Well it was to quote the odious Billy Davies 'job done' - 3 points, goals from
2 strikers and a clean sheet.
After 2 consecutive home defeats any win was welcome - a shame almost 1 in 5 of
the fans who endured the Swindon debacle could not face this one - and to be
honest in some ways we did win at a canter. I don't recall a single decent shot
or genuine chance they had all game. That is not to say that we were
particularly good, especially first half, where apart from a header from Snoddy
that the keeper tipped over the bar and a header from Naylor (he must like
scoring now) we also failed to create anything of note. In fact the game was
starting to look like a 0 0 and the natives were getting restless when Grayson
made a popular substitution - taking off scape goat Beckford and bringing on
superhero Becchio. In fairness on this occasion it actually did work almost
immediately with Becchio winning a header in a build up that led to the ball
finding its way to Mad Max whose scuffed shot took a deflection and nestled
into the bottom corner. So fragile is our
confidence and so linked to the score that suddenly we starting playing well -
Howson who had been largely anonymous and mainly very poor suddenly became the
player we all know he can be, going on a couple of great surging runs and
looking dangerous. The scoreline then took on a more realistic reflection of
the game when a lovely chipped cross from Max was well met from Becchio for a
typical Becchio goal from 2 yards out (you have to be in the right place at the
right time to get them!)
Just a shame that we did not manage to get a few more to help our GD which may
count at the end of the season.
Then it was time to wait for other results - something we are going to have to
do for the rest of the season,and Millwall apart, they were kind for us and it
looks as if at least a play off place is now ours (9 points and a better GD
with 5 games to go) something which was starting to look dodgy a few games ago.
The big question now is - can we build on this and go and pick up at least 4
more wins and a draw in our last 5 games ? To me there is no reason why we
cannot beat Carlisle on Tuesday even if, for pretty much the first time this
season, we have not managed to sell our allocation.
Grayson also needs to decide if to persevere with Max up front and if so does
he partner Beckford or Becchio. The other question revolves around whether
Parker(on the bench yesterday after 90 mins for the reserves) is fit enough to
be recalled.
Dave
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