Where did it all go wrong?

Or what was the factor that deprived us of promotion?

Was it all as simple as a rush of blood to the head when young Aaron Bentley got himself red carded against Oxford?

Up to that point we were cruising to a probable win even though we were only 1-0 ahead but from there on in Oxford gained heart, came back into a game that they were nowhere in and eventually won it 1-2.

We then had to go into a tricky away game at Newport which we lost 2-0.

Thereafter saw a run of results which saw all confidence gone from the team, a challenge for the title transform into a desperate chase for a play-off spot.

All of which is horrily unfair on young Bentley. If only he hadn't dived in like he did...

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Or what was the factor that deprived us of promotion?

Was it all as simple as a rush of blood to the head when young Aaron Bentley got himself red carded against Oxford?

Up to that point we were cruising to a probable win even though we were only 1-0 ahead but from there on in Oxford gained heart, came back into a game that they were nowhere in and eventually won it 1-2.

We then had to go into a tricky away game at Newport which we lost 2-0.

Thereafter saw a run of results which saw all confidence gone from the team, a challenge for the title transform into a desperate chase for a play-off spot.

All of which is horrily unfair on young Bentley. If only he hadn't dived in like he did...

Why ask questions when you've got all the answers? Always.

Les Miserable wrote:

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Or what was the factor that deprived us of promotion?

Was it all as simple as a rush of blood to the head when young Aaron Bentley got himself red carded against Oxford?

Up to that point we were cruising to a probable win even though we were only 1-0 ahead but from there on in Oxford gained heart, came back into a game that they were nowhere in and eventually won it 1-2.

We then had to go into a tricky away game at Newport which we lost 2-0.

Thereafter saw a run of results which saw all confidence gone from the team, a challenge for the title transform into a desperate chase for a play-off spot.

All of which is horrily unfair on young Bentley. If only he hadn't dived in like he did...

Why ask questions when you've got all the answers?  Always.

so we should blame Bentley for not going up. Right lets hang him so he swings from the chandelier as sia says.

Not at all.

In Bentley's defence the ball was bobbling around equidistant between 3 or 4 players. Somebody had to go for it and Bentley made the decision to do so whilst others dithered so credit to him for being positive.

Equally the collapse that followed showed a lack of application, as did their reluctance to make the challenge Bentley did. The 10 men should have had enough about them to hang on to what they had and they did not.

Looking deeper perhaps those responsible for the thinness of the squad that forced Bentley into the team need to be held to account too. And it wasn't just Bentley - at around that time we couldn't even field a full hand of substitutes so the squad was well and truly threadbare and Bentley's dismissal came about as a result of that rather than causing it.

Lack of a Plan B. When we went ahead we were pretty convincing. When we conceded the first goal we were hopeless. The teams who go up are not the ones who play brilliantly all season, but the ones who regularly find a way to nick a point or a win when they're a goal down.

I can't be bothered to check this but how many points did we win in the last 10 minutes in Luggy's title winning season. That always seems to be the barometer of the best TEAM.

Was it Gary Neville who said Man Utd never lost they just ran out of time. They always believed they would score the next goal.

In the hope that this is the last navel gazing thread on this subject, the answer is perfectly simple.

We weren't good enough over the course of the season.

We can but hope PP, I verily doubt it though.

Dick Trickle wrote:

I can't be bothered to check this but how many points did we win in the last 10 minutes in Luggy's title winning season. That always seems to be the barometer of the best TEAM.

Was it Gary Neville who said Man Utd never lost they just ran out of time. They always believed they would score the next goal.

On MotD a week or two back Danny Murphy (?) said that so many goals get scored at the end of games not because one team is fitter than another, because they are all pretty much the same, but because the better teams work their opponents harder and make them chase more. Teams are often able to chase for 80 minutes or so but in the last 10 minutes the reward/punishment for all that extra running comes to the fore so teams concede at the end of a game not because they are unfit but because they just aren't as good as their opponents.

The opposite to Sturrock's winners was Williamson's losers. How many times did they blow it with 5 minutes to go?

Funnily enough the only late goals I remember under Williamson were those two injury time goals against Gillingham.

The novelty of being in the CCC wore off very quickly in my memory. Too many thrashings.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

On MotD a week or two back Danny Murphy (?) said that so many goals get scored at the end of games not because one team is fitter than another, because they are all pretty much the same, but because the better teams work their opponents harder and make them chase more. Teams are often able to chase for 80 minutes or so but in the last 10 minutes the reward/punishment for all that extra running comes to the fore so teams concede at the end of a game not because they are unfit but because they just aren't as good as their opponents.

On the other hand...

Many years ago Aldershot played the 'Army' team and only narrowly beat them 3-2. Aldershot credited the Army team with a much superior fitness that "evened things up and kept them in the game".

from an outside point of view

Where did it all go wrong?

id say when Wycombe walked through your side and Paul Hayes scored, is it true you have never won from a losing position under Sherry?

Don't think so.

We beat Barnet 2-1 after being 1 down about 3 years ago.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Don't think so.

We beat Barnet 2-1 after being 1 down about 3 years ago.

Just the once then in 3 yrs?

I said yes!