Maidstone United (A) FA Cup Rnd 2 match thread

[Bombadel]

Good gesture by the club, refunding tickets.

https://www.barrowafc.com/news/2023/dec ... e-tickets/

[SayitagainSam]

Wow. Does that set a precedent? If we lose an away game, one we were expected to win, we can ask for our money back. Didn't realize the Club was so flush.

[AugustusCorpa]

Good gesture but as disappointing as the result was if I went to the match I wouldn’t take a ticket refund. I wouldn’t want the club to lose the money.

[Jonty]

Nice gesture but don’t think it’s necessary and don’t think there will be much uptake on this. The fans are right behind Wild and the boys and they have given us a real team to get behind. In it together and we’ll take it on the chin. The goal is to build a club to compete in the league. Any cup progress is a bonus and we don’t set out to be reliant on it.

[Louis29]

Good gesture by the club, refunding tickets.

https://www.barrowafc.com/news/2023/dec ... e-tickets/

Is this not why we love the club. Brilliant gesture but I think not taking a refund shows the team and club that we are in it together through thick and thin

[Mark Johnson]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/67601430

Just seen their winning goal on the highlights... Very similar to Jason Walkers FA Trophy winning goal

[andyg]

Cant do much about those sort of goals - sort of meant to be

[Jim]

Cant do much about those sort of goals - sort of meant to be

Another Ronnie Radford type of FA cup goal but hopefully the BBC. won’t show it quite so often!

[BarrowLad71]

Bus is on the way home of the same verdict we didn’t show enough and they deserved to win.

Disappointed but certainly no overreaction. We have done that to other clubs many times.

Onto Saturday the only focus now

[trueblues]

Great gesture from the club. Won't be asking for a refund.
Avant west coast delay repay - ill be talking to you

We didn't turn up! They did simple

We lost Saturday we can't start a melt down. Train shop is shut no wine

[xerxes]

I believe this is first ever loss as a league club to a non league club in the FA cup.

I think we lost to non-league clubs very early in our league career, but must be getting on for 100 years ago. I have a list of our complete FA Cup record, but don't have access to it at the moment.

[Jonty]

What a goal to win it. No complaints we’ve had those moments.

A win Saturday is the best response.

[Suffolk Blue]

So well done to Maidstone. They fought hard for their win. And I hope they get a great draw in Round 3.

As suggested before the game in order to lose a game like this, the underdog has to play at a high level and the favourite will always for whatever reason drop theres. Both these things happened today and there is always something about an FA Cup tie that seems to send these psychological messages to both sets of players during the game. Even as a spectator you can almost feel the behavioural changes in the players in ways that you rarely do in a league fixture.

Because of our League form we probably have come to more or less forget that until quite recently our performances were whilst being reasonably good rarely reached a level of brilliance. Only a month ago I was desperately wishing to get out of Stadium MK after 90 minutes because until the 93rd minute our performance was so drab. Not bad exactly but flat and disjointed. So anybody that has got a little carried away in the last few weeks (myself included) was reminded today that if our worst is not exactly terrible it can still be pretty mediocre.

There are some comments above to the effect that Maidstone were actually better than us. Disagree with that entirely. Being better and deserving to win are not the same. Technically I thought we were the better team. We didn't play hoof ball at any point and box to box I thought were easily identifiable as the higher level team. Being technically superior however in these encounters does not get you the victory. Maidstone had more passion in their play certainly. They had a plan that involved making the space disappear in front of goal, making the pitch as narrow as they could and hitting us on the counter with pace when they could. They also slowed us down. Generally speaking this more or less worked. These tactics were always going to be predictable so our failure to deal with them was what cost us the game. From what I know of PW, he'd be really pi*ed off with the way we lost.

As the second half progressed I got the distinct impression that Barrow were asserting much greater control. Maidstone were sitting deeper and deeper and giving us the ball back. Again you could sense this was also occurring to the Barrow players. But they did not pick up the pace. It was as if they believed that time and subs would inevitably do the trick. Their second goal started with a sloppy mistake high up the field and a rapid counter. The strike when it came was unstoppable and he probably wont score too many more in his career like that. Had he not scored this would've been a cast iron draw but he did and for the last 15-20 minutes they inevitably fought like tigers.

Thats how you lose a game like todays.

[Jonty]

SB we had one shot on goal in 90 minutes of football. You can dominate a football and have all the possession but if you don’t shoot you don’t score.

[McMark]

Pete Wild 14:30 in.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0gt1 ... are-mobile