27-08-2019, 19:31
Following sports of any kind is a fickle business, isn`t it? First the euphoria of Headingley, then the despondency of Edgeley Park. I got home from our family visit several hours ago and I`ve spent all of them so far watching the highlights of the fourth day of the Test Match; I`ve watched them about 10 times so far and will probably get bored after another 15 or so. Probably. Ying and yang, as they say.
Well, Dancing, you said you`d be interested in hearing my thoughts about the Stockport game so I`ll post them. Please don`t start throwing bricks through my window if I say that I kind of (sort of) understood the rationale behind the substitution of Boden for Weir. At that stage our defence was at risk of being over-run and JS obviously decided that we needed somebody in front of the back line to give them extra protection; what`s more, Boden had been pretty much anonymous for the whole of the second half to that point - McGlashan and Falop were the only ones who seemed to be posing any sort of threat (and that wasn`t much of one) – so I don`t think it was such a controversial decision. We also don`t know whether he`d had a knock, of course.
I`d argue with you, Matt, about the first half being even; I thought we were pretty much in charge for nearly all of it. We controlled midfield and limited Stockport to a few breakaways, but couldn`t take advantage, which is always ominous. Apart from a header that Maguire put over the bar and that he really should at least have got on target and a shot from the edge of the area (I think it was Boden) that I was right behind the line of and I swear was going in off the post but for a full-length finger-tip save from their `keeper, we really didn`t create many clear-cut chances. It was also noticeable that nearly all of our threat was coming down our right wing, but as soon as Stockport sussed this out and doubled up on McGlashan even that was nullified to a great extent.
My son said at half-time that we looked by far the better side; my response was that teams that dominate like that but don`t make the most of it tend to pay for it later.
Sadly, it took about 30 seconds of the second half for my prediction to prove accurate. (Why can`t my predictions in the Prediction League be as accurate as that?) Okay, it was a wicked deflection and there was a large slice of luck about it, but it has to be said that from there on Stockport played us off the park and, with the exception of one decent move that nearly produced a chance, we reverted to long-ball stuff that rarely looked like producing anything. They looked far quicker in both thought and movement and I lost count of how many times the ball went flashing across the front of our goal. I thought we could easily have been 2-0 up at half-time, but by the end I reckon that 5-2 wouldn`t have been an injustice.
It was noticeable to me that, even in the first half when we weren`t under any real pressure, our defence looked fragile and prone to panic. By the second half, the lack of confidence and self-belief that was evident in the first half of last season was again plain to see throughout the team; nobody really wanted to hold the ball so we reverted to the long-ball game – not quite hoofball, but you know what I mean. There was no movement up front, no attempt to draw their defence out of position and it was really a question of what we could keep the score down to. Very disappointing.
The sad thing is that, apart from the second half, the result (obviously) and one other thing laddo and I had a really good day out. We got the train from Newtown to Stockport so could have a few pints before the game; there were several very hospitable pubs within a few hundred yards of the ground, all with both sets of supporters mingling and not the slightest hint of any aggro; just like it should be. I realised that I`d never been to Edgeley Park before – I don`t know why; I should have – but it did remind me an awful lot of the atmosphere around Gigg Lane.
Sadly, at the end of the game some of our ‘supporters’ gave us another rendition of the old Eurovision favourite “You`re Not Fit to Wear the Shirt”, which I personally find repugnant. We`re supposed to be there to support the players, not to tear to shreds the little self-confidence they clearly have. It was a very hot day and nobody shirked; nobody threw in the towel, it seemed to me. They all kept going to the end, so I think they deserved a bit more respect than that.
I can`t see any point in throwing in the towel and walking away, Dev. We`re all hurting just as much as you are right now, but at least there`s a better than even chance that we`ll still have a club to support in a few weeks` time – unlike a couple I could name. I suppose we could always try to recruit Ben Stokes in some capacity; we could certainly use a sprinkle of his stardust at the moment.
Well, Dancing, you said you`d be interested in hearing my thoughts about the Stockport game so I`ll post them. Please don`t start throwing bricks through my window if I say that I kind of (sort of) understood the rationale behind the substitution of Boden for Weir. At that stage our defence was at risk of being over-run and JS obviously decided that we needed somebody in front of the back line to give them extra protection; what`s more, Boden had been pretty much anonymous for the whole of the second half to that point - McGlashan and Falop were the only ones who seemed to be posing any sort of threat (and that wasn`t much of one) – so I don`t think it was such a controversial decision. We also don`t know whether he`d had a knock, of course.
I`d argue with you, Matt, about the first half being even; I thought we were pretty much in charge for nearly all of it. We controlled midfield and limited Stockport to a few breakaways, but couldn`t take advantage, which is always ominous. Apart from a header that Maguire put over the bar and that he really should at least have got on target and a shot from the edge of the area (I think it was Boden) that I was right behind the line of and I swear was going in off the post but for a full-length finger-tip save from their `keeper, we really didn`t create many clear-cut chances. It was also noticeable that nearly all of our threat was coming down our right wing, but as soon as Stockport sussed this out and doubled up on McGlashan even that was nullified to a great extent.
My son said at half-time that we looked by far the better side; my response was that teams that dominate like that but don`t make the most of it tend to pay for it later.
Sadly, it took about 30 seconds of the second half for my prediction to prove accurate. (Why can`t my predictions in the Prediction League be as accurate as that?) Okay, it was a wicked deflection and there was a large slice of luck about it, but it has to be said that from there on Stockport played us off the park and, with the exception of one decent move that nearly produced a chance, we reverted to long-ball stuff that rarely looked like producing anything. They looked far quicker in both thought and movement and I lost count of how many times the ball went flashing across the front of our goal. I thought we could easily have been 2-0 up at half-time, but by the end I reckon that 5-2 wouldn`t have been an injustice.
It was noticeable to me that, even in the first half when we weren`t under any real pressure, our defence looked fragile and prone to panic. By the second half, the lack of confidence and self-belief that was evident in the first half of last season was again plain to see throughout the team; nobody really wanted to hold the ball so we reverted to the long-ball game – not quite hoofball, but you know what I mean. There was no movement up front, no attempt to draw their defence out of position and it was really a question of what we could keep the score down to. Very disappointing.
The sad thing is that, apart from the second half, the result (obviously) and one other thing laddo and I had a really good day out. We got the train from Newtown to Stockport so could have a few pints before the game; there were several very hospitable pubs within a few hundred yards of the ground, all with both sets of supporters mingling and not the slightest hint of any aggro; just like it should be. I realised that I`d never been to Edgeley Park before – I don`t know why; I should have – but it did remind me an awful lot of the atmosphere around Gigg Lane.
Sadly, at the end of the game some of our ‘supporters’ gave us another rendition of the old Eurovision favourite “You`re Not Fit to Wear the Shirt”, which I personally find repugnant. We`re supposed to be there to support the players, not to tear to shreds the little self-confidence they clearly have. It was a very hot day and nobody shirked; nobody threw in the towel, it seemed to me. They all kept going to the end, so I think they deserved a bit more respect than that.
I can`t see any point in throwing in the towel and walking away, Dev. We`re all hurting just as much as you are right now, but at least there`s a better than even chance that we`ll still have a club to support in a few weeks` time – unlike a couple I could name. I suppose we could always try to recruit Ben Stokes in some capacity; we could certainly use a sprinkle of his stardust at the moment.