Cross Keys

[html junkie]

I'm looking forward to a Friday night Gwent derby, and to seeing Mr Coffey doing his bit selling programmes, working in the shop or manning the office in his new volunteer role. Go on John boy, you know you want to, really!

[chris]

Also looking forward to this evening. Hopefully we'll put in a much better performance than last week! Also good to see Jon Davies starting at 8 and Cam back at 6.

[Phillip Grey]

Good luck this evening Ebbw Vale, hoping to be there if my chaeuffeur finishes work on time.

Really hoping to get the victory, and agree it’s great to see Jon Davies starting at number 8.

[JohnCoffey]

I'm looking forward to a Friday night Gwent derby, and to seeing Mr Coffey doing his bit selling programmes, working in the shop or manning the office in his new volunteer role. Go on John boy, you know you want to, really!

I'll struggle to make this evening's game but on the back of HTML's desire to see me I shall do my damn best !
Consistent selection of personalities in the 13 forwards on show tonight, but first time for the 6,7,8 starting combination of Regan, Davies & Kynes & from previous posts on this forum, I'm sure we are all interested in how that goes.
5th consecutive game we have changed the half backs & 6th combination in 10 games. Don't follow the logic with previous selections of selecting Dai Langdon at 10, BUT also think it's a good call & overdue. He played 12 to Josh Lewis at 10 last season, but we don't have Josh Lewis at 10 anymore & no matter what the result is tonight or how he plays, I hope he gets an extended run at 10.

[Topspectator]

We need a bit more control and Dai can give us that at 10 i do worry about the centre partnership but not spoilt for choice. Good news that Jon Davies is back in the fold gives the back row another dimension hopefully our link up play gels and we can go through some phases and create for the guys out wide need this win

[JohnCoffey]

We need a bit more control and Dai can give us that at 10 i do worry about the centre partnership but not spoilt for choice. Good news that Jon Davies is back in the fold gives the back row another dimension hopefully our link up play gels and we can go through some phases and create for the guys out wide need this win

I agree re Dai & the centres. They have played together 5 times & whilst both decent players it doesn't work as a combination - maybe tonight will be different.

[chris]

For those who may be interested, Keys side is as follows:

15. Leon Andrews
14. Mathew Powell
13. Lewis Barnett
12. Phil Williams
11. Barney Nightingale
10. Josh Prosser
9. James Leadbeater

1. Corey Hewlett
2. Will Griffiths
3. Richard Cornock
4. Tom Lampard
5. Josh Skinner
6. Taine Basham
7. Scott Matthews (c)
8. Adam Powell

16. Rob Jones
17. Gwesyn Price-Jones
18. Gary Carpenter
19. Dan Mock
20. Liam Davies
21. Corey Shephard
22. Callum Morris
23. Ben Snell.

[marshomano]

I'm heartbroken

[123]

Don't let mr Coffey help in the club, let him get his boots on and play next week! It can't get any worse! Someone posted after we got stuffed against Pinty that our game against keys would show where we are.....well this is where we are! One of the worst teams currently in the prem!!

[gtc]

At least the scoreboard worked

[Malpas69]

Someone posted after we got stuffed against Ponty that our game against keys would show where we are.....well this is where we are! One of the worst teams currently in the prem!!

No, you're wrong there - we are THE worst team currently in the Premiership.

[chris]

Truly pathetic for large parts of the game. So many basic and unforced errors... we ended up making a very average Keys side look like world beaters this evening... and what the hell has happened to our defence?!! We used to build our game around it, now it's non-existent.

Pains me to say it, but we are a team going backwards at a rate of knots at the moment, and if our attendances continue to drop (tonight's looked poor) we'll be in even more trouble.

Time for a change I would suggest, as whatever it is that we're trying to do at the moment clearly isn't working.

[Malpas69]

Previously I was critical of the coaches, but having read some of the subsequent posts, I was prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt and to give them another chance, but after that completely inept performance, I am afraid that they need to consider their position. They have turned previously good players into bad players or certainly players lacking in confidence. That was summed up for me in tonight's game. Callum Hall has clearly been lacking in confidence, so what do our coaches do - pick him out of position at full back. Clearly Cross Keys were playing on him giving him the run around. Having seen that he was struggling and with a full back (Will Holley) on the bench, what do they do, they take James Lewis (who had barely touched the ball) off and put Will Holley on the wing! If a player is lacking in confidence, the last thing they want is to be selected in a position that they are not used to playing. The whole season has been a myriad of strange and inconsistent team selections and baffling replacements. The players (who I still think are quality players) are clearly not playing for the coaches - they don't become poor players overnight, there must be an underlying problem with the current set-up. There seems to be a complete lack of respect and a disconnect between players and coaches. That said, I am struggling to see what our game plan and tactics actually are. We lack any sort of structure and are playing like a bunch of school kids - all bunched up in a group. We go through a few phases and are then completely shapeless. Our team on paper still looks strong, but we are not playing as a team and have lost that culture and togetherness that made us champions barely two years ago. How can we go from there to where we are now in less than two seasons, especially with the bulk of the same squad?

[abergavenny plodder]

Well that was disappointing. We gifted Keys countless points and seem so brittle in defence. We can,t seem to catch any restarts or up and unders and the backs are so toothless and impotent we could still be playing now with Keys showered and changed and we,d still struggle to score. There is no on field leadership and the team just seem to capitulate at first sign of adversity. This team is comparable with the one relegated in 2009-10, just as well there isn't,t any. The coach certainly seems to have lost the dressing room as so many of the players just seem to be going through the motions and they are definitely not playing for him. Difficult to see where we go from here and just hope we can pick up the odd win here and there before the end of the season to maintain a bit of interest.

[jadegoodiesfridge]

People compare our team that got relegated, to today's squad .I honestly believe that team would trounce the Ebbw side of today .It pains me to
Say ,this is the worst Ebbw side I've seen since Phil Booth's side of 92/93.I felt so sad watching our great club roll over to such an average side as Cross Keys in such a manner as we did tonight .We are now a club that is going downhill at a rate of knots .
We are led to believe that our coaches are going to be the bees knees in the not too distant future.But when that time comes ,are we then the next Maesteg ? Someone posted that they don't like blaming individuals. Neither do I.I've followed Ebbw since 77 /78.And have seen the ups and downs many times .This is the worst that I can remember Sorry coaches.the games up .It's time to bow out gracefully.We're Ebbw for Goodness's sake !