Marine

Thought a good performance and welcome return to winning league ways last night. Probably should have been more than one goal to the good at the break but despite lots of possession and attacking intent we were thankful for Marine's defensive error for the opener. Marine had their best spell after the break and perhaps slightly fortunate Josh Powell only got a booking for the misjudged challenge which seemed to fire Marine up for a ten minute spell but the penalty came at the crucial time to nip their momentum and came courtesy of a great surging drive from the back by Sam Hibbert. Beautiful team work created the third goal and Sam Bailey only denied a deserved treble by the crossbar. Sam B inevitably got the match award but thought a solid all-round showing, Simon Wills and Melle Meulensteen closed down tirelessly in midfield and Melle unlucky with a tremendous effort off the crossbar. Defence looked solid and Josh P with his usual timely saves when called upon.

Hopefully the three presumably enforced substitutions were only minor knocks and nothing longer term.

Deserved win although needed Hibbert's mammoth run and collapse in penalty area to ensure points. Meuleensteen has a shot on him

Decent performance but against a poor side. We missed chances again & could've been made to pay for that by a better tean.
Think this shows where we are in this division. Better than the worst but not as good as the best. Mid table isn't a bad place for our first season in this division

My first game since Witton. While not reaching the heights of that game , it was a decent enough performance. I agree that Scholesy ran Sam Bailey close for M o M award. From where I was behind the goal, I felt that Sam Hibbert didn't have much option about collapsing for the penalty: it seemed a fairly effective trip by the defender. Good to see Billy back on the pitch, but a bit worrying to see three players depart with injuries. It was also good to meet up again with Martin Fearon, Sully, and referee Craig Buxton, who was in the middle when I made my debut in semi-pro football in 2010 as a one flag wonder . It is one of the real plus signs of non-League that returning players such as Martin and Sully are welcomed as old friends, not jeered as Judases, as happens among the brainless followers of the Poxyprem and the like.

Thought it was a good performance on the whole, considering we nearly broke the bar twice as well. Josh Powell given MOTM in the Guardian and can see why but Scholesy takes it for me and is running away with POTS in my eyes. Like a man on a mission this season. Marine, over the years, have had some great sides but this is the worst I've seen but when I said this to one of their supporters, he said 'You should have seen us last season' Just hope the walking {or limping} wounded are not too bad. Still say we need a striker tho. Onwards and upwards COYDB.