Accrington v Argyle - the Richard Blight Match thread

Freathy wrote:

Shit, I'll even go to this one.

Am I dreaming?

If not, I can't believe this hasn't attracted more attention

I would, if I were there too........Mind you, I'd have been there for the home games throughout this Aviva supported debacle.
It's for life.

The glory hunters are all showing their colours now

I'm surprised you haven't claimed responsibility for yesterday Peggy having pointed out that the match thread last time neglected to put the name Richard Blight in the title. Back in this week and look what happens.

There are matches on Tuesday one of which is Northampton v Macclesfield which will be the main one for us as we are not playing. A draw? A win for one or the other? Which is best? Lets hope it is a Harry Hill moment and they do indeed fight.

I see that odious little creepy Crawley man Evans was at it again today versus Stoke and trying to help the Ref send somebody off. So pleased they lost and I do so hope they fall off the pace for the rest of this season.

Freathy wrote:

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

It is not an absolute must-win for us anymore. It is for D&R though.

Obviously a win is important but we are in control now. It is D&R who are playing catch-up. Not us.

Definately do not agree with that. This is a MUST win for us as much as it is for D&R! We're only 3 ponts ahead of D&R and they have a game in hand, although their goal difference is much worse. And Northampton have two games in hand over us. Anything other than a win would be a total disaster.

I know how close the other teams are to us and how many games in hand they have. The game v D&R will be very important. No doubt about it. Losing it means no more than winning it though. Nothing will be decided by either outcome. It is not a must "win game". We are not automatically doomed should we lose. Not even close to it. A draw, for instance, is in no way, shape or form a "total disaster". Disappointing? Certainly. Lots of other words I'd rather not have to think about too but not a "total disaster".

All of which is irrelevant because I don't think we will lose it. Nor do I think we will be relegated.

It is a must win , at some point we must come out with a positive attitude.It worked at Accrigton , whoever they are , and it can work every time.Time to go out every time an expect to win.

Old Timer wrote:

It is a must win , at some point we must come out with a positive attitude.It worked at Accrigton , whoever they are , and it can work every time.Time to go out every time an expect to win.

I agree that we need to be positive and that all games should be approached with a "must win" mindset but that doesn't make D&R a special game. The D&R game looked like it would be a "must win". Now it isn't. Not beyond what passes as normal anyway.

I guess it depends on how you define a "must win" game. I see it as being like a cup-tie. Fail to win and you are finished. We could lose to D&R and still not be finished. It is not "must win". D&R probably see it as "must win" because a defeat would just about finish them off.

Defeat would probably be the end of us as well.

Old Timer wrote:

Defeat would probably be the end of us as well.

As SFD outlines above it plainly wouldn't be. I don't see any reason to your argument. Few expected us to win at Accrington, we did. Even if we lose to D&R then we're on the same points everyone expected us to be on and in all likelihood will still be out of the bottom 2. How can we possibly be finished?

Now.......having said that its a vital game I give you that as back to back victories, when in order to avoid relegation you simply need to average virtually a point a game in a 46 game season, would give us a tremendous life and 6 points clear of the bottom. When Fletch took over we were 5 points from safety.

The most important game of the season...yes....a must win? No.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

I guess it depends on how you define a "must win" game.

True.

But to a 'winner', they are all must win games.

Only 'losers' pick and choose!

Enjoy Life wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

Defeat would probably be the end of us as well.

As SFD outlines above it plainly wouldn't be. I don't see any reason to your argument. Few expected us to win at Accrington, we did. Even if we lose to D&R then we're on the same points everyone expected us to be on and in all likelihood will still be out of the bottom 2. How can we possibly be finished?

Now.......having said that its a vital game I give you that as back to back victories, when in order to avoid relegation you simply need to average virtually a point a game in a 46 game season, would give us a tremendous life and 6 points clear of the bottom. When Fletch took over we were 5 points from safety.

The most important game of the season...yes....a must win? No.

When Fletch took over we only had boys, a slow and fat left back and Walton shouting at everyone

Tringreen wrote:

Enjoy Life wrote:

Old Timer wrote:

Defeat would probably be the end of us as well.

As SFD outlines above it plainly wouldn't be. I don't see any reason to your argument. Few expected us to win at Accrington, we did. Even if we lose to D&R then we're on the same points everyone expected us to be on and in all likelihood will still be out of the bottom 2. How can we possibly be finished?

Now.......having said that its a vital game I give you that as back to back victories, when in order to avoid relegation you simply need to average virtually a point a game in a 46 game season, would give us a tremendous life and 6 points clear of the bottom. When Fletch took over we were 5 points from safety.

The most important game of the season...yes....a must win? No.

When Fletch took over we only had boys, a slow and fat left back and Walton shouting at everyone

Indeed TG as mentioned on the Peter Reid medal thread it would be unkind to even compare the records of Peter Reid and Carl Fletcher given the two different situations they had to deal with. Fletcher has received more support in 2-3 months than Reid received in a 14 months. We'll never know what record Reid would have had post takeover.

If we can't win a relegation six pointer at home to a team who got dicked 5-0 at home in their last match then we're f***ed. If this isn't a must win then at what point do games start becoming must wins?? Games are fast running out.

Absolutely bang on the money Freathy.

I've got to agree with Freathy ( ), we need to win the games against the teams around us in the table. If we don't do that, then it'll be the matches against Swindon, Cheltenham and Rotherham that become 'must wins' and frankly, that's where our problem lies. We've got plenty of games against teams at the wrong end of the table, but also plenty against teams pushing for promotion and the play-offs. We need to finish above two other teams. The only way we'll do that is by putting clear blue water between ourselves and the likes of D&R and Northampton when we get the chance. Relying on beating Swindon away or Cheltenham at home is just asking for trouble.

What Freathy and co. said, our destiny is firmly in our own hands, too much acceptance of piss poor performances won't help, give the fans something to return to HP for, some wins.

Sensiblegreeny wrote:

I'm surprised you haven't claimed responsibility for yesterday Peggy having pointed out that the match thread last time neglected to put the name Richard Blight in the title. Back in this week and look what happens.

I would never claim credit for the power that is Richard Blight!

Iggy wrote:

What Freathy and co. said, our destiny is firmly in our own hands, too much acceptance of piss poor performances won't help, give the fans something to return to HP for, some wins.

It was me who said "we are in control now" not Freathy or Co. In fact Freathy & Co have said nothing of the sort. What they have said is "we are doomed if we lose" which is simply not true. Not yet anyway. It might turn out to be true but right now it isn't.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Freathy wrote:

Next week will be very interesting. An absolute must win for both teams. D&R are truly shite, at least as shit as us but possibly even worse - if that is indeed possible! Fletcher (Deehan) has to go all out to retlentlessly attack without mercy and not defend from the start like against Barnet. Otherwise we'll be looking at an utterly disasterous home draw or a loss. Shit, I'll even go to this one.

It is not an absolute must-win for us anymore. It is for D&R though.

Obviously a win is important but we are in control now. It is D&R who are playing catch-up. Not us.

I am not saying that a win against D&R is not important to us. Obviously it is. I am not saying we shouldn't try to win. Obviously we should. I am not saying that I will accept mediocrity. Obviously I won't. I am not denying that this game is a releqation 6 pointer. Obviously it is. I am not saying that I wouldn't like to see clear blue water between us and the bottom two. Obviously that is the objective we must have and the sooner it is achieved the better. I am not saying that we will beat either Swindon or Cheltenham. Although obviously we might.

We must not panic if we drop points in any game. The teams we are competing against will drop points too when they play their tougher games.

I do not like the "we should expect to win" every game. That is complacent and arrogant and won't get us anywhere. We should be going out there and busting a gut to win but not taking it for granted that we will. Nor should we get too despondent if we don't win. Not yet.

We do not need to beat the teams around us anymore. We just need to avoid defeat against them. All we need to do now is match the results of D&R and Northampton and we will stay up and there is no reason to expect that we won't because our current form is far better than both of them.

Which is back to where I started. We are now in control of what happens to us.

None of which makes the D&R game a "must win".

But coming off a 0-4 away win, a loss at home to the bottom team that has just been tonked 5-0 would be as big a morale disaster as there possibly could be.

I understand what you say Sir Francis, and agree. But make no mistake, this is a must win game, if not for the points.

Those 2 games will count for nothing come 3pm Saturday. We need to start afresh and do it all over again.

What we must not do, as a team, is concede an early goal or get somebody sent off. As supporters we need to encourage and be patient. The team will be feeling good so let's not get on their backs and ruin it.

Those 2 games will count for more and more as the game goes on. They will be dreading defeat and we'll be feeling good and aiming to win. And I expect us to. It's not a disaster if we don't. As long as we don't lose.

What Sir Francis says is factually correct if you want to be pedantic, but as Cerbs says now we have some momentum and D+R have just sank to the foot of the table following a hiding, so maybe the the phrase should be "this is a must win game if we want to pull away from the Daggers and kick them while they're down".

It won't be the end of the world for us if we draw or lose, but it could be the beginning of the end for them if we could whip them by 4 or 5. Sounds dramatic and unlikely but confidence plays a big part in football and ours should be as good as it's been all season and there's will probably be as low as it has been all season. If we revert to our form of most of the season then we go out as slight favourites simply because we're the home team. If we go out with a swagger and belief that we are the team who won 4-0 away on Saturday, and they are the team who lost 5-0 at home, we SHOULD be big favourites to win and need to play like we are far superior.

If that happens we will beat them and open a decent gap over them, and our next two games after Saturday are away to Macclesfield, currently in freefall, and then at home to mid table Gillingham. Both would be winnable for a team full of confidence.

That's why I consider Saturdays game as must win, even if it is mathematically nowhere near must win.

Greenjock wrote:

What Sir Francis says is factually correct if you want to be pedantic, but as Cerbs says now we have some momentum and D+R have just sank to the foot of the table following a hiding, so maybe the the phrase should be "this is a must win game if we want to pull away from the Daggers and kick them while they're down".

It won't be the end of the world for us if we draw or lose, but it could be the beginning of the end for them if we could whip them by 4 or 5. Sounds dramatic and unlikely but confidence plays a big part in football and ours should be as good as it's been all season and there's will probably be as low as it has been all season. If we revert to our form of most of the season then we go out as slight favourites simply because we're the home team. If we go out with a swagger and belief that we are the team who won 4-0 away on Saturday, and they are the team who lost 5-0 at home, we SHOULD be big favourites to win and need to play like we are far superior.

If that happens we will beat them and open a decent gap over them, and our next two games after Saturday are away to Macclesfield, currently in freefall, and then at home to mid table Gillingham. Both would be winnable for a team full of confidence.

That's why I consider Saturdays game as must win, even if it is mathematically nowhere near must win.

This I can completely agree with. No problem.

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welcome back GOB

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Greenjock wrote:

What Sir Francis says is factually correct if you want to be pedantic, but as Cerbs says now we have some momentum and D+R have just sank to the foot of the table following a hiding, so maybe the the phrase should be "this is a must win game if we want to pull away from the Daggers and kick them while they're down".

It won't be the end of the world for us if we draw or lose, but it could be the beginning of the end for them if we could whip them by 4 or 5. Sounds dramatic and unlikely but confidence plays a big part in football and ours should be as good as it's been all season and there's will probably be as low as it has been all season. If we revert to our form of most of the season then we go out as slight favourites simply because we're the home team. If we go out with a swagger and belief that we are the team who won 4-0 away on Saturday, and they are the team who lost 5-0 at home, we SHOULD be big favourites to win and need to play like we are far superior.

If that happens we will beat them and open a decent gap over them, and our next two games after Saturday are away to Macclesfield, currently in freefall, and then at home to mid table Gillingham. Both would be winnable for a team full of confidence.

That's why I consider Saturdays game as must win, even if it is mathematically nowhere near must win.

This I can completely agree with. No problem.

Which was the point I was trying to make.