Awful, dreadful, abysmal, woeful - take your pick - the first half was as bad as it gets. Talk about second best..We made Brighton look like Barcelona at their peak, they had us chasing shadows and getting nowhere near them. They kept the ball , passed and moved and seemed to have at least one extra player. We huffed and puffed and on the odd occasion we had the ball they were right on us and took it back. When they cut us open and scored within 5 mins we thought it was going to be one of those huge defeats a la Blackpool and Forest etc - we debated whether it would be 4 or 5 nil, and that was after 10 mins. We could not get to half time quickly enough. but somehow we got there without conceding again. We knew the Hock had to make changes (should have done earlier) - who to take off ? Sharp who had not touched it, Smith playing with lead in his boots, Murphy - yes he was on the pitch, Bianchi again annonymous, Austin or Tonge - or maybe 3 of them ? Tonge especially infuriates me, with good players it is often said if they play well the team plays well, somehow Tonge has kind of turned that round, he only plays well if the team plays well, when, as yesterday we are up against it, he is awful . I am also losing patience with Murphy.
Anyway in the event he took Smith off and brought on Ajose - odd in a way bring on someone to give a bit of width and take off the man who he should be aiming at. It did work up to a point, or maybe they took their foot off the pedal after dominating so much 1st half, since we did come into it a bit and had our first half hearted shot, dragged past the post on 60mins. We did create one real chance and it was a move of quality, Bianchi, Byram and Tonge linked up well and with some slick passing we got it back to Tonge in the box but he fluffed it. Then with minutes to go we gave away a free kick inches from the penalty box. Due to the man staying down it took a while to take and we decided that the only way they could score would be if the wall jumped - he did not have space to get it up and over the wall and down into the net, anything to the right of the wall as he approached and the keeper would catch it. "Stand still , do not jump, do not flinch" we shouted from the terraces but to no avail, Lua Lua hit it along the floor and the wall jumped over it - shocking defending So all the euphoria and optimism from Saturday over within 5 minutes - OK they looked as good as any team I have seen in this Division over the years but we were still awful, and not in a way that could be blamed on not knowing each other etc. I am prepared between now and the New Year to let them make the odd mistake caused by a mix up - both leaving or going for the same ball, but that last night was just atrocious. Byram was a pale shadow of his former self - lack of confidence or mind elsewhere I don't know but it needs sorting - every time he got it he checked and looked to move the ball backwards, 2 seasons ago he was running onto it and taking players on. Cellino - put your hand in your pocket again. As a lad I see on the train home said "it will be a long 9 months" Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email leedslist-unsubscr...@gn.apc.org John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
