Coalville Updates

[Wheels]

Re High gate and poor performance it seems that during my years of watching Halesowen it has always seemed we've got a nice little run together and gradually attracted more people but then when we get a large crowd through the turnstile we always seem to lose and the attendance drops off again. I'm quite sure this probably isn't what happens and it's just my imagination but it seems to have happened an awful lot over the years. But at least it shows that the support is there.

[swipey]

Excellent support tonight and what looked like a strong team were outclassed by a very good Coalville team, regardless of their budget.
I respect JH, Tricky & Kev and appreciate that the players worked all day and then played in horrendous conditions but so did the Coalville players who were outstanding and beat us in every position on the pitch.
I'm not taking "a bad day at the office" as it's clear that there are teams much better than us in the league.
I don't care how many clean sheets he has, Sergeant was a complete dick with his antics and he simply doesn't impress anyone with his diving about and the penalty he gave away still leaves me fuming.
I don't care about the stats or the stalwart fans who say he's better in the long run but Sergeant was an absolute prick tonight to the point where I'm in two minds whether to come down Saturday because I'll know he'll be in the first XI again.
He is LOSING US GAMES and when this is acknowledged I'll start coming down again.
Oh, just one fan but when I bring my cousin and sister down for the first time and am embarrassed by our keeper and we're spending £30 each the club is losing money.
I can only trust JH's judgement and at the very least have a word with our clown of a keeper.

[RobYeltz]

Firstly, congratulations to Coalville who I thought were by the best side I've seen at The Grove this season in the league. Everyone one of their players looked comfortable on the ball and dare I say a yard sharper than our lads in almost every area of the pitch. They also seemed to have less trouble with the slippery, sodden pitch. It almost seemed as if some of our lads were wearing those black primary school PE pumps such was their inability to stand up at times.

I won't mention individual players on here in a negative sense but putting it bluntly I thought we were carrying three players tonight. You can maybe get away with that against some sides, but not one as well organised as Coalville. I also thought we desperately missed the experience of Macca and Asa in particular.

Whilst Coalville deservedly had the half time lead I thought we looked much better at the start of the second half and that series of corners proved to be our best spell of pressure without us actually scoring. Sod's law that the next time they go up the other end they score again from the spot. Both penalties weren't contested too much by our lads by the referee who seemed to be on commission for blowing for everything. At 0-2 it was imperative that we scored quickly but in truth we never really tested their keeper. Their third came from a corner in which the delivery was much better than any set piece we had put into the box.

No criticism of the players from me who I thought gave their all once again, sometimes you just have to give the opposition credit.

Let's not be too dispondant nor be too critical of individuals, if players at this level didn't make mistakes they wouldn't be playing at this level. One player in particular who seems to have become the team scapegoat was out on the pitch long after everyone had gone contemplating his performance, and then in the bar afterwards looking as miserable as sin. Results that don't go as planned certainly hurt this bunch of players, let's be a little more vocal in encouraging them whilst they're wearing our shirt.

See you all Saturday, hopefully it will be another great crowd!

[swipey]

Love your posts AVFC but if you're on about Sergeant feeling sorry for himself after the match I have no sympathy for him, strutting around his box like some good player he thinks he is.
Yes, the first goal was coming but his penalty giveaway was simply Sunday league stuff.
I actually hung around the bar after in hope of seeing him but common sense prevailed and I left.
Surprised JH tolerates egotistical attitudes like he has, no matter how long he has admired them.

Let's not also forget the 330 mile round trip the Yeltz faithful made to Scarborough and he let us down.

Come on, it's bloody obvious.

[RobYeltz]

Love your posts AVFC but if you're on about Sergeant feeling sorry for himself after the match I have no sympathy for him, strutting around his box like some good player he thinks he is.
Yes, the first goal was coming but his penalty giveaway was simply Sunday league stuff.
I actually hung around the bar after in hope of seeing him but common sense prevailed and I left.
Surprised JH tolerates egotistical attitudes like he has, no matter how long he has admired them.

Let's not also forget the 330 mile round trip the Yeltz faithful made to Scarborough and he let us down.

Come on, it's bloody obvious.

You are fully entitled to your opinion, just as I am. I can see where you are coming from and acknowledge that Sargeant hasn't done as well as we all had hoped. Having read his body language after the game I'm sure he knows himself his performances aren't good enough. I fail to see how slating the lad will help, all it will do is destroy his confidence further. You spoke of the penalty he gave away but in the build up to that penalty there was another player ball watching (for the umpteenth time) that allowed the play to develop as such to lead to the penalty.

As for travelling to Scarborough, I wasn't there so can't comment, I was at Brigg, Loughborough, Romulus and Sutton recently though and I honestly think that if Sargeant put in a Gordon Banks like performance some would still want Paul Evans in goal. If it doesn't work out for him at Halesowen then so be it, but we should have more faith in the manager and give him the respect he deserves in choosing (and then backing) the players he wants to pick.

[swipey]

Good points AVFC, noted, and thank you.
A common sense approach to what seems like a personal vendetta but if I had the choice between promotion and backing a hooray-Henry of a player who costs us points it's a no-brainer.
I'd also like to state that even though Evo was a cracking bloke we must respect JH's decision to let him go but that doesn't make sergeant a better keeper, you saw the same match tonight I did.
Ironically, I texted guesty last week stating I hope we don't do a Coalville after last season.

[RobYeltz]

Ultimately we (players, management, supporters) all want the same thing don't we? If we are united in our stance that will make us stronger, by being divided it helps the opposition. I'm confident enough in the management teams ability to dish out a bollocking if required, just as much as they are to put an arm around a player too if needed. John Hill knows the characters of his players better than any of us.

[swipey]

I don't know how pointing out individual errors can help out the opposition. There's always been some sort of forum etiquette where it's taboo to not name and shame yet we're quick to do it on the terraces.
I got vilified for slating Craig Milligan last season and frankly I don't regret it because he deserved it even though we all kissed and made up after.
If we've got a shit player, I'll voice it because nobody wants Halesowen to do well more than me and I'm not spending my hard-earned for one attention whore to spoil it all.

[RaidenYeltz]

First and foremost I want to give absolute credit to Coalville. They thoroughly deserved all three points last night. I often hear comments at the Grove or see posts on here criticising the 'poor' opposition after a good Yeltz win, which frustrates me. I always insist on giving all the credit for our wins to the players, John Hill and staff. I suppose the same applies when the roles are reversed.

Coalville were very good. A yard quicker to every ball, winning all second balls, managed the conditions far better and generally out played us, right from the first minute up until the last. They were very organsied and seldom offered us any space or time on the ball when Halesowen ventured forward, which has to be said was a rarity.

In attack they were direct and attacked in numbers. Supporting players helped out forwards quickly. We had no answer for their forward play and lacked ideas of how to break them down.

The best compliment I can offer Coalville is; they did to us what we've done to so many visiting teams at the Grove. They made us look very ordinary indeed. It was a very unlike Halesowen Town performance. Certainly the worst I've seen us play this season. In the end I don't think 3-0 was flattering to Coalville, they were more than worthy of such a scoreline.

There is one thing you can never level at this current set of players and that is their hunger, desire and fight they show for the Yeltz. However, last night Coalville wanted the win much more. We were out fought in every area of the pitch.

I do wonder whether the mini two week break has worked against us. I just feel after the Loughborough win there was a real momentum about the Yeltz. This seems to have halted now with the loss of the lead twice on Saturday and last nights defeat. Maybe the Chasetown postponement will prove to be our worse and most damaging result of the season...

On to our team. As mentioned above last night was a very poor performance. It won't need me or the Halesowen fans to tell the players or staff that. You can tell that last night hurt the players a great deal and I am sure they will bounce back Saturday. I'm putting it down to a bad day at the office.

Everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. It was one of those games, it happens to everyone no matter what level you're playing at. Unfortunately it had to happen in such a big game for us, which makes it all that bit more frustrating.

All the talk will ultimately be about Seargent and I won't shy away from my opinions on him on here. I do not rate him what-so-ever. I feel he is too rash in his decisions, flaps at everything and is totally unconvincing in all he does.

This was epitomised by the decision to rush off his line and absolutely take out their player to gift Coalville a penalty. I am not so naive enough to pretend the penalty was all on him, I accept his team mates must take a portion of the blame in gifting the opposition the freedom of the penalty area. But even considering that I just feel it was a massive error by Seargent. Their bloke was going no where, possibly running the ball out of play. He should have stayed on his line. But we all know this is not his style.

My opinion on Seargent is not based on some love in over Paul Evans, who in all honesty is no better. My opinion is based off a number of errors over the course of the season and just the general feeling I get whenever the ball goes towards him during the game. I have no confidence in him.

Briggs second equalising goal last Saturday, for example. The shot wasn't brilliantly hit by their player, yet no intention of saving the shot was offered from Seargent. No dive and no desire to get down and attempt to save the incoming shot. For me that is the same as a defender backing out of a 50/50. Unacceptable. Especially when every outfield player gives their all for the Halesowen shirt.

Whatever John Hill saw at Worcester we are not seeing it here. I know John is a long term admirer of Seargent but I hope this is not clouding his view of him. However, I fear it is. I admit and accept that being a GK is a thankless task and agree with the above, if they didn't make mistakes they wouldn't be at this level. But Seargent isn't good enough.

I know the above is pretty damning but I'm just being honest here.

I would give the gloves to Pearson on Saturday. In fact going back a few weeks to Romulus away, Pearson was brilliant and I recall giving him my man of the match. He pulled off a number of quality saves and commanded his area very well. I feel that he was harshly dropped by John Hill for the following game against Sutton. He did nothing wrong at all to justify being dropped.

Right, now I've got my thoughts on Seargent out the way, I don't believe he was the main culprit for the result last night. The Coalville goal was long coming. The ball that led to the penalty caused us no end of problems all night. They exposed Brendon Kelly and it was that avenue which earned them the penalty. I think some are using Seargent as a scapegoat for last nights result when in reality very few players covered them selves in glory.

Bredon Kelly is not a left back and it showed, he was murdered all night to be honest. Yes, I know Meachem is not considered match fit and may have only been there just to help out with numbers but I did find it confusing playing a centre back at left back when there is a very capable left back on the bench?

I do feel for Brendon, I rate him as a centre back.

Gueyes and Griffiths flattered to deceive. They looked promising running down the wing but where was the final ball? It's as if they wanted to beat 5 men before doing anything meaningful. Frustrating.

Tonks, like all the lads, worked hard. But for all his effort lacked anything. Maybe trying too hard to make up for his sending off last Saturday? Gina, likewise, but I put that down to lack of match time. I agree with AVFC, we missed McKenzie. We just lacked that calmness on the ball. A little bit of composure, leadership and organisation he brings.

As for Haseley and Christie, I think they had a thankless task of feeding off scraps. Nothing wrong with their work rate. I think Ben had one decent chance at 2-0 about mid way through the second half. Maybe an inform 100% Ben would have buried it? Other than this supply to the front men was non-existent.

One of the only players who can come out of last night with some form of glory was Joe Hull, who won almost everything in the air and made a number of key blocks and interceptions. He was my man of the match, if such a thing can be awarded on the basis of last nights performance?

The whole team just didn't turn up.

Oh well, I've had my long winded moan and say on the game. We need to dust our selves down. Learn from what went wrong and start again Saturday.

We are still top of the league and nothing is decided in January.

Up the Yeltz.

[KingEdsYeltz]

Well I thought we were in it up until the first penalty, they were on top but I felt if we had got to half time at 0-0 we had a strong chance in the second half especially with the weather clearing a little. However clearly sargeant had other ideas rushing off is line with no hope of getting the ball. Second half we just tried to force it resulting in lots of over hit passes and general poor play, must win on Saturday