Peter Taylor called it 'embarrassing'. Joan Luque said it was 'a horrible day' and that he felt sorry for the fans who 'didn't deserve a performance like that at all'. Matt Robinson stated that the players 'have to have a long look in the mirror'.
Many people have taken to social media to apologise for last weekend's horror-show at Carshalton. Actions speak louder than words, though, and it's how we perform in the next few days that will determine whether those words are sincere or empty. A couple of tweets aren't nearly enough to erase that performance from our minds and therefore an emphatic response is desperately required. It's been over two weeks since our unbeaten run stuttered to a wobbly end with two home draws followed by eventual defeat to Notts County. That might turn out to be a positive thing, though, as we were becoming content with a draw simply because it 'extended the run'. We became so obsessed with our unbeaten streak that we seemingly forgot that you lose more points with a draw than you gain. Any team with supposed play-off or promotion ambitions should be targeting three points wherever they go, against whoever they play. Take our next two games for example; Wrexham struggling, Barrow flying. They're at completely contrasting ends of the table and their away form differs hugely, Wrexham officially the league's worst team on their travels and Barrow the best. Those are statistics we simply have to ignore as it's very conceivable that we could lose to Wrexham and beat Barrow. It shouldn't influence our tactics either. We were better in our games against high-flying Yeovil, Halifax and Bromley than we were at home to Chorley, which just illustrates not only how unpredictable this league is, but how the table doesn't matter at all from the moment both teams emerge from that tunnel. Another match that was trickier than the standings would've suggested, was Chesterfield away, at a time where they were essentially gifting three points to everybody they faced. We unconvincingly got a draw that day and Taylor devoted his post-match interview to preaching how good a point it was against the pre-season promotion favourites. Our opposition today, Wrexham, were also tipped to have a good campaign yet sit 21st ahead of kick-off, so much of today will hinge on whether we perceive it as a game against a big historic club with a sizable fanbase, or one against a side that are statistically the fourth worst in a fairly poor division. Wrexham are obviously struggling and I'd like to think that the fact they've played three more games than us in the last fortnight would give us a little bit of an edge perhaps. However, with a new manager and their main striker JJ Hooper now back fit after a two-month layoff (he scored the winner on Tuesday night), they're likely to be much sterner opposition than the table would indicate. Barrow have won their last sevan games in the league, elevating them to the lofty heights of fourth in the table. On paper it's one of the hardest matches you could have as it's not too often that you face a side that have won their last seven, but they've got a long trip to Torquay today and another marathon trip in three days' time so let's hope that shifts the contest in our favour. Let's get back on track. We have two big home games on the horizon and it's important that we pick up points - up the Dags.
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January 2024
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