Hayes & Yeading United Fans' Forum

What can I say? Many of us said this was a six-pointer prior to kickoff and it read very much like we were found wanting? An early goal against would've done the confidence no good at all and we have also lost Lewis Kinsella to a red card.

It means the Harrow game on Saturday is a stone-wall absolute MUST-WIN. Luckily, they're in even worse form than we are and bottom of the pile.

I'd be interested to know what people's opinions are though. Is it the players, the coaching staff, both or something else completely? I mean last season didn't pan out as we hoped - missing the playoffs and all - but to have such a big decline in such a short space of time is worrying. Should we have made wholesale squad changes in the summer perhaps?

Here's hoping we can turn it around and quickly. COYH!

Just a bunch of random thoughts from me really.

The penalty looked very harsh with one live view. However, Plymouth were still clearly the better side in the first half.

Second half the urgency went up a notch and we looked better. Maybe that was helped by the substitutions. It looked like we were keener to get the ball forward quicker, some longer balls for the forwards to chase, maybe easier with the wind against us. I forgot we were down to 10 men at times, although Plymouth were more content to let us have the ball and defend their lead. You mention confidence and I wonder about that, who really wants the ball when we're moving trying to break down two defensive lines?

In general recent signings have been unspectacular. Either not good enough or OK but not remarkable. I wonder if we scout them or they come round on some availability list and we just take a punt hoping to find a diamond.

The two defensive midfielders sitting in front of our back four looked ineffective. They didn't offer much defensive cover and didn't give us any attacking options either, a bit of a waste of two players.

Kinsella will be a loss. He was often left to try to do something creative and spark our forward moves, not everything he did worked but he did seem to take responsibility, take a risk and get things moving for us.

We had a strong bench of players coming back to fitness plus Omar to come back from suspension. We are good enough to get out of trouble, but as the season ticks down that starts to sound more and more hollow.

Missed this game so can’t comment much.

Just seems now prior to each game beginning I’m already settling for a draw.
We seem to have settled on a very defensive style under new management which leaves us with a problem if we go behind.
Goals look almost non existent in this team now.
It is a massive difference to the style we have got so used to under Paul Hughes who managed to balance possession, defensive duties but also let key players express themselves and looking threatening going forward.

Hoping we can turn this around but on performances recently it’s going to be a struggle. COYH

Plymouth are a decent side and their form proves it of late, organised, aggressive with and without the ball, won the majority of 50/50 tackles coasted second half knowing we couldn’t really hurt them.

I’ve watched every game this season, and from early as September we have looked a very poor side. You can blame pitches, referees, weather, injuries or suspensions to players. We are simply not good enough with or without the key players in the side( better but still a relegation team)

Midfield last night of Gambin, Dunne and Ferdinand Okoh was out of its depth, didn’t put tackle in all night. Bullied all round the park and looked like it was the first time they met each other. They all look tidy enough but nothing productive in or out of possession. Amos sat on the bench carrying a knock???
The defence easy to blame, but they consistently up against it for the majority of games, with little help from anyone in front of them.
Tactics seem a real issue for me, it’s either to complicated or the players are just simply not able to follow managers instructions. So many times, which ever player was in possession had maybe one option to pass to if he was lucky, confidence makes u not want the ball and that was how we started the game. In the opening 3 minutes not one player put his foot on the ball and picked a pass, to a man they gave it away resulting in the first goal which was a poor one. Penalty a joke tangle of legs nothing more.
Second half more direct style but more in hope than any real idea in my opinion.
Does Mark even know his best team if they all fit and available????

I cannot see how we’re going to pick up enough wins to get us out of this mess, seriously lacking in the final third no player in the squad is natural finisher or not been able to show he is. Once again we only had 4 shots on target in 90mins which tells you why we are in the bottom 2/3 in the league.
No idea what the answers are in regards to manager, I do feel the club took the easy way out on both occasions, rather than find the best candidate for the job when Hughes left and Hanlon stepped down. Previous post could be right and freshened up the whole management and playing staff( with hindsight its easy to question the decisions made by the board)

Tobias brought in to score goals and playing left wing? Cole Brown taken off arguably our best player all season maybe injured but we will never find out!!

Only few positives, think Marvel has been a good find, been pretty solid in all our games. Ronan Silva and Steve Ngunga back and changed the threat going forward in second half but still never looked like scoring often enough.
Harrow away is massive on Saturday must win but we are in this for the long haul now.
U hayessssss

This season has been terrible, for many of numerous reasons.

Last year was only just better in the second half of the season, but I always knew it would be an uphill battle when Paul Hughes stepped away from the club and we have certainly been in for a reality check all season. He entered a sinking ship and changed the clubs fortunes on and off the pitch, we were an attractive outfit to play for playing some of the best football we’ve seen, we had calls for him to be sacked, despite losing half of the squad from the play off final. He got us going and after a defeat there was always a reaction.

I compare this side to the team who previously went down in 16/17. That team was low on quality but the majority of the players showed something here or there, they tried. We had a striker, but we just didn’t have the players to deliver the ball in the box. If the players try and you can see that, then you don’t mind, but you can’t get away without showing the bare minimum, which is as fans, all we ask for. Now it’s like these players have downed tools already.

We reached the play-off final, going one nil up to this. All the hard work Paul Hughes put into moulding this club back together, has gone to waste, both on and off the pitch.

The astro turf training pitch is now ten years old and is no coincidence with the amount of injuries we’ve had in the last few previous weeks (13). The Astro is supposedly meant to be relayed every ten years.

With all the income from the carpark & Ted lasso we’ve sat silent on our feet and moved back to square one pre Paul Hughes era, it’s taken the former vice chairman and now sole chairman to finally, five years after moving home, to slowly but surely get going with the official bar.

A new signing comes in, his relatives watch him everywhere he plays and his comment on the bar sums up pretty much how most fans have felt.

We had all the income which could’ve been used to balance between a building a youngish side to compete for a few years and getting the facilities up to scratch, rather than going all out on the pitch. You can’t build a team on the pitch without improving off it. We have sat silent and it’s biting us back now.

There has been no plan and there is no vision or structure on where the club is going and aims to be and if we aren’t careful we will follow in the steps of the likes of Tooting & Mitcham who found themselves competing in the isthmian premier, now playing combined counties football.


Everything filters down, there is barely room for players and fans to socialise and stay for evening kick off etc. Other than leaving home at 2:40 and leaving at 5pm, on Saturdays I don’t anticipate spending more time at a home game than needed currently.

We’ve a stand put in behind the goal, I can’t remember the year now 2021? 2022? But if the rumours are true, this was placed without requesting planning permission, a joke decision. We were told this was opening at the start of season or at least by September. This still has tape on it and nobody is allowed to enter.

We visit the likes of Totton, they’ve got income through two bars, conferences and also Soton u21 playing on their pitch. They set themselves up and invested off the field to build their potential on the field.

Reggie at the start of the season done an excellent job in promoting the clubs games and attempting to bring in new fans with free tickets. Our crowds were on the up, well done that man for his work. It is certainly appreciated that someone came and tried their best. Every home attendance was up on the previous season. Hopefully this hard work continues as more fans come in, even if we keep 5%. It’s better than nothing. However ULEZ does not help now.

We actually used twitter to our advantage yesterday with the Wealdstone Southend game off and attracted a few old faces back and neutral fans. Despite an attendance of 184. It may have been a little lower but every penny counts as they say, and it’s what we want to see on a more regular basis.

On the pitch, the squad on paper should be much higher than it is but the reality is, with off the pitch and on the pitch combining together, do we really deserve to be doing better than we are? The answer in plain is no.

I have seen some total s**t and c**p in my time watching us but this is getting worse and worse each game, I’ve warned that this could possibly happen and I’m not surprised it is, the players are playing like they are all strangers, we can’t string a pass together. The midfield is the most important part to a team IMO yet ours is so weak and slow. The two CM’s are on loan, so won’t care what happens to us once their loans are up all whilst Amos sits on the bench. A player who gives his all, communicates on the pitch.

We’ve not heard anyone lead on the pitch from the stand all season, giving instructions to team mates, I thought this changed when Lewis Kinsella came in, he shouts and talks to players, however he was unfortunate for his red card yesterday.

The striker issue has been clear and obvious. We signed Sam Ashton as a stop gap, he got booted out on 7 goals as the leagues second top scorer at the time and remains our top scorer this season currently. 7 goals in near as many games but deemed not enough. We’re heading into February now having not won a league game since October and a home league game since 26th September. Four whole months? Home games, home advantage? Every team comes here playing in second gear and leaves with the three points.

Taylor Miles who could take a set piece was cleared out for a striker to come in.

Simon Grant a competent goalkeeper let go as not playing and wanted game time.

Unfair on Tobias Braney, 8 goals for Chesham last time in 19 games having all the weight left on his shoulders and the clubs hopes of staying in this division through his goals. A great loan signing and I think he will score goals. Whether the service is given to him. Hes a kid, he can’t do it all on his own.


Saturday is boom or bust, nothing else than a win should be expected, if these players can’t get up for Saturday then they need a hard deep look at themselves and ask if they have the fight in them or if they should walk away.