence. Came with a decent reputation. Still don't think we'll make the playoffs, but if we play positively for the rest of the season I'll be happy enough. I'm still not sure what Buckingham's 'style' is supposed to be, but our next three games are very winnable, and if he picks up 6+ points from those, he'll be safe until the Autumn.

 

[Nadi-]

Largely 352 with an attacking midfielder (Moylan) joining the attack. They have spent very little but are exceptionally coached.

Won 8 drawn 2 of the last ten. 3 goals against, 26 for. Absolute madness.

Im certain Des has a plan however.

Will be good to see and compare Rodrigues and Moylan.
Both similar but more Moylan has a better end product
Edit
has more pace

 

[Followtheox1]

Can't make too much of that. Better performance, but Vale were very poor. We looked better without McGuane. I've never been a huge fan. Great technique, but seems to endlessly re-cycle ball with 'safe' passes. Baffled by Matete's absence. Came with a decent reputation. Still don't think we'll make the playoffs, but if we play positively for the rest of the season I'll be happy enough. I'm still not sure what Buckingham's 'style' is supposed to be, but our next three games are very winnable, and if he picks up 6+ points from those, he'll be safe until the Autumn.

Matete has been well off the boil since arriving so I'm not surprised at all with his absence. While there was great excitement on here when we signed him, the truth is that he was out for so long with a serious injury that he was never going to come back flying straight away.

 

[Lost Marbles]

Had a great time yesterday. Met a friend at Kidsgrove and walked to the ground via some huge abandoned mine workings. Very interesting and skirting round the edges of Stoke was surprisingly scenic. Because we approached the ground from the other direction, we completely missed Burslem itself and the Bulls Head, but went in a run down but very friendly pub called The Kings Head instead. It was next to a butty shop that did fantastic hot beef baps, which the landlady not only let us eat in the pub, but provided some blue roll and collected our rubbish as well.

I loved the area outside the new away end, where you could have a beer and a smoke with a view over playing fields.

As for the game, it wasn't very exciting, but you can't help but be happy with 3 points away from home, even against such limited opposition. It shows the state we're in that I felt quite nervy at 2-0 every time Vale went on the attack. Similar to when Carlisle made it 3-1.

 

[Swaby39]

It looks certain that we will have to beat Lincoln to be in with a chance.

The way to view it now is good prep for a play off because on current forum they’re as good or better than anything we’ll face should we get there. It’s our first cup final of the season really.

Top 6 is not the goal, promotion is. Top 6 is just the means. So we need to get ourselves in to a position between now and then where we don’t fear anybody. In a bizarre way the Bolton game may help with that psychology as we’ve seen and felt the worst that can happen.

Every game is a must win. Des has 2 weeks now to build on that shape yesterday which yielded a promising performance. Don’t deviate from it, just stick with it now and be better at it.

 

[West Oxon U’s]

Looks a stick-on penalty against Josh Murphy from the highlights

 

[holdsteady]

Largely 352 with an attacking midfielder (Moylan) joining the attack. They have spent very little but are exceptionally coached.

Won 8 drawn 2 of the last ten. 3 goals against, 26 for. Absolute madness.

Im certain Des has a plan however.

Poor Lincoln, flying away and then Kip, the bad luck virus starts backing them, that’s the run over with then.

 

[MJB]

Yes my gardener goes to every home game and as been telling Me how poor the Vale are

Monday, by the rose bushes:

Symp59: “So, er, how, how, do you think Vale will, uh, do for the rest of the season then?”

Symp59’s Gardner: “I wouldn’t know about that, sir.”

 

[chuckbert]

View attachment 18387

Monday, by the rose bushes:

Symp59: “So, er, how, how, do you think Vale will, uh, do for the rest of the season then?”

Symp59’s Gardner: “I wouldn’t know about that, sir.”

“I’ll just go and fix the drainage in the lower field at Stratfield brake.”

 

[Steve Gilbert]

Had a great time yesterday. Met a friend at Kidsgrove and walked to the ground via some huge abandoned mine workings. Very interesting and skirting round the edges of Stoke was surprisingly scenic. Because we approached the ground from the other direction, we completely missed Burslem itself and the Bulls Head, but went in a run down but very friendly pub called The Kings Head instead. It was next to a butty shop that did fantastic hot beef baps, which the landlady not only let us eat in the pub, but provided some blue roll and collected our rubbish as well.

I loved the area outside the new away end, where you could have a beer and a smoke with a view over playing fields.

As for the game, it wasn't very exciting, but you can't help but be happy with 3 points away from home, even against such limited opposition. It shows the state we're in that I felt quite nervy at 2-0 every time Vale went on the attack. Similar to when Carlisle made it 3-1.

Just to highlight the difference in where Vale currently are and how we have progressed, those playing fields is what Vale’s 1st team train on. Compare that to what our players get to use!

 

[MJB]

“I’ll just go and fix the drainage in the lower field at Stratfield brake.”

“Tomato Des Aubergine You’re Potato Looking Turnip Tired.”