Post by ronfosker on Nov 19, 2020 10:20:59 GMT
As my report on the Eastbourne match didn't make it into today's paper, I thought I'd copy it on here.
Below it are my thoughts on George, which did make it into the paper but not yet on the paper's website
It is a cruel irony that anyone searching for a link to watch Braintree Town’s match at Eastbourne Borough online on Saturday was first offered the chance to watch an earlier encounter between the two sides – the first round FA Cup match in November 2016.
It was a match Braintree won 7-0. The contrast with their latest encounter could not have been more stark.
In a match that proved to be manager George Borg’s last, Iron lost 4-0 but their opponents would not have been flattered if they had reversed the score of four years earlier.
After the improvements shown in their last two games, this was a disappointment of the first magnitude.
Basic first principles, the lessons they had learned from those two matches, were cast aside as they presented their hosts with opportunity after opportunity.
The home side could scarcely believe their luck as holes as large as the Channel Tunnel opened up before them.
In only the second minute captain Charlie Walker received the ball in the centre forward position about 30 metres from the goal without a defender in shouting distance. He had time to look round to see where they might have gone before losing his composure and shooting wide.
The let-off failed to provoke a response and in the next ten minutes alone there were no fewer than four more occasions when a forward found himself beyond the defence.
Poor control, a missed cross and an offside flag saved Braintree but no reorganisation resulted.
Instead they resembled King Canute, powerless to stop the waves of attacks from engulfing them.
The major surprise was that it took them until the 35th minutes to score.
This time it was Dean Cox’s turn to be left alone in the box, where he had time to control and turn before firing into the net.
Braintree had a chance of their own in the first five minutes when Jordan Chiedozie latched on to a Matt Johnson throw to turn and shoot but his effort passed wide of the post.
Apart from a weak and wide effort from Rohdell Gordon, Iron’s only other attempt of the half came from 17-year-old Bradley Rolt, who had been given his first start. He picked the ball up from a corner and fired in a strong shot that appeared to be heading goalwards until Franco Ravizzoli dived full-length to his left to bring off an excellent save.
Early in the second half, Duane Ofori-Acheampong, signed during the week, just failed to get on the end of a cross from Gordon.
That was the last time Ravizzoli had anything to disturb his afternoon.
At the other end Preston Edwards was called into action to save from Walker and then dived at Cox’s feet when he had broken through the defence again.
When a long ball caught the back line out, Edwards came to the rescue again, saving Joel Rollinson’s effort.
It couldn’t last. And it didn’t.
Again the only surprise was that it took Eastbourne so long, 76 minutes into the match, before they added to their score, Walker escaping his markers from a free kick to head in from close range.
Goals from Charley Kendall and a second from Walker in the last two minutes of normal time gave the scoreline a more realistic look.
Borg’s last throw of the dice was to hope that the addition of the 6ft 4ins Ofori-Acheampong would offer something new to the forward line. It was presumably intended to give the wide men a target to aim at – which might have worked if anyone had sent in some crosses.
Time is running out to find the answers to the problems. It has now run out for Borg.
Braintree: Preston Edwards; Jamie Fielding, George Allen (Louis Yamfam 65), Kyran Clements, Johnville Renee; Bradley Rolt, Olumide Oluwatimilehin, Matt Johnson, Rohdell Gordon (Arjan Kresniqi 60), Jordan Chiedozie (Liam Smyth 78); Duane Ofori-Acheampong
BORG'S DEPARTURE
There is an old adage in football that managers should not return to former pastures and hope to have the same success.
Even outstanding managers like Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool and Kevin Keegan at Newcastle had little success second time round.
So it was little surprise when George Borg failed to reignite the spark that has been sadly lacking in Braintree Town’s performances for some time.
He arrived at the club almost exactly a year ago when things were at a low ebb, just as they were when he first took over, in the close season of 2004.
But much has changed since then. Braintree were in the Ryman (Isthmian) League premier division and would have been relegated had it not been for the introduction of the Conference North and South, which took away the top half of the division.
Borg cashed in on that good fortune by introducing some strong recruits like Alex Revell, Ollie Adedeji, Paul Lorraine and Billy Burgess and gained promotion two years later.
He was also working for a new go-ahead chairman, Lee Harding having arrived during the previous season with the drive and the wherewithal to improve the club’s standing.
Now Harding is in his 18th season and towards the end of 2019 expressed his concern at the future of the club in these pages. He bemoaned the fact that he was getting little backing in supporting the club financially and mused aloud whether they ought now to think in terms of being an Isthmian League team rather than aiming for the top two tiers of non-league football.
Borg therefore had less cash at his disposal when he returned.
He also had to steer the club into calmer waters after the shambles of three managers in as many weeks.
After Glen Driver resigned, defenders Jake Hutchings and Josh Urquhart prepared the team for the next match as joint caretaker managers. Then Hutchings was given the job on a permanent basis but after three defeats, he too resigned and Borg, who had just been brought in to assist him, was hoisted back into the top job.
It was in mid-season so he did not have the luxury of time to recruit and apart from a few loan signings was unable to bolster the side in its latest relegation bid.
It is ironic that, just as in 2004, Iron were saved from relegation not on the pitch, but because of events off it, when it was decided that there would be no promotion from the leagues below the National League.
The summer recruitment illustrated the club’s absence of financial punch as newcomers were brought in largely from lower divisions.
There were some hopes that they would eventually gel into a unit and signs of improvement were noticeable in the two matches before the debacle at Eastbourne, two matches when, perhaps significantly, Borg was serving a two-match ban imposed after his red card at Billericay at the end of last season (one of the things that did not change was Borg’s self-discipline).
The addition of Matt Johnson and George Allen appeared to have added some bite in midfield and stability at the back but that went completely out of the window at Eastbourne.
Few managers can survive losing their first seven league matches but it was the manner of the Eastbourne capitulation that had fans reaching for the adjectives in their vocabulary on online forums.
As Harding said in his announcement of Borg’s departure: ‘George will always be the manager that took the club to the Isthmian play-offs, Isthmian championship and Conference South play-offs in three successive seasons - a legacy which we all still benefit from.’
The club is indeed indebted to Borg but there is little surprise that he and the club have agreed it is time to part company now.
Below it are my thoughts on George, which did make it into the paper but not yet on the paper's website
It is a cruel irony that anyone searching for a link to watch Braintree Town’s match at Eastbourne Borough online on Saturday was first offered the chance to watch an earlier encounter between the two sides – the first round FA Cup match in November 2016.
It was a match Braintree won 7-0. The contrast with their latest encounter could not have been more stark.
In a match that proved to be manager George Borg’s last, Iron lost 4-0 but their opponents would not have been flattered if they had reversed the score of four years earlier.
After the improvements shown in their last two games, this was a disappointment of the first magnitude.
Basic first principles, the lessons they had learned from those two matches, were cast aside as they presented their hosts with opportunity after opportunity.
The home side could scarcely believe their luck as holes as large as the Channel Tunnel opened up before them.
In only the second minute captain Charlie Walker received the ball in the centre forward position about 30 metres from the goal without a defender in shouting distance. He had time to look round to see where they might have gone before losing his composure and shooting wide.
The let-off failed to provoke a response and in the next ten minutes alone there were no fewer than four more occasions when a forward found himself beyond the defence.
Poor control, a missed cross and an offside flag saved Braintree but no reorganisation resulted.
Instead they resembled King Canute, powerless to stop the waves of attacks from engulfing them.
The major surprise was that it took them until the 35th minutes to score.
This time it was Dean Cox’s turn to be left alone in the box, where he had time to control and turn before firing into the net.
Braintree had a chance of their own in the first five minutes when Jordan Chiedozie latched on to a Matt Johnson throw to turn and shoot but his effort passed wide of the post.
Apart from a weak and wide effort from Rohdell Gordon, Iron’s only other attempt of the half came from 17-year-old Bradley Rolt, who had been given his first start. He picked the ball up from a corner and fired in a strong shot that appeared to be heading goalwards until Franco Ravizzoli dived full-length to his left to bring off an excellent save.
Early in the second half, Duane Ofori-Acheampong, signed during the week, just failed to get on the end of a cross from Gordon.
That was the last time Ravizzoli had anything to disturb his afternoon.
At the other end Preston Edwards was called into action to save from Walker and then dived at Cox’s feet when he had broken through the defence again.
When a long ball caught the back line out, Edwards came to the rescue again, saving Joel Rollinson’s effort.
It couldn’t last. And it didn’t.
Again the only surprise was that it took Eastbourne so long, 76 minutes into the match, before they added to their score, Walker escaping his markers from a free kick to head in from close range.
Goals from Charley Kendall and a second from Walker in the last two minutes of normal time gave the scoreline a more realistic look.
Borg’s last throw of the dice was to hope that the addition of the 6ft 4ins Ofori-Acheampong would offer something new to the forward line. It was presumably intended to give the wide men a target to aim at – which might have worked if anyone had sent in some crosses.
Time is running out to find the answers to the problems. It has now run out for Borg.
Braintree: Preston Edwards; Jamie Fielding, George Allen (Louis Yamfam 65), Kyran Clements, Johnville Renee; Bradley Rolt, Olumide Oluwatimilehin, Matt Johnson, Rohdell Gordon (Arjan Kresniqi 60), Jordan Chiedozie (Liam Smyth 78); Duane Ofori-Acheampong
BORG'S DEPARTURE
There is an old adage in football that managers should not return to former pastures and hope to have the same success.
Even outstanding managers like Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool and Kevin Keegan at Newcastle had little success second time round.
So it was little surprise when George Borg failed to reignite the spark that has been sadly lacking in Braintree Town’s performances for some time.
He arrived at the club almost exactly a year ago when things were at a low ebb, just as they were when he first took over, in the close season of 2004.
But much has changed since then. Braintree were in the Ryman (Isthmian) League premier division and would have been relegated had it not been for the introduction of the Conference North and South, which took away the top half of the division.
Borg cashed in on that good fortune by introducing some strong recruits like Alex Revell, Ollie Adedeji, Paul Lorraine and Billy Burgess and gained promotion two years later.
He was also working for a new go-ahead chairman, Lee Harding having arrived during the previous season with the drive and the wherewithal to improve the club’s standing.
Now Harding is in his 18th season and towards the end of 2019 expressed his concern at the future of the club in these pages. He bemoaned the fact that he was getting little backing in supporting the club financially and mused aloud whether they ought now to think in terms of being an Isthmian League team rather than aiming for the top two tiers of non-league football.
Borg therefore had less cash at his disposal when he returned.
He also had to steer the club into calmer waters after the shambles of three managers in as many weeks.
After Glen Driver resigned, defenders Jake Hutchings and Josh Urquhart prepared the team for the next match as joint caretaker managers. Then Hutchings was given the job on a permanent basis but after three defeats, he too resigned and Borg, who had just been brought in to assist him, was hoisted back into the top job.
It was in mid-season so he did not have the luxury of time to recruit and apart from a few loan signings was unable to bolster the side in its latest relegation bid.
It is ironic that, just as in 2004, Iron were saved from relegation not on the pitch, but because of events off it, when it was decided that there would be no promotion from the leagues below the National League.
The summer recruitment illustrated the club’s absence of financial punch as newcomers were brought in largely from lower divisions.
There were some hopes that they would eventually gel into a unit and signs of improvement were noticeable in the two matches before the debacle at Eastbourne, two matches when, perhaps significantly, Borg was serving a two-match ban imposed after his red card at Billericay at the end of last season (one of the things that did not change was Borg’s self-discipline).
The addition of Matt Johnson and George Allen appeared to have added some bite in midfield and stability at the back but that went completely out of the window at Eastbourne.
Few managers can survive losing their first seven league matches but it was the manner of the Eastbourne capitulation that had fans reaching for the adjectives in their vocabulary on online forums.
As Harding said in his announcement of Borg’s departure: ‘George will always be the manager that took the club to the Isthmian play-offs, Isthmian championship and Conference South play-offs in three successive seasons - a legacy which we all still benefit from.’
The club is indeed indebted to Borg but there is little surprise that he and the club have agreed it is time to part company now.