This game was billed as a ‘grudge match’ since Scunthorpe beat us to the League One title last season and we were looking for revenge. Although, Scunthorpe finished higher than City, it is the Robins who have settled in the Championship. Prior to the match, we were third in the Championship and only one point off leaders Watford.
Nigel Adkins’ team, on the other hand, are struggling near the foot of the table, facing the threat of relegation. Despite our high position, this was billed as a ‘must win game’, as Gary Johnson’s team looked to win away for the first time in 2008.
This match was always going to be difficult as the pitch at Glanford Park is not exactly perfect for playing good football. It is much shorter and narrower than our surface at Ashton Gate so the players would have to adapt. The solution to this problem was to resize our training pitch in preparation for the game. We were also without our captain Louis Carey, who had suffered a foot injury at the weekend, so a win would take some hard work. Judging by the radio commentary in the first 20 minutes Scunthorpe had most of the possession and created the most chances. We did however force our way into the game and Jamie McCombe came close with a header which went just wide of the post.
In the second half our play sounded a lot brighter, with chances being created but still no goals. With time running out Johnson introduced defender Tamas Vasko to play up front in place of Dele Adebola. The substitution paid off when Vasko’s presence in the box distracted goalkeeper Joe Murphy, and Bradley Orr’s left-footed, curling effort ended up in the far corner of the net.
For the next ten minutes I was sitting on the edge of my seat while the final minutes were played out. The win was crucial, with Stoke and Watford both winning it was important to claim all three points. And with West Brom only managing a draw at home to stuttering Sheffield United, the win was even more welcome.
Last season, we travelled to Glanford Park and lost 1-0 to a Billy Sharp goal. After the game, the Scunny players celebrated by unsportingly banging on the away dressing room door. All I can say is; I hope we gave them the same treatment. Let me say to Scunthorpe, League One here you come and to City, Premiership here we come!
ANDY DAVIES
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Monday, 11 February 2008
Revenge is a dish best served Ready Salted
Leicester City 0, Plymouth Argyle 1. Every time I read it I feel so happy I could cry.
A raucous 1500-strong Green Army pitched up at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday evening, but I’m not ashamed to admit I wasn’t one of them. For one, I’m skint, with my attendance currently restricted to home games I’ve already paid for, and for two, Argyle matches being featured on live television is still such a novelty that I like to enjoy it.
Oddly, my own experience of the Ian Holloway Grudge Match™ was in the University of Huddersfield Student Union’s fairly empty bar with three mates – a Blackpool/Celtic fan, and two girls who tried to be interested, with varying degrees of success.
My ecstatic roar at Peter Halmosi’s 34th-minute winner attracted the attention of the venue’s entire clientele, not particularly difficult when it barely ran into double figures. Indeed, I was the only fan of either team present, unless there were some Foxes supporters keeping very quiet…although who could blame them, considering the way their team was thoroughly embarrassed and outmanoeuvred for the majority of the 90 minutes? The only similar sound I heard during the game was a Ghanaian fan celebrating his team’s success over Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations’ Third Place Play-Off, which was being shown on another screen.
Watching the green masses packing the visitor’s section and singing the house down at the ‘Crisp Bowl’, and the way Halmosi tore Lionel Messi-like through incompetent blue foes in an unfamiliar role on the right, it was hard to feel anything but pride for the Pilgrim blood flowing from the arteries.
As already predicted on this blog, the Hungarian international will be almost impossible to keep at Home Park beyond the summer unless Argyle can defy the odds and sneak up to the Premiership through the play-offs. Outside of the big boring four, any side would be lucky to have him, and few would begrudge Halmosi a crack at the top flight, given the commitment and excellence he has shown this season.
Jim Paterson also had a good debut on the left. Jimmy Abdou regained the place in midfield he never should have lost and looked solid, while Paul Sturrock finally bit the bullet and tried Argyle’s best strikers together – record signing Steve McLean and the pacy Jermaine Easter, despite neither being the target man he likes to employ. They looked good, with spark and technique Rory Fallon sadly lacks, and the hope must be that Luggy will attempt to rework his footballing philosophies to suit the attractive, attacking, passing football which seems to best suit the resources he has at his disposal.
Ironically, it was Ian Holloway who introduced this style of play, and bought many of the players now employing it. The pained expressions anointing the Bristolian's cheeks on Saturday, at the various points when the Sky cameras focussed on him, were glorious sites to behold, and while Argyle now lie just two points behind the top six, Ollie’s new charges are only three above the drop zone. After watching their disorientated performance, it wasn’t hard to see why. Steve Howard is still as good in the air as ever, but he was generally well dealt with by cult star Kristian Timar, ably assisted by the increasingly magnificent goalkeeping of Luke McCormick. The best home player was probably Barry Hayles, which, considering he was no longer good enough for the Argyle starting eleven when we sold him in January, says a lot for the gulf between the teams.
Press coverage of this game has focussed strongly on Argyle chairman Paul Stapleton’s war of words with Ollie this week, but for now I’d rather concentrate on the important bit. At Leicester, the men in green put together a performance of almost utter control and dominance, played exciting football, and were multipack value for their win. This is a team with sealed-in freshness. But Leicester are looking a bit Tesco Value.
RICH PARTINGTON
A raucous 1500-strong Green Army pitched up at the Walkers Stadium on Saturday evening, but I’m not ashamed to admit I wasn’t one of them. For one, I’m skint, with my attendance currently restricted to home games I’ve already paid for, and for two, Argyle matches being featured on live television is still such a novelty that I like to enjoy it.
Oddly, my own experience of the Ian Holloway Grudge Match™ was in the University of Huddersfield Student Union’s fairly empty bar with three mates – a Blackpool/Celtic fan, and two girls who tried to be interested, with varying degrees of success.
My ecstatic roar at Peter Halmosi’s 34th-minute winner attracted the attention of the venue’s entire clientele, not particularly difficult when it barely ran into double figures. Indeed, I was the only fan of either team present, unless there were some Foxes supporters keeping very quiet…although who could blame them, considering the way their team was thoroughly embarrassed and outmanoeuvred for the majority of the 90 minutes? The only similar sound I heard during the game was a Ghanaian fan celebrating his team’s success over Ivory Coast in the African Cup of Nations’ Third Place Play-Off, which was being shown on another screen.
Watching the green masses packing the visitor’s section and singing the house down at the ‘Crisp Bowl’, and the way Halmosi tore Lionel Messi-like through incompetent blue foes in an unfamiliar role on the right, it was hard to feel anything but pride for the Pilgrim blood flowing from the arteries.
As already predicted on this blog, the Hungarian international will be almost impossible to keep at Home Park beyond the summer unless Argyle can defy the odds and sneak up to the Premiership through the play-offs. Outside of the big boring four, any side would be lucky to have him, and few would begrudge Halmosi a crack at the top flight, given the commitment and excellence he has shown this season.
Jim Paterson also had a good debut on the left. Jimmy Abdou regained the place in midfield he never should have lost and looked solid, while Paul Sturrock finally bit the bullet and tried Argyle’s best strikers together – record signing Steve McLean and the pacy Jermaine Easter, despite neither being the target man he likes to employ. They looked good, with spark and technique Rory Fallon sadly lacks, and the hope must be that Luggy will attempt to rework his footballing philosophies to suit the attractive, attacking, passing football which seems to best suit the resources he has at his disposal.
Ironically, it was Ian Holloway who introduced this style of play, and bought many of the players now employing it. The pained expressions anointing the Bristolian's cheeks on Saturday, at the various points when the Sky cameras focussed on him, were glorious sites to behold, and while Argyle now lie just two points behind the top six, Ollie’s new charges are only three above the drop zone. After watching their disorientated performance, it wasn’t hard to see why. Steve Howard is still as good in the air as ever, but he was generally well dealt with by cult star Kristian Timar, ably assisted by the increasingly magnificent goalkeeping of Luke McCormick. The best home player was probably Barry Hayles, which, considering he was no longer good enough for the Argyle starting eleven when we sold him in January, says a lot for the gulf between the teams.
Press coverage of this game has focussed strongly on Argyle chairman Paul Stapleton’s war of words with Ollie this week, but for now I’d rather concentrate on the important bit. At Leicester, the men in green put together a performance of almost utter control and dominance, played exciting football, and were multipack value for their win. This is a team with sealed-in freshness. But Leicester are looking a bit Tesco Value.
RICH PARTINGTON
Sunday, 10 February 2008
City back on form
After last Saturday’s 3-0 defeat to big spending QPR it was important Bristol City returned to winning ways yesterday against a struggling Sheffield Wednesday side. Before the game, manager Gary Johnson made a plea to supporters to do that ‘little bit extra’ to support the team, in a game which was a must-win if we were to stay amongst the leaders. After last week’s result, the national press were quick to say our ‘bubble had burst’ yet again, but we have proven this season we can bounce back from setbacks and this was the case on Saturday.
The game also saw the return of captain Louis Carey who has been sorely missed in recent weeks. Dele Adebola was making his home debut up front with Nick Carle playing just behind him in a 4-4-1-1 formation. We started brightly with Marvin Elliot seeing his header bounce off the crossbar and in the first five minutes it was clear City had sorely missed a strong target man like Dele. Since Steve Brooker’s persistent knee injuries of last season, we have lacked a player in this mould. Hopefully, with Brooker now playing at Cheltenham Town on loan in a bid to regain his fitness, we should soon have two target men at the club.
It seemed only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken and the first goal arrived after eight minutes. Michael McIndoe threaded a through ball to Adebola who slotted the ball past goalkeeper Lee Grant and into the far corner of the net. From then on we could have added at least two more goals with Carle seeing one chance flash wide and another well saved by Grant after a promising run by McIndoe. Wednesday rarely threatened and the only person in danger of causing City problems was referee Richard Shoebridge, who failed to spot many poor challenges by Brian Law’s team.
At half-time the score was 1-0 and I was in two minds as to whether to be pleased that we were winning and creating chances or disappointed that we had wasted most of those chances. We started the second half as we had the first, pushing forward and creating chances. However, with Wednesday behind it was inevitable their forwards would put pressure on us. Marcus Tudgay sent a dipping effort wide of Adriano Basso’s post while Sean McAllister header was tipped over the crossbar with a fingertip save from Basso.
That save was crucial as moments later City scored a second. Carle’s pass to Adebola eventually found its way into Bradley Orr’s path, who lashed the ball into the far corner of the net from 15 yards. At last, the home side and the majority of the 15,600 could sit back and enjoy the rest of the game. Too often this season, City have failed to score the decisive second goal, leaving fans on the edge of our seats.
Gary Johnson then substituted Adebola and Carle soon after the second goal with Tuesday’s away game at Scunthorpe in mind. Lee Trundle and Darren Byfield came on in their places and both threatened to add a third. Trundle’s layoff to McIndoe should have made it 3-0 but the winger shot straight at the Goalkeeper.
Wednesday did eventually score with Lee Bullen firing past Basso with a fierce volley, but it was far too late in injury time for it to spoil the party. After the game, Johnson, in his post match interview told reporters, a supporter in Japan did his extra bit to support the team by lighting a candle and sending a picture to the team.
City now only trail leaders West Brom by one point, and with 15 games to go the dream of the Premiership is still on as our ‘bubble’ remains intact.
ANDY DAVIES
The game also saw the return of captain Louis Carey who has been sorely missed in recent weeks. Dele Adebola was making his home debut up front with Nick Carle playing just behind him in a 4-4-1-1 formation. We started brightly with Marvin Elliot seeing his header bounce off the crossbar and in the first five minutes it was clear City had sorely missed a strong target man like Dele. Since Steve Brooker’s persistent knee injuries of last season, we have lacked a player in this mould. Hopefully, with Brooker now playing at Cheltenham Town on loan in a bid to regain his fitness, we should soon have two target men at the club.
It seemed only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken and the first goal arrived after eight minutes. Michael McIndoe threaded a through ball to Adebola who slotted the ball past goalkeeper Lee Grant and into the far corner of the net. From then on we could have added at least two more goals with Carle seeing one chance flash wide and another well saved by Grant after a promising run by McIndoe. Wednesday rarely threatened and the only person in danger of causing City problems was referee Richard Shoebridge, who failed to spot many poor challenges by Brian Law’s team.
At half-time the score was 1-0 and I was in two minds as to whether to be pleased that we were winning and creating chances or disappointed that we had wasted most of those chances. We started the second half as we had the first, pushing forward and creating chances. However, with Wednesday behind it was inevitable their forwards would put pressure on us. Marcus Tudgay sent a dipping effort wide of Adriano Basso’s post while Sean McAllister header was tipped over the crossbar with a fingertip save from Basso.
That save was crucial as moments later City scored a second. Carle’s pass to Adebola eventually found its way into Bradley Orr’s path, who lashed the ball into the far corner of the net from 15 yards. At last, the home side and the majority of the 15,600 could sit back and enjoy the rest of the game. Too often this season, City have failed to score the decisive second goal, leaving fans on the edge of our seats.
Gary Johnson then substituted Adebola and Carle soon after the second goal with Tuesday’s away game at Scunthorpe in mind. Lee Trundle and Darren Byfield came on in their places and both threatened to add a third. Trundle’s layoff to McIndoe should have made it 3-0 but the winger shot straight at the Goalkeeper.
Wednesday did eventually score with Lee Bullen firing past Basso with a fierce volley, but it was far too late in injury time for it to spoil the party. After the game, Johnson, in his post match interview told reporters, a supporter in Japan did his extra bit to support the team by lighting a candle and sending a picture to the team.
City now only trail leaders West Brom by one point, and with 15 games to go the dream of the Premiership is still on as our ‘bubble’ remains intact.
ANDY DAVIES
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)