Pickering Town Forum

Is it 125 views with no response? It seems no-one is bothered to contribute, we have loads of interest (apparently)looking at the amount of registered members and the number of people viewing posts but if I am the only post in 8-9 days when 2 first team games and a 4-1 victory for U19S at Bradford PA have ocurred since my last post is it worthwhile bothering? As Alisdair is e-mailing for contributions let's make an effort.

Yesterday was a strange one. It could have and possibly should have been at least a point if not 3 even though 4-1 down at half-time. Far too static at the back too many times. Lack of pace was the killer it seemed, we also missed too many good chances. They were not worth being several league places better than us. Clinical finishing needed.

The problem is the same as it always have been, the majority of fans are the older generation who don't have internet and forum use.

having been with the forum since it started have seen many posters come and go over the years, some move, the main participants went abroad and to uni, our Zico10 , Joe has moved on.

As for saturday I can't comment as i didn't go and won't be going on Tues night.

The other problem is it is hard to strike up " banter" conversations with poster on here as you don't know who they are, especially players who hide behind obscure names etc., the other is that many posts are complete nonsense anyway.

Regarding your post and no replies, look through the history of posts and you'll see match reports I have written in great detail and still no replies.

It just happens this way on here, just gotta keep trying.

Regarding the Long Eaton game - they had two very quick and direct front men supported by a creative midfielder. In every other respect I felt the Pikes were as good as them. The shots on target was higher for the visitors but the character of the Pikes came out again in the second half with a good fight back. The management are obviously capable of getting a good team spirit.

Our two centre backs are strong against traditional target men but always susceptible to those that play the ball on the floor and have pace. This combined with the slippy conditions led to a few mistakes. Coupled with some very young players (Saynor, Burns, Clough) its not surprising to see that we are where we are in the league.

Hepples is a strong addtion to the team, a brilliantly fair tackler and has a great temperament. The swap for Connor looks good to me but we have lost some creativity as a result. Patience and stability is needed to allow the team to develop and gell. Hillier is useful up front but needs a lively goal scorer around him and some quality passes to work with.

Maybe the odd deviation from 4-4-2 would be useful on occasions like Saturday - a sweeper behind the centrebacks might have allowed closer marking.

Thank you for the replies. Fairly obvious (TimPTFC) when one thinks about it, without the influence of the bottle of red. Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

a hang on im an old boy just because your over 50 dont mean we are morons

I think something that doesn't help is that we do tend to have a lot of one post threads about the same topics rather than one thread with lots of replies (present topic excluded) and this does lead to the flow of the debate being compromised.

Having just registered I thought I'd put forward an opinion on what I know about and what I have seen of Pickering Town FC. Before I do, readers should understand that I am not local, but live 150 miles away in Spalding, Lincs.
This will be continued on another post as I am unsure whether or not this has been done properly. I am, after all, over 50!!!!!

My first visit to Mill Lane was last season for the visit of Thackley. Until this match, I believe the Pikes were on a long unbeaten run. My long journey proved to be a disappointment as the match was a poor one, and a home defeat.
Nevertheless, I found that everything else, apart from the match, was impressive. The Ground, facilities, support etc was professional, and well up to Unibond standards.
In the meantime I have kept myself up-dated via the Pike's website and this forum, in addition to 'insider information'(to be explained later).
That, I have to say, has been economical to say the least, which is not a criticism of those few who work their socks off for the love of the Club. This is the case throughout non-league football. Match reports would be a real bonus for the likes of me.
Anyway, I drove up to Bridlington a couple of weeks ago to watch the match with Scarborough Athletic. A thoroughly enjoyable game played between 2 teams that were a credit to the NCEL. Though things didn't go as well as they might, I thought the Pikes performed well, and with a little luck could well have won a point. A poor goal given away early on, then a penalty from a shameful, panicky decision by the LINESMAN, under pressure from local fans, with the Referee then submitting to his colleague's frantic flag waving. Two or three chances to score were scorned, so a 2-0 defeat was the result. There was little difference between the teams, and subsequent results appear to have been influenced by similar bad luck and a few errors at both ends of the pitch.
The previous posts by Tim PTFC, new one, and man in the street are interesting and well informed , in my opinion, particularly those relating to the Long Eaton match. Though I wasn't at that game, the comparisons struck a chord with the Scarborough encounter. ' man in the street 'put forward his assessment of team matters which I considered to be very astute. He clearly understands the game and made his points without being unkind or unfair. Players have to be encouraged. Constructive criticism is ok. Everything he said with reference to the team as a whole, plus the named players was , in my opinion, exactly correct.
Success week in, week out cannot be expected. Manager Mark Wood has had to change the personnel drastically since last season, and this takes time. Patience is paramount.
That's about it from me, but now I have managed to register these posts, maybe I'll make a habit of it. Good luck to everyone connected with the Club. Don't forget, we're all on the same side!!!
Much closer to home, I shall be at the Lincoln Moorlands Railway ground on wednesday.
( The 'insider' is son, Lyle ).

Interesting post from Clive H - it's great to see the increase in use of the forum. A report from Lincoln Moorlands would be good!

Is there any mention of this forum in the club programme to encourage users? I agree with the previous comments about lots of separate threads making comments a bit more difficult.

Some posts from those inside the club would help things - Scarborough Athletic have a lively forum (google "Seadogs Forum") that gets a lot of regular input from the club - both management and players. This would be good for the folks like me that just turn up to watch.

Do the Pikes players and mangement know this exists or do they avoid it as they see it as a fans forum?

And finally how about naming a stand in memory of Tony Dunning?

Certainly with me taking responsibility for the programme as well as the website I have been keen to make the two work side by side and having a section with 'Hot Topics' from the Forum was something I was quite keen to introduce - the problem being that there have been no real hot topics (until now).

If the forum can get debate raging then I don't see why it shouldn't have a page in the programme as it is as much a programme for fans as it is for showcasing the club.

On a side note apologies for the poor state of the website so far this season but unfortunately I moved house at the start of the season so had to wait to get a net connection then after about two weeks my computer just stopped working, I got that replaced and everything got back on track but then unfortunately someone broke into my house and stole it! Now finally after the insurance got their act together and I have yet again re-installed all the necessary software the website should get back to looking respectable (from tomorrow anyway).

Obviously throughout this time the programme has had to take top priority.

kevmalton wrote:a hang on im an old boy just because your over 50 dont mean we are morons

Who said you were Kev ?


Glad to see something good come out of the original post, and good to see that Al hasn't forgotten about us !! Sorry to hear about the break in mate.

I like the point made about more players joining in , come on lads don't hide !!!