Oh oh.
You're going to start NB off - I can feel a lecture coming on about refereeing!

Disappointed about the final result but I didn't think the day was all bad.
Firstly I thought we were in for a pasting when Batley took the lead early on, so credit to the lads for digging in, coming back and taking the lead- although it was disappointing to have let it slip going in at half time.
Second half, despite leading early on we seemed to run out of ideas/ steam going forward.
One thing I noticed was that Batley finished most of their sets on our try line, we were kicking from halfway a lot of the time on our last tackle. Which wasn't always a bad thing as their fella on the left didn't seem too happy under the high ball. But we were having to work a lot harder to clear our lines and not making too much meaningful forward progress.
While Batley are a good side I felt that if we had a bit more about us ( and cut out silly mistakes ) we could , stress COULD , have got a result. Someone else made the point about the difference Meadows made when he came on - he did, perhaps he used to read this forum, and had a point to prove to some?

That said I feel a lot more confident about this season on the pitch - after last season's opener it was pretty clear that a number of players ( not just the ex- Skolars) weren't going to be good enough if they couldn't seriously up their game. Staying injury free ? Grant seemed to have a bad injury first half - was pointing to his chest when the physio came on, and she instantly signalled for him to be replaced. Rib injury?

Off pitch - good crowd, good to see one of our local clubs ( Brixton) involved - hopefully they and other clubs in London and the Southeast will be present at our other home games. Medway Dragons to be invited for the game at Ebbsfleet would be a good fit , no?

If I hadn't been to a gig at Pizza Express on Friday I would have tried the pizza option yesterday.. Hot dog and chips was ok, if the cook was burning the burger buns then it could only add to the flavour - brioche buns are the product of Satan's bakery!
Fanzone could be a winner in warmer times, somewhere to hang out pre match, would be good to have a merch stall out there - I've no idea where the club shop is!

I was not able to go, but all in all, looks much more positive than the start of last season

Yes we lost, but we was competitive, and sounds like off-field great improvement

Now the acid test, can they back this up (off field I mean), and keep over 1500 for next gate

The fact that Meadows made a difference gives an indication of where our side is.



The shop was just opposite the pub (which was nice and lively pre match) but didn't see any customers in it when I went past.

Missed opportunity with a decent crowd to have the new shirts available and on sale.

Even Buck and Dusty were wearng plain shirts and not sure why they weren't pitch side entertaining and geeing

on the crowd.

Did'nt see the match, have not seen the highlights, but I feel we had a very light pre season in terms of competitive games into the campaign this year. One friendly against lower opposition is not good enough to gel a side together.
As we have a quiet preseason schedule, from a ex Rugby Union player, you need at least 2-3 good games to get back into the swing of things. We are missing game toughness which you cannot replicate on the training pitch.

From what I have read, we have potential in our young half backs but need a bit of experience coming in, we have good foundations, but we have clocked off at the start but had enough in ourselves to dig in and get ourselves back, and the fan feedback is positive, apart from an expensive pizza (which would annoy me aswell).

Coffee from the Broncos club sponsor Stubborn Rhino was quality and deserving of the premium tag.

An attendance of 1,849 feels correct to me and is pretty much what I estimated with "My guess is a crowd approaching the 2,000 mark".

Biggest off field improvement is it felt like you were at a big event yesterday which is (one of the) keys to retaining and building a fan base. There were quite a lot of small kids yesterday; the bouncy assault course keeping many entertained. Quite possible that many of those families got in at low cost rate this week. That won't make sense indefinitely, but when you get a child who wants to go because of the off field entertainment, starts to get a small engagement with the on the pitch performance and parents who enjoy a Sunday afternoon with a beer in hand watching a sporting event, then those families will regard it is worth paying for.

Yep they need to back this up next couple of home games, and provide a similar experience (with the caaveat that the team actually wins)

Re the sun in people's eyes in the East stand, reminds me of similar times at The Stoop .
Now if the club was smart ( yeah I know!) they could stock up the club shop or a merch stall with Broncos caps on bright sunny days like yesterday.
As I say, if the club was smart.........

You don't often see Club & smart in the same sentence, so despite your very excellent suggestion RfE, I suspect it will fall on deaf ears. But you never know!

I'll leave guestimating crowds until the seasons end.....if the club declare a figure for every game, then that's what they've had to pay the hosts for, so I don't see a reason for them to fudge the figures.
25 home games left to get to Highes 5k of paying punters so let's hope that the 50% or so if freebies come back and book the gold lounge for the rest of the season.
As for on the park? As I've said, hoping there are two worse teams than us so we avoid relegation isn't a strategy I'd be going with, but Hughes seems content

I can't really comment on the first half as the flipping sun was in my eyes most of the time, WTH is it going to be like in the summer?
Yup it was annoying. LB Twitter has photos up and behind the player, Leyland junior, all the crowd are shading their eyes. It is what it is.

I could be wrong but It didn't feel like we were kept away for the length of time AFC are doing by Charlton & Brentford in those vital months.

I don't remember Charlton, but Brentford is was usually 4 weeks, with a game on the road in the middle (wales several times, leicester, coventry, remember one night vs catalans in esher)

PL seems 8 weeks which is a killer to any momentum.

Wasn’t that game in Esher because the pitch at the Stoop was flooded / unplayable?
Seem to remember playing Bradford at Wycombe as well while it was sorted out .

You get to far more weird places as a Broncos supporter than any other club thats for sure.....

I'm sure the Catalans and Bradford matches mentioned were short notice re-arrangement rather than planned work. Seem to remember all sorts of rumours flying round Esher about where we were taking Bradford.

Can't remember why the matches had to move though.

I remember that the pitch had to be repaired after a big dump of rain over the winter, and as such we were informed of this maintenance work in advance by Quins.

Quote ="someonehasmyname1"I remember that the pitch had to be repaired after a big dump of rain over the winter, and as such we were informed of this maintenance work in advance by Quins.'" https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby- ... 48064.html There's a great photo in the article - and yet the pitch had been declared 'playable' on the day!

Quote ="someonehasmyname1"I remember that the pitch had to be repaired after a big dump of rain over the winter, and as such we were informed of this maintenance work in advance by Quins.'" https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/rugby- ... 48064.html There's a great photo in the article - and yet the pitch had been declared 'playable' on the day!

Plough Lane is very popular with the women’s football game.

I'm not sure that would be a reason for such a long period of repair. Charlton were playing at a higher level than AFC & Brenford probably about the same, but obviously clubs expect their pitches to be of better quality now. Pitch technology has moved on in leaps & bounds since then, so you have to wonder if AFC have installed the right sort of pitch for year round sport if it needs this length of repair.

Our fixture list is pretty ridiculous. We play Barrow at Cherry Red on 13-May and then are not back there again until 30-Jul against York.

Thats 12 weeks without a home game (I don't count Ebbslefleet as home games). Remind me again if any other club who shares with a football club also has 12 weeks gap in the middle of the season

I think this approach comes from the “How not to build a club” handbook. Page 14 under the sub-heading “Stalling momentum”. I believe there is a well thumbed copy in the Gold Lounge if you ever get in there. Other chapters include “Non recruitment- a spirited defence” and “Retaining players? Nah xxxx ‘em, there’s always more”. I believe having tried it out in 2022- we no longer feel the latter chapter quite worked for us.