I've set up this blog (Monday-Friday) to give extra coverage to teams I cover for the national press. Any views and opinions are all my own. Best wishes, Jeff. Follow me on Twitter and I'll update you each time I blog. http://twitter.com/JeffTaplin P.S. During the summer break I reserve the right to ramble on about anything and everything!
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Bristol Rovers v Exeter City - Game Off Tonight
My toes are safe (see post below) and the game is off tonight due to the freezing conditions. It has been re-arranged for next Tuesday (December 7th) when it is expected to be 70 degress in the shade.
Bristol Rovers v Exeter City - Icy Cold City
There will be a pitch inspection at 11.30am today to determine whether the Memorial Ground pitch is up to holding tonight's Johnstone Paint Trophy semi final.
Given that the weather conditions aren't going to warm up after the 19:15 kick off time, I'm praying for an abandoned game as my toes have only just recovered from Saturday's game at Hereford! Selfish, I know.
Given that the weather conditions aren't going to warm up after the 19:15 kick off time, I'm praying for an abandoned game as my toes have only just recovered from Saturday's game at Hereford! Selfish, I know.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Hereford United 2 Lincoln City 2 - Homework
Apologies for the late posting today, but the feeling has just returned to my fingers following frostbite suffered during Saturday’s game.
Enough of my moaning though.
Lincoln looked as though they were going to ease their way into the 3rd round hat after a first half performance that saw them leave for the cozy, warm dressing room having scored two goals and saved a penalty.
A superb dinked ball over the Hereford defence in the 19th minute from skipper Scott Kerr found Ashley Grimes - who had left the Bulls defenders flat-footed - and the striker lobbed the ball over stranded Adam Bartlett and into the net.
Grimes is on loan from Millwall and this was his second goal in two games for the Imps. Boss Steve Tilson said later:
“If that goal had been scored in the Premier League people would Have been drooling over it.” Well the away fans and the neutrals like myself were impressed Steve, believe me. A great finish.
Hereford struck back within four minutes though, desperate for a big money 3rd round draw. If they had known then that the prize was to be Wycombe at Adams Park they might not have bothered!
In a case of “anything you can do …” winger Rob Purdie – on loan from Oldham - ran on to a poor pass from Gavin Hoyte and, as keeper Joe Anyon was left stranded, placed the ball into the back of the net for his fourth goal in six games.
Just as Lincoln contributed their own downfall for the equaliser, Hereford managed to shoot themselves in the foot and let the away side restore their lead in the 27th minute.
Skipper Michael Townsend was shepherding the ball back towards Bartlett with Grimes at his back hassling him, but by the time Townsend released the ball for his keeper, Bartlett seemed to be caught in two minds and planted a scuffed clearance right at the feet of Mustapha Carayol. The Gambia-born winger was impressive all afternoon and deserved his goal, although was probably surprised at how easy the home side made it for him.
In the 43rd minute it looked as though the Bulls were once again back in the game. Midfielder Kenny Lunt sent a shot into the crowded box and it hot central defender Adam Watts on the arm.
Stuart Fleetwood stepped up to take the spot kick unaware that Anyon had done his homework studied the striker’s technique. The former Blackburn keeper threw himself to his right and didn’t just stop the ball, but claimed it mid air. It was at a nice height for him, but there was no photo-opportunity palming away from Anyon. The ball stuck in his hands and, as he said to me later, “Hey, if it’s there to be caught, you catch it.”
In the second half Hereford looked the better side, but it wasn’t until the 86th minute that they managed to force a replay.
Once again Watts gave away a penalty after tripping Fleetwood in the box and Frenchman Mathieu Manset - who had surprisingly started on the bench – blasted the ball in for his 7th goal in nine games. Frankly it didn’t matter whether Anyon had studied Manset, nothing was going to stop this fiercely hit spot kick.
Watts was honest enough to hold his hands up (again) after the game and said: “They were both down to me and I take full responsibility. I didn’t know too much about the first one, but it hit my arm and I dived in too early for the second one. There’s no point in looking back though and at least we’re still in the Cup.
The replay takes place on Tuesday 7th December at Sincil Bank and I think it’s too close to call. If Pitman starts with Manset it could make all the difference as the Lincoln defence looked scared witless of him on Saturday.
Then again, he started against Lincoln two weekends ago in the League and the Imps had no problems with him that day and won 3-1.
It should be an interesting encounter, but with a game against Wycombe on offer, I wonder if both teams will be as motivated as they might have been given their respective league positions.
My clippings from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
Jamie Pitman sauntered out to the dugouts eventually to give his press briefing and said - with a grin - that as he’d been kept waiting by the media after the Shrewsbury game, it was now our turn. If a very important part of my anatomy had not just succumbed to frost bite it would have been funny Jamie. Then again, I hardly ever use it these days.Enough of my moaning though.
Lincoln looked as though they were going to ease their way into the 3rd round hat after a first half performance that saw them leave for the cozy, warm dressing room having scored two goals and saved a penalty.
A superb dinked ball over the Hereford defence in the 19th minute from skipper Scott Kerr found Ashley Grimes - who had left the Bulls defenders flat-footed - and the striker lobbed the ball over stranded Adam Bartlett and into the net.
Grimes is on loan from Millwall and this was his second goal in two games for the Imps. Boss Steve Tilson said later:
“If that goal had been scored in the Premier League people would Have been drooling over it.” Well the away fans and the neutrals like myself were impressed Steve, believe me. A great finish.
Hereford struck back within four minutes though, desperate for a big money 3rd round draw. If they had known then that the prize was to be Wycombe at Adams Park they might not have bothered!
In a case of “anything you can do …” winger Rob Purdie – on loan from Oldham - ran on to a poor pass from Gavin Hoyte and, as keeper Joe Anyon was left stranded, placed the ball into the back of the net for his fourth goal in six games.
Just as Lincoln contributed their own downfall for the equaliser, Hereford managed to shoot themselves in the foot and let the away side restore their lead in the 27th minute.
Skipper Michael Townsend was shepherding the ball back towards Bartlett with Grimes at his back hassling him, but by the time Townsend released the ball for his keeper, Bartlett seemed to be caught in two minds and planted a scuffed clearance right at the feet of Mustapha Carayol. The Gambia-born winger was impressive all afternoon and deserved his goal, although was probably surprised at how easy the home side made it for him.
In the 43rd minute it looked as though the Bulls were once again back in the game. Midfielder Kenny Lunt sent a shot into the crowded box and it hot central defender Adam Watts on the arm.
Stuart Fleetwood stepped up to take the spot kick unaware that Anyon had done his homework studied the striker’s technique. The former Blackburn keeper threw himself to his right and didn’t just stop the ball, but claimed it mid air. It was at a nice height for him, but there was no photo-opportunity palming away from Anyon. The ball stuck in his hands and, as he said to me later, “Hey, if it’s there to be caught, you catch it.”
In the second half Hereford looked the better side, but it wasn’t until the 86th minute that they managed to force a replay.
Once again Watts gave away a penalty after tripping Fleetwood in the box and Frenchman Mathieu Manset - who had surprisingly started on the bench – blasted the ball in for his 7th goal in nine games. Frankly it didn’t matter whether Anyon had studied Manset, nothing was going to stop this fiercely hit spot kick.
Watts was honest enough to hold his hands up (again) after the game and said: “They were both down to me and I take full responsibility. I didn’t know too much about the first one, but it hit my arm and I dived in too early for the second one. There’s no point in looking back though and at least we’re still in the Cup.
The replay takes place on Tuesday 7th December at Sincil Bank and I think it’s too close to call. If Pitman starts with Manset it could make all the difference as the Lincoln defence looked scared witless of him on Saturday.
Then again, he started against Lincoln two weekends ago in the League and the Imps had no problems with him that day and won 3-1.
It should be an interesting encounter, but with a game against Wycombe on offer, I wonder if both teams will be as motivated as they might have been given their respective league positions.
Friday, 26 November 2010
Hereford United v Lincoln City (FA Cup 2nd Round) – Mischievous Imps
Its FA Cup weekend and I’m back to Hereford to watch them take on Lincoln City.
In the first round the Bulls dispatched Hythe Town fairly easily, but tomorrow’s game at Edgar Street might prove to be much harder work.
The Imps beat Hereford 3-1 last Saturday at Sincil Bank and so will fancy their chances, although they were brought down to earth on Tuesday with a 5-0 home thumping from Bury.
Manager Steve Tilson has started to change Lincoln’s fortunes though and they have only lost two of the seven games since he took over from Chris Sutton. I suspect that Tilson’s priority this season is to ensure that they finish as high up the league on the meager resources they have.
Having said (or typed) that, both sides will be keen to be in the hat for Sunday’s 3rd round draw when the chance of a money spinning tie against one of the Premier League sides is in the offing. The revenue a clash against, say Arsenal, would generate could make life a lot easier for both clubs for the rest of the season.
I’ve seen both of these teams once so far this season and have to say that the Lincoln support at Wycombe was one of the highlights so far for me. There were only a handful in the away end, but they sang their hearts out, were far louder than the Adams Park faithful and stuck with their side and helped urge the players on to a 2-2 draw despite going behind twice.
Hereford’s fans will need to be at their vocal best and Jamie Pitman’s boys will need their support if they are to recover from a little blip of two defeats in the league – the other being a 4-0 drubbing of their own at Shrewsbury on Tuesday.
The Hereford lads were motivated to beat Hythe by the lack of respect shown by their non-league opponents in the last round. I’m sure that Lincoln will show them the professional respect they merit – Hereford just better make sure they aren’t shown the FA Cup door as well.
Jamie played over fifty times for Hereford before leaving for Yeovil and then Woking. He returned for the 2002/03 season and then left again to finish his playing days at Forest Green Rovers. In August 2008 he again returned to Edgar Street, but this time as the as club physiotherapist
And Pitman once scored an FA Cup goal to knock Hereford out of the competition. After the Hythe game he revealed :
“I played against Hereford for Woking back in 2000 to knock the club out of the Cup and I scored with a header on the far post which was unusual in itself.
When Graham Turner signed me a couple of years later he told me that that header had nearly broken the club financially as they needed the revenue a Cup run would have brought. It would have been ironic given how much I love the place if I’d been the one to drive it under.
Now though, it could be pay-back time and I’d love nothing better than to help Hereford into the next round.”
Wouldn’t it be just like the FA Cup to throw up a feel good story like that? Then again, the Imps will have something to say about matters … well their fans will anyway.
In the first round the Bulls dispatched Hythe Town fairly easily, but tomorrow’s game at Edgar Street might prove to be much harder work.
The Imps beat Hereford 3-1 last Saturday at Sincil Bank and so will fancy their chances, although they were brought down to earth on Tuesday with a 5-0 home thumping from Bury.
Manager Steve Tilson has started to change Lincoln’s fortunes though and they have only lost two of the seven games since he took over from Chris Sutton. I suspect that Tilson’s priority this season is to ensure that they finish as high up the league on the meager resources they have.
Having said (or typed) that, both sides will be keen to be in the hat for Sunday’s 3rd round draw when the chance of a money spinning tie against one of the Premier League sides is in the offing. The revenue a clash against, say Arsenal, would generate could make life a lot easier for both clubs for the rest of the season.
I’ve seen both of these teams once so far this season and have to say that the Lincoln support at Wycombe was one of the highlights so far for me. There were only a handful in the away end, but they sang their hearts out, were far louder than the Adams Park faithful and stuck with their side and helped urge the players on to a 2-2 draw despite going behind twice.
Hereford’s fans will need to be at their vocal best and Jamie Pitman’s boys will need their support if they are to recover from a little blip of two defeats in the league – the other being a 4-0 drubbing of their own at Shrewsbury on Tuesday.
The Hereford lads were motivated to beat Hythe by the lack of respect shown by their non-league opponents in the last round. I’m sure that Lincoln will show them the professional respect they merit – Hereford just better make sure they aren’t shown the FA Cup door as well.
Jamie played over fifty times for Hereford before leaving for Yeovil and then Woking. He returned for the 2002/03 season and then left again to finish his playing days at Forest Green Rovers. In August 2008 he again returned to Edgar Street, but this time as the as club physiotherapist
And Pitman once scored an FA Cup goal to knock Hereford out of the competition. After the Hythe game he revealed :
“I played against Hereford for Woking back in 2000 to knock the club out of the Cup and I scored with a header on the far post which was unusual in itself.
When Graham Turner signed me a couple of years later he told me that that header had nearly broken the club financially as they needed the revenue a Cup run would have brought. It would have been ironic given how much I love the place if I’d been the one to drive it under.
Now though, it could be pay-back time and I’d love nothing better than to help Hereford into the next round.”
Wouldn’t it be just like the FA Cup to throw up a feel good story like that? Then again, the Imps will have something to say about matters … well their fans will anyway.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
What a Caulker! – Silver Spurs
When you watch a youngster playing, you never really know whether they will ever make it big in the game. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve told mates about a player I’ve seen and told them he’ll go all the way to the top … only to watch from a distance as he fades away and ends up playing away his days in the Ryman League or equivalent.
Equally, I’ve written off some lads who have gone on to make it at a much higher level.
Sometimes a performance can be deceptive as they are playing for a manager who wants specific things from them for the good of the team and so you don’t spot their full potential. Playing to their strengths for another manager and suddenly they are world beaters.
On Saturday though I saw a lad called Steven Caulker playing on the right side of the central defence for Bristol City and he put in a solid performance against Leicester’s skipper Steve Howard - one of the Championship’s better strikers and someone who has a wealth of experience.
Caulker is on loan from Spurs along with Danny Rose, 20, and when Harry Redknapp sees a DVD of his performance it should give him some food for thought. I’m not suggesting he should be recalled to White Hart Lane immediately and thrown in alongside William Gallas, but if he maintains this standard, he’ll figure on the Spurs first team bench next season at some stage.
To say Caulker had Howard in his pocket would be exaggerating a little, but the eighteen year old was impressive.
I noticed at one point in the first half that Caulker had come off worse in a tussle with Howard and was left kneeling dazed on the turf. Rather than withdrawing into his shell, he shook away the stars he was seeing and got on with the job.
Last season Caulker played 44 times for Yeovil on loan and I would be very interested to hear what their fans thought of him. Redknapp must have been impressed though to farm him out to a club another level up.
Equally, I’ve written off some lads who have gone on to make it at a much higher level.
Sometimes a performance can be deceptive as they are playing for a manager who wants specific things from them for the good of the team and so you don’t spot their full potential. Playing to their strengths for another manager and suddenly they are world beaters.
On Saturday though I saw a lad called Steven Caulker playing on the right side of the central defence for Bristol City and he put in a solid performance against Leicester’s skipper Steve Howard - one of the Championship’s better strikers and someone who has a wealth of experience.
Caulker is on loan from Spurs along with Danny Rose, 20, and when Harry Redknapp sees a DVD of his performance it should give him some food for thought. I’m not suggesting he should be recalled to White Hart Lane immediately and thrown in alongside William Gallas, but if he maintains this standard, he’ll figure on the Spurs first team bench next season at some stage.
To say Caulker had Howard in his pocket would be exaggerating a little, but the eighteen year old was impressive.
I noticed at one point in the first half that Caulker had come off worse in a tussle with Howard and was left kneeling dazed on the turf. Rather than withdrawing into his shell, he shook away the stars he was seeing and got on with the job.
Last season Caulker played 44 times for Yeovil on loan and I would be very interested to hear what their fans thought of him. Redknapp must have been impressed though to farm him out to a club another level up.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Brett Pitman and Keith Millen - I’m Back
One thing that most fans can’t stand is a prima donna. Often when a player signs in a big money deal his ego gets in the way and he starts sulking or sniping at the manager – not so Brett Pitman.
Pitman, 22, is a likeable lad who recognizes that – despite being star man by scoring 28 goals for Bournemouth last season – he must adapt to a new club in Bristol City and raise his standards.
On Saturday he started doing that with his first goal for the club and I feel his honest and unassuming character will ultimately see him become a hero at Ashton Gate.
After the win against Leicester he said:
“I haven’t played every week which I’d have liked, but hopefully that will get me a start next week and hopefully I’ll keep scoring and, more importantly, the team will keep winning.
Since I’ve come here I’ve found it a big step up from what I expected and it’s been difficult. The pace of the game is a lot different from League One, but I feel each game I play I’m getting better and better, so I was pleased to get 45 minutes.
Working off the ball defensively is something I’ve had to work on. It wasn’t something I did naturally and I feel like I’m getting better at it. I feel I’m adapting to the pace of the game a lot better now. Technically I have no worries about playing in the Championship – I’m confident in my ability.
I think playing up front is more difficult than playing anywhere else. You’re up against better defenders and the pace of the game is quicker and you have to do more defensive work than you have to in the lower levels, but Nicky (injured striker, last season’s top scorer and former Crewe player Maynard) adapted well and hopefully I’ll follow him.
You don’t get the five or six chances you’d get in League One or Two. You’ll get maybe one or two chances in a game and so you’ve got to be more clinical. Now I’ve adjusted to the [pace I feel a lot more confident going on to the pitch. I should hopefully push on from here.
He had a fantastic season last season and I remember playing against him when he was at Crewe. He was always a very good player and I’m sure he’s improved a lot. It will be a nice headache for the gaffer to have when everyone’s fit because we’ve probably got six good strikers now. If everybody’s fit it’s going to be a selection headache for him which I’m sure he’ll want.”
And getting that first goal was a relief. He said:
“The shot crossed the line quite easily (despite Ritchie Wellens’s attempted clearance). I’d have taken any type of goal. Clarky’s (fellow sub David Clarkson) come on and scored a fantastic goal which has made the last few minutes a lot easier than what they might have been. I’ve not seen him do that before, but I don’t think that’s something you’d do every day – maybe he’ll try it again now!
It’s nice to get off the mark, but I knew it would come and now I can just concentrate on playing and winning games.”
Robin’s boss Keith Millen was upbeat after City’s second half performance and in particular his two goal scorers. He said:
“I’m really pleased for him (Pitman). He’s been patient; he’s worked hard in training. We know he’s a good finisher and we know Clarky’s a good finisher and both of them went on and scored.
We had to change it. Jon Stead’s ankle’s been playing him up for a while now. He got another whack on it and he’s struggling to move so I put Clarky on because I felt him and Brett would try and hold the ball up as I knew we’d be under a little bit of pressure and I also know that if chances drop to them, more often than not they’ll hit the target.”
Millen could afford to make light of his goal keeper’s gaff in giving away the penalty and grinned:
“David James gets a telling off for giving the penalty away, but he redeemed himself with a great save. I’ll have to see it again, but it looked as though the lad made a good run in the box and Jambo’s made the decision to come out and the lad’s got there first, so no complaints that it was a penalty. He’s made up for it with a great save.”
Bristol are now moving up the table and Millen said:
“It’s a nice feeling to be out of the relegation zone and what it does is give us a chance now with that to grow if you like with two back-to-back wins with another home game next Saturday. If you do that you suck a lot more teams closer to you.”
On tactics and the second half revival, he said:
“That’s what I’m paid to do. You analyse Leicester and I felt the players were in the right positions, but we never got on the ball. We never got the ball wide, we never got any crosses in the box and we weren’t good enough on the day to pass the ball through the team like Leicester did so I changed it. It was unfortunate for Johno (Lee Johnson who was subbed at half time) as he didn’t do much wrong in the game. I just felt Skuse (Cole) and Marvin’s (Elliott) legs would be important and put another centre forward on to give us an attacking option.
Certainly in the first half we didn’t play like a home side and one of the reasons we set up like we did was I felt we could pressurize Leicester and stop them playing. And I felt we could get close to them, win the ball and then, with our legs and energy, go and give them trouble. But it didn’t pan out like that in the first half.
We’re pleased with the response from the lads. That’s their character they’ve showed there because the pressure was on at half time. The fans weren’t happy, the players weren’t happy and I wasn’t happy, but they responded in a good way.
The penalty save was the turning point, but quite often in Championship games things like that are the turning points. Goals change games and James didn’t have to make that many good saves today, but the one that mattered – the penalty save – kept us in it.
It shows the quality of our squad. We know Brett and Clarky can score goals. I thought Brett came on and held the ball up well at times, won some flick-ons.”
As for the injured Stead, Millen said:
“The trouble is that when players aren’t training every day, after a while it catches up with you and we’ll have to assess Steady’s ankle on Monday. He’s an honest lad who keeps working his socks off and if he’s not fully fit we’ve got a good squad and players who can come in and replace him.”
Pitman, 22, is a likeable lad who recognizes that – despite being star man by scoring 28 goals for Bournemouth last season – he must adapt to a new club in Bristol City and raise his standards.
On Saturday he started doing that with his first goal for the club and I feel his honest and unassuming character will ultimately see him become a hero at Ashton Gate.
After the win against Leicester he said:
“I haven’t played every week which I’d have liked, but hopefully that will get me a start next week and hopefully I’ll keep scoring and, more importantly, the team will keep winning.
Since I’ve come here I’ve found it a big step up from what I expected and it’s been difficult. The pace of the game is a lot different from League One, but I feel each game I play I’m getting better and better, so I was pleased to get 45 minutes.
Working off the ball defensively is something I’ve had to work on. It wasn’t something I did naturally and I feel like I’m getting better at it. I feel I’m adapting to the pace of the game a lot better now. Technically I have no worries about playing in the Championship – I’m confident in my ability.
I think playing up front is more difficult than playing anywhere else. You’re up against better defenders and the pace of the game is quicker and you have to do more defensive work than you have to in the lower levels, but Nicky (injured striker, last season’s top scorer and former Crewe player Maynard) adapted well and hopefully I’ll follow him.
You don’t get the five or six chances you’d get in League One or Two. You’ll get maybe one or two chances in a game and so you’ve got to be more clinical. Now I’ve adjusted to the [pace I feel a lot more confident going on to the pitch. I should hopefully push on from here.
He had a fantastic season last season and I remember playing against him when he was at Crewe. He was always a very good player and I’m sure he’s improved a lot. It will be a nice headache for the gaffer to have when everyone’s fit because we’ve probably got six good strikers now. If everybody’s fit it’s going to be a selection headache for him which I’m sure he’ll want.”
And getting that first goal was a relief. He said:
“The shot crossed the line quite easily (despite Ritchie Wellens’s attempted clearance). I’d have taken any type of goal. Clarky’s (fellow sub David Clarkson) come on and scored a fantastic goal which has made the last few minutes a lot easier than what they might have been. I’ve not seen him do that before, but I don’t think that’s something you’d do every day – maybe he’ll try it again now!
It’s nice to get off the mark, but I knew it would come and now I can just concentrate on playing and winning games.”
Robin’s boss Keith Millen was upbeat after City’s second half performance and in particular his two goal scorers. He said:
“I’m really pleased for him (Pitman). He’s been patient; he’s worked hard in training. We know he’s a good finisher and we know Clarky’s a good finisher and both of them went on and scored.
We had to change it. Jon Stead’s ankle’s been playing him up for a while now. He got another whack on it and he’s struggling to move so I put Clarky on because I felt him and Brett would try and hold the ball up as I knew we’d be under a little bit of pressure and I also know that if chances drop to them, more often than not they’ll hit the target.”
Millen could afford to make light of his goal keeper’s gaff in giving away the penalty and grinned:
“David James gets a telling off for giving the penalty away, but he redeemed himself with a great save. I’ll have to see it again, but it looked as though the lad made a good run in the box and Jambo’s made the decision to come out and the lad’s got there first, so no complaints that it was a penalty. He’s made up for it with a great save.”
Bristol are now moving up the table and Millen said:
“It’s a nice feeling to be out of the relegation zone and what it does is give us a chance now with that to grow if you like with two back-to-back wins with another home game next Saturday. If you do that you suck a lot more teams closer to you.”
On tactics and the second half revival, he said:
“That’s what I’m paid to do. You analyse Leicester and I felt the players were in the right positions, but we never got on the ball. We never got the ball wide, we never got any crosses in the box and we weren’t good enough on the day to pass the ball through the team like Leicester did so I changed it. It was unfortunate for Johno (Lee Johnson who was subbed at half time) as he didn’t do much wrong in the game. I just felt Skuse (Cole) and Marvin’s (Elliott) legs would be important and put another centre forward on to give us an attacking option.
Certainly in the first half we didn’t play like a home side and one of the reasons we set up like we did was I felt we could pressurize Leicester and stop them playing. And I felt we could get close to them, win the ball and then, with our legs and energy, go and give them trouble. But it didn’t pan out like that in the first half.
We’re pleased with the response from the lads. That’s their character they’ve showed there because the pressure was on at half time. The fans weren’t happy, the players weren’t happy and I wasn’t happy, but they responded in a good way.
The penalty save was the turning point, but quite often in Championship games things like that are the turning points. Goals change games and James didn’t have to make that many good saves today, but the one that mattered – the penalty save – kept us in it.
It shows the quality of our squad. We know Brett and Clarky can score goals. I thought Brett came on and held the ball up well at times, won some flick-ons.”
As for the injured Stead, Millen said:
“The trouble is that when players aren’t training every day, after a while it catches up with you and we’ll have to assess Steady’s ankle on Monday. He’s an honest lad who keeps working his socks off and if he’s not fully fit we’ve got a good squad and players who can come in and replace him.”
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Bristol City’s Goalscorer David Clarkson and Sven – Freaky, freaky
David Clarkson spoke about the freaky and audacious 40 yard goal he scored to seal the win against Leicester on Saturday and explained:
“I read the throw out to be fair. The keeper tried to throw it to the left back and I knda read it and it fell perfect for me. I just thought ‘hit it, he’s off his line’. It could have gone anywhere and I was delighted when it went in.
I didn’t have a clue whether it was going in and I just wanted to hit the target. It seemed to be in the air forever and took an age to go in. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score. I;ve never scored from that distance before in my life unless it was in the U-10s when you want to shoot from anywhere. It’s just one of those things. You see players doing it now and again. It just fell perfectly and I hit it.
I was thinking that I should take it to the corner at that stage, but luckily it went in. I’m sure I would’ve got a bit of grief for it if it hadn’t.
I’m not sure if it was the goal of the season, but I’m absolutely delighted to have scored a goal like that. It’s one of the highlights of my career probably.”
Bristol turned the tables on Leicester in the second half and Clarkson said:
“I was warming up at half time in case I was needed, but whatever the gaffer said, it worked. It was important for us to come out in the second half fired up. We kinda got a grip of the game, created a few chances and go the first goal.
Brett coming on and scoring kick-started us and we defended well and got the second goal and killed them.”
And the Scotland international forward revealed that the Robin’s large squad has its advantages. He said:
“We’ve got a big squad now and everyone’s waiting for their chance. It was good for me to come on and for Brett as well. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to come on and get his goal and hopefully give the gaffer a problem and something to think about. He knows what he’s got on the bench plus there are players coming back (from injury).
I’ve not been on for a while and so for me to come on with still a bit of the game to go and try and put your stamp on the game was good. And I managed to get the goal which was absolutely great.
It’s a great result which sends us home on a high and the fans home on a high and hopefully we can kick on and get the results.”
On the lack of reserve team fixtures, Clarkson said:
“It gets you games, but at the same time you can work just as hard in training. Sometimes training is better than playing reserve games. It’s up to the boys like me to work hard in training to be sharp when you get the chance. If you get a run in the team you get your sharpness back.
If you’re just training you have to work that extra bit harder to make sure you’re at your best and the boys and myself have been doing that.
It’s difficult sitting on the bench and watching people get their chance, but you’re there to support the boys and you want the team to win. At the same time it’s up to us to come on and score goals and give the gaffer something to think about which we did.”
Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was not a happy man and when someone suggested it had been a bad day at the office, he agreed. He said:
“Definitely. Once again we showed we are a good football team and can play very good football. I think we were in total control for 45 minutes, but it was a day when we couldn’t score and gave away two goals much, much too easy. Too easy and it’s a pity because if you’d left after 45 minutes you wouldn’t believe we would lose the game.
You have to take your chances and we created chances first half, we created chances second half and we didn’t take it. And then you are punished and we were punished.
Bristol City played much better in the second half. They went to 4-4-2 and put more pressure on us, but they scored too easy in my opinion.
We know how to play football and we do it very well, very often, but of course we have to score more goals and we can’t concede goals like that. Too easy.
The first goal was a good move from Bristol City, but you have to read that he will pop up there. We didn’t and it was a goal.
What can you say about the second goal? It’s like an own goal even if it was taken very well by the Bristol City player. Bad day.”
The Thai consortium that own Leicester have said they want to be playing Premier League football next season, but Sven brushed off any talk of pressure. He said:
“It’s nothing we talk about every day. I think it’s more positive than negative that you’re working in a club that has such ambition. It would be much worse if we had no pressure and who cares where we are. If we want to finish high up in the league, we can’t lose football games as we did today”
Looking forward to tonight’s Forest game he said:
“I didn’t know (they had won against Cardiff) and so congratulations to them. After this it’s even more important to us.
We’ll give the players a couple of days off now.
“I read the throw out to be fair. The keeper tried to throw it to the left back and I knda read it and it fell perfect for me. I just thought ‘hit it, he’s off his line’. It could have gone anywhere and I was delighted when it went in.
I didn’t have a clue whether it was going in and I just wanted to hit the target. It seemed to be in the air forever and took an age to go in. If you don’t shoot, you don’t score. I;ve never scored from that distance before in my life unless it was in the U-10s when you want to shoot from anywhere. It’s just one of those things. You see players doing it now and again. It just fell perfectly and I hit it.
I was thinking that I should take it to the corner at that stage, but luckily it went in. I’m sure I would’ve got a bit of grief for it if it hadn’t.
I’m not sure if it was the goal of the season, but I’m absolutely delighted to have scored a goal like that. It’s one of the highlights of my career probably.”
Bristol turned the tables on Leicester in the second half and Clarkson said:
“I was warming up at half time in case I was needed, but whatever the gaffer said, it worked. It was important for us to come out in the second half fired up. We kinda got a grip of the game, created a few chances and go the first goal.
Brett coming on and scoring kick-started us and we defended well and got the second goal and killed them.”
And the Scotland international forward revealed that the Robin’s large squad has its advantages. He said:
“We’ve got a big squad now and everyone’s waiting for their chance. It was good for me to come on and for Brett as well. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to come on and get his goal and hopefully give the gaffer a problem and something to think about. He knows what he’s got on the bench plus there are players coming back (from injury).
I’ve not been on for a while and so for me to come on with still a bit of the game to go and try and put your stamp on the game was good. And I managed to get the goal which was absolutely great.
It’s a great result which sends us home on a high and the fans home on a high and hopefully we can kick on and get the results.”
On the lack of reserve team fixtures, Clarkson said:
“It gets you games, but at the same time you can work just as hard in training. Sometimes training is better than playing reserve games. It’s up to the boys like me to work hard in training to be sharp when you get the chance. If you get a run in the team you get your sharpness back.
If you’re just training you have to work that extra bit harder to make sure you’re at your best and the boys and myself have been doing that.
It’s difficult sitting on the bench and watching people get their chance, but you’re there to support the boys and you want the team to win. At the same time it’s up to us to come on and score goals and give the gaffer something to think about which we did.”
Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was not a happy man and when someone suggested it had been a bad day at the office, he agreed. He said:
“Definitely. Once again we showed we are a good football team and can play very good football. I think we were in total control for 45 minutes, but it was a day when we couldn’t score and gave away two goals much, much too easy. Too easy and it’s a pity because if you’d left after 45 minutes you wouldn’t believe we would lose the game.
You have to take your chances and we created chances first half, we created chances second half and we didn’t take it. And then you are punished and we were punished.
Bristol City played much better in the second half. They went to 4-4-2 and put more pressure on us, but they scored too easy in my opinion.
We know how to play football and we do it very well, very often, but of course we have to score more goals and we can’t concede goals like that. Too easy.
The first goal was a good move from Bristol City, but you have to read that he will pop up there. We didn’t and it was a goal.
What can you say about the second goal? It’s like an own goal even if it was taken very well by the Bristol City player. Bad day.”
The Thai consortium that own Leicester have said they want to be playing Premier League football next season, but Sven brushed off any talk of pressure. He said:
“It’s nothing we talk about every day. I think it’s more positive than negative that you’re working in a club that has such ambition. It would be much worse if we had no pressure and who cares where we are. If we want to finish high up in the league, we can’t lose football games as we did today”
Looking forward to tonight’s Forest game he said:
“I didn’t know (they had won against Cardiff) and so congratulations to them. After this it’s even more important to us.
We’ll give the players a couple of days off now.
Monday, 22 November 2010
Bristol City 2 Leicester City 0 - P**s and Vinegar
In the post-match press conference the written press invariably have to wait until the television and radio guys have wrapped up their interviews before asking their own questions. However, the newspaper reporters will also have their own portable recorders running so as not to miss anything. And so it was on Saturday when Sven-Goran Eriksson stood in front of the board bearing the logos of the sponsors.
The Sky interviewer positioned him and then turned to the assembled press and said: “Right, everybody happy?” To which the Swede instantly replied: “No, I’m not happy.” And you could understand why.
Last Tuesday night I watched Walsall squeak past Fleetwood in an FA Cup replay after the non-league outfit had dominated the first half. The Bescot faithful jeered their side off at half time, but Walsall scored in the 58th minute and then at the death to see them through.
On Saturday it was practically a carbon copy, although in fairness to Bristol City they looked much more interested than the west midlands outfit.
My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
Substitute Brett Pitman’s 57th minute goal- his first for the club – and David Clarkson’s 90th minute lobbed volley from 40 yards settled the game, but Leicester must have kicked themselves all the way home for not making the most of their first half possession.
David James clattered Andy King in the 22nd minute to give away a needless penalty and then redeemed himself by saving Steve Howard’s spot kick with his feet.
Foxes skipper Howard has – by all accounts – been playing out of his skin this season and, while it was obviously a great opportunity to take the lead, the Leicester camp will have been wondering how they didn’t turn their dominance into goals.
Both sides started with 4-3-3 formations, but whereas Leicester looked to attack, Danny Rose (on loan from Spurs) and Albert Adomah did little to support striker Jon Stead who at times could be seen frustratingly waving his team mates forward desperate for their support.
In the second half Robins manager Keith Millen changed to a 4-4-2 formation by bring on former Bournemouth striker Pitman, 22, for midfielder Lee Johnson while Erksson understandably persevered with the line-up that had them on top in the opening 45 minutes.
Pitman scored 28 goals for the Cherries last season as they stormed to League One promotion and also added another three before his £800,000 move to City in August, but had not figured in many of this season’s games.
The Jersey-born hit man started the first three games following his transfer, but from then has had to make do with a few minutes here and there as a substitute as he built up his fitness to cope with the higher level of Championship football.
His goal showed everyone that he hasn’t lost any of his goal poaching prowess while he’s been busy in the gym.
Full back Jamie McAllister pulled a free kick on the right back to Pitman in the area and he rifled the ball home despite a desperate goal line lunge from Ritchie Wellens.
Clarkson’s goal was worth the entrance money.
Former Robin’s number two Chris Weale threw the ball out to full back Gary Cunningham on the left, but Clarkson was sharp enough to intercept the ball and hit the ball back over the back peddling keeper for his third of the season.
Afterwards Millen refused to be drawn into comparisons with Eriksson or accept he had won any tactical battles with the former England chief and when asked if he would be opening a bottle of wine for the Swede he nodded, but joked: “Mid you he might not want any as the stuff I have tastes like vinegar.”
I suspect that Sven refused; after all he was already leaving with a bad taste in his mouth.
More quotes tomorrow from Eriksson, Millen, Clarkson and Pitman
The Sky interviewer positioned him and then turned to the assembled press and said: “Right, everybody happy?” To which the Swede instantly replied: “No, I’m not happy.” And you could understand why.
Last Tuesday night I watched Walsall squeak past Fleetwood in an FA Cup replay after the non-league outfit had dominated the first half. The Bescot faithful jeered their side off at half time, but Walsall scored in the 58th minute and then at the death to see them through.
On Saturday it was practically a carbon copy, although in fairness to Bristol City they looked much more interested than the west midlands outfit.
My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
Substitute Brett Pitman’s 57th minute goal- his first for the club – and David Clarkson’s 90th minute lobbed volley from 40 yards settled the game, but Leicester must have kicked themselves all the way home for not making the most of their first half possession.
David James clattered Andy King in the 22nd minute to give away a needless penalty and then redeemed himself by saving Steve Howard’s spot kick with his feet.
Foxes skipper Howard has – by all accounts – been playing out of his skin this season and, while it was obviously a great opportunity to take the lead, the Leicester camp will have been wondering how they didn’t turn their dominance into goals.
Both sides started with 4-3-3 formations, but whereas Leicester looked to attack, Danny Rose (on loan from Spurs) and Albert Adomah did little to support striker Jon Stead who at times could be seen frustratingly waving his team mates forward desperate for their support.
In the second half Robins manager Keith Millen changed to a 4-4-2 formation by bring on former Bournemouth striker Pitman, 22, for midfielder Lee Johnson while Erksson understandably persevered with the line-up that had them on top in the opening 45 minutes.
Pitman scored 28 goals for the Cherries last season as they stormed to League One promotion and also added another three before his £800,000 move to City in August, but had not figured in many of this season’s games.
The Jersey-born hit man started the first three games following his transfer, but from then has had to make do with a few minutes here and there as a substitute as he built up his fitness to cope with the higher level of Championship football.
His goal showed everyone that he hasn’t lost any of his goal poaching prowess while he’s been busy in the gym.
Full back Jamie McAllister pulled a free kick on the right back to Pitman in the area and he rifled the ball home despite a desperate goal line lunge from Ritchie Wellens.
Clarkson’s goal was worth the entrance money.
Former Robin’s number two Chris Weale threw the ball out to full back Gary Cunningham on the left, but Clarkson was sharp enough to intercept the ball and hit the ball back over the back peddling keeper for his third of the season.
Afterwards Millen refused to be drawn into comparisons with Eriksson or accept he had won any tactical battles with the former England chief and when asked if he would be opening a bottle of wine for the Swede he nodded, but joked: “Mid you he might not want any as the stuff I have tastes like vinegar.”
I suspect that Sven refused; after all he was already leaving with a bad taste in his mouth.
More quotes tomorrow from Eriksson, Millen, Clarkson and Pitman
Friday, 19 November 2010
Bristol City v Leicester City - The Swede Smell of Success
Back to Ashton Gate tomorrow for the game against Leicester City and it's good to see both sides have picked up some good results recently.
The last time I saw Bristol City was in the 0-3 reverse against Norwich and while the Canaries looked very good, the West Country outfit seemed to be lacking in confidence.
Manager Keith Millen is nothing if passionate about the club and he seems to have started to turn things around. In the seven games since, the Robins have only lost two - against Cardiff and Leeds - and picked up 11 points from the remaining 15 available.
Unfortunately skipper Louis Carey will be missing through injury and the back four may be a little light on experience. However, veteran keeper David James, 40, will once again be standing between the sticks and doing his best to shut out a side managed by his former England gaffer, Sven-Goran Eriksson. James won 32 caps under Sven.
Since taking over at the Walkers stadium, the Swede has started to work his magic and the Foxes have won four and drawn two of the eight fixtures.
Eriksson's managerial record is excellent and the Leicester faithful will be licking their lips at the possibility of even a fraction of the success he has brought to other clubs.
In over 850 games, Eriksson has achieved a 52% win ratio. For England it was over 59% - what would we give for that level of managerial quality at the moment?
Then again, at Championship level there will be players who want to show they can mix it with the best and Leicester will increasingly be seen as a scalp. I think that the Bristol City boys will be up for this one and predict a 2-2 draw.
The last time I saw Bristol City was in the 0-3 reverse against Norwich and while the Canaries looked very good, the West Country outfit seemed to be lacking in confidence.
Manager Keith Millen is nothing if passionate about the club and he seems to have started to turn things around. In the seven games since, the Robins have only lost two - against Cardiff and Leeds - and picked up 11 points from the remaining 15 available.
Unfortunately skipper Louis Carey will be missing through injury and the back four may be a little light on experience. However, veteran keeper David James, 40, will once again be standing between the sticks and doing his best to shut out a side managed by his former England gaffer, Sven-Goran Eriksson. James won 32 caps under Sven.
Since taking over at the Walkers stadium, the Swede has started to work his magic and the Foxes have won four and drawn two of the eight fixtures.
Eriksson's managerial record is excellent and the Leicester faithful will be licking their lips at the possibility of even a fraction of the success he has brought to other clubs.
In over 850 games, Eriksson has achieved a 52% win ratio. For England it was over 59% - what would we give for that level of managerial quality at the moment?
Then again, at Championship level there will be players who want to show they can mix it with the best and Leicester will increasingly be seen as a scalp. I think that the Bristol City boys will be up for this one and predict a 2-2 draw.
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Quotes from the Walsall v Fleetwood Town Cup game – Spiderman
As Blue Square Premier side Fleetwood Town left the Bescot with nothing and yet deserved more, I thought I'd let them have the first word ...
Following the FA Cup 1st round replay on Tuesday evening Fleetwood boss and former Baggie Micky Mellon felt his side did well enough to win the game, but said:
“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Chris Hutchings, but let’s be honest, they robbed us.”
“We were never going, to win the Cup. We outplayed, out-passed and looked more determined than Walsall. We were probably on the wrong end of a defeat and everybody knows it, but that’s football.”
“A lot of credit goes to their goalkeeper – I can’t stand him. Full credit to the guy. He looks like he couldn’t touch the crossbar and yet jumped around like Spiderman.”
There's no doubt that Walsall had personnel problems with several pleyers unavailable, but they really do need to sit down and take a look at themselves instead of taking the 'everybody hates us' approach. Despite the win over the Cod Army manager Chris Hutchings found himself being questioned by a less than impressed local media and said:
“You’re on a hiding to nothing in these games as we were when we went to Stourbridge last year. You just want to try and get through and be in the hat for the next round and that’s what we done. We were up against it when we played at their place when we were down to ten men after thirty-five or forty minutes. We had to dig deep up there.”
“It was a cup tie and they’re trying to cause a shock aren’t they? The most important thing is that we’ve kept a clean sheet and won the game and we look forward to the next round and that’s all that matters really. There’s things that we can look at and work on.”
“We’ve had a lot of injuries. People who have come through at the end of the day. You know, Macken (Jon) was just short and McDonald’s (Clayton) just short. We’ve had Grigg (William) away and obviously McGivern (Ryan) couldn’t play and Devaney (Martin) and (Darren) Byfield. As you saw with the bench it was a little bit threadbare shall we say?”
On Walker’s man of the match performance Hutchings said:
“Well that’s what he’s there to do. We knew when we were getting him in what we were getting and he’s come up trumps for us today and kept us in the game at times. He’s a noisy, bubbly character and full of confidence and that’s what you need at this moment in time. People need to stand up to be counted and that’s exactly what he did tonight and he gave us a springboard to bounce back and get a result which we’ve done and that’s all that matters when you’re in the hat.”
Having played this quote back, maybe I was being a little harsh on Hutchings in yesterday's blog in his praise of Walker and so I apologise to him for that.
Scorer Rueben Reid was also praised for his face-saving brace by the gaffer who said:
“It was a great ball in for the first one and great contact and for the second one he’s put them on the back foot and gone round a couple of people and slotted it in and obviously that just basically kills it off so late in the game. Get the ball in the box with that type of delivery and he can also get on the end of them and he can also create as he did for the second goal and that’s what he’s got to do more of.”
On Fleetwood and lower level opponents in general Hutchings said:
“I’m sure they’ll look back on the chances they would have had in the first half when Wacker’s (James Walker) kept us in it, but I would imagine most of the cup ties that were on tonight would’ve been the same scenario. League clubs will have had to defend well at times. They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
“You can call it luck or whatever you want, but you’ve got to take heart from that. We’ve got to look to progress and do better and keep winning games. Hopefully that will be a springboard for Saturday and that’s what we’ve got to look forward to now. “
“We’ll be in tomorrow. We’ll be having a recovery session tomorrow in preparation for Saturday and that’s the important one now.”
“A win’s a win. We had to go to Stourbridge and get in and get out and we done a job there. Doesn’t matter how you do it, you need a little bit of luck. We’ve had decent games here and we’ve got beat so maybe our fortunes have changed and so we’ll see.”
“I thought we started the game well and then they wrestled it from us and took over in the first half to be quite honest. Second half was probably even Steven, but we scored the goals when it mattered. In the games that we’ve lost in the past the opposition have scored goals when it mattered and so it’s pleasing that we’ve ended up winning the game.”
“The be all and end all is that we’ve got through. It doesn’t matter how you get through. At any stage in any game the keeper’s going to have to make saves. You might need a little bit of luck. Whether we’ve had it tonight, doesn’t matter – we’re through. We’ve had a clean sheet and so let’s take heart from that.”
“We’ve got another game coming up and so there’s always pressure , but hey, we want to take confidence from the win and a clean sheet and that’s what we’ll do. There’s going to be tension. It’s the FA Cup, that’s what it’s all about.”
“We’ve put ourselves under pressure because we want to win the game and we haven’t been winning games recently so that’s what it’s all about.”
When I asked him abnout his own position and whether he felt the pressure he said:
“David Moyes says he fears for his job every day and that’s David Moyes.”
Striker Reid said:
“Everyone who watched the game will understand that it was a tough game and a real FA Cup tie. I think they came and were up for it. It was a bit of a battle, but in the end we came away with a positive result. That’s what cup games are like. From a lower position they’re always going to be up for it. To be honest, in the first half they done quite well. Walker’s made some fine saves and kept us in the game and in the end we’ve come off with two goals.”
“It’s a game of football. They had their chances and definitely didn’t take them. At the other end we took our chances. We win.”
“We went to their place and I think they had a real good opportunity to beat us in the sense that we only had ten men on the pitch for the majority of the game, but we battled hard there and it was another battle there tonight. I’m just happy to get a positive result.”
On his own goal scoring record – six for the season - he was honest enough to say:
“It could be better. I’ve had a few more chances that I could have put away. It could be more. I’m pleased with tonight, but I’ve got brace and effectively won the game.”
On the mounting pressure at the Bescot, he said:
“It’s important to win every game. Obviously it’s known fact that at the moment we’re not on the best of runs, but hopefully a result like this might help us turn the corner, you never know. Everyone’s got to stick together and pull together and get out on the pitch and get the results.”
“I can’t speak for the other lads, but for me it was just another game and I focus on my own performance. We’re all pulling together to get the right result for the club. We’re professional footballers we go across the line we have to focus on our performance and produce the goods. That’s what it’s all about. If you’re taking into account situations and fans and what people are going to get at, it could affect our game.”
“I can only speak for myself and I know that when I go on the pitch I concentrate fully on my performance. Sometimes things won’t go for you and sometimes they will and tonight it went for us in the sense that we got a positive result.”
“Games of football are there to be won and we done that. Maybe we can now get some belief and confidence around the place. Different players will react to the situation differently. I go out there and I just want to play my best. Other players may feel the heat a bit more, I don’t know.”
Following the FA Cup 1st round replay on Tuesday evening Fleetwood boss and former Baggie Micky Mellon felt his side did well enough to win the game, but said:
“I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Chris Hutchings, but let’s be honest, they robbed us.”
“We were never going, to win the Cup. We outplayed, out-passed and looked more determined than Walsall. We were probably on the wrong end of a defeat and everybody knows it, but that’s football.”
“A lot of credit goes to their goalkeeper – I can’t stand him. Full credit to the guy. He looks like he couldn’t touch the crossbar and yet jumped around like Spiderman.”
There's no doubt that Walsall had personnel problems with several pleyers unavailable, but they really do need to sit down and take a look at themselves instead of taking the 'everybody hates us' approach. Despite the win over the Cod Army manager Chris Hutchings found himself being questioned by a less than impressed local media and said:
“You’re on a hiding to nothing in these games as we were when we went to Stourbridge last year. You just want to try and get through and be in the hat for the next round and that’s what we done. We were up against it when we played at their place when we were down to ten men after thirty-five or forty minutes. We had to dig deep up there.”
“It was a cup tie and they’re trying to cause a shock aren’t they? The most important thing is that we’ve kept a clean sheet and won the game and we look forward to the next round and that’s all that matters really. There’s things that we can look at and work on.”
“We’ve had a lot of injuries. People who have come through at the end of the day. You know, Macken (Jon) was just short and McDonald’s (Clayton) just short. We’ve had Grigg (William) away and obviously McGivern (Ryan) couldn’t play and Devaney (Martin) and (Darren) Byfield. As you saw with the bench it was a little bit threadbare shall we say?”
On Walker’s man of the match performance Hutchings said:
“Well that’s what he’s there to do. We knew when we were getting him in what we were getting and he’s come up trumps for us today and kept us in the game at times. He’s a noisy, bubbly character and full of confidence and that’s what you need at this moment in time. People need to stand up to be counted and that’s exactly what he did tonight and he gave us a springboard to bounce back and get a result which we’ve done and that’s all that matters when you’re in the hat.”
Having played this quote back, maybe I was being a little harsh on Hutchings in yesterday's blog in his praise of Walker and so I apologise to him for that.
Scorer Rueben Reid was also praised for his face-saving brace by the gaffer who said:
“It was a great ball in for the first one and great contact and for the second one he’s put them on the back foot and gone round a couple of people and slotted it in and obviously that just basically kills it off so late in the game. Get the ball in the box with that type of delivery and he can also get on the end of them and he can also create as he did for the second goal and that’s what he’s got to do more of.”
On Fleetwood and lower level opponents in general Hutchings said:
“I’m sure they’ll look back on the chances they would have had in the first half when Wacker’s (James Walker) kept us in it, but I would imagine most of the cup ties that were on tonight would’ve been the same scenario. League clubs will have had to defend well at times. They’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
“You can call it luck or whatever you want, but you’ve got to take heart from that. We’ve got to look to progress and do better and keep winning games. Hopefully that will be a springboard for Saturday and that’s what we’ve got to look forward to now. “
“We’ll be in tomorrow. We’ll be having a recovery session tomorrow in preparation for Saturday and that’s the important one now.”
“A win’s a win. We had to go to Stourbridge and get in and get out and we done a job there. Doesn’t matter how you do it, you need a little bit of luck. We’ve had decent games here and we’ve got beat so maybe our fortunes have changed and so we’ll see.”
“I thought we started the game well and then they wrestled it from us and took over in the first half to be quite honest. Second half was probably even Steven, but we scored the goals when it mattered. In the games that we’ve lost in the past the opposition have scored goals when it mattered and so it’s pleasing that we’ve ended up winning the game.”
“The be all and end all is that we’ve got through. It doesn’t matter how you get through. At any stage in any game the keeper’s going to have to make saves. You might need a little bit of luck. Whether we’ve had it tonight, doesn’t matter – we’re through. We’ve had a clean sheet and so let’s take heart from that.”
“We’ve got another game coming up and so there’s always pressure , but hey, we want to take confidence from the win and a clean sheet and that’s what we’ll do. There’s going to be tension. It’s the FA Cup, that’s what it’s all about.”
“We’ve put ourselves under pressure because we want to win the game and we haven’t been winning games recently so that’s what it’s all about.”
When I asked him abnout his own position and whether he felt the pressure he said:
“David Moyes says he fears for his job every day and that’s David Moyes.”
Striker Reid said:
“Everyone who watched the game will understand that it was a tough game and a real FA Cup tie. I think they came and were up for it. It was a bit of a battle, but in the end we came away with a positive result. That’s what cup games are like. From a lower position they’re always going to be up for it. To be honest, in the first half they done quite well. Walker’s made some fine saves and kept us in the game and in the end we’ve come off with two goals.”
“It’s a game of football. They had their chances and definitely didn’t take them. At the other end we took our chances. We win.”
“We went to their place and I think they had a real good opportunity to beat us in the sense that we only had ten men on the pitch for the majority of the game, but we battled hard there and it was another battle there tonight. I’m just happy to get a positive result.”
On his own goal scoring record – six for the season - he was honest enough to say:
“It could be better. I’ve had a few more chances that I could have put away. It could be more. I’m pleased with tonight, but I’ve got brace and effectively won the game.”
On the mounting pressure at the Bescot, he said:
“It’s important to win every game. Obviously it’s known fact that at the moment we’re not on the best of runs, but hopefully a result like this might help us turn the corner, you never know. Everyone’s got to stick together and pull together and get out on the pitch and get the results.”
“I can’t speak for the other lads, but for me it was just another game and I focus on my own performance. We’re all pulling together to get the right result for the club. We’re professional footballers we go across the line we have to focus on our performance and produce the goods. That’s what it’s all about. If you’re taking into account situations and fans and what people are going to get at, it could affect our game.”
“I can only speak for myself and I know that when I go on the pitch I concentrate fully on my performance. Sometimes things won’t go for you and sometimes they will and tonight it went for us in the sense that we got a positive result.”
“Games of football are there to be won and we done that. Maybe we can now get some belief and confidence around the place. Different players will react to the situation differently. I go out there and I just want to play my best. Other players may feel the heat a bit more, I don’t know.”
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Walsall 2 Fleetwood Town 0 – Fat Man
Chris Hutchings is on the line after this WIN!
Woeful Walsall have veteran keeper James Walker and on loan striker Rueben Reid to thank for keeping them in the Cup and setting up a second round tie at Torquay.
But when the south coast club sees a DVD of this game they can be forgiven for starting to plan for the 3rd round.
I don’t know what the behind the scenes situation is at the Bescot, but Hutchings should start packing his bags if the West Midlands outfit loses against Carlisle on Saturday.
The abuse being hurled at the directors at half time must have been difficult to take and I don’t know of too many football board members who can take that sort of thing for too long.
The Saddlers boss didn’t do himself any favours at the post match press conference either. When asked about Walker’s six or seven terrific saves, he initially brushed the keeper’s performance as “his job”.
Yes, it’s his job to act as a last line of defence, but this performance from a 37 year old was beyond the call of duty.
In the 26th minute the local favourite dived at full stretch to tip a 35 yard drive from midfielder Anthony Barry past the post.
Three minutes later defender Shaun Beeley picked out midfielder Gareth Seddon on the edge of the box, but again Walker thwarted the gutsy Blue Square Premier side by turning the low shot around the upright.
From the resulting corner Walker was then called on again to palm away a close range effort from midfielder Jamie McGuire.
In the 35th minute winger Sean Clancy’s shot ricocheted across the box to Lee Thorpe and the striker’s stooping header from six yards was blocked by Walker. Then on the stroke of half time Clancy had a ten yard effort of his own blocked by Walker.
You probably get the idea – Walker was doing an impression of King Canute trying to turn back the tide and everyone on the opposing side was having a pop at him.
Things were a little quieter for Walker in the second half, but he still managed to dive low to stop another McGuire effort from 16 yards in the 51st minute.
This was probably the nest goalkeeping performance I have seen in a number of years … but it’s his job, eh Chris?
I felt for Reuben after the game. When a striker grabs a couple of goals he obviously likes to talk about them and his part in the game, but again the questions centred on the building pressure on the side and the manager.
Reid’s first goal came in the 58th minute when he slid in at the far post to connect with Alex Nicholls cross and score his 5th goal of the season.
But Fleetwood didn’t give up even if they were then restricted in terms of clear cut chances.
Baggie loanee Reid settled things though in the 90th minute when he rounded Cod Army stopper Scott Davies to leave the fishing port team to concentrate on their league ambitions.
I’m very aware that this report focuses on Walsall’s shortcomings rather than Fleetwood’s extremely capable showing and I apologise to them for that. They deserve more credit than I have possibly given them, but the real story is about Walsall and whether they can stop the rot.
The away support were magnificent and when they chanted good-naturedly (if that's possible) “you fat bastard” at their own rather rotund skipper, Steve McNulty, it brought a grin to my face. McNulty resembles a Sunday league player in physique, but boy has he got a good football brain. He picked out passes and anticipated the movement from Walsall’s front two for most if the game and while I reckon I could match him in terms of our respective waistlines, he didn’t look out of place on the pitch while I was blowing heavily just sitting in the press box.
And should anyone who wasn’t there last night feel I’m harsh in my criticism of Walsall, it’s nothing compared to the frustration shown by the home support – just ask the directors.
N.B. I'll be posting quotes from Hutchings, Reid and Fleetwood boss Micky Mellon on tomorrow's blog.
Woeful Walsall have veteran keeper James Walker and on loan striker Rueben Reid to thank for keeping them in the Cup and setting up a second round tie at Torquay.
But when the south coast club sees a DVD of this game they can be forgiven for starting to plan for the 3rd round.
I don’t know what the behind the scenes situation is at the Bescot, but Hutchings should start packing his bags if the West Midlands outfit loses against Carlisle on Saturday.
The abuse being hurled at the directors at half time must have been difficult to take and I don’t know of too many football board members who can take that sort of thing for too long.
The Saddlers boss didn’t do himself any favours at the post match press conference either. When asked about Walker’s six or seven terrific saves, he initially brushed the keeper’s performance as “his job”.
Yes, it’s his job to act as a last line of defence, but this performance from a 37 year old was beyond the call of duty.
In the 26th minute the local favourite dived at full stretch to tip a 35 yard drive from midfielder Anthony Barry past the post.
Three minutes later defender Shaun Beeley picked out midfielder Gareth Seddon on the edge of the box, but again Walker thwarted the gutsy Blue Square Premier side by turning the low shot around the upright.
From the resulting corner Walker was then called on again to palm away a close range effort from midfielder Jamie McGuire.
In the 35th minute winger Sean Clancy’s shot ricocheted across the box to Lee Thorpe and the striker’s stooping header from six yards was blocked by Walker. Then on the stroke of half time Clancy had a ten yard effort of his own blocked by Walker.
You probably get the idea – Walker was doing an impression of King Canute trying to turn back the tide and everyone on the opposing side was having a pop at him.
My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
Things were a little quieter for Walker in the second half, but he still managed to dive low to stop another McGuire effort from 16 yards in the 51st minute.
This was probably the nest goalkeeping performance I have seen in a number of years … but it’s his job, eh Chris?
I felt for Reuben after the game. When a striker grabs a couple of goals he obviously likes to talk about them and his part in the game, but again the questions centred on the building pressure on the side and the manager.
Reid’s first goal came in the 58th minute when he slid in at the far post to connect with Alex Nicholls cross and score his 5th goal of the season.
But Fleetwood didn’t give up even if they were then restricted in terms of clear cut chances.
Baggie loanee Reid settled things though in the 90th minute when he rounded Cod Army stopper Scott Davies to leave the fishing port team to concentrate on their league ambitions.
I’m very aware that this report focuses on Walsall’s shortcomings rather than Fleetwood’s extremely capable showing and I apologise to them for that. They deserve more credit than I have possibly given them, but the real story is about Walsall and whether they can stop the rot.
The away support were magnificent and when they chanted good-naturedly (if that's possible) “you fat bastard” at their own rather rotund skipper, Steve McNulty, it brought a grin to my face. McNulty resembles a Sunday league player in physique, but boy has he got a good football brain. He picked out passes and anticipated the movement from Walsall’s front two for most if the game and while I reckon I could match him in terms of our respective waistlines, he didn’t look out of place on the pitch while I was blowing heavily just sitting in the press box.
And should anyone who wasn’t there last night feel I’m harsh in my criticism of Walsall, it’s nothing compared to the frustration shown by the home support – just ask the directors.
N.B. I'll be posting quotes from Hutchings, Reid and Fleetwood boss Micky Mellon on tomorrow's blog.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Walsall v Fleetwood Town – Fishy
I’ve been asked to cover the FA Cup replay tonight and I suspect the boys from the Bescot will be quaking in their boots before kick-off as they fear a real battering.
Fleetwood – a.k.a. the Cod Army - have come up from the Blue Square North division and have taken the Premier League by storm under former West Brom and Blackpool legend Micky Mellon.
Walsall, by contrast, look as though they are in self-destruct mode if recent results are anything to go by and Chris Hutchings job must be under threat. He has something like a 30% win ratio and we’ve all seen football managers walk with better records than that.
Then again this could be the turning point in Walsall’s season if they beat the minnows from the North West to set up a mouth-watering 2nd round tie against, er, Torquay.
Devon is a great place to visit in April and August, but I can’t see the Walsall players busting a gut to make sure of a long trip to the south coast in a couple of weeks.
This will be my first trip of the season to the Bescot. In fact the first visit for nearly one year and I must admit I’ve missed the place. It’s always very welcoming and the fans are a fair lot who – given their size - probably should be cheering on the club as it presses for promotion rather than propping up League One.
From a selfish point of view I hope that the game is done and dusted in 90 minutes. The Press Box at the Bescot is exposed to the elements and at the moment those elements aren’t reporter friendly. It’s definitely going to be a first outing of the season for the thermal underwear – not a nice thought I know – and, if the match goes to extra time, expect to hear plenty of cursing coming from yours truly.
N.B. Full report to come tomorrow.
Fleetwood – a.k.a. the Cod Army - have come up from the Blue Square North division and have taken the Premier League by storm under former West Brom and Blackpool legend Micky Mellon.
Walsall, by contrast, look as though they are in self-destruct mode if recent results are anything to go by and Chris Hutchings job must be under threat. He has something like a 30% win ratio and we’ve all seen football managers walk with better records than that.
Then again this could be the turning point in Walsall’s season if they beat the minnows from the North West to set up a mouth-watering 2nd round tie against, er, Torquay.
Devon is a great place to visit in April and August, but I can’t see the Walsall players busting a gut to make sure of a long trip to the south coast in a couple of weeks.
This will be my first trip of the season to the Bescot. In fact the first visit for nearly one year and I must admit I’ve missed the place. It’s always very welcoming and the fans are a fair lot who – given their size - probably should be cheering on the club as it presses for promotion rather than propping up League One.
From a selfish point of view I hope that the game is done and dusted in 90 minutes. The Press Box at the Bescot is exposed to the elements and at the moment those elements aren’t reporter friendly. It’s definitely going to be a first outing of the season for the thermal underwear – not a nice thought I know – and, if the match goes to extra time, expect to hear plenty of cursing coming from yours truly.
N.B. Full report to come tomorrow.
Rotherham v Oxford Quotes - Injured
I managed to catch a quick word with Chris Wilder after Saturday’s defeat to Rotherham as he left to visit his family home in Yorkshire and the Sheffield-born boss said:
“Le Fondre was the difference. He obviously took his goals great. The first one looked offside to us. The second one he just drifted off and that’s the reason why he scores those goals. I think they’re a decent side, a good side.
I think we’ve acquitted ourselves pretty well seeing as we chucked three players in pretty quickly and they’ve not had much work to do with us. We’re alright. We just need to get those three bedded in. It was a difficult game for us, but as I say, they’re a decent side and they’ve obviously gone close last year and they’re tipped to even closer this year.
I think we can do better in certain areas and I think we will do, but it’s a bit of a tough game for us at the moment, a tough learning curve for us all and we’ve just got to get through it. It’s a test of the players now to see how they go about it. When it’s going well everybody’s a ‘player’, but now they’ve got to show what they’ve got mentally. They’ve all got ability because we’ve seen it. Ronnie (Moore) said in the programme he thinks we’ll go well and we’ve had some decent people say decent things about us, but at the moment we’ve lost three games on the bounce and we’ve got to arrest that pretty quickly. I’m confident that we’ve got the players to do that though.
To be fair to the new lads they’ve come in and had one training session. They’re good players as well. It’s Catch 22. I expected them to be alright, but it would always have been better if I’d had a full week to work with them. We brought them in for their League experience and I’ve seen enough in the couple of days I’ve been working with them to know that they’ll be good for us and we’ll be good for them.”
Millers boss Ronnie Moore was delighted with his team after the game and said:
“It was a good win and we deserved it, there was no doubt about that. I thought we were the better side. The first ten minutes was a bit ropey-ish, but after that we played some excellent stuff and really 2-1 makes it sound a lot closer than it was. We had enough chances to have seen them off, but it’s nice to get the win.
And Ronnie had some words of praise for winger Marcus Marshall, 21, who deservedly picked up the man of the match bubbly. Moore said:
“He’s been brilliant all season to be fair. He’s coming on, has fantastic ability and pace. What he has got at this present time is a bit of self belief. We’ve worked hard on him and I thought he was excellent today.
I thought that Nicky Law was good in midfield. Alfie (Adam Le Fondre) got the glory, but Ryan Taylor worked hard up front. There were a lot of good positive performances from our lads.
Alfie and Ryan are two good players, there’s no doubt about that. It’s just a pity that Ryan hasn’t got a goal for himself, but he showed a fantastic work rate and the commitment to close people down.
We’ve done everything that we wanted to do and we’re just disappointed that we’ve conceded a goal bang on half time. We had one or two little warnings around our area earlier on so it was disappointing when Warry (Andy Warrington) made such a good save and their lad followed it in. To be fair though I don’t think he’s made too many saves after that and we were on the front foot.
Coidy (new Blackpool loan signing Danny Coid) hasn’t played for a while and he’s come in and shown some great quality. He’s two-footed and will be a massive bonus for us I think. He did really well when you consider he hasn’t played a lot of first team football. He reads the game well and knows when to play it long and when top play it short. He’ll be a big plus for us defensively, there’s no doubt about that. He can’t play against York (in the FA Cup replay) because he wasn’t here for the first game. Blackpool were happy for him to play. He can play at Darlington if we get through, but it gives us a little bit of a headache as to who is going to play there especially as Cresser (Ryan Cresswell) has his back in spasm again so he looks as though … well I don’t want to say how long because you can never judge with backs how long it’s going to take. But they’re going down like nine pins at the moment. I can’t believe the amount of bad luck we’re getting with injuries in massive areas for us and he’ll be a big miss, there’s no doubt about that.”
It’s a different injury to the one he had before. It’s on the opposite side to the one he had and so he’ll go and see a specialist and we’ll see what’s going on there cos it’s not right. He hasn’t been doing weights since the last time he did it. It’s never happened to him before when he’s had to come off during a game with it so we’ll just have to monitor it and see how things are.
At the moment we haven’t got a right back. We’ve got the young kid Luke (Ashworth) who’s going to be a ‘player’. Whether he’s quite ready to come in regular is another thing.
We seem to be going to the Chairman every week now saying ‘Can we bring him in? Or can we bring someone else in?’ It’s just incredible, but we’ll keep going and take a look on Monday and see how the walking wounded are.”
And on the crowds cheers at the final whistle Moore was relieved he didn’t have to contend with the jeers he has heard after recent games. He joked:
“It was better than boos wasn’t it? At least we showed a bit of commitment, a bit of effort, a bit of enthusiasm and not too little skill and I think the crowd appreciated that and if I’d have paid my money today I’d have clapped them off as well.”
And Moore is keen to keep Le Fondre once the transfer window opens in January, although he revealed:
“I’ve had no enquires for Alfie and to be honest I don’t want any. If we received a silly off for him of course we’d have to sit down and think about it, but I’d prefer not to think about it.
He has been working hard to add things to his game and I think that it shows. He’s becoming a much better all round player.”
Le Fondre revealed that he is trying to add something to his game which must scare the living daylights out of League Two defenders. He said:
“I’ve been trying to help out the team more this season by dropping back and pressing the opposing midfielders – doing my bit to help the team defend.
I haven’t been thinking about leaving and why should I? You can see from the number of goals I’m scoring that I’m happy here. When strikers are happy they’ll score goals and that’s the situation.
If someone made Rotherham an offer it wouldn’t just have to be right for me, my wife and my family, but for the club as well, but the grass isn’t always greener.”
“Le Fondre was the difference. He obviously took his goals great. The first one looked offside to us. The second one he just drifted off and that’s the reason why he scores those goals. I think they’re a decent side, a good side.
I think we’ve acquitted ourselves pretty well seeing as we chucked three players in pretty quickly and they’ve not had much work to do with us. We’re alright. We just need to get those three bedded in. It was a difficult game for us, but as I say, they’re a decent side and they’ve obviously gone close last year and they’re tipped to even closer this year.
I think we can do better in certain areas and I think we will do, but it’s a bit of a tough game for us at the moment, a tough learning curve for us all and we’ve just got to get through it. It’s a test of the players now to see how they go about it. When it’s going well everybody’s a ‘player’, but now they’ve got to show what they’ve got mentally. They’ve all got ability because we’ve seen it. Ronnie (Moore) said in the programme he thinks we’ll go well and we’ve had some decent people say decent things about us, but at the moment we’ve lost three games on the bounce and we’ve got to arrest that pretty quickly. I’m confident that we’ve got the players to do that though.
To be fair to the new lads they’ve come in and had one training session. They’re good players as well. It’s Catch 22. I expected them to be alright, but it would always have been better if I’d had a full week to work with them. We brought them in for their League experience and I’ve seen enough in the couple of days I’ve been working with them to know that they’ll be good for us and we’ll be good for them.”
Millers boss Ronnie Moore was delighted with his team after the game and said:
“It was a good win and we deserved it, there was no doubt about that. I thought we were the better side. The first ten minutes was a bit ropey-ish, but after that we played some excellent stuff and really 2-1 makes it sound a lot closer than it was. We had enough chances to have seen them off, but it’s nice to get the win.
And Ronnie had some words of praise for winger Marcus Marshall, 21, who deservedly picked up the man of the match bubbly. Moore said:
“He’s been brilliant all season to be fair. He’s coming on, has fantastic ability and pace. What he has got at this present time is a bit of self belief. We’ve worked hard on him and I thought he was excellent today.
I thought that Nicky Law was good in midfield. Alfie (Adam Le Fondre) got the glory, but Ryan Taylor worked hard up front. There were a lot of good positive performances from our lads.
Alfie and Ryan are two good players, there’s no doubt about that. It’s just a pity that Ryan hasn’t got a goal for himself, but he showed a fantastic work rate and the commitment to close people down.
We’ve done everything that we wanted to do and we’re just disappointed that we’ve conceded a goal bang on half time. We had one or two little warnings around our area earlier on so it was disappointing when Warry (Andy Warrington) made such a good save and their lad followed it in. To be fair though I don’t think he’s made too many saves after that and we were on the front foot.
Coidy (new Blackpool loan signing Danny Coid) hasn’t played for a while and he’s come in and shown some great quality. He’s two-footed and will be a massive bonus for us I think. He did really well when you consider he hasn’t played a lot of first team football. He reads the game well and knows when to play it long and when top play it short. He’ll be a big plus for us defensively, there’s no doubt about that. He can’t play against York (in the FA Cup replay) because he wasn’t here for the first game. Blackpool were happy for him to play. He can play at Darlington if we get through, but it gives us a little bit of a headache as to who is going to play there especially as Cresser (Ryan Cresswell) has his back in spasm again so he looks as though … well I don’t want to say how long because you can never judge with backs how long it’s going to take. But they’re going down like nine pins at the moment. I can’t believe the amount of bad luck we’re getting with injuries in massive areas for us and he’ll be a big miss, there’s no doubt about that.”
It’s a different injury to the one he had before. It’s on the opposite side to the one he had and so he’ll go and see a specialist and we’ll see what’s going on there cos it’s not right. He hasn’t been doing weights since the last time he did it. It’s never happened to him before when he’s had to come off during a game with it so we’ll just have to monitor it and see how things are.
At the moment we haven’t got a right back. We’ve got the young kid Luke (Ashworth) who’s going to be a ‘player’. Whether he’s quite ready to come in regular is another thing.
We seem to be going to the Chairman every week now saying ‘Can we bring him in? Or can we bring someone else in?’ It’s just incredible, but we’ll keep going and take a look on Monday and see how the walking wounded are.”
And on the crowds cheers at the final whistle Moore was relieved he didn’t have to contend with the jeers he has heard after recent games. He joked:
“It was better than boos wasn’t it? At least we showed a bit of commitment, a bit of effort, a bit of enthusiasm and not too little skill and I think the crowd appreciated that and if I’d have paid my money today I’d have clapped them off as well.”
And Moore is keen to keep Le Fondre once the transfer window opens in January, although he revealed:
“I’ve had no enquires for Alfie and to be honest I don’t want any. If we received a silly off for him of course we’d have to sit down and think about it, but I’d prefer not to think about it.
He has been working hard to add things to his game and I think that it shows. He’s becoming a much better all round player.”
Le Fondre revealed that he is trying to add something to his game which must scare the living daylights out of League Two defenders. He said:
“I’ve been trying to help out the team more this season by dropping back and pressing the opposing midfielders – doing my bit to help the team defend.
I haven’t been thinking about leaving and why should I? You can see from the number of goals I’m scoring that I’m happy here. When strikers are happy they’ll score goals and that’s the situation.
If someone made Rotherham an offer it wouldn’t just have to be right for me, my wife and my family, but for the club as well, but the grass isn’t always greener.”
Monday, 15 November 2010
Rotherham United 2 Oxford United 1 - Alfie
My clippings from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
Oxford’s biggest mistake in this game was that they didn’t keep a close eye on Adam “Alfie” Le Fondre.
As he scored two goals that probably sounds like I’m “stating the bleedin’ obvious” - as Basil Fawlty once said, but I was left wondering whether any of the Oxford lads had been told about his goal poaching exploits last season … when he netted 30 times for the Millers.
All the goals in this game came in the first half and Oxford were by no means embarrassed, but they were second best - just.
The first twenty minutes of the game threatened to send all 3800 spectators into a coma and the near 500 travelling fans resorted to singing the Headington Road ditty “Stand Up If You Hate Swindon”, such was the lack of entertainment on show.
I suspect that most players were a little nervy though given the poor run of recent results from both sides and it took Le Fondre’s opener to settle everyone down.
Rotherham had been booed off after their previous two performances and manager Ronnie Moore told me later:
“Frankly I didn’t blame the fans for that as we deserved it. We weren’t at our best in those games.”
But the victory against Oxford approached the standards they set for themselves last season and if Le Fondre can keep finding the room he did on Saturday, then his final tally from last season will easily be beaten.
Moore is well aware that he might come under pressure to sell Le Fondre if a big money offer is made, but he said:
“Frankly, no-one has made an enquiry for Alfie and I’m hoping that no-one does. He has been working hard on his game. I told him that the harder he works, the more he will score. I told him to look at someone like Ian Rush and use him as an example. Rushie (Ian) didn’t just hang around waiting to score at Liverpool, he played his part for the team and that probably got him more goals.”
I don’t think that many Rotherham fans would begrudge him a big money move at the end of the season, but Le Fondre didn’t seem too keen to jump ship when I caught up with him. He said:
“If I do leave it will have to be right for me, right for my family and right for Rotherham, but I haven’t even thought about it. I’m scoring goals regularly and you only do that when you’re happy. There’s no point in even thinking about it.”
Oxford boss Chris Wilder was fairly philosophical after this defeat and said:
“We had three new players in the team and I think we acquitted ourselves well against a very good side.”
The three new players looked comfortable. Paul Wotton came in as skipper and was unlucky not to score with a powerful 25 yarder late on which was turned over the bar by inspired home keeper and Father Ted look-a-like Andy Warrington.
Central defender Ben Futcher looks very commanding when anything is in the air … and his 6’7” frame helps. While striker Steve MacLean was extremely industrious and never gave up running for the cause.
Most of the talk was understandably about Le Fondre after the game, but Warrington deserves a special mention as he made a series of fine saves to thwart the away team. He was even unfortunate to see a save from Tom Craddock fly off his legs and into the path of the lively Simon Clist for the equalizer.
On this show I would suspect Oxford will be a must tougher proposition against Gillingham next weekend after the three new lads have learned their team mates’ names and had a few training sessions.
It will also be interesting to see how MacLean and James “Beano” Constable work together over 90 minutes. Constable had a sickness bug himself during the week and came off the bench to play a small part in this game and Craddock didn’t look best pleased as he made way for his club captain. I suspect that Craddock will be warming the bench on Saturday if Beano is fit.
N.B. I’ll have more quotes from this game in tomorrow’s blog.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Rotherham V Oxford - Spine
I'm off up to the frozen North tomorrow to take in the Millers home game against - coincidentally - one of the teams from my 'patch' - Oxford.
As I had a little family business to deal with up there, the paper kindly allowed me to combine it with a visit to the Don Valley Stadium.
The only other time that I have seen Rotherham play at home was a fixture against Barnet last season on the day Ronnie Moore returned as manager, but even though the home support gave him a warm reception, the atmosphere they could generate in the stadium was restricted by its layout.
Don Valley is a wonderful athletics stadium, but it's not a football ground and the sooner the Millers get their own place the better.
From the press area in the main stand you have to look out over eight or nine lanes of running track and a long jump pit before you spot the players in the far distance. Supporters should be given complimentary binoculars with their tickets! Then again, maybe I'm being harsh as my eyesight isn't what it once was. But I'm certain the home fans would be happier playing in a proper football ground.
Rotherham were unlucky not to gain promotion last season via the play-off final losing 3-2 to Dagenham and Redbridge after beating Aldershot home and away.
In Adam (Alfie) Le Fondre they have the most prolific striker in the division. Alfie scored 30 goals last season and - with 14 so far this term - seems to be on a mission to beat that tally - if the Millers can keep hold of him when the transfer window opens!
Personally, I hope that they do and he gets his just rewards for the effort and loyalty he has given.
Adam's strike partner of last season, Tom Pope, weighed in with five goals last year, but I'm sure that Le Fondre would be the first to acknowledge his contribution. It so often happens that when one striker is scoring for fun, it's because his partner is working hard off the ball to allow him the glory.
Oxford boss Chris Wilder has brought in three new loan players this week; midfielder Paul Wooten (33) from Southampton, striker Steve MacLean (28) from Plymouth, and central defender Ben Futcher () from Bury - a new spine to the team.
I seem to recall that Wilder did something similar last season to give his side the impetuous they needed to take them to the play-off final and promotion. If these new players settle in quickly, it could have the same effect and that is what Wilder will be banking on.
Oxford certainly need to pick things up. They have lost the last three games - shipping eight goals in the process without reply.
Rotherham meanwhile haven't won since beating Accrington 3-2 in mid-October and the home support hasn't seen a victory since the game against Chesterfield in the last week of September. However, they have managed to string several draws together and seem to be finding the net thanks on large part to Le Fondre. I suspect that the end of January and the closing of the transfer window can't come soon enough for Ronnie Moore - and there's still another month and a bit before it opens!
Le Fondre missed Rotherham's mid-week JP Trophy 5-2 home defeat against Huddersfield through illness and the home fans will be hoping it's Oxford who go home feeling sick on Saturday evening.
I predict a 1-0 win for the team from the warmer climate in the south.
As I had a little family business to deal with up there, the paper kindly allowed me to combine it with a visit to the Don Valley Stadium.
The only other time that I have seen Rotherham play at home was a fixture against Barnet last season on the day Ronnie Moore returned as manager, but even though the home support gave him a warm reception, the atmosphere they could generate in the stadium was restricted by its layout.
Don Valley is a wonderful athletics stadium, but it's not a football ground and the sooner the Millers get their own place the better.
From the press area in the main stand you have to look out over eight or nine lanes of running track and a long jump pit before you spot the players in the far distance. Supporters should be given complimentary binoculars with their tickets! Then again, maybe I'm being harsh as my eyesight isn't what it once was. But I'm certain the home fans would be happier playing in a proper football ground.
Rotherham were unlucky not to gain promotion last season via the play-off final losing 3-2 to Dagenham and Redbridge after beating Aldershot home and away.
In Adam (Alfie) Le Fondre they have the most prolific striker in the division. Alfie scored 30 goals last season and - with 14 so far this term - seems to be on a mission to beat that tally - if the Millers can keep hold of him when the transfer window opens!
Personally, I hope that they do and he gets his just rewards for the effort and loyalty he has given.
Adam's strike partner of last season, Tom Pope, weighed in with five goals last year, but I'm sure that Le Fondre would be the first to acknowledge his contribution. It so often happens that when one striker is scoring for fun, it's because his partner is working hard off the ball to allow him the glory.
Oxford boss Chris Wilder has brought in three new loan players this week; midfielder Paul Wooten (33) from Southampton, striker Steve MacLean (28) from Plymouth, and central defender Ben Futcher () from Bury - a new spine to the team.
I seem to recall that Wilder did something similar last season to give his side the impetuous they needed to take them to the play-off final and promotion. If these new players settle in quickly, it could have the same effect and that is what Wilder will be banking on.
Oxford certainly need to pick things up. They have lost the last three games - shipping eight goals in the process without reply.
Rotherham meanwhile haven't won since beating Accrington 3-2 in mid-October and the home support hasn't seen a victory since the game against Chesterfield in the last week of September. However, they have managed to string several draws together and seem to be finding the net thanks on large part to Le Fondre. I suspect that the end of January and the closing of the transfer window can't come soon enough for Ronnie Moore - and there's still another month and a bit before it opens!
Le Fondre missed Rotherham's mid-week JP Trophy 5-2 home defeat against Huddersfield through illness and the home fans will be hoping it's Oxford who go home feeling sick on Saturday evening.
I predict a 1-0 win for the team from the warmer climate in the south.
Thursday, 11 November 2010
"Football's just .. football."
Gareth Ainsworth’s greatest honour didn’t happen on the football fields of England, but the killing fields of the Somme.
As the country commemorates Remembrance Sunday, Ainsworth will spend a quiet moment reflecting on the sacrifice made by footballers and fans who died in the First World War.
Wycombe’s veteran skipper Ainsworth, 37, recently blew a whistle to end a two minute silence during the unveiling of a memorial to the 1500 casualties from the Footballer’s Battalion – formed by professional footballers in 1914.
The Football League’s campaign to erect a permanent memorial was led by former SAS man and professional player Phil Stant and paid for by bucket collections on match days.
Winger Ainsworth explained:
“When war broke out the Government said that if friends from factories, work places or even streets signed up together they’d serve alongside each other in what they called Pals Battalions. They then said to the footballers we’ll make sure that all professional footballers are kept together and so you had players from different clubs fighting alongside each other and fans fighting alongside their heroes in what were called the Footballer’s Battalions. It was a real eye opener learning about all of this and the memorial went up exactly where some of the lads fell and died in Deville Wood in France.”
Ainsworth was humbled by the experience and said:
“It was the greatest honour of my career without a shadow of a doubt. I heard about these lads who fought for their country and died in the trenches. I saw where they fell or were blown up – it was sine tingling stuff. It really put everything into perspective for me and I just want to make sure we don’t ever forget these guys.
That’s real life. Football’s just ... football. It’s a fantastic and great game and it’s been everything to me, but you are taking things to another level when you talk about the ultimate sacrifice.
At this time of year it’s important that we don’t forget and we pass the message on down the generations. I’ll definitely be taking my little boy to visit the the old battlefields when he’s older. He’s only four now, but when he’s old enough to understand, we’ll be going.”
And the former QPR and Lincoln player revealed there was also a family connection with the two world wars. He explained:
“My dad is interested in reading about those periods of history and both my granddads fought in the Second World War. We lost two family members at Gallipoli in the first war and even had someone fighting at the Somme. Fortunately he came home while so many others didn’t.”
Wycombe and their boss Gary Waddock fully supported Ainsworth paid tribute to him and Stant. He said:
“The gaffer gave me time off and told me it was an amazing offer and a great honour while Phil did a brilliant job organizing it all. He fought in the Falklands himself and so has seen the horrors of war at first hand. He saw the Argentinean attack on the Sir Galahad. It’s not just about the First World War at this time of year. We need to remember the people who have fought for us and especially those who are still fighting like the soldiers out in Afghanistan.”
The Footballer’s Battalions were incorporated into the 17th and 23rd Middlesex Regiments and consisted of more than 8,000 officers and men.
Two players received the Victoria Cross for their bravery.
In July 1916 Bradford City defender Donald Bell stuffed his pockets with grenades and successfully stormed a German machine-gun post. Days later he was killed trying to repeat the attack on another position.
Bernard Vann, a school teacher and striker with Derby County, was shot through the heart in October 1918 - only one month before the ceasefire.
Of the original 600 members of the Footballer’s Battalion who had signed up by early 1915, it is estimated that 500 lost their lives either on the battlefield or later through injuries sustained during the fighting.
As the country commemorates Remembrance Sunday, Ainsworth will spend a quiet moment reflecting on the sacrifice made by footballers and fans who died in the First World War.
Wycombe’s veteran skipper Ainsworth, 37, recently blew a whistle to end a two minute silence during the unveiling of a memorial to the 1500 casualties from the Footballer’s Battalion – formed by professional footballers in 1914.
The Football League’s campaign to erect a permanent memorial was led by former SAS man and professional player Phil Stant and paid for by bucket collections on match days.
Winger Ainsworth explained:
“When war broke out the Government said that if friends from factories, work places or even streets signed up together they’d serve alongside each other in what they called Pals Battalions. They then said to the footballers we’ll make sure that all professional footballers are kept together and so you had players from different clubs fighting alongside each other and fans fighting alongside their heroes in what were called the Footballer’s Battalions. It was a real eye opener learning about all of this and the memorial went up exactly where some of the lads fell and died in Deville Wood in France.”
Ainsworth was humbled by the experience and said:
“It was the greatest honour of my career without a shadow of a doubt. I heard about these lads who fought for their country and died in the trenches. I saw where they fell or were blown up – it was sine tingling stuff. It really put everything into perspective for me and I just want to make sure we don’t ever forget these guys.
That’s real life. Football’s just ... football. It’s a fantastic and great game and it’s been everything to me, but you are taking things to another level when you talk about the ultimate sacrifice.
At this time of year it’s important that we don’t forget and we pass the message on down the generations. I’ll definitely be taking my little boy to visit the the old battlefields when he’s older. He’s only four now, but when he’s old enough to understand, we’ll be going.”
And the former QPR and Lincoln player revealed there was also a family connection with the two world wars. He explained:
“My dad is interested in reading about those periods of history and both my granddads fought in the Second World War. We lost two family members at Gallipoli in the first war and even had someone fighting at the Somme. Fortunately he came home while so many others didn’t.”
Wycombe and their boss Gary Waddock fully supported Ainsworth paid tribute to him and Stant. He said:
“The gaffer gave me time off and told me it was an amazing offer and a great honour while Phil did a brilliant job organizing it all. He fought in the Falklands himself and so has seen the horrors of war at first hand. He saw the Argentinean attack on the Sir Galahad. It’s not just about the First World War at this time of year. We need to remember the people who have fought for us and especially those who are still fighting like the soldiers out in Afghanistan.”
The Footballer’s Battalions were incorporated into the 17th and 23rd Middlesex Regiments and consisted of more than 8,000 officers and men.
Two players received the Victoria Cross for their bravery.
In July 1916 Bradford City defender Donald Bell stuffed his pockets with grenades and successfully stormed a German machine-gun post. Days later he was killed trying to repeat the attack on another position.
Bernard Vann, a school teacher and striker with Derby County, was shot through the heart in October 1918 - only one month before the ceasefire.
Of the original 600 members of the Footballer’s Battalion who had signed up by early 1915, it is estimated that 500 lost their lives either on the battlefield or later through injuries sustained during the fighting.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
The season so far in League Two - Guesswork
Having set myself up for a fall by promising to update this blog each day, I often need to wrack my brains to think of something to write about and so as we’re nearly 25% of the way through the season, I thought I’d take a look at League Two and give my predictions/thoughts on the sides I’ve seen so far and where I think they’ll end up in May.
Of course fans of these teams will have seen a lot more of them than me this season and you can’t make any real judgments on a handful (or even one) of performances. It’s just a bit of fun, but post a comment if you agree or disagree.
Working my way up from the current table (positions in brackets), these – for the little they are worth - are my views:
Lincoln (23 out of 24) – Saw them recently against Wycombe and they showed a great deal of heart coming from behind twice. They have a good manager in Steve Tilson and I really can’t see them struggling all term. Mid-table finish.
Hereford (22) – Another good young manager in Jamie Pitman who has them playing well and they are unbeaten in seven. However, I’m sticking by my prediction in an earlier post that old boy Steve Guinan - who is currently on Northampton’s books – will be offered the job in January. Either way, they have too much talent to go down and I expect them to pull away from trouble. Bottom half finish though.
Stockport (21) – I saw them at Oxford where they were impressive in a hit and run win. However, subsequent results suggest that I might have seen them on a good day. Paul Simpson has no money to spend and will be relying on his contacts and loan deals to ensure a bottom half finish.
Northampton (19) – Ian Sampson will be hoping that they get over the hangover of their up win at Anfield pretty quickly as it seems to have dragged on and is in danger of costing him his job. Should finish mid-table.
Morecambe (17) – A poor side they day they played Oxford at the Kassam and they will do well to beat the drop.
Oxford (15) – Chris Wilder is about to set the cat among the pigeons with several loan signings which is a good indication that he has no intention of consolidating in League Two and doesn’t want any chance of promotion to slip by. They enjoyed their day out at Wembley last season and I have a gut feeling they’ll be back on the train to North London again in May.
Burton Albion (14) – This is just about where they will end up I suspect. A good manager in Paul Peschisolido, but he needs funds to help bolster a meagre squad and he just doesn’t have them.
Crewe (11) – Write off Dario Gradi at you peril. A play-off place beckons for the Railwaymen. I saw them lose at Oxford, but have faith in the old fella.
Cheltenham (9) – My surprise package for League Two. I think that they have one of the best managers in the division in Mark Yates and wouldn’t put it past them to make one of the top three automatic promotion places.
Wycombe (5) – Doing well at the moment (away from home), but I wonder whether they’ll last the pace. They were pre-season favourites for promotion, but I didn’t see anything to suggest they could do it when I was there.
Of course this is all good and well, but Bradford were string into the abyss a couple of weeks ago and now look as though they'll keep on marching up to the summit of the table. There's still an awful lot of football to be played.
Of course fans of these teams will have seen a lot more of them than me this season and you can’t make any real judgments on a handful (or even one) of performances. It’s just a bit of fun, but post a comment if you agree or disagree.
Working my way up from the current table (positions in brackets), these – for the little they are worth - are my views:
Lincoln (23 out of 24) – Saw them recently against Wycombe and they showed a great deal of heart coming from behind twice. They have a good manager in Steve Tilson and I really can’t see them struggling all term. Mid-table finish.
Hereford (22) – Another good young manager in Jamie Pitman who has them playing well and they are unbeaten in seven. However, I’m sticking by my prediction in an earlier post that old boy Steve Guinan - who is currently on Northampton’s books – will be offered the job in January. Either way, they have too much talent to go down and I expect them to pull away from trouble. Bottom half finish though.
Stockport (21) – I saw them at Oxford where they were impressive in a hit and run win. However, subsequent results suggest that I might have seen them on a good day. Paul Simpson has no money to spend and will be relying on his contacts and loan deals to ensure a bottom half finish.
Northampton (19) – Ian Sampson will be hoping that they get over the hangover of their up win at Anfield pretty quickly as it seems to have dragged on and is in danger of costing him his job. Should finish mid-table.
Morecambe (17) – A poor side they day they played Oxford at the Kassam and they will do well to beat the drop.
Oxford (15) – Chris Wilder is about to set the cat among the pigeons with several loan signings which is a good indication that he has no intention of consolidating in League Two and doesn’t want any chance of promotion to slip by. They enjoyed their day out at Wembley last season and I have a gut feeling they’ll be back on the train to North London again in May.
Burton Albion (14) – This is just about where they will end up I suspect. A good manager in Paul Peschisolido, but he needs funds to help bolster a meagre squad and he just doesn’t have them.
Crewe (11) – Write off Dario Gradi at you peril. A play-off place beckons for the Railwaymen. I saw them lose at Oxford, but have faith in the old fella.
Cheltenham (9) – My surprise package for League Two. I think that they have one of the best managers in the division in Mark Yates and wouldn’t put it past them to make one of the top three automatic promotion places.
Wycombe (5) – Doing well at the moment (away from home), but I wonder whether they’ll last the pace. They were pre-season favourites for promotion, but I didn’t see anything to suggest they could do it when I was there.
Of course this is all good and well, but Bradford were string into the abyss a couple of weeks ago and now look as though they'll keep on marching up to the summit of the table. There's still an awful lot of football to be played.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Bulls-chat – A Pretty Good Guy
Jamie Pitman hit back at the poor attitude shown towards his team before the game by the Hythe camp, but also gave credit where he felt it was due and in doing so, showed a little more class than his part-time opponents. He said:
“It helped us in the respect that I don’t need to say to the players that they’re coming here and you’re supposed to e professional footballers and so you have to do what you’re good at and what you do day in day out. And that’s what they did to be fair.
I said to them that the first fifteen minutes was going to dictate what happens. If they score and you allow them into the game then it’s going to be very difficult. If you don’t then you’ll probably go on and win by five, seven or eight and in the end it could have been double figures.
In the end fair play to them, they worked very hard and they kept in the game all of the time and to be fair to them they weren’t bad, they weren’t bad.”
Pitman is also pleased with the atmosphere around the Bulls’ camp and said:
“The players seem to be enjoying themselves and so it’s just a continual progression for us at the moment.”
Two-goal hero Mathieu Manset allayed any fears the Edgar Road* faithful might have about Pitman’s managerial ability and revealed:
“He’s a real manager. He knows how to shout! He is a football man and once played and so he knows what to do.”
* Apologies to Bulls fans for calling Edgar Street 'Edgar Road'. A lazy error on my part, although it does explain why the Sat Nav took me to Hounslow first :-)
“It helped us in the respect that I don’t need to say to the players that they’re coming here and you’re supposed to e professional footballers and so you have to do what you’re good at and what you do day in day out. And that’s what they did to be fair.
I said to them that the first fifteen minutes was going to dictate what happens. If they score and you allow them into the game then it’s going to be very difficult. If you don’t then you’ll probably go on and win by five, seven or eight and in the end it could have been double figures.
In the end fair play to them, they worked very hard and they kept in the game all of the time and to be fair to them they weren’t bad, they weren’t bad.”
Pitman is also pleased with the atmosphere around the Bulls’ camp and said:
“The players seem to be enjoying themselves and so it’s just a continual progression for us at the moment.”
Two-goal hero Mathieu Manset allayed any fears the Edgar Road* faithful might have about Pitman’s managerial ability and revealed:
“He’s a real manager. He knows how to shout! He is a football man and once played and so he knows what to do.”
* Apologies to Bulls fans for calling Edgar Street 'Edgar Road'. A lazy error on my part, although it does explain why the Sat Nav took me to Hounslow first :-)
Monday, 8 November 2010
Hereford United 5 Hythe Town 1 - R.E.S.P.E.C.T
As a professional footballer you need no greater motivation than to read that the opposition manager thinks you’re “nothing special”.
Hythe Town were the smallest team left in the FA Cup on Saturday and were duly dumped out of it in emphatic style by the Bulls and it could have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for some sloppy finishing and inspired goalkeeping from Kieron Mann.
Hereford manager Jamie Pitman told me after the game:
“I didn’t need to say anything to the players before the game as they had done my job for me by showing a total lack of respect.”
Any chance of an upset died in the 8th minute when midfielder Richard Rose burst through the Hythe defence and planted a shot in the bottom left corner.
In the 21st minute Rob Purdie buried a shot from the edge of the box in the same place.
Hythe pulled one back in the 26th minute when Council Planning Officer Gary Mickelborough ran into the box and rifled another into the bottom left corner, but that proved to be the Kent side’s only high point.
Gallic flare then took over in the form of a Mathieu Manset brace before half time.
French striker Manset, 21, scored with an acrobatic overhead kick in the 39th minute before bundling home a header five minutes later.
Afterwards Manset said:
“As a child I dreamed of playing in English football and in the FA Cup, but last season I was sent off when we beat Sutton and so I was very unhappy. Today was better.
My hero back home in France was Jean-Pierre Papin who was known for his overhead goals and so I used to practice them and still do in training. To score one just like him was a great feeling.”
In the second half I fully expected Hereford to reach double figures such was their dominance, but they struggled to find a way past the vertically challenged, pink-shirted Mann who made several excellent stops – three in particular from winger Stuart Fleetwood.
But Fleetwood had the last laugh.
In the 93rd minute Fleetwood’s shot hit the post and rolled along and over the line and while substitute Sean Canham appeared to make sure by belting the ball into the back of the net, the winger wheeled away in delight at finally overcoming the amateur stopper.
Hythe Town were the smallest team left in the FA Cup on Saturday and were duly dumped out of it in emphatic style by the Bulls and it could have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for some sloppy finishing and inspired goalkeeping from Kieron Mann.
My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
“I didn’t need to say anything to the players before the game as they had done my job for me by showing a total lack of respect.”
Any chance of an upset died in the 8th minute when midfielder Richard Rose burst through the Hythe defence and planted a shot in the bottom left corner.
In the 21st minute Rob Purdie buried a shot from the edge of the box in the same place.
Hythe pulled one back in the 26th minute when Council Planning Officer Gary Mickelborough ran into the box and rifled another into the bottom left corner, but that proved to be the Kent side’s only high point.
Gallic flare then took over in the form of a Mathieu Manset brace before half time.
French striker Manset, 21, scored with an acrobatic overhead kick in the 39th minute before bundling home a header five minutes later.
Afterwards Manset said:
“As a child I dreamed of playing in English football and in the FA Cup, but last season I was sent off when we beat Sutton and so I was very unhappy. Today was better.
My hero back home in France was Jean-Pierre Papin who was known for his overhead goals and so I used to practice them and still do in training. To score one just like him was a great feeling.”
In the second half I fully expected Hereford to reach double figures such was their dominance, but they struggled to find a way past the vertically challenged, pink-shirted Mann who made several excellent stops – three in particular from winger Stuart Fleetwood.
But Fleetwood had the last laugh.
In the 93rd minute Fleetwood’s shot hit the post and rolled along and over the line and while substitute Sean Canham appeared to make sure by belting the ball into the back of the net, the winger wheeled away in delight at finally overcoming the amateur stopper.
More quotes from this game tomorrow.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Hereford United versus Who? – Where?
Hythe Town? Who are Hythe Town? Where is Hythe Town?
Most people will never have heard of the Kent seaside town of Hythe, but I have the dubious honour of having stayed there as a kid while on a choir holiday.
I was eleven and remember that – aside from playing football against some lads from Manchester – it was the worst holiday and dullest place.
Our choirmaster eventually saw sense and kicked me out citing that fact that I was both tone deaf and the spawn of Satan who had no place being in a church anyway! Okay, I exaggerate, but the fella didn’t appreciate my vocal skills, that’s for sure.
According to Wikipedia “a French fleet approached Hythe in 1293 and landed 200 men, but ‘the townsmen came upon them and slew every one of them: upon which the rest of the fleet hoisted sail and made no further attempt’.”
So the French don’t like the place either then.
Hythe Town play in the Kent Premier and the fixture against Hereford tomorrow will be the biggest in the club’s history having never made it to the 1st Round of the FA Cup before.
They are the smallest team left in the Cup and, on paper, you would expect them to take nothing more than a couple of cases of cider back with them to celebrate the achievement of being knocked out at this stage. However, and it may be a cliché, football is never played on paper.
But hold on. Isn’t this fixture what the FA Cup is all about? David versus Goliath? The favourites against the underdogs? Newcastle against, er, Hereford?
The Hythe Town website edi9or is certainly getting excited, This from the home page (http://www.hythetownfc.co.uk/index.htm):
“where do we start....the first Kent League team in 53 years to reach the First Round Proper, a 7th consecutive win, a 6th consecutive F.A. Cup win, a 4th consecutive clean sheet! The FIRST time Hythe Town FC have EVER reached the first round of the F.A. Cup!!!!!!!”
The Kent side are currently mid-table in the Kent League Premier Division (a feeder for the Isthmian League and the 9th level down on in English football’s footballing pyramid), but have played four fewer games than leaders Herne Bay and are only nine points off the pace.
Their goal scorers this season (up to 23rd of October are):
Goals (League Cup and then Total)
Brendon Cass 6, 3, 9
Dave Cook 4, 4, 8
Kieran Byrne 0, 5, 5
Gary Mickelborough 1, 3, 4
Craig Thompson 1, 2, 3
Gary Lockyer 2, 0, 2
Pat Kingwell 1, 0, 1
Lee Shearer 0, 1, 1
Lee Winfield 0, 1, 1
Ronnie Dolan 1, 0, 1
Billy Somerville 0, 1, 1
Damian Abel 1, 0, 1
Hereford have picked up in League Two under the guidance of physiotherapist Jamie Pitman who has been handed the caretaker manager’s job until the end of the year.
Hythe boss Scott Porter watched Hereford’s 2-2 draw at home to Aldershot on Tuesday, which saw the Bulls move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season and said his side – who will head West on Friday and return on Sunday – have nothing to fear.
He said: "They were quite ordinary and if we can stop them playing, then we have every chance."
Brave words? Or a red rag to the Bulls? We’ll see.
One thing is for certain, if Hereford win you my miss my piece if you blink while reading Monday’s copy of The Sun – if they lose I will be spending most of my weekend writing!
Most people will never have heard of the Kent seaside town of Hythe, but I have the dubious honour of having stayed there as a kid while on a choir holiday.
I was eleven and remember that – aside from playing football against some lads from Manchester – it was the worst holiday and dullest place.
Our choirmaster eventually saw sense and kicked me out citing that fact that I was both tone deaf and the spawn of Satan who had no place being in a church anyway! Okay, I exaggerate, but the fella didn’t appreciate my vocal skills, that’s for sure.
According to Wikipedia “a French fleet approached Hythe in 1293 and landed 200 men, but ‘the townsmen came upon them and slew every one of them: upon which the rest of the fleet hoisted sail and made no further attempt’.”
So the French don’t like the place either then.
Hythe Town play in the Kent Premier and the fixture against Hereford tomorrow will be the biggest in the club’s history having never made it to the 1st Round of the FA Cup before.
They are the smallest team left in the Cup and, on paper, you would expect them to take nothing more than a couple of cases of cider back with them to celebrate the achievement of being knocked out at this stage. However, and it may be a cliché, football is never played on paper.
But hold on. Isn’t this fixture what the FA Cup is all about? David versus Goliath? The favourites against the underdogs? Newcastle against, er, Hereford?
The Hythe Town website edi9or is certainly getting excited, This from the home page (http://www.hythetownfc.co.uk/index.htm):
“where do we start....the first Kent League team in 53 years to reach the First Round Proper, a 7th consecutive win, a 6th consecutive F.A. Cup win, a 4th consecutive clean sheet! The FIRST time Hythe Town FC have EVER reached the first round of the F.A. Cup!!!!!!!”
The Kent side are currently mid-table in the Kent League Premier Division (a feeder for the Isthmian League and the 9th level down on in English football’s footballing pyramid), but have played four fewer games than leaders Herne Bay and are only nine points off the pace.
Their goal scorers this season (up to 23rd of October are):
Goals (League Cup and then Total)
Brendon Cass 6, 3, 9
Dave Cook 4, 4, 8
Kieran Byrne 0, 5, 5
Gary Mickelborough 1, 3, 4
Craig Thompson 1, 2, 3
Gary Lockyer 2, 0, 2
Pat Kingwell 1, 0, 1
Lee Shearer 0, 1, 1
Lee Winfield 0, 1, 1
Ronnie Dolan 1, 0, 1
Billy Somerville 0, 1, 1
Damian Abel 1, 0, 1
Hereford have picked up in League Two under the guidance of physiotherapist Jamie Pitman who has been handed the caretaker manager’s job until the end of the year.
Hythe boss Scott Porter watched Hereford’s 2-2 draw at home to Aldershot on Tuesday, which saw the Bulls move out of the relegation zone for the first time this season and said his side – who will head West on Friday and return on Sunday – have nothing to fear.
He said: "They were quite ordinary and if we can stop them playing, then we have every chance."
Brave words? Or a red rag to the Bulls? We’ll see.
One thing is for certain, if Hereford win you my miss my piece if you blink while reading Monday’s copy of The Sun – if they lose I will be spending most of my weekend writing!
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Swindon - Bits n Pieces
Some ramblings from my sick bed on Tuesday's game ...
Following Tuesday evening's game against Charlton Danny Wilson revealed that he hadn't dropped keeper David Lucas - who had shipped ten goals in the three previous games.
According to Wilson - who kept his side in the dressing room for 45 minutes after the game - former Leeds stopper Lucas had been feeling lethargic by his own admission and so the club had taken blood tests and sent them of for analysis. On Tuesday they were still awaiting the results and so Phil Smith was asked to try and stop the Charlton tide.
Despite picking the ball out of the net three times, Smith - who had no chance with the goals - was big enough to face the media once Wilson had finished peeling the paint of off the dressing room walls.
Smith was pleased to have had some game time after spending much of the season warming the bench, but obviously disappointed with the result.
The fact that the club have recalled Michael Timlin from his loan spell at Southend shows how desperate Swindon are to inject a little experience into the side.
I can't help but feel that there is something going on at Swindon that we don't know about. Why a manager as experienced as Wilson has been left with so many youngsters at his disposal doesn't make sense. I'm starting to wonder if the board have lost faith in him or haven't released sufficient funds to support him.
The team is similar in many ways to the one that ended up at Wembley for the play-off final and so maybe they'll soon turn the corner. However, they have not replaced a key component of that team - Billy Paynter.
Two seasons ago Paynter acted as the foil to Simon Cox who scored goals for fun as Wilson dragged Swindon out of the relegation area to safety.
Last season Paynter got a hat full himself alongside new boy Charlie Austin before leaving on a 'free' to join Leeds and I think it's only now that Robins fans are starting to realise what a massive contribution he made to the team.
They may also be asking why he wasn't tied up on a longer deal and allowed to to for nowt.
Following Tuesday evening's game against Charlton Danny Wilson revealed that he hadn't dropped keeper David Lucas - who had shipped ten goals in the three previous games.
According to Wilson - who kept his side in the dressing room for 45 minutes after the game - former Leeds stopper Lucas had been feeling lethargic by his own admission and so the club had taken blood tests and sent them of for analysis. On Tuesday they were still awaiting the results and so Phil Smith was asked to try and stop the Charlton tide.
Despite picking the ball out of the net three times, Smith - who had no chance with the goals - was big enough to face the media once Wilson had finished peeling the paint of off the dressing room walls.
Smith was pleased to have had some game time after spending much of the season warming the bench, but obviously disappointed with the result.
The fact that the club have recalled Michael Timlin from his loan spell at Southend shows how desperate Swindon are to inject a little experience into the side.
I can't help but feel that there is something going on at Swindon that we don't know about. Why a manager as experienced as Wilson has been left with so many youngsters at his disposal doesn't make sense. I'm starting to wonder if the board have lost faith in him or haven't released sufficient funds to support him.
The team is similar in many ways to the one that ended up at Wembley for the play-off final and so maybe they'll soon turn the corner. However, they have not replaced a key component of that team - Billy Paynter.
Two seasons ago Paynter acted as the foil to Simon Cox who scored goals for fun as Wilson dragged Swindon out of the relegation area to safety.
Last season Paynter got a hat full himself alongside new boy Charlie Austin before leaving on a 'free' to join Leeds and I think it's only now that Robins fans are starting to realise what a massive contribution he made to the team.
They may also be asking why he wasn't tied up on a longer deal and allowed to to for nowt.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Swindon Town 0 Charlton Athletic 3 - No Defence
First of all, apologise for the late report. I have been laid down low with man-flu for the last 24 hours and so would like to thank a nameless colleague for his input …
Once the team sheets were handed out in the Press Box several of us picked up on the extremely youthful nature of the Swindon team and, as Danny Wilson stated afterwards, that “soft underbelly was exposed”.
Charlton took only 13 minutes to crack the inexperienced defence.
Three Town defenders homed in on a cross and Paul Benson brushed them all aside to prod the ball out to former Swindon loanee Johnnie Jackson on the left side of the area and the former Spurs trainee blasted in his 3rd of the season from 12 yards.
Charlie Austin found himself outwitted on three occasions by Addicks keeper Rob Elliot in the first half, but in the second half Charlton stepped things up a gear.
In the 51st minute winger Matt Fry sent over a deep cross from the left and striker Joe Anyinsah nodded in unchallenged from about four yards out on the far post.
Striker Benson deservedly got onto the scoresheet himself in the 74th minutes as Charlton wrapped things up and Swindon fan started praying for the final whistle.
This time Scott Wagstaff crossed the ball, but again Swindon were all at sea as Benson nodded in from about six yards.
It was perfect revenge form last season’s play-off defeat at the hand of the Wiltshire outfit and Addicks chief Phil Parkinson was quietly pleased with his team and said: “It was a professional performance, though we had to rely on keeper Rob Elliot for a couple of crucial saves in the first half. I hope that the Brighton defeat was the turning point but we've got to keep it going.
We were very clinical. We played some good football against a very good Swindon team, so I'm pleased with the lads. This is a difficult place to come, so to get a good win is very satisfying."
Wilson said: "I had a frank discussion with the players. We have not dealt with their strikers and even though we've had chances, overall you've seen a team who haven't helped each other out.
There were countless little exchanges we lost, our decision making was poor, players didn't want to get into good positions and we played like a team who are low on confidence. We have to regroup and I hope that we can bounce back."
Once the team sheets were handed out in the Press Box several of us picked up on the extremely youthful nature of the Swindon team and, as Danny Wilson stated afterwards, that “soft underbelly was exposed”.
Charlton took only 13 minutes to crack the inexperienced defence.
My clippings from this morning's copy of The Sun (The first is from an early edition and the second from the London Edition)
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
Three Town defenders homed in on a cross and Paul Benson brushed them all aside to prod the ball out to former Swindon loanee Johnnie Jackson on the left side of the area and the former Spurs trainee blasted in his 3rd of the season from 12 yards.
Charlie Austin found himself outwitted on three occasions by Addicks keeper Rob Elliot in the first half, but in the second half Charlton stepped things up a gear.
In the 51st minute winger Matt Fry sent over a deep cross from the left and striker Joe Anyinsah nodded in unchallenged from about four yards out on the far post.
Striker Benson deservedly got onto the scoresheet himself in the 74th minutes as Charlton wrapped things up and Swindon fan started praying for the final whistle.
This time Scott Wagstaff crossed the ball, but again Swindon were all at sea as Benson nodded in from about six yards.
It was perfect revenge form last season’s play-off defeat at the hand of the Wiltshire outfit and Addicks chief Phil Parkinson was quietly pleased with his team and said: “It was a professional performance, though we had to rely on keeper Rob Elliot for a couple of crucial saves in the first half. I hope that the Brighton defeat was the turning point but we've got to keep it going.
We were very clinical. We played some good football against a very good Swindon team, so I'm pleased with the lads. This is a difficult place to come, so to get a good win is very satisfying."
Wilson said: "I had a frank discussion with the players. We have not dealt with their strikers and even though we've had chances, overall you've seen a team who haven't helped each other out.
There were countless little exchanges we lost, our decision making was poor, players didn't want to get into good positions and we played like a team who are low on confidence. We have to regroup and I hope that we can bounce back."
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Swindon v Charlton - Sporadik Addick
Back to the County Ground tonight and it should be an intereting tussle against pre-season promotion favourites Charlton.
The Addicks are nicely placed one point off second spot in League One and will be looking to record their third win on the bounce.
Manager Phil Parkinson was delighted with his side’s performance at the weekend and said:
“We went to Carlisle and went three-nil up, then 3-3 and winning it in the last minute but even this week has been a tough week just waiting for the Sheffield Wednesday game to come.
It was interesting to see how the lads were going to respond but I thought they were excellent today and to be fair I think the supporters know the lads give their all every week and that Brighton was a one-off result
I'm very pleased, I though it was a solid performance today. We probably got the balance right between being solid as a team and playing some good football and showing some creativity. The team showed a lot of good characteristics today and we're all very pleased.
Simon Francis and Johnnie Jackson were threatening today with their set-pieces. I was pleased for Simon because he’s put in some excellent performances but I think his best performances have been away from home so it was good for him to put in a solid performance today."
Danny Wilson will be concerned after reading those comments as his team have now shipped ten goals in the last three games. However, they have fought back to pick up draws in their last two and so the fighting spirit is obviously alive and well. Wilson showed his concern though after the Yeovil game at the weekend and said:
"You can't fault my team for effort but when you look back at the goals we have conceded we don't learn our lessons. They were really poor goals. We have to look at ourselves in certain areas and we have got to do better than that. The only trouble we had in the first half was the problems we caused ourselves. To go 1-0 up and it could have been two or three was disappointing.
To concede the goal we let in just before half-time was criminal and when they got the second one there was no danger at all. You can't tell people what decisions to make in the middle of the game. They are professional people and we can't keep protecting them."
There’s no doubt that the Robins’ central defending partnership of Scott Cuthbert and Sean Morrison will need to keep a keen eye on midfoielder Wagstaff and striker Paul Benson who have both notched up five league goals each so far this campaign.
My gut feeling says a third draw on the trot and I suspect Parkinson will be the happier of the two managers if that turns out to be the case.
While they have it in their locker, Swindon need to put a little run together now. The table in congested and two or three wins on the bounce would see them fighting for one of the promotion spots instead of looking over their shoulders.
Charlton just need to maintain their momentum. Brighton have a nine goal lead at the moment, but there’s lot of football to be played and, if the Addicks can maintain the pressure, when the Seagulls hit a bad patch they’ll be perfectly positioned to take advantage.
The Addicks are nicely placed one point off second spot in League One and will be looking to record their third win on the bounce.
Manager Phil Parkinson was delighted with his side’s performance at the weekend and said:
“We went to Carlisle and went three-nil up, then 3-3 and winning it in the last minute but even this week has been a tough week just waiting for the Sheffield Wednesday game to come.
It was interesting to see how the lads were going to respond but I thought they were excellent today and to be fair I think the supporters know the lads give their all every week and that Brighton was a one-off result
I'm very pleased, I though it was a solid performance today. We probably got the balance right between being solid as a team and playing some good football and showing some creativity. The team showed a lot of good characteristics today and we're all very pleased.
Simon Francis and Johnnie Jackson were threatening today with their set-pieces. I was pleased for Simon because he’s put in some excellent performances but I think his best performances have been away from home so it was good for him to put in a solid performance today."
Danny Wilson will be concerned after reading those comments as his team have now shipped ten goals in the last three games. However, they have fought back to pick up draws in their last two and so the fighting spirit is obviously alive and well. Wilson showed his concern though after the Yeovil game at the weekend and said:
"You can't fault my team for effort but when you look back at the goals we have conceded we don't learn our lessons. They were really poor goals. We have to look at ourselves in certain areas and we have got to do better than that. The only trouble we had in the first half was the problems we caused ourselves. To go 1-0 up and it could have been two or three was disappointing.
To concede the goal we let in just before half-time was criminal and when they got the second one there was no danger at all. You can't tell people what decisions to make in the middle of the game. They are professional people and we can't keep protecting them."
There’s no doubt that the Robins’ central defending partnership of Scott Cuthbert and Sean Morrison will need to keep a keen eye on midfoielder Wagstaff and striker Paul Benson who have both notched up five league goals each so far this campaign.
My gut feeling says a third draw on the trot and I suspect Parkinson will be the happier of the two managers if that turns out to be the case.
While they have it in their locker, Swindon need to put a little run together now. The table in congested and two or three wins on the bounce would see them fighting for one of the promotion spots instead of looking over their shoulders.
Charlton just need to maintain their momentum. Brighton have a nine goal lead at the moment, but there’s lot of football to be played and, if the Addicks can maintain the pressure, when the Seagulls hit a bad patch they’ll be perfectly positioned to take advantage.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Wycombe and Lincoln quotes - Talk
Following Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Adams Park, I had a chat with several players from the both camps as well as the managers.
Goalscorer Mustapha Carayol, 20, filled me in on his background and aspirations after the game and said:
“My family left Gambia to live in Paris when I was six. My mum was taking her Masters in French and is now a translator. She’s a smart lady and one of many intellectuals in my family, but I’m just happy playing football.”
And Carayol is keen to play for his country of birth and gain international experience, he revealed:
“Gambia have already asked me to play for them, but the club weren’t given the 14 days notice they needed. I’d be honoured to be asked again and if we can build on the way we’ve started under the new gaffer here, they might give me another chance.”
Full back Gavin Hoyte – brother of Boro defender Justin and son of British sprinter Wendy – found himself making the loan move from Arsenal to Lincoln on Friday and explained:
“As I live in London it was pointless going up to Lincoln and then coming down again on the coach, so I was told to get to Wycombe for one o’clock which is the first time I met any of my team mates. They are a great bunch of lads though and made me feel part of the team straight away.”
Lincoln’s new boss Steve Tilson was pleased with the point – the second in to games since he took over from Chris Sutton – and said:
“It was a very open game from two teams trying to win it to be honest. Even once we’d scored the second goal I felt that we probably looked the side who could go on and win it. It was a good game of football.
I spoke to Brushy (coach Paul Brush) and said that the pleasing thing for me was that we are labeled as a side who don’t score many goals – which is true – but we’ve gone and scored two goals away from home and probably could have scored three or four.
It was the worst start possible. Away from home against a decent side you want to keep the first ten minutes as tight as possible and so to go 1-0 down wasn’t the greatest of starts. To be fair to the lads though they showed character and spirit to get us back into the game.”
Wycome goalscorer Kevin Betsy has asked for the home fans to stick with the team. He said:
“When things go against us we all need to pull together. I know it can be frustrating for the fans, but we need them with us.”
Boss Gary Waddock said:
“We have done really well away from home but at the moment it is just not happening for us at home," said Waddock. "We have got to be better at breaking teams down because teams come here with a game plan. "As a home side the emphasis is on us but I am confident it will turn for us here because we want this to be a difficult place to come to. But credit where credit is due, we must give credit to Lincoln. We have done well to get a point and you must never underestimate a point.
"First half we did reasonably well, we scored an early goal but in the second half that was nowhere near what we were looking for. We could have quite easily come away from this with a 3-2 defeat. Our back four dropped too deep and we weren't able to get close enough to them in the middle of the park and the game got stretched and we let them back into the game."
Goalscorer Mustapha Carayol, 20, filled me in on his background and aspirations after the game and said:
“My family left Gambia to live in Paris when I was six. My mum was taking her Masters in French and is now a translator. She’s a smart lady and one of many intellectuals in my family, but I’m just happy playing football.”
And Carayol is keen to play for his country of birth and gain international experience, he revealed:
“Gambia have already asked me to play for them, but the club weren’t given the 14 days notice they needed. I’d be honoured to be asked again and if we can build on the way we’ve started under the new gaffer here, they might give me another chance.”
Full back Gavin Hoyte – brother of Boro defender Justin and son of British sprinter Wendy – found himself making the loan move from Arsenal to Lincoln on Friday and explained:
“As I live in London it was pointless going up to Lincoln and then coming down again on the coach, so I was told to get to Wycombe for one o’clock which is the first time I met any of my team mates. They are a great bunch of lads though and made me feel part of the team straight away.”
Lincoln’s new boss Steve Tilson was pleased with the point – the second in to games since he took over from Chris Sutton – and said:
“It was a very open game from two teams trying to win it to be honest. Even once we’d scored the second goal I felt that we probably looked the side who could go on and win it. It was a good game of football.
I spoke to Brushy (coach Paul Brush) and said that the pleasing thing for me was that we are labeled as a side who don’t score many goals – which is true – but we’ve gone and scored two goals away from home and probably could have scored three or four.
It was the worst start possible. Away from home against a decent side you want to keep the first ten minutes as tight as possible and so to go 1-0 down wasn’t the greatest of starts. To be fair to the lads though they showed character and spirit to get us back into the game.”
Wycome goalscorer Kevin Betsy has asked for the home fans to stick with the team. He said:
“When things go against us we all need to pull together. I know it can be frustrating for the fans, but we need them with us.”
Boss Gary Waddock said:
“We have done really well away from home but at the moment it is just not happening for us at home," said Waddock. "We have got to be better at breaking teams down because teams come here with a game plan. "As a home side the emphasis is on us but I am confident it will turn for us here because we want this to be a difficult place to come to. But credit where credit is due, we must give credit to Lincoln. We have done well to get a point and you must never underestimate a point.
"First half we did reasonably well, we scored an early goal but in the second half that was nowhere near what we were looking for. We could have quite easily come away from this with a 3-2 defeat. Our back four dropped too deep and we weren't able to get close enough to them in the middle of the park and the game got stretched and we let them back into the game."
Wycombe Wanderers 2 Lincoln City 2 - Ben
It took less than a minute for this game to ignite after Kevin Betsy had prodded the ball home at the far post in 46 seconds. I could have had full consensual sex in that time – including foreplay!
But before any ladies out there beat a path t my door, I have to say this game was far more entertaining than a minute in the sack with me.
A cross from skipper Gareth Ainsworth was nodded on to the inside of the near post by striker Stuart Beacon and winger Betsy had the easiest of tasks to tuck away his second goal in two games and four for the season.
It took the Imps until the 21st minute to respond, but the thing that will have pleased new boss Steve Tilson is that they didn’t let their heads drop.
Gambia-born winger Mustapha Carayol collected a sublime, long, cross field pass from midfielder Clark Keltie - that left Wycombe’s defence on the back foot – and cut in from the left into the area before unleashing an unstoppable shot for his first goal since the season opener against Rotherham.
Seven minutes before the break, Reading man Scott Davies put the home side ahead again with a curling shot from the edge of the box. Davies, 22, is in his second spell on loan with the Chairboys and this was the busy midfielder’s first league goal of the campaign.
In the second half the Imps had opportunities to add to their score.
Carayol fired wide from about twenty yards and had a cross cleared off the line by full back Danny Foster and Lincoln keeper Joe Anyon bravely threw himself at Ben Hutchinson’s feet as the striker bore down on goal.
In the 69th minute though Hutchinson was rewarded for his efforts with his 3rd of the season and a share of the points.
Co-striker Drewe Broughton nodded the ball down and Hutchinson – on loan from Celtic – swept the ball home.
I had seen Hutchinson turn out for Swindon a few times last season and afterwards he told me:
“I signed for Celtic when I was 20 and even played against Manchester United when I came on in a Champions League game. In all I turned out four times from them in front of 60,000 people and I was probably too young to handle it at the time. Mind you I wouldn’t swap the experience for anything – it’s a great club. I’m maturing more as a player now and enjoying my football at Lincoln.”
More quotes from this game to come later today and tomorrow.
But before any ladies out there beat a path t my door, I have to say this game was far more entertaining than a minute in the sack with me.
My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football
A cross from skipper Gareth Ainsworth was nodded on to the inside of the near post by striker Stuart Beacon and winger Betsy had the easiest of tasks to tuck away his second goal in two games and four for the season.
It took the Imps until the 21st minute to respond, but the thing that will have pleased new boss Steve Tilson is that they didn’t let their heads drop.
Gambia-born winger Mustapha Carayol collected a sublime, long, cross field pass from midfielder Clark Keltie - that left Wycombe’s defence on the back foot – and cut in from the left into the area before unleashing an unstoppable shot for his first goal since the season opener against Rotherham.
Seven minutes before the break, Reading man Scott Davies put the home side ahead again with a curling shot from the edge of the box. Davies, 22, is in his second spell on loan with the Chairboys and this was the busy midfielder’s first league goal of the campaign.
In the second half the Imps had opportunities to add to their score.
Carayol fired wide from about twenty yards and had a cross cleared off the line by full back Danny Foster and Lincoln keeper Joe Anyon bravely threw himself at Ben Hutchinson’s feet as the striker bore down on goal.
In the 69th minute though Hutchinson was rewarded for his efforts with his 3rd of the season and a share of the points.
Co-striker Drewe Broughton nodded the ball down and Hutchinson – on loan from Celtic – swept the ball home.
I had seen Hutchinson turn out for Swindon a few times last season and afterwards he told me:
“I signed for Celtic when I was 20 and even played against Manchester United when I came on in a Champions League game. In all I turned out four times from them in front of 60,000 people and I was probably too young to handle it at the time. Mind you I wouldn’t swap the experience for anything – it’s a great club. I’m maturing more as a player now and enjoying my football at Lincoln.”
More quotes from this game to come later today and tomorrow.
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