Nantwich Updates

[Johnny Bud]

Full time: 1.1

[juanillo]

Shame..yes we needed another especially against a team that's averaging around 3 goals a game.

[Johnny Bud]

There were positives again... Thought defence looked solid (they have scored a lot of goals this season) and the work rate was excellent. It's always dicey with a one goal lead and I'm not sure whether Asa going off affected us.

If only we had a clinical finisher but they don't come cheap at this level...

[sprout]

What a difference in the levels of commitment and energy shown tonight. Really thought we were unlucky to concede late on. Cannot fault anyone for effort !

[andy]

Much much better. Need a second though.

....and so we did. Unfortunate to concede in injury time. Probably deserved to hang on after a vastly improved performance. My only concern is that with the change of formation tonight Ref looked very isolated up front at times, maybe it was a one off for tonight's game, but other than that the shape looked good. Roll on Saturday.

[spongeyeltz]

Absolutely gutted for the lads. Just got home and the cat has had a size nine planted up its arse.. a terrific team performance, think John got the team selection spot on, totally dominated the midfield first half playing some really good football at times. Mom, no idea, too many candidates. Not bad is it coming away feeling like we've lost against a free scoring side sitting second in the table.
N.B. No animals were hurt in the writing of this post

[piearce9]

Bit of a sickener because we put in probably our best performance of the season, certainly at home. Complete turnaround from Saturday- played a sort of 4-5-1/4-3-3 with Cooper high on the left and someone who looked like Brags on the right, but with a turn of pace?! Reffell kept both centre backs busy all night and the inter-play in the first half was superb. The goal early in the second perhaps changed the pattern of the game against us in a way, as we started to focus on keeping it tight and we went through the complete portfolio of timewasting from about minute 70. Just when you thought we had made it, a piece of individual skill from their winger put us to the sword and we need to share the points.

The players looked wounded but they put in a great shift and gave the fans a good performance. Bear in mind that all those changes in roles and formation have come about with presumably no time to practice, so credit for the way that it was applied in such a short time.

Last season, we snuck a point vs Nantwich in the fourth minute of added time, and were very fortunate to do so. Tonight it was roles reversed and this is a much, much better Nantwich team. Plenty of positives to draw upon, despite the disappointment.

[RobYeltz]

Great desire from the players, as mentioned thought John & Matt got the formation and tactics spot on. We dominated the middle of the pitch and I particularly like the Elvins/Denny partnership in the middle. Hales I thought did some great work playing in the space between the midfield and forward and we certainly gave them a lot to think about. Isaac had another good game down the left and whilst Brag maybe wasn't in his normal position put in a great effort down the right. I thought we were unlucky to not be leading at half time but our play certainly deserved it, so the early goal was good reward for the first 45 minutes work. It felt a little like a defeat at the end with their late goal, but you have to give them credit for the resilience and battle they showed but our boys can take pride in their performance tonight. As far as tonight is concerned, they've set the bar at the levels of performance expected, we can't expect that every week for sure but the aim should be that level of effort, desire and good quality passing football. Those who didn't go tonight missed a good game. Hard to pick a Man of the Match tonight, lots of players worthy of a mention. Luke Connolly though rarely gets a mention and I thought he was superb tonight.

As for the ref, we see him far too often down The Grove as it is and tonight he was particularly picky. The Bragoli booking was abysmal, Their lad headed Brags in the back of the head and Brags got booked for it!

Well done lads, same again on Saturday please!

[dalevillain]

To quote a certain ex-Villa manager: 'I thought we were excellent tonight.' A creditable draw overall, but shame we couldn't hold out for the win.

I thought Keyon Refell did brilliant up front, caused a lot of problems and I think Isaac Cooper is a lot better in an attacking left sided position than defensive and got the goal our second half performance deserved.

Nantwich are a good side though and got the equaliser towards the end which was hard to take however they probably shaded the first half so all in all thought a draw was probably a fair result on reflection!

On a personal note was good to have 'stopped the rot' as my previous 4 Yeltz games I have attended this season have all ended in defeats!

Here's to a first win on Saturday! Up the Yeltz!

[lutleyyeltz]

Walking out of the ground it felt as though we'd lost the game - it's a kick in the butt when you concede in injury time.
However, as others have said, the effort and tactics made for an entertaining game. The fact that last season we nicked a point in the last minute up in Cheshire, makes it a little less of a bummer when reflecting on the game 12 hours later.
A great performance - let's hope that we can reproduce the same more often for the remainder of the season.
Onwards and upwards!