I actually went to a game for once, so will do a brief match report, as I
didn't see any others.
Pretty empty ground in bits, they do a lot of very good work in the community
but struggle to fill it week in week out and there's no real hard core I ever
seem to see when I go. Leeds away end was full as per usual. Leeds fans in
great voice. Not that much to shout for early doors as they played by far the
better football on a frankly terrible pitch that if we'd only had a few hundred
away fans, would probably have been called off.
It was bad last year and seemed to have got worse, it was raining but not that
much, I think the problem is that it's literally in a valley. Bit weird having
a delayed kick off but didn't seem to dim our fans' enthusiasm. Massive bits of
the pitch were under water or mud and the ball stuck a lot.
Almost Ironically, this hindered them not us. They try and play football but
are a bit lightweight. They still have a midfielder at right back - something I
wasn't really sure why we never targeted properly.
We lined up 3-5-2, McCormack & Blackstock up front, Ross on the left, drifting
about - maybe they were targeting Wilson. Brown, Crewe lad & Austin in a
midfield 3. Poleon (?) right wing back, Pugh left wing back. Lees & can't
remember the other 2 center backs. One came off at half time for the Lithuanian
who is a unit. Kenny in goal. We were 5-3-2 half the time.
Our first came against the run of play, I missed the build up but saw the smart
finish low down in the corner. They pretty much dominated the first half, I'm
not sure if this was becasue we sat back, or becasue they were out passing us -
we were adapting to the conditions better but hitting a lot of long balls and
balls out wide for people to chase. A bit daft as Ross is tiny and never wins
anything in the air. Blackstock was largely anonymous in the first half, I
think if I'm honest, he was hiding a bit (going goalside of the defender etc. a
couple of times) I'd gone for another beer and missed their goal but looking at
the goals this morning it was a bit of a thing we never cleared properly and a
good finish from them but I think he shinned it.
I think they had a weak penalty shout turned down, had a couple of headers over
and some shots but I don't think Kenny had too much to save. I think we
literally had one shot on goal and scored. Pretty dull football on a shit pitch.
Second half the 3-5-2 became 5-3-2 again after we won what looked like a pretty
clear penalty. 2-1. Slightly odd. We dropped deeper and deeper and the 5-3-2
became 5-1-3-1 with Brown in front of the back 5, Ross wide wide left and
Austin wide wide right and Blackstock on his own - We played balls out wide for
either to chase, Austin doing a much better job of it than Ross. I'd say he's a
lazy fucker but credit where credit's due, he took his chances today!
Whether it was them trying to play football or us dropping deeper and deeper
and conceding possession (our ball retention was abysmal, absolutely terrible,
rushed clearances, booted and headed forward aimlessly) - I'm not sure. We
seemed to have switched off and thought we'd won already, even our fans had
gone quiet.
Their equalizer came down our right again, some good work from their player who
danced rings round us and an 'easy' tap in. I thought we'd go on to crumble and
collapse but it was them who folded. Some of their players flat out quit and
gave up when we got our 3rd shortly after (their 2nd goal scorer particularly).
I think we'd knocked it out long to the flanks, crossed it in, Ross looked to
have lost it and was muscled off the ball, but he'd lost his marker and slotted
another one in forcefully. Great finish.
I think they tried to give it a go for a few mins. We took Blackstock off to a
good ovation, he put a shift in second half. Smith, I think came on. I don't
remember us being under great pressure, Austin nearly got one but shot
over/wide - we got a soft free kick late on (the ref was pretty poor and I
think we got a massive rub of the green today (more brown)), Smith was fouling
their player and Ross put it exactly where he was and another! great finish for
4-2. Party time. I'd say we probably had 5-6 shots total, 4 on target and 4
goals!
Not sure it was men against boys but they definitely gave up at 2-2 and 3-2. We
conceded far too much territory and possession and not sure needing to score 3
goals away from home every away game is going to get us far. Brown did a lot of
talking, organising, provoking, pointing, blocking etc. We broke the flow of
the game up first half, lots of niggly fouls, players going down 'injured' etc.
Really put them off their stride.
Austin was quiet but very effective, he doesn't say or do much but leads by
example - my MOTM if I'm being churlish to Ross, he literally did nothing
except score 4.
I'd forgotten the Crewe lad was on in the first half and tried to watch him
the second. he was neat & tidy, good passer, lots of 1-2s - one of our only
players trying to pass, play football & keep the ball. A bit lightweight
though. Maybe he's not found his feet yet.
The big lad who came on at half time was good in the air, not bad on the floor,
lots of talking and communicating with Kenny. Looks good to me.
I'm still not sure we played that well but enjoyed the game, bit weird being in
the home end. Nice to score 4 and win away from home. Couldn't quite make out a
couple of the chants, the Ross one is odd. So and so is one of your own, wtf
was that? Was replied to by them as Jimmy Saville one of your own.
_______________________________________________
Leedslist mailing list
Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist
To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org
MARCHING ON TOGETHER
