Well going into the game Town fans were hoping after the narrow scrappy win against Stalybridge, they could push on today and give the fans a good performance and show us whats they are really made of. Well that kind of didnt happen, in a game that Hinckley dominated and should have won, Town somehow got a point out of the game.
The game started slowly, with most of the play being a smash up field for the defenders to win in the air, this continued for the first 5 minutes, then slowly but surely Hinckley started to take over, Town were caught out on a few occasions early on, Jacklin was the first culprit being caught out of position my a nice header over his head which set the Hinckley winger away down the wing, luckily for town he was unable to pick anyone out in the box and we managed to clear. Craig James then got the ball trapped under his feet and the striker got away but had no end product as he put his effort wide of the post.
Then the goal for Hinckley arrived, Roberts who had a solid game for Hinckley played a through ball for Lloyd Kerry, who shot towards goal in took a big deflection and ended up in the net. Disapointing from Town and Simon Weaver who said his team would be really up for the game today, from what i could see they wern't up for it at all possibly the slowest start id ever seen from Town.
Then massively against the run of play pretty much from the restart after the Hinckley goal town managed to get the ball forward, the Hinckley backline cleared the ball quite poorly and it dropped to Ciaran Toner on the edge of the box, he chested it down and struck it beautifully on the half-volley into the bottom left of the net. Wonderful finish from the former Rochdale man.
Town then managed to get a grip on the game a little bit, the strikers held the ball up front well, which was suprising with the ammount of awful service they were getting from the rest of the team, they were feeding off punts up the field for pretty much the whole game but you could see they were really trying hard to make something of it. Armstrong was having a decent game and had a decent chance to score, when the ball dropped to him from a corner, he did superbly to turn but the ball got deflected over the top from his left footed effort.
Town were definately on top at this point, some good play down the right from Roma and Williams then suddenly Williams was away, a quick one-two with roma set him away towards goal on the right hand side but his left foot effort struck the bottom of the post and bounced back out, Hinckley were then unable to clear and the ball dropped to Hardy he ran into the box and was about to shoot but Mace for Hinckley brought him down and the referee pointed to the spot. Graeme Armstrong stepped-up hoping to go top of the scoring chart for Harrogate Town, he rifled home his 2nd penalty in 2 games, very similar to the Stalybridge penalty hard and low into the bottom left of the goal.
Harrogate were leading 2-1 at half time, who would've thought that after the opening 15 minutes, to be fair to the lads i thought Hinckley looked on top at the start but they dug deep and turned the half around and i would say probably deserved to be on top at the break. It was Town defence however that just left you nervous, they'd been a few mistakes already and i could really just sense they would'nt be able to keep a clean sheet in the 2nd half.
The second half then began, Hinckley took control of the ball straight from the off, it seemed like the start of the game all over again, they were quicker to every ball and won everything in the air. You just felt in would be a matter of time before hinckley got the equaliser, Towns defence looked so nervous, how the ball didnt end up in the net on 54 minutes ill never know, a cross from the hinckley left got whipped in, Jacklin missed it, James missed it, Shepherd missed it. Luckily for us so did every Hinckley player as well, we were living dangerously on the edge.
Town made a substitution on around 60 minutes, as Duncan Williams was replaced by Matt Bloomer, which seemed a strange one from my point of view. If we were already under so much pressure, why would you bring on a defender for midfielder and go 5-3-2, surely that just invites more pressure onto the defenders, with not as many people closing down in midfield. On 65 minutes i thought that pressure had told, as Dootson made a mistake, a shot from the edge of the box which he tried to catch squirmed out of his grasp and Gary King tapped it into the roof of the net BUT the linesman had his flag up, the goal was disallowed for offside, which the goalscorer didnt seem to agree about. Surely this would encourage Harrogate Town to start getting hold of the ball and playing.
Unfortunately it didnt, Hinckley took the lead legitimately on 75 minutes, A deep free-kick to the back post from Hinckley was headed back across goal and there was Gray to make it 2-2. It was so frustrating as a Town fan to watch this game, as Hinckley played neat quick attacking football, we continued throughout the game to hoof it up front where most of the time it ran straight through to the opposition keeper. It was an apalling 2nd half display from Town.
On two occasions however we shouldve gone in front again, no doubt against the run of play, Wayne Phillips was played through on the counter attack, he was through, 1 on 1 with the keeper who came rushing out all he had to do was slide it into the back of the net but with Hinckley players tugging his shirt he put his shot wide, i feel a free-kick should of been given but to be honest from that situation he shouldve scored. In added on time at the end of the game we were through again a great ball through for Hardy bounced up, you thought he would surely just chip it over the keeper to give town a 3-2 win But he inexplicibly tried to tap it round the keeper to run onto, he instead tapped it straight into the keeper hand as he gratefully clasped the ball. Hardy was left with his hands on his head. I reckon that'll be the only time we see him do that this season.
That was it, final score 2-2 at the CNG Stadium, in what was a pretty poor performance, 2nd half they were all over us they couldve and shouldve won the game and been out of sight. I felt Weaver kind of brought the equaliser on him self going 5 at the back with over 30 minutes to go seemed a strange move we were already under pressure and surely going 5 at the back invites even more pressure, me personally wouldve liked to have seen Savory on a lot earlier for Armstrong who had a good game but just couldnt keep hold of the ball up there same for Hardy. And maybe although im not his biggest fan Nowakowski shouldve been introduced to try win some headers and build some attacks
: (
Anyway enough said, needs to be better!!!!
VS
I was unable to attend today at Rivacre Park, as unfortunately i am only able to make it to the near by games. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. Before the game i was hoping for a good solid win and hoped the new keeper Gonzalez would be upto the job of relplacing Dootson. I listened to it on the radio throughout and it sounded like we had the chances to put the game to bed but it seemed like it was just one of those days where the ball just wouldnt hit the back of the net. 
From what i heard on the radio, the changes seemed to have changed our style of play, it was getting played on the deck alot more which had been a point from Town fans recently who were frustrated by the long ball tactics. Wayne Phillips just fired wide after 10 minutes, and a few minutes later Toner forced a decent save from Scott Tynan in the Vauxhall goal. Vauxhall also had a couple of chances theirselves Mahon fired just over and a 30-yard effort from Paul Brown was saved well from new signing Gonzalez.
The second half then got under way, Vauxhall seemed to have been given a good talking to at half time and came out strong, Anorou firing just over when in on goal. Then Neil Prince had an attempt but again it was a poor effort straight at Gonzalez. However, on 59 minutes Vauxhall went ahead, their leading goalscorer Anorou got played through he outpaced the Town backline and smashed into the back of the net with a good low drive. 
Harrogate Town make the trip across the Rivacre Park this coming saturday hoping to pick up a win to get their season back on track, after a couple of decent results but without the impressive performances.
Vauxhall are currently sitting 19th in the Blue square Bet North table, so far this season they have won 1, drew 1 and lost 5, so they will be looking to turn their season around when we make the visit and should put up a strong test for Simon Weavers men only losing by the odd goal most of the season.
