[Andy]

It's not really going too well for us at the moment. We're playing with no confidence at all and our team looks like a group of players who have never met each other before.

We've won 3 of the last 13. We hadn't won in 6 games before today and even today's win is nothing to shout about. We beat bottom of the league Durham 2-1.



As you can see, Durham have conceded 110 goals in 22 games and we only managed to put 2 past them. Their last 5 results before today were:

Hucknall 7 - 1 Durham
Durham 2 - 4 Halifax
Durham 0 - 7 Buxton
Worksop 4 - 0 Durham
Durham 2 - 3 Frickley
Boston 10 - 0 Durham

2-1 suddenly looks like a crap scoreline when you look at those. A win is a win but I can't see our confidence growing from it.

Play offs still look possible but off the way we're playing, avoiding relegation should be our main priority

[Volrath2002]

Haha Durham, my friend's father is from there .

I don't think with the current situation that the club should be looking to make play off's. As you say they should be trying to consoludate their position in the league for next season and try to finish a bit more in the middle of the table. I mean the club is only a few points off 10th.

What do you see needs improving for next seaon Andy if they club wishes to go for promotion?

[Andy]

Well we definitely need to start playing as a team more and trying to play football. We're severely lacking confidence though so that may come with confidence. We have some decent strikers but they don't score goals. That needs to change. It would be nice to have an out and out goalscorer.

We're playing Nantwich today away from home. Hopefully we'll improve a little. After all, we're playing terribly but we're still unbeaten in 2010. A win today could take us to midtable.

[Volrath2002]

Well mate i hope they can make it then and win good luck!

I can see a quality goalscorer being a very important aspect to a lower league team. If you have one your chances of promotion are much higher as it is that little bit of class that can break defences that often strikers in the lower leagues lack.

Like here in Australia with Robbie Fowler, I know he was not very good in his last showings in England with Cardiff and Blackburn but here in the A-League his touch of class really makes him stand out and gets him on the score sheet. Same too can be said about nother English striker applying his trade in this country, Michael Bridges. Bridges has played for so many clubs in England with his best spells coming at Leeds and Sunderland but it was his introduction into the Newcastle Jets team that really has made the difference from being a team that struggles for wins and goals to a team that is scoring at will in the league and will be challanging for this seasons Championship.

Just one more thing, how is the midfield at FC United?

[Andy]

Our midfield is probably our weakest area. I think we lack a good central midfielder and a good right winger.

But anyway, we got a big win today! We won 6-1 which has got our confidence up a lot.

We've got Kyle Wilson, a striker, back on loan. He scored loads for us last year but was signed by Macclesfield who are a couple of leagues above us. They play a long ball game though so he doesn't fit in which left him on the bench there. He's now come back to us for a month and has played in 3 games. He was brilliant today. Scored 3 goals.

I want to try and avoid thinking about play offs as it's all ifs BUT IF we go on a decent run now, we'll probably find ourselves in 7th or 8th place. We can catch 3 or 4 of the teams above us up on games in hand. Having said that, we'll probably lose our nect 10 or something now! I'm slightly hopeful now though. You never know.

[Volrath2002]

nah don't be so negative, it is a really close league, anything could happen. Great victory there mate good to see your onloan man Wilson score a hat trick, always great for the fans and confidence of the player and team.

[pears12]

man Durham are just a quality side haha.. I feel ashamed that my family from that town look at how bad that team is

[Volrath2002]

man ho can you let in so many goals, i mean it is almost into tripple figures for the difference. Man they can try for a draw, they have to get at least 1 point.

[Andy]

The highlights are on here if anyone wants a nosey: http://www.fc-utd.co.uk/feature.php?feature_id=372

It was very foggy towards the end! We didn't even see the last 2 goals because it was impossible to see when you were there.

[Andy]

Won 2-0 on Saturday. Up to 10th now!

We have a big game against Kendal on Wednesday at home. They're above us in the league and already have a game in hand. Beating them would take us to about 2 points behind. I think we HAVE to win to have a chance of play offs.

[Andy]

Well can you believe it? We lost 2-1 last week at home to............Durham. Their first points of the season. Easily our worst moment to date. We were absolutely awful and our attitude was poor.

A few players were released from the club straight after to Durham game and a couple of youngsters were given a chance in midweek against Matlock. We went on to lose 4-3 but we put a lot more effort into that.

We played very well at the weekend against Hucknall and got a 2-0 win.

We're 10th with 9 games to go, 10 points away from play offs. A few wins should see us go up to 7th but play offs may be just out of reach now. I think if we won our remaining 9 games, we may just about get in play offs or just about miss out but I doubt that will happen anyway!

We have a big game against Bradford at home tomorrow and they're top of the league. You never know in football though. IF we win tomorrow and at the weekend then there's a possibility that we'd be 4 points off play offs with 7 games to go and it would suddenly seem possible again.

Anyway, I would say we haven't got much chance. We'll most likely lose tomorrow night. The main thing though is effort. The performance was harder to swallow than the result against Durham. Our manager himself said he was "insulted" by some of the performances from the players.

[Volrath2002]

Wow sacking players’ right after a loss even a bad loss is a hard pill to swallow. It seems more like what happens to managers than playing personnel.

There defiantly is a difference in your mood and optimism about the season from this post compared to the previous one. It would be a pity if the team now decided to falter after a couple of losses and miss out on the chance to try for play-offs and possible promotion. I would agree that Effort it indeed the thing the fans want to see most from the players. I remember supporting my local team in the now defunct National Soccer League here in Australia. The team was the Canberra Cosmos and for quite a number of years they were the worst team in the competition, coming last 4 years running. However in their last ever season it was such a joy to go watch the team as the whole unit seemed to work together and play attractive football for the first time ever. The effort by some of the regular players from past seasons really lifted and it made all the difference. The team only came 4th last in that season. But the team made the fans feel proud to be associated with the club.




By the way Andy what is this adj column in the table?

[Andy]

There were players in the team against Durham that I'm happy we've got rid of. Our manager said after the match that even if we went onto win the next game, it'd only be papering over any cracks and he's right really. It's nice to have a bit of a shake up. Keeps them on their toes.

I'm not sure what the adj column is but Durham were deducted 6 points and it says -6 in that column for them so it must be something to do with that. I forgot to say that they then went on to win their next match so they won 2 in a row! That got them back to 0 points.

I'm more optimistic than I was last week now. I came on here to have a big moan last week but the forum was down. Probably as well really as I would have done some big complaining .

The few players who have been released haven't been with us long anyway. We've kept all the players who we've had for a while.

Tomorrow is a big game. Would be good to get a win against top of the league because it would show that we can do it. Our past results against Bradford aren't the best though. Maybe we're due a win against them!

BPA 1 - 1 FC
FC 1 - 4 BPA
FC 3 - 4 BPA
BPA 0 - 0 FC
BPA 2 - 0 FC
FC 1 - 1 BPA

[Boyakhitam]

No worries.
They can do well.
Just be confident.
Trust in yourself and dream big.
For sure u ve taken the 1st step to success !
Just like my Sarawak Football Team..(last season beaten straight 6games in Malaysia Cup, scoreline: 0-8,0-7....)
But this year, after 9 games....3w3d3l.