Season over unless we get 2 or 3 more quality players in

[Spyman]

I haven't seen us play yet, and won't until Billingham next week. I'm a little concerned that we've been turned over so easily by a supposed bottom half team.

One thing I have noticed in my time supporting Darlo is that the difference between really good teams and almost good teams seems to be down to the mentality and leadership qualities of the squad.

Look at 99/00. We had Liddle, Aspin, Gray, Gabbas and a few others who were definate leaders on the pitch. Penney's play-off side had Foster, White, Ravenhill, Ryan etc. Compare that to the perennial 8th place finishers that came between the two. There was technical ability but not much leadership aside from Maddo.

95/96 - tonked 4-1 by Chester
99/00 - tonked 4-2 by Peterborough
08/09- tonked 5-1 by Hereford

Good & bad teams get well beat from time to time, its hard to read too much into one defeat.

Absolutely - it happens (although Peterborough were a strong side who ended up promoted in 99/00, and I think Hereford likewise in 08/09?).

How the team come back from a dissapointing defeat will tell us a lot.

[Hilly]

get over your self fucking hell its only one loss we havent got the best players in the league.

Yes, I noticed we don't have the best players in the league.

"It's only one loss" people say - it's not the fact we got beat that bothers me, it's the margin of defeat and let's face it by a team unlikely to finish in the top 10 - this cannot bode well.

and lets be glad were not south sheilds who got blitzed by shildon 11-0, its one loss.

Irrelevant.

Again, it may be a generalisation but over the years there seems to have been more 'trounces' then little victories - you just need to look players goal tallys to prove that.

Spyman elludes to it further up, but it's as much a mentality thing than it is a footballing thing. We went 1-0 down early and this is the time we need leaders on the pitch to show the young lads the way, take away Gary Brown and who do you have? Very little.

People should not read too much into this one defeat. Let's see what the reaction is on Saturday.

[Bogratsteve]

Was not at the match tonight but it sounds from all I have read we lacked leadership and the desire to win every tackle, the lads have the quality we have seen in the previous warm up matches and 4 league matches, the missing link tonight was a leader.

Maybe for Saturday we need to wheel the big guy out in the back to bark orders, not really enough time as the lads are part timers to hold several bollocking sessions or training sessions on how to tackle.

MG is right, he needs to see a reaction and I hope we come out fighting, we have played good football but maybe we need to play hard football, Brown certainly did in the matches i've seen and this was lacking last night.

Minor blip in our march back up the leagues

[dfc1883]

Bring back Alan White!!

[Quakerz]

Actually, YEAH.

Still playing for Harrogate in the Conference North.

[Hilly]

White would without doubt be a decent shout. Great leader, and although he's never really had any pace, his positional sense is great.

I'd crawl over hot coals to get him back here but I don't think he'll give up playing for Harrogate.

[fat tony]

Disappointed with the result when I checked this morning. I used to always make sure I could listen in on the radio and check the reactions on here when we had midweek games, but forgot we were even playing last night.

Strangely really enjoying this thread though. Feels a bit more like normal Darlo-supporting from afar again. Even Fetish Bob's bungled attempt to channel his obsessive hatred of us with sly dig has a nice air of familiarity to it.

Well done everybody.

Carry on...

[divas]

White won't come back, he would have, but now.

[Bogratsteve]

Who was captain last night in place of Brown?

[super_les_mcjannet]

White won't come back, he would have, but now.

Played with Whitey at sixth form for a season and I would love him to be back, however he is not working at the moment from what I hear so I would guess needs the income from Harrogate. I believe they are bankrolled at the moment so he can probably earn more there than here.

Shame because he would be rock solid for us and really would toughen us up.

[Hilly]

White won't come back, he would have, but now.

When you say he would have, but not now - what do you mean?

Did he apply for the managers position but got turned down? Does he not get on with a certain person? Have his circumstances changed i.e. as Les alludes to, he isn't working so he needs the money Harrogate can offer?

[divas]

He was ready to come back but was seemingly subsequently overlooked

[Hilly]

He was ready to come back but was seemingly subsequently overlooked

Right, so Gray didn't think he'd fit into his plans. Disappointing given our current predicament because he is exactly the type of player we could do with right now.

[Neil_Heaneys_Pace]

this was always going to happen,

I think we need to stop acting like we are a league 2 club that got beat by a northern league club.

We are in the same league and got complacent after a good run and got beat.

End of.

[super_les_mcjannet]

this was always going to happen,

I think we need to stop acting like we are a league 2 club that got beat by a northern league club.

We are in the same league and got complacent after a good run and got beat.

End of.

Yep and we will lose another game and it could be 3-0 to Penrith and it's about the season and where we finish, face it teams we were much bigger than us are now playing at the same level. We need to learn the lessons but not dwell on them too much aswell, 1 bad game does not mean certain players are not good enough anymore they just had an off night and it was all of them.

[beatroute66]

Although I must admit to being startled at hearing last night's result, I've seen enough of this squad already to know that we're going to be up there at the end of the season.

In this league and at this level we're going to get surprise results - a lad I know who follows Spenny told me to be prepared for the fact that any team can beat any other team at this level, so it might be something we have to get used to as the season unfolds.

Spenny only beat Dunston 2-0 and they saw that as a really good result ("against the FA Vase winners...") - we pulled them apart 4-0 in that second half last week.

Let's see what happens on Saturday v. Consett, shall we?

[Spyman]

He was ready to come back but was seemingly subsequently overlooked

That is a massive shame.

[Vokuhila]

At least we won't be wearing that grey third strip again this season.

Didn't Guisborough's number 9 look a bit like Egil Ostenstad too?

[marskequaker]

I'm surprised given the combative qualities of the management team (Gray, Gregan) as players the one thing absent in the 35 minutes I saw was a complete lack of character. We walked in after 10 minutes to hear that Guisborough were already a goal up. They could have been four goals up at half time from what I witnessed and in that time Darlo had one great chance but the centre forward overran the ball. I had to leave at half time but could not believe it when we got back to the police station and were told Guisborough had won 4-1. This was the first time I had seen Darlo this season - what a first impression! Completely outclassed and outfought by those based locally - a mediocre NL team.

[princes town]

White won't come back, he would have, but now.

Played with Whitey at sixth form for a season and I would love him to be back, however he is not working at the moment from what I hear so I would guess needs the income from Harrogate. I believe they are bankrolled at the moment so he can probably earn more there than here.

Shame because he would be rock solid for us and really would toughen us up.

Harrogate have an owner called Weaver who pays good money for the contracted players. His son is the manager.

[davidcorks 40yard OG]

At least we won't be wearing that grey third strip again this season.Didn't Guisborough's number 9 look a bit like Egil Ostenstad too?

WTF are you going on about ?
Looks like the home kit was worn going by the pics in todays echo

[HarryCharltonsCat]

Although I must admit to being startled at hearing last night's result, I've seen enough of this squad already to know that we're going to be up there at the end of the season.

In this league and at this level we're going to get surprise results - a lad I know who follows Spenny told me to be prepared for the fact that any team can beat any other team at this level, so it might be something we have to get used to as the season unfolds.

Spenny only beat Dunston 2-0 and they saw that as a really good result ("against the FA Vase winners...") - we pulled them apart 4-0 in that second half last week.

Let's see what happens on Saturday v. Consett, shall we?

Think Guisborough took 4 pts of Spenny last year.

[theoriginalfatcat]

It's no good being "up there" at the end of the season. We have to be top of the league and promoted. Anything else should be viewed as failure.

We have attendances far higher than any other team, better management and better prospects than all our competitors.

If we don't get out of where we shouldn't be, at the first attempt, I reckon we will find this feel good factor disappear, along with 500 or so fans.

Martin, his players and assistants simply have to get it right.

No pressure.

[Darlofan97]

We could start with bringing in Jamie Owens, quality player.

I'd persist with the Grieve/Purewal centre half partnership for now. I'd give them time to gel and let's hope Grieve will get better with 90 minutes now under his belt.

I can't see us bringing in a natural leader by Saturday. I'd rather not have Gregan playing, MacKay will probably rip him a new one.

Somebody's got to stand up and be counted...

[Vokuhila]

At least we won't be wearing that grey third strip again this season.Didn't Guisborough's number 9 look a bit like Egil Ostenstad too?

WTF are you going on about ?
Looks like the home kit was worn going by the pics in todays echo

I was just messing on really, whilst at the same time drawing an admittedly pretty tenuous parallel between us and Man U back in 96/97, i.e. that it's not unprecedented for a team to get the odd drubbing early on in the season and still go on to win the title.

I think a few people need to maybe fire up their immersions and chill out in a deep bath for an hour or two, as it's only one freakishly bad performance & there is still a long way to go.

[Fatty eats roadkill]

We could start with bringing in Jamie Owens, quality player.

I'd persist with the Grieve/Purewal centre half partnership for now. I'd give them time to gel and let's hope Grieve will get better with 90 minutes now under his belt.

I can't see us bringing in a natural leader by Saturday. I'd rather not have Gregan playing, MacKay will probably rip him a new one.

Somebody's got to stand up and be counted...

Shite spouted as usual.

The strikers weren't the problem last night, it was the other 9 on the field!

Have you got a fixation on owens?

[Darlofan97]

We could start with bringing in Jamie Owens, quality player.

I'd persist with the Grieve/Purewal centre half partnership for now. I'd give them time to gel and let's hope Grieve will get better with 90 minutes now under his belt.

I can't see us bringing in a natural leader by Saturday. I'd rather not have Gregan playing, MacKay will probably rip him a new one.

Somebody's got to stand up and be counted...

Shite spouted as usual.

The strikers weren't the problem last night, it was the other 9 on the field!

Have you got a fixation on owens?

Owens is a quality player and we need another striker.

So, what don't you agree with?

[Hilly]

We could start with bringing in Jamie Owens, quality player.

I'd persist with the Grieve/Purewal centre half partnership for now. I'd give them time to gel and let's hope Grieve will get better with 90 minutes now under his belt.

I can't see us bringing in a natural leader by Saturday. I'd rather not have Gregan playing, MacKay will probably rip him a new one.

Somebody's got to stand up and be counted...

Shite spouted as usual.

The strikers weren't the problem last night, it was the other 9 on the field!

Have you got a fixation on owens?

Owens is a quality player and we need another striker.

So, what don't you agree with?

Are you basing that on the Shildon managers opinion?

[Darlofan97]

We could start with bringing in Jamie Owens, quality player.

I'd persist with the Grieve/Purewal centre half partnership for now. I'd give them time to gel and let's hope Grieve will get better with 90 minutes now under his belt.

I can't see us bringing in a natural leader by Saturday. I'd rather not have Gregan playing, MacKay will probably rip him a new one.

Somebody's got to stand up and be counted...

Shite spouted as usual.

The strikers weren't the problem last night, it was the other 9 on the field!

Have you got a fixation on owens?

Owens is a quality player and we need another striker.

So, what don't you agree with?

Are you basing that on the Shildon managers opinion?

I'm basing it on his record, 30+ goals in all competitions last season is good for a young lad, and what other people have said, including Stu.

[Hilly]

We could start with bringing in Jamie Owens, quality player.

I'd persist with the Grieve/Purewal centre half partnership for now. I'd give them time to gel and let's hope Grieve will get better with 90 minutes now under his belt.

I can't see us bringing in a natural leader by Saturday. I'd rather not have Gregan playing, MacKay will probably rip him a new one.

Somebody's got to stand up and be counted...

Shite spouted as usual.

The strikers weren't the problem last night, it was the other 9 on the field!

Have you got a fixation on owens?

Owens is a quality player and we need another striker.

So, what don't you agree with?

Are you basing that on the Shildon managers opinion?

I'm basing it on his record, 30+ goals in all competitions last season is good for a young lad, and what other people have said, including Stu.

That's fair enough.

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