I've just noticed on the Northern League Transfers Page that we have re-signed Skelly and Cochrane yesterday !!!!!!

I don't really understand that one but Burto is the manager and must think they can help us stop this losing run.

Personally I think we've already got the players but too many are now being played out of position and seem to be lacking in confidence although it was these same players who put our great unbeaten run together prior to the spate of cancelled games in January.

Don't get me wrong they are both great lads and have been really good for the club in the past but I still can't get my head round this one.

Headed goal by jon burton skeleton has been excellent holding the ball up, winning free kicks and setting up play. 1-0 25min

I agree Brack he was unplayable today in the first half but we need Gilly alongside him rather than Bruno as both todays front men play with their back to goal wanting it to feet. One of the front two has to go beyond the oppositions back four to give the midfielders two options instead of one. However this was a much improved performance by the team helped by switching back to 4 - 4 - 2 and we definitely didn't deserve to lose today. The pen was a joke as 'Lips' palmed the ball wide with both hands and their forward fell over him. The resulting goal lifted the visitors who scored a well worked second goal but we'll never know now whether we would have hung on for a 1 - 0 win.

Pied piper, agree with most points, I personally thought Skelly was best player on the park and we were lucky to go Into half-time just 1-0 down, as we were awful and u were by far the better team.
Second half we improved and pleased with the 3 points.

However, unfortunately I have to tell u your opinion of the penalty was wrong. Although I was running away from goal I touched the ball wide and Lipps caught my legs, and he never touched the ball. Fact.

Wind spoilt the game a little but a good run out never the less.

Do,very interesting re the penalty. I was on near side of the ground near main stand and my first thought was definite pen but others who were on the other side of the ground thought Lipps got the ball first. Guess it shows that the ref had a tough call to make.

As for the rest of the game thought Marske were excellent in the first half and miles better than in recent games. Skelly was superb and the Town defence just couldn't cope with him - his hold up play and distribution was excellent and really Marske could have been 3 up at half time. Yet again, the Town keeper made a couple of marvellous saves (as did Lipps in the first half as well). Second half was more even but overall I'd say that Marske were really unlucky to lose the game.

My MOTM was Skelly for his first half performance (though Bruno won it from the sponsor though he may have given the beer tokens to Skelly??). Steve Cochrane had a decent game as well and combined well with Tommy in midfield (back in his best position). Like PP, I was sceptical about the signings of Steve and Skelly but both performed well today. However, Gilly still isn't being played in his best position (though Bruno and Skelly both played well today) and we missed the pace of Charlo and Owen out wide.

Overall though, today was a big improvement in recent weeks and let's hope that the win we need to get to 40 points comes next Saturday when hopefully there will be plenty of Marske fans at Heritage Park thanks to Peter's generosity.

Fair enough 'Do' . It sounds like depending where you were on the ground affected your view on the penalty ( an obvious statement I suppose ) but your lads played much better with the wind and were dangerous with most of your attacks. The difference today was your teams abundance of pace throughout your side and our lack of it. As I said earlier Skelly was unplayable in that first half but we didn't or couldn't get the ball to his feet in the second. Let's hope that both teams are still in this division next year ( I think we will both just scrape in )

I must agree with NGTW though regarding Gilly. He scored 8 in 12 games last season when he joined us to help win promotion and then 7 in the first 16 games this season ( thats 15 in 28 games which is an excellent return ) but he's only scored 1 now in the last 24 as he is constantly asked to play wide right and It's definitely affecting his confidence. We need to give the midfield two different options to hit up front ( one to feet and one in the channels behind the oppositions back four ) and I think Chris will link up well with Skelly.
Look at the difference in Tom today playing in his best position (he must have had 8 or more shots at goal and was unlucky not to score)
As we all know football is about opinions and that's mine.

It was another disappointing day but the first half showed signs of improvement on recent weeks. I was surprised by the team sheet and not in a good way. Skelly had a good game and as PP said if he had an outlet for all his efforts it may have been a different story.

For me Adam Gell has been the best outfield player in the last 2 home games, and although Steve Cochrane is experienced and a different type of player I thought the switch was harsh. Gelly has asked to go on the transfer list according to Peter's weekly review, not sure what the reasons are. But he is the kind of young player with lots of potential that we should be hanging onto and developing. Our squad has some players coming to the end of their playing days so keeping the good young players should be a priority.

Bishops and West Auckland are 2 tough games, and everyone is waiting for the home game at Stokesley with the view that we must surely get 3 points then. Fingers crossed we do. We'll keep flying the flag and hopefully things will improve.

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