England > Midweek > Non-league Mar 31-Apr 3

[Gamblergb]

Re: England > Midweek > Non-league Mar 31-Apr 3 Im placed my pick on Halifax handicap earlier this week. The odds have dropped too much, therefore no value . I actually think the price for draw look good.

[YorkshireFootyFan]

Re: England > Midweek > Non-league Mar 31-Apr 3 I was kicking myself for not having a smartphone tonight. It would have paid for itself after five minutes it had 0-0 written all over it. Braintree came to do a job and did it very well, they are very physical, using arms all the time, which referees accept nowadays, and they go down at the slightest contact, the goalkeeper started wasting time from the first minute. Every ball was contested making the game frenetic and scrappy. You could tell almost from the off that Halifax weren't equipped to cope with Braintree and they were only going to be feeding off scraps all night. Halifax had one gilt edged opportunity a missed header on about 38 minutes, but by then Braintree had missed a one on one and should have been in front. Eventually the pace slackened and the game opened up a little but Halifax didn't show enough composure and continued in a scrappy fashion. This isn't meant to sound like sour grapes, Braintree came with a plan, executed it well and could have nicked it. Bear this in mind for the remainder of their games, a couple of decent players up front who can cause problems backed up by a hard working team of spoilers. I know Halifax wouldn't want to meet them in the play-offs, not in the semi's for sure. Halifax now need to get a result or two against the better teams away from home and on this showing you wouldn't fancy them to do it but against a team that allows them to counter they could spring a surprise.

[Darran]

Re: England > Midweek > Non-league Mar 31-Apr 3 Alan Devonshire is a very good manager and knows exactly what he is doing.

[Shipsupstreets]

Re: England > Midweek > Non-league Mar 31-Apr 3

I was kicking myself for not having a smartphone tonight. It would have paid for itself after five minutes it had 0-0 written all over it. Braintree came to do a job and did it very well, they are very physical, using arms all the time, which referees accept nowadays, and they go down at the slightest contact, the goalkeeper started wasting time from the first minute. Every ball was contested making the game frenetic and scrappy. You could tell almost from the off that Halifax weren't equipped to cope with Braintree and they were only going to be feeding off scraps all night. Halifax had one gilt edged opportunity a missed header on about 38 minutes, but by then Braintree had missed a one on one and should have been in front. Eventually the pace slackened and the game opened up a little but Halifax didn't show enough composure and continued in a scrappy fashion. This isn't meant to sound like sour grapes, Braintree came with a plan, executed it well and could have nicked it. Bear this in mind for the remainder of their games, a couple of decent players up front who can cause problems backed up by a hard working team of spoilers. I know Halifax wouldn't want to meet them in the play-offs, not in the semi's for sure. Halifax now need to get a result or two against the better teams away from home and on this showing you wouldn't fancy them to do it but against a team that allows them to counter they could spring a surprise.

That's a good summing up, YFF. Given what Braintree have done so far this week, Halifax would have known what to expect from them - a tigerishly hard-working midfield that defends the halfway line, cuts out any width, and forces the opposition midfield to go long. It's then up to the defensive unit to deal with anything coming at them and they seem to have done that pretty well. It was much the same Halifax personnel that defeated Luton, so you have to give Alan Devonshire immense credit for what he has achieved this week - he's taken a team of part-timers hundreds of miles this week and blunted the attacks of a play-off-chasing side coming back into form (Gateshead), a reshaped team in superb home form in Southport, and a Halifax side with the best home record in the section, and only conceded once - that a spectacular late strike at Gateshead to give them a thoroughly undeserved win. There are special ones, and there is the really special one.