A real reality check for us as I don't think Salisbury will be anywhere near the top half of the table, and they dominated us.
James Holden may well have been MoM and had a big say in the first and last minute.
Within the first 30 seconds he came rushing out of his goal and took out the Salisbury forward, Matty Taylor, and received what must be the earliest yellow card a Hampton player has had, and then in the 9th minute of 8 added on he made an amazing save to deny Ollie Bray.
A very tough watch. Apart from a cross which looped onto the cross bar did we have an effort on target?
Salisbury 9th August
As I said in my post, I think the club are aware of the need to bring in players to address the shortcomings so there could be a churn of of the squad with some signings departing and others coming in on loan or permanent deals. Midfield an absolute priority.
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Mucky knees
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What happened to Dorking this afternoon?!Josh2002 wrote: Sat Aug 09, 2025 6:21 pm You’re spot on Sparky, i think the pessimism is understandable, and i think it’s clear we still have a lot of work to do if we want to build a competitive team. Dorking next week will be ruthless and will punish the sort of poor backwards passes the defence played today, and will easily overrun us in midfield if today is anything to go by.
MK
Revan played RB was his usual strong self but came off injured late on. Atkinson was solid in his familiar role in front of the defence. Keeya further forward and less impact on the game and subbed in the second half. All three would have started for us. Salisbury are throwing silly money around. That’s why they left. Just business.TW10 wrote: Sat Aug 09, 2025 8:01 pm How did revan, keeya and atkinson play? did revan play fb or cb?
Some further observations. Field is being used in midfield due to our lack of presence there. Robertson was I guess the Atkinson replacement but really hasn’t done anything yet to suggest he is at this level. I think Field might be a better option at CB if we can solve midfield. Noticeably we won very few defensive headers in the first half. Dorking will exploit that ruthlessly. Three at the back very quickly became five and then six in the second half. We need to do more to get up the pitch and pressurise the opposition defence. Salisbury had all the time they wanted to hit big diagonal balls in behind the defence in the first half. 4-5-1 might suit us better.
Flaherty seemed to be playing as a 10 some of the time when I thought he was a winger. Not sure we are maximising his talents. After the tactical sub at half time Salisbury got even more on top. We had no obvious outlet ball. Clearances just came straight back at us. Had Salisbury scored I couldn’t see us getting anywhere near scoring. We can’t draw our way to safety. Just one goal in the last four games.
Gardner was the one midfielder that showed a strength on the ball or determination to make a forward run. May be a better option as a 10 than Silva. Grego Cox when fit should start. Rodari did very little to let the Salisbury defence know he was on the pitch. He had very little service however.
Holden’s kicking was erratic at times. You realise just how good Ted Curd was with the ball at his feet.
The RB position needs a permanent solution. The Bromley lad was excellent but will only be here for a month. The young lad from Kingstonian wasn’t even on the bench. Not sure about left back either. Sayers looked very shaky in the first half but did improve.
Flaherty seemed to be playing as a 10 some of the time when I thought he was a winger. Not sure we are maximising his talents. After the tactical sub at half time Salisbury got even more on top. We had no obvious outlet ball. Clearances just came straight back at us. Had Salisbury scored I couldn’t see us getting anywhere near scoring. We can’t draw our way to safety. Just one goal in the last four games.
Gardner was the one midfielder that showed a strength on the ball or determination to make a forward run. May be a better option as a 10 than Silva. Grego Cox when fit should start. Rodari did very little to let the Salisbury defence know he was on the pitch. He had very little service however.
Holden’s kicking was erratic at times. You realise just how good Ted Curd was with the ball at his feet.
The RB position needs a permanent solution. The Bromley lad was excellent but will only be here for a month. The young lad from Kingstonian wasn’t even on the bench. Not sure about left back either. Sayers looked very shaky in the first half but did improve.
Thank you Tony, i couldn't be there yesterday. I wonder if they play 3 at the back to protect Massey's lack of pace? I think it is a mistake as we don't really have wing backs at the club with great athleticism we have full backs so inevitably it will be 5 at the back and we get overrun in midfield. The sooner we go to a flat back 4 and play higher up h the e pitch the better.
The general mood here does seem a bit more downbeat than I expected after yesterday.
This time last year we had lost our opening match at home to (what would be) mid-table opposition, conceded 3 goals and Mike Atkinson and Archy Taylor weren't first choice, only coming on as subs.
Things got a lot better after that...for a while at least.
This time last year we had lost our opening match at home to (what would be) mid-table opposition, conceded 3 goals and Mike Atkinson and Archy Taylor weren't first choice, only coming on as subs.
Things got a lot better after that...for a while at least.