.

I didn’t hear any voices of dissatisfaction with Gandhi and I’m saddened to hear that. We may not always agree with team selection, tactics, substitutions etc but we must accept that he knows things that we don’t and he wants to win every game just like we do. 

I probably wouldn’t have said this if we hadn’t won but what an incredible match yesterday
Wayne Hallcro jokingly said to me after the game “We like to make it interesting for you”
I can’t wait to hear the after match thoughts of Martin Carruthers. 

I was trying to compare this seasons run-in with our last promotion winning season. That season it was just between us and Walsall Wood and although it went to the final Saturday and was decided on goal difference, this season seems much more intense and nail biting.
Maybe it’s because any one of four teams could win it
Maybe it’s because the other teams are hitting peak form
Maybe it’s because there are no easy matches 

I agree that our next match against Cambridge City could decide our fate. A defeat would most likely put us in the playoffs. A win would be a massive boost to confidence. We need to take as many Ilkeston supporters as possible as it really does spur on the team.  

To everyone who went to the Yaxley game : How can you not want to go the Cambridge match?  



 

Last edited by Matchman (27/3/2022 8:14 PM)

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No one mentioned Joe Maguire who was not in the squad for the Yaxley match.
Was he injured ?
Was he at the match?

One has too feel sorry for Ross Durrant. In my opinion and lots of other supporters, he didn't deserve to lose his place. 

 

Last edited by Matchman (28/3/2022 2:21 PM)

To be fair Saul is a very competent keeper but has Ilkeston's lack of form recently got anything to do with Ross? Ross has had a great season and must be one of the favourites for Supporters Player of the Year. There have been games we would have lost had it not been for Ross. Maybe the management see something we don't and maybe Ross is just temporarily side lined. I hope he stays and as much as I like Saul Deeney I hope Ross gets his place back. Most opposition club officials rate Ross as one of the best keepers in the league.
I presume Joe Maguire was like Billy Bennett carrying a knock on Saturday as he was not on the bench. Its difficult but we have to trust Martin and his staff to do what they think is best for Ilkeston Town Football Club and at this moment that is to get promotion preferably as champions. I could not cope with the stress of possibly facing Stamford, Halesowen or Chasetoen in the play offs.

i was one of the fans voicing an opinion from sat game and i got a response back David. I was soo frustrated at school boy bad passing , where i mean 6yard basic passing . Too many over hit passing but the worse was the passing which was behind the player not in front .  Plus how many offsides were there , way too many for me . Give them their dues the players kept chipping away and got the goal to which everyone went mental which their celebrations . Not good for the old ticker though.  
cant get this sat , gutted about that . Worried about the pitch as it is at Histon , loveley ground with all four sides covered ( i did have someone say they didnt like the ground )  but the  pitch isnt brilliant, very bobbly.    

Alex

wrote:

I was one of the fans as well.

That was worse than the coleshill game.

We look like a pre season team which has just been put together.

All of a sudden we are playing Hollywood balls. 49 to 50 yard passes to zac to run onto.

Anyway we are still top

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The drop in form started six matches ago at Histon when we drew 0-0. We then bounced back with a cracking 4-1 win against Carlton We then dropped two points in a 0-0 at Spalding. This was followed by the poor performance and defeat at Chasetown. We then beat Coleshill 3-2 and Yaxley 1-0.

These six matches followed the loss of Adam Chapman which is no coincidence.The performance at Histon was affected by Joe Maguire’s sending off. After the decent performance against Carlton we dropped another two points at Spalding on an awful gluepot pitch. Then came the big one at Chasetown when we just didn’t turn up. In my opinion that was by far our worst performance, far worse than the next two against Coleshill and Yaxley.

We played well enough in the first hour against Coleshill but in the final 30 minutes, for some unknown reason, we finished up hanging on. Personally I don’t think we played badly against Yaxley. We weren’t at our best but we absolutely dominated the game. When you dominate a game but cannot score frustration sets in but we have to give some credit to Yaxley who defended really well and their keeper who had an excellent game. 

The introduction of new players has to affect performances. After the shocker at Chasetown, Dave brought in Dan Bradley and Jack Thomas. Before that we had Montel Gibson and Charlie Jemson coming in. New players take time to settle in and Trowell  Nicky questioned whether the new players had improved the team.  Well so far they haven’t but as they settle in I think performances will improve.
Another thing we have missed is a regular supply of goals from Zak Goodson.  He’s only scored one since his brace at Corby on 5th Feb. 
In my opinion we need one dominant performance to bring confidence back. Against Cambridge would be ideal. 
I'm not sure what our best team is just now, there are so many options and that may be the problem. 
Anyway, as Alex concludes, we're still top. And we should be good enough to stay there. If we can win at Cambridge, we're nearly there and if Carlton can do us a favour when they play Chasetown that would really take the pressure off.

Even if we don't clinch the title, it's still been a brilliant season and we are sure of a second chance of promotion in the playoffs. If that happens we really need to secure second place in the final league table to ensure maximum home advantage and to avoid Stamford.

Belper lost at Shepshed last night but should still take the final playoff place. If we were to finish second then Belper  would almost certainly be our first opponents in the playoffs. Definitely the least difficult option. 






 

Last edited by Matchman (30/3/2022 6:51 AM)

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𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇 𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 You can now watch back the key moments from Saturday’s 1-0 home win over @yaxleyfc

Click here to watch    https://youtu.be/wX6wBG4rYJY




 

Northern Premier League Midland Division The Title Chase

Ilkeston Town                                      Pl W D L   F  A  Gd Pts Pos Pts/g   PossPts    
                                                             28 20 5 3  79 30 49  65  1st      2.32     95
26.02.22 Carlton Town h 4-1              29 21 5 3  83 31 52  68  1st      2.34     95
05.03.22 Spalding United a 0-0         30 21 6 3  83 31 52  69  1st      2.30     93
12.03.22 Chasetown a 0-1                 31 21 6 4  83 32  51 69  1st      2.23     90    
19.03.22 Coleshill Town h 3-2           32 22 6 4  86 34  52 72  1st      2.25     90         
26.03.22 Yaxley h 1-0                        33 23 6 4  87 34  53 75 1st      2.37     90         
02.04.22 Cambridge City a             
09.04.22 Daventry Town h             
16.04.22 Bedworth United a             
18.04.22 Shepshed Dynamo h             
23.04.22 Wisbech Town a   

Chasetown                                         Pl W D L  F  A  Gd  Pts  Pos  Pts/g  PossPts    
                                                            28 19 6 3 65 29 36   63    3rd    2.25      93
26.02.22 Soham Town R a 2-1          29 20 6 3 67 30 37   66    3rd    2.28      93
05.03.22 Stamford h 0-4                    30 20 6 4 67 34 33   66    3rd    2.20      90             
12.03.22 Ilkeston Town h 1-0            31 21 6 4 68 34 34   69    3rd    2.23      90             
19.03.22 Halesowen Town a 2-0       32 22 6 4 70 34 36   72    2nd   2.25      90            
26.03.22 Cambridge City h 3-0          33 23 6 4 73 34 39   75    2nd    2.27     90            
02.04.22 Carlton Town a             
09.04.22 Sutton Coldfield T h             
16.04.22 Wisbech Town a             
18.04.22 Sporting Khalsa h             
23.04.22 Spalding United a    

Halesowen Town                                Pl W  D  L F  A  Gd  Pts  Pos  Pts/gPossPts    
                                                             28 20 4  4 62 26 36   64   2nd   2.29     94
26.02.22 Loughborough D h 4-1        29 21 4  4 66 27 39   67   2nd   2.31    94
05.03.22 Carlton Town a 3-3               30 21 5  4 69 30 40   68   2nd   2.27    92             
12.03.22 Corby Town a 2-2                 31 21 6  4 71 32 41   69   2nd   2.23    90
19.03.22 Chasetown h 0-2                  32 21 6  4 71 34 39   69    3rd   2.16    87   
26.03.22 Soham Town R a 6-1           33 22 6  4 77 35 44   72    3rd    2.18    87   
02.04.22 Histon h             
09.04.22 Bedworth United h             
16.04.22 Belper Town a             
18.04.22 Sutton Coldfield T h             
23.04.22 Daventry Town a                             

Stamford                                             Pl  W  D  L  F   A  Gd  Pts  Pos   Pts/g  PossPts    
                                                             28 17  5   6 66 33  33   56     5th     2.00     86
26.02.22 Cambridge City h 2-2          29 17  6   6 68 35  33   57     5th     1.97     84
05.03.22 Chasetown a  4-0                30 18  7   6 72 35  37   60     4th     2.00     84
12.03.22 Bedworth United a 3-0        31 19  7  6  75 35 40   63     4th      2.03     84
19.03.22 Spalding United h 1-0         32  20  7  6  76 35 41  66      4th     2.06     84   
26.03.22 Sutton Coldfield T h 6-0      33  21 7 6  82 35 47   69      4th     2.09     84
02.04.22 Daventry Town a             
09.04.22 Loughborough D a             
16.04.22 Coleshill Town h             
18.04.22 Yaxley a             
23.04.22 Carlton Town h                             

Belper Town                                        Pl  W  D  L  F   A  Gd  Pts  Pos   Pts/g   PossPts    
                                                             29 19  2   8 59 38  21   59   4th      2.03     86
26.02.22 Spalding United h 1-2         30 19  2  9 60 40  20   59   4th      1.97     83
12.03.22 Cambridge City a  1-1         31 19  3  9 61 41  20   60   5th      1.94     81
19.03.22 Daventry Town h  1-0          32 20  3  9 63 42  21   63   5th      1.97     81           
26.03.22 Shepshed Dyn a   A-A         32 20  3 9 63 42  21   63   5th       1.97    81
29.03.22 Shepshed Dyn a   
02.04.22 Wisbech Town h             
09.04.22 Carlton Town a             
16.04.22 Halesowen Town h             
18.04.22 Loughborough D a             
23.04.22 Corby Town h