Harborough Town

[drummyb]

Well I thought a very composed performance in absolutely baking conditions. I like, and always have like us having a front 3. Insall will be a terrier this season.

Midfield looked composed as did the back line. They played as a team today and worked for each other. I think that was missing a bit last year. Roll on Tuesday.

[VanessaYeltz]

Top notch performance in searing heat with a plastic pitch on which it must’ve been 40 odd degrees.

The first two goals were great, but the way we went about managing the game and controlling it was the best part of it imo. Very disciplined and controlled.

Great hospitality from Harborough, good people and a good club who I reckon have more than enough to be ok at this level.

[piearce9]

Both comments above are on the money. It was a superb performance in the conditions. Honestly, I was a sweaty, exhausted mess just watching - I have no idea how they ran around in those conditions. Insall was still chasing round like a terrier even in the last 10 mins - the guy is ridiculous.

Our quality was the edge today. Both sides had chances but we put them to the sword and saw the game out well. Really impressed. Straight on to Tuesday.

[RobYeltz]

A really impressive performance. I'll go as far as to say that this might have been a game we could have lost last season. They did really well last season and you can see why. Very well organised, big, strong and they play percentage football very well. This Harborough team will upset a few this season I think, it will be interesting to see how Stamford fair against them on Tuesday.
I've never watched a game as hot as that before, so huge respect to both teams for giving a fully committed performance in that heat, it was ludicrously hot even more so on that plastic. Ezewele at RB was excellent I thought (even without his goal) but I do worry about the amount of work our midfield has to do with a front three and Jack in an attacking midfield, there's a HUGE responsibility on Turton (who was excellent today) and Hayward in the middle of the pitch.
A good day though, hopefully a big crowd on Tuesday to start us off at The Grove.

[VanessaYeltz]

Both comments above are on the money. It was a superb performance in the conditions. Honestly, I was a sweaty, exhausted mess just watching - I have no idea how they ran around in those conditions. Insall was still chasing round like a terrier even in the last 10 mins - the guy is ridiculous.

Our quality was the edge today. Both sides had chances but we put them to the sword and saw the game out well. Really impressed. Straight on to Tuesday.

Insall worked his conkers off, just had no luck today with the ball just alluding a few late runs onto the 6 yard box.

When he gets one he’ll get ten imo.

[piearce9]

Insall makes a rod for his own back sometimes with his Twitter comments, and will be judged by outsiders on his scoring record, but in three areas he really stands out:

- Work rate
- Movement
- Final ball

I think he’s a huge player and will skewer defenders at this level.

[RobYeltz]

I agree, he's probably the one most teams know about so he's almost certainly the one being targeted leaving space for Gregs, Sim or Jack.

[TractionJackson]

Also his notoriety (for want of a better word) attracts a fair amount of fouls in our favour which as long as they don't incur injury are an asset.

Have to admit when he first signed and was giving it large on Twitter I was sceptical but so far he is 100% walking the walk.

[dalevillain]

I didn’t go to the game today, but all I can say from reading from the comments on here and from social media today is I’m feeling a lot more positive for the season ahead based on todays performance and result compared to what I have witnessed in pre-season.

However, let’s not get too carried away with ourselves. We played an opposition today who played their first ever game at Step 4, with a ground similar standard to Powerleague down Colley Gate. Yes it was a good win but that’s the minimal you would expect from us today if you are serious of winning the league.

A great start, nothing else. Let’s not get carried away just yet and start outing people who have made predictions based on what they have seen. It’s one game - the above goes for everyone.

[VanessaYeltz]

Can only play what’s in front of you and we did the job comfortably on a plastic surface to boot which is somewhat of a leveller. From the first minute we were never in danger of doing anything but winning the game, total control throughout.

We ended up in the play offs because we fluffed our lines in games like this, so it’s totally positive.

We haven’t done anything yet but it’s a great start and a test we had to pass if we are to realise our aims.

Onto the next one.