MotM: 29-03-24 Altrincham (H) Emmanuel-Thomas

[Edgar T Peaceful]

My reflection on the game.
Thought the ref was excellent.
Altrincham just better in every area .

Yes he was good. The only issue I'd have is that Altrincham threw / kicked the ball away constantly and he didn't book any of them

[tonythescout]

Happy to keep Lambert, McNally and Richards.

Not keen on keeping Omotayo and Oxlade Chamberlaine, but who will take them off our hands?

Aside from that, maybe we should make a clean start in NLN and have a clear out. Morgan Smith and Hemmings have been superb servants to us, but they're getting quite long in the tooth.

If we could get JET fitter he'd be a cut above in NLN.

Penny Pearce I’d keep along with Byrne dibble for next season and all of those on deals already side from ox and gold. Terrible signings. Preston too injury prone. Brown be ok but as a squad player. Palmer probably a cheap no 2 which would be ok in the NN
Ams and hemmings times are up sadly high earners showing signs of age now time to move them On.

[Medieval]

Looked to me as though Alty practised their attacking play......

Depressing & frustrating.

[harry211]

We were beaten by a much better team, and had no plan to deal with the stand out player in the Conference this season. Deserved what we got.

Enjoyed Jet's first half masterclass though. We weren't bad at all, just weren't good enough. Sound familiar?

[Phil]

https://harriers-online.co.uk/khfc/29-03-24-kidderminster-harriers-1-altrincham-3-match-report/

[garthrockett]

Don't agree on gold to be honest. He's had 3 crosses on his head all his time with us and scored from 2 and hit the bar with the other. Width and pace is the prime objective next season, along with a player who can deliver a dead ball. Massive clear out required, with us taking note of holdsworths contacts. Brown will move on and not give us a second thought. I await the appointment of gavin hurran with interest.

[Edgar T Peaceful]

Fair point.

But that does suggest we'd need to base the team around his strengths as aside from that he's done nothing.

Today he opted to do a step over dummy (straight to a defender) rather than shoot with a cross he received directly in front of goal. Very strange decision for a striker.

[TomLong78]

Well, if the fat lady is not quite singing yet, I can definitely hear her clearing her throat behind the stage curtain.

Yesterday was the first genuine “must win” game of the run in. Not mathematically, but in reality. PB admitted as much in his pre-match interview.

We didn’t win. Or come close to doing so. We were beaten by a much better side. Chris Conn-Clarke turned in one of the best performances by an opposition player I have seen in many years at Aggborough. I am quite happy to admit I applauded him when he was substituted. But across the park Alty were far superior to us. The old test - how many of our team yesterday would get in theirs? Not many, if any, I’d wager.

So onwards to Chesterfield. We can’t mathematically be relegated on Monday (we might save that for the telly on Saturday), but with Chesterfield unbeaten at home all season, it would be totally like the Harriers to go there and win (my natural optimism hasn’t completely deserted me yet).

If you’re looking for signs, last Easter Monday we had to go to the team that would be champions of the league and win. We did. This year we go to the team who are already champions and we need to win. Will lightning strike twice? It’s the hope that kills you…

And finally just on the Gold issue, I am reminded of what I would to say friends a couple of months ago when they would enquire politely about the Harriers this season. I would describe our goal scoring problems as “We could have Kane or Haaland playing up front and we still wouldn’t score”. Given my assessment then, I am not going to pin any blame on Gold not turning our season around.

The problem is a whole team one of not creating enough good chances. Yes, we’re not clinical enough when we do, occasionally, create a good chance, but lots of wild long range efforts at goal (Brown quotes 16 shots at goal yesterday, 3 on target) is no substitute for properly breaking the opposition down and creating chances. We’re a *bit* better at doing that under Brown than we were under Penn, but the crazy games against Aldershot and Oxford aside, our goalscoring record has not materially improved and remains diabolical.

[Edgar T Peaceful]

Another fair point.

We definitely have a 'systems' issue with building good chances in front of goal, as starkly shown by the clear cut chances carved out by Altricham with neat patterns, leaving their goal scorers with much better chances than we were creating (or have done all season).

[EDIT: I think Haaland would score quite a few with physical presence alone!]

[tonythescout]

We had chances in the first twenty minutes. We also bombarded the likes of Rochdale bromley earlier in the season and failed to take chances. Gold was a panic signing who isn’t up to this level. Sadly we lost Byrne and lambert and leesley for long periods, hemmings remains inconsistent so the service had also dried up.
Saying that, Gold and Philips along with lambert scored 50 odd goals between them last season in the NN, they could be well 3 of our front four next season. Some who are here now who you think would/should have been moved on in the summer could prove to be key next season. Experience is vital. Byrne Dibble and Pearce are must keeps for me, as well as prioritising strengthening the midfield which has been weak all season (we started with just leesley and Byrne and both got injured)
Hope brown stays. I can’t seen it given the travel in the north from his home in the Cotswolds but you never know. He’s clearly got the enthusiasm. He’s got every drop he could out of a squad not good enough. He’s had ample time to assess players, would he want one last season to go out on a hurrah by getting us back up?: some of these players no longer have the loyalty points they had with Penn, either way a clear out is needed and will happen. NKP AMS Hemmings all high earners i imagine who aren’t part of the clubs future given their ages, regardless of what we are in. Preston isn’t a luxury we can afford sadly, shame as a top player when fit.
All depends on that thing beginning with a B. Given the outlay on sacking the Mitchell brothers and bringing in Brown and McDonald along with allowing brown to bring players kn, I suspect we have financially gambled in staying up and thisnoutlay will need to be recouped somewhere unless lane is putting the money up front himself?

[harry211]

If it's well known who is staying/leaving in the summer and that Hurran's appointed, as Garth suggests, then no wonder performance levels have dropped off. Nothing short of a scandal if true.

[SCF1985]

Perhaps this is an optimistic post, but I still believe we can get 4 points off Chesterfield and Barnet. Chesterfield lost at York yesterday, doing nothing to suggest they won’t take their foot off the pedal. Although ‘unbeaten at home’, that have also dropped a few points against struggling teams on their turf. And playing Barnet’s fringes (albeit a more motivated bunch than usual because at what’s at stake) would still be on a par with beating Reading, who we beat quite comfortably. It’s not looking great I agree, but if we can get 4 points from the next 2 games, we’ve still got a chance.

[Grumpy old man]

We were beaten by a much better team, and had no plan to deal with the stand out player in the Conference this season. Deserved what we got.

Enjoyed Jet's first half masterclass though. We weren't bad at all, just weren't good enough. Sound familiar?

Sums up my thoughts perfectly.

Incidentally, Brown has been a breath of fresh air - but that does not necessarily make him the ideal choice for the slog that is NLN. (Apparently the Halesowen manager has a good track record on that score.)

[tonythescout]

If it's well known who is staying/leaving in the summer and that Hurran's appointed, as Garth suggests, then no wonder performance levels have dropped off. Nothing short of a scandal if true.

Don’t believe any of that hysteria, some of which was around before brown was appointed under everyone nose (hurren)
We were beaten by a better side. No issue with work rate or desire. Just individual mistakes and lacking in quality in final third to make our first 30 minute dominance really count.

[TWG85]