MotM: 12-05-22 Boston (H) Hemmings

[tonythescout]

I said to my mate who was worried about a potential final with Brackley about the ground and likely hood of a small ticket alloaction, I said if anything we'd be at home to York given their fine run.
If happens well works well both ends. No need to worry about the away fans from them, away end holds 1800? We done well with housing west ham so we will do the same with york.
got to get there first.

[Cowsheds]

I admire everyones confidence looking to Fylde and a potential final against York. I think it'll be a huge uphill struggle, especially on our recent form. Obviously I would love to be proved wrong.

[ograzebrook]

Come on Cowsheds...now is the time to dream big, get involved.

[Harry Err]

I admire everyones confidence looking to Fylde and a potential final against York. I think it'll be a huge uphill struggle, especially on our recent form. Obviously I would love to be proved wrong.

I think it is logistics as much as confidence. I've already worked out the trains for Fylde not because I necessarily expect us to win tonight but more because there's very little time to sort stuff out if we do beat Boston.

[Cowsheds]

I'm involved, just incredibly nervous. God knows how the players must be feeling.

[ograzebrook]

I'm involved, just incredibly nervous. God knows how the players must be feeling.

Good man!

[Phil]

https://twitter.com/khfcofficial/status/1524807884319739905 https://twitter.com/bostonunited/status/1524809315353346049

[cjh201170]

Three word report at half time from the ground.
Outfought, Outmuscled…..Outplayed.

[brumkidd]

Come on!

Now for a winner!!!

[WorcesterHarrier]

Fireworks have no place in football shame on people who set them off

[brumkidd]

Fan bloody tastic.

Our record in play offs is abysmal.

[harry211]

Are we just specialists in failure? My god that was poor. 80 minutes of dross, a bright 10 minute spell around when we scored - but we never really settled into it or look like we had a gameplan. After the last three months it was oh so predictable. There was even unnecessary (and dangerous?!) fireworks.

If we have another three years of this left until Penn's contract is up we will never get out of this division. The system was all wrong, Austin out so we decided to play without a number 10. So far, understandable. But when that system doesn't work and the decision's taken to persist with it you have to worry. Similarly only one sub made with five minutes to go, really? Or is that his own indictment on the options he's signed for the bench and the budget allows?

First half we offered nothing. The most worrying thing was the defence playing like four players who had never met on the first game of preseason. Ultimately it cost us two goals, Cameron's nose and the Boston striker's game. How have we got 50 games in to a season and this is happening? Did they all bump into Will Smith after encountering aliens pre-match?! (A niche reference perhaps).

Second half better, but only slightly. Their keeper pulled off a worldie, best save I've seen at Aggborough, but apart from that and a fortuitous touch leading to Hemmings' great finish, that was it. And even that 10 mins of pomp was to do with our fans finding their voice. All this at home, in a playoff tie. Yes the ball flashed across goal late on, but nobody put it in. Perhaps this club is destined to never kick on. Certainly, much like miscommunications leading to playoff defeats (think Lowe v Chorley) it feels so.

Very downbeat tonight. Made a choice to come along to the game and much like Oasis urging you to not put your life in the hand of a rock and roll band, looking to the Harriers to cheer you up after a bad week is ill advised. And yet I turned up, hoping...

Where do we go from here? We need greater depth and we need a flexible system that works. Tactics tonight were abysmal, so was Penn's choices once the game was underway. Hemmings' goal led to his MOTM but apart from that do we really think anyone was better than a 5/10? I found it hard to applaud after, even if it is for the whole season's efforts, not just tonight.

All in all, I'd be more concerned by the second half of the season than I'm buoyed by the first. As ever there is much work to be done.

[Cowsheds]

That was inevitable tonight. We've been poor for the last 2/3 months now so going into the playoffs with zero momentum did not help. I don't understand why we play Amari upfront on his own against their huge no 8. Never going to work. Push Ash up or put Ethan on with half hour left, not 5. I thought Boston played well tonight. We couldn't deal with their right sided loan player (don't know his name) he made a big difference. Completley absent midfield. I'm not normally a big fan of his but I think Lewis would've been more beneficial than Carra maybe. We need another striker & a creative midfielder. Yet another season resigned to this league.

[harriershane]

All a bit “three lions”

But it felt different this time…

Sam Austin a big miss. AMS marshalled excellently by the experience of Wright Senior, Shiels and Garner. The Duxbury incident seemed to buoy them and has been said, we couldn’t deal with Femi Seriki. Fortunately he’s on loan from Sheff Utd, so we won’t see him again. Poor Caleb Richards continually got overrun and although it’s easy with hindsight, I’d have liked to have seen OSJ take the yellow to stop the marauding run - it wasn’t the first time he’d surged like that. Even so, a great save by Simpson followed by some rotten luck with the ricochet it seemed..

Better second half, but what a save that was from Dewhurst. Top, top class from the Sheff Utd loanee…

Hemmo took his chance well, seemed to get a little more success when he played closer to AMS and suddenly we’re on top and it’s starting to feel a little like Reading.

Instead, we play a silly ball into an isolated Martin and commit hari-kari. The one time we wanted it to go long down the line…

How many of those have we seen the last of now? I’d hope we could keep Simpson and Cameron. There’s more chance of me winning miss world than Bajrami being here in a couple of months time. Not only that, we’re gonna have a heap of expectation on us next season not just from ourselves, but others; bookmakers included.

Banbury, bradford and Blyth away it is then…

[Tamworth Harrier]

Failure to invest in improving the squad has cost us. You only have to look at the bench tonight to see how thin the squad is. We must have money when you look at our average gate plus the cup run but clearly haven’t spent it on improving the squad. Mind you we will have lovely floodlights next season.

2 wins in the last 14 games shows you where we are. That’s relegation form. Unfortunately we kept doing the same thing and expecting different results.