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Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:18 pm
by Tony
What's everyone's pain threshold before losing faith in Dowse? Not that the players are doing anything to help of course.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:20 pm
by HamptonMad
Please. Go now.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:26 pm
by BevereeMaster
Tony wrote: Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:18 pm
What's everyone's pain threshold before losing faith in Dowse? Not that the players are doing anything to help of course.
Should only deserve another shot if he can shift a lot of these players and start over a little bit.
If he’s going to stick with this crop of players then he has to go
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:34 pm
by TW10
Well the players Dowse invested in have shown to be not good enough, or they can't be organised into a collective that is good enough. Either way it reflects badly on the manager. I think he will walk.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 9:38 pm
by Whoryer
Dowson out now. Embarrassing 2 performances against a team 2nd bottom 2 leagues below us. I said when he was appointed didn't want him back after flopping in his last few jobs. Definitely hasn't helped himself getting a load of Aldershot rejects including Nash too short to be a goalie, Widdrington who can't run and only usually plays for whoever is Dad is currently managing .Ince who shouldnt have been given another year, and Sho Silva a non scoring forward. Going down with Dowson and this squad unless something is done very quickly. Just hope we aren't stuck with alot of the players ,cause they have got contracts and no one else will want them. Very poor recruitment in the summer with what must've been alot bigger budget.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 10:00 pm
by Tony
I'd be surprised if the Chairman didn't think enough was enough after that. Bit like when we lost 6-0 at Eastbourne last season which was the end for Alan Julian.The whole season bar a couple of games has been a shambles with poor recruitment and dreadful defending. If the club doesn't make a change now then how much longer will we give Dowse to turn it around? Dagenham, Ebbsfleet, Dorking in next three league games. We can't even put up a fight against Crowborough. Lot of investment just gone into the club, can't imagine relegation would be tolerated.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 10:02 pm
by Josh2002
Has to go i’m afraid, that was absolutely unacceptable, you can include Saturday in that too. Dowse is a great man and he has done incredible things for this club: the Isthmian League win, back to back play offs at NLS, the later seeing us a shootout away from playing in the National League. However, that was nowhere near good enough. I didn’t think it would get worse than Saturday, but we didn’t lay a glove on them. Crowborough easily could’ve had more, and showed Saturday’s game wasn’t a fluke. Credit to our players who came over to the fans at FT and apologised, saying it wasn’t good enough. Dowse unfortunately was nowhere to be seen. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see him resign. I feel desperately sad that it’s come to this, because as I said, he’s an amazing man who’s done incredible things for our club.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 10:28 pm
by Lord Elpus
Shocking result, absolutely no excuse for losing to a team two divisions below. Some idiot on twitter has just said "oh it's only the FA Cup" but that's not seeing tonight in the context of this very poor start to the season. (It also says a lot about how little the writer knows about non-league club economics.)
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2026 11:01 pm
by Tony
It would have been Wimborne.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2026 7:19 am
by BeaverWatcher
As soon as the line up came out I feared the worst.
Bringing back in Nash against a side who launched long throws in to the box, no pace in Widderington or Fonguck and also Sodje missing so no natural left back.
Does the club now bring forward a game to the 3rd against the multiple National League South side who also lost in this round or get Dagenham put of the way and then have 2 clear weeks to get the squad / management team in order.
Regardless of what happens a massive response is needed against Dagenham and then for the next few games. It can't be a one off. Even if the players aren't up to it the very least they need to show is pride, workrate and effort over the next few weeks.
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2026 9:02 am
by Tony
It would be interesting to hear the reasoning for Nash being brought back in. Was Underwood being dropped because of the third goal on Saturday, carrying a knock or something else? Sodje and De Havilland not picked in the squad, again injury or something else? And why did Ince not get off the bench in either game? Is he not good enough to face a step 4 team or, in reality, still injured ( I doubt it would have changed much but just highlights again the mystery of his signing)? Whatever, we merely postponed the most embarrassing club defeat since probably the VCD FA Cup exit in 2014 from Saturday to Tuesday. The club has to decide pretty quickly the reasons for the dreadful start to the season and if Dowse is the right man to fix it. It's his squad after all. Despite a better performance against Chelmsford it feels we've dropped right back to where we were at Salisbury on the opening day of the season. As far as I can tell a lot of the squad needs to be moved on but in reality with contracts in place that is unlikely to be something that could happen quickly enough. Would a change of manager get more out of the squad? Depends who might come in and with what financial backing. Where do you find better players at this stage of the season? The two loanees so far have been relatively inexperienced and not turned the dial sufficiently. Would a new manager have more access to better players?
Re: F A Cup Second Qualifying Round - Crowborough Athletic (H)
Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2026 9:38 am
by Josh2002
BeaverWatcher wrote: Wed Sep 23, 2026 7:19 am
Does the club now bring forward a game to the 3rd against the multiple National League South side who also lost in this round or get Dagenham put of the way and then have 2 clear weeks to get the squad / management team in order.
Billericay away, currently scheduled for Tuesday 27th October looks a feasible option for that. They went out to Enfield.