We played a MUCH higher line tonight and caught Scunthorpe offside a fair amount. All of our players were aggressive and tried to be first to the ball.
Konsa's recovery tackle was superb, as was Rudd's save from the point blank diving header.
First half reasonably decent. Jacko yet again proved his worth.
Second half they began to impose themselves. We seemed to be open down the right. Their goal was coming. After than it looked like there would be only one winner and they weren't playing in red.
Even with Watt coming on we really weren't creating. The penalty was unexpected. Watt took it well. I thought for once with only 4 mins of stoppage time we might hang on - and we did fairly comfortably.
The players did play for the shirt - that made a change.
Decent ensemble performance. Team were up for it. Didn't rate Scunthorpe too much - lots of niggling fouls and unprofessional stuff. Well drilled but limited.
Brings into relief how the season could have gone - on 58 points and confident of the play offs.
Decent ensemble performance. Team were up for it. Didn't rate Scunthorpe too much - lots of niggling fouls and unprofessional stuff. Well drilled but limited.
Brings into relief how the season could have gone - on 58 points and confident of the play offs.
Oxford was about 6,800 - they brought 400 more than Scunny - so 6,400 is the start point. I would say the home turnout was clearly down on Oxford too. Actual attendance was probably 5,000 and something.
Played well until Magennis went off without really testing their keeper, then we were overrun in midfield. Would have kept Aribo where he was instead of moving him to the right.
Nice ti see a win and it eases relegation fears. Worry over KR tactics continues
I thought the first half was better than anything we've served up for some time, with plenty of attacking intent, organisation, shape and a determination to win the ball back once we'd lost it. Jacko and Ricky Holmes led by example and practically every player seemed to raise their game, application and level of commitment.
Jacko scored a cracking volley, following good movement from a corner, and you could see how much it meant to him after the team's dismal run. He may be in the penultimate month of his professional football career but he played like a man who is determined to make the most of every minute he has left. Tex hit the bar with a very skilful shot and we generally dominated against a very out-of-form Scunthorpe side. Practically all their attacks peetered out as a result of overhit passes or one or more of their forwards being caught offside.
The balance of the game totally shifted in the second half with Magennis' injury and the introduction of Crofts from the bench. I appreciate that Robinson is not spoilt for choice with Watt and Aherne-Grant on the bench and that eight games without a win discourages an expansive approach but Crofts is no left-sided midfielder and the change left us impotent up front. The shape of the team seemed to disintegrate, as we offered no attacking threat and dropped deeper and deeper as the game went on, often with six players strung out along our 18 yard line. We also started to look very leggy. Scunthorpe made some attacking changes themselves and totally dominated the midfield, mounting wave after wave of attack. They should have equalised before they did - from what looked like an error from Rudd - especially when their striker contrived to hit the post when it was far easier to score. After that, there looked to be only one winner, although - to immense joy and relief - we won a penalty out of the blue and Watt converted it.
I thought we were fortunate in the end but maybe we were due a bit of luck after all our travails and the win will hopefully get the monkey off the team's back and inspire a bit of confidence. There was a marked improvement from most of the players - notably, Ulvestad and Tex - and I thought that Holmes, Konsa and Jacko did particularly well.
I thought that it was by far the smallest attendance of the season and there really cannot have been more than 5,000 in the ground.
1st time in a long while we got lucky - if the shot that hit the post had gone in then we would have lost, but maybe our luck has turned - it stayed out & 10 mins later we get a last minute penalty & with Holmes off the pitch it was up to TWWW to bury it & win us the points.
All this despite KR making some weird subs. Big Josh had to go off (not sure what he injured 'cos he left the field without looking in any discomfort) and KR put on Crofts instead of KAG. From this point onwards we lost all semblance of shape & purpose - Holmes & TWWW as a front paring is not the way forward. Their manager then shows KR how it should be done & it was all Scunny from then on & only some great last ditch tackles kept us in it.
Another win & a couple of draws should see us safe & another season in this division.
We did lose cohesion after the substitution of Magennis, but let's make no bones about it, for the last 15 minutes we were playing with 10 men. (Or Scunthorpe were playing with 12!) Ulvestad was not only out on his feet, but was remarkable in finding any 10 square yards of empty grass to mark, rather than an opposition player. It also had the effect of making Byrne, who'd had a better than average game, have all sorts of problems, not knowing whether to stick or twist...
MOTM? No question. The Skipper rolled back the years, scored a peach of a goal, (which he celebrated like a 5 year old on Christmas morning) and ABSOLUTELY lead by example. Won a number of hugely important defensive headers, broke up attacks, and drove the team on.
A special mention for Konsa, who made a couple of really top class tackles...
Just like Fleetwood Robinson makes a crass substitution and this time nearly blows the game. With two teams in very poor form this was not a spectacle of any note. We had more energy than recent home games helped by Chicksen and Ulvestad and the usual Holmes but no one was outstanding. Novak a lump and what has happened to Magennis? That manager has not deserved his red and white army yet. I can't wait to hear his bullshit post match comments. Great to win though and the noise from the tiny crowd was brilliant after the final whistle. Relief.
Unfortunately I feel completely meh about it - have nothing but negativity in me about it all at the moment.
And to hear that Watt celebrated his goal like we won the cup just pisses me off even more.
Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.
I see the "Trust" Board Bloke liked this statement. What a traitorous swine he is. And you wonder why the Club are a bit reticent to meet up and communicate.
Scunthorpe were poor. The substitution of crofts for magennis was poor. But other than that we were given the talismanic impact of the legend that is johnnie Jackson. Pleased for Watt....always knew it was going in. Why robinson thought bringing an out of form crofts to replace a striker was a good idea is beyond me as it nearly cost us 3 points. And as for Lee Novak ...well we were cheering the bits he did well... a bit like parents do to a small child.....you know just to give him confidence. But absolutely delighted with the win.
Having been to the last few away games and of course all the home games this season, it was great to get a result...cant say much for the last 15 minutes as i bloody had to leave to get back to hampshire and go to work thanks to the bloody security issue at london bridge.
For the first 45 i thought we were great, best i have seen for a long time, game changer of course was Magennis going off, and the subs, sit back and the inevitable happened.
Unfortunately I feel completely meh about it - have nothing but negativity in me about it all at the moment.
And to hear that Watt celebrated his goal like we won the cup just pisses me off even more.
Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.
I see the "Trust" Board Bloke liked this statement. What a traitorous swine he is. And you wonder why the Club are a bit reticent to meet up and communicate.
First post since early February. Hmmm, what a fair weathered apologist you are. Post when we're winning, you only post when we're winning...
Unfortunately I feel completely meh about it - have nothing but negativity in me about it all at the moment.
And to hear that Watt celebrated his goal like we won the cup just pisses me off even more.
Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.
I see the "Trust" Board Bloke liked this statement. What a traitorous swine he is. And you wonder why the Club are a bit reticent to meet up and communicate.
Unfortunately I feel completely meh about it - have nothing but negativity in me about it all at the moment.
And to hear that Watt celebrated his goal like we won the cup just pisses me off even more.
Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.
I see the "Trust" Board Bloke liked this statement. What a traitorous swine he is. And you wonder why the Club are a bit reticent to meet up and communicate.
Don't the trust have a meeting this week? Nice to see you back Major, what happened for the whole of February where were you?
Stalker alert .... I mean a traitor for having feelings about our pathetic joke of an experiment club that I'm 100% certain no one wants to have. The lucky ones are the cuckoo land ones who are happy to ignore our worse position in 40 odd years and the inept running of our club that has led to the smallest crowds at The Valley in 32 years .
I don't get this Robbo got lucky bit. I think he has been very unlucky since he has been here. Last night looked if it was going the same way when we hit the woodwork yet again and had a stonewall penalty not given.
Bringing on Crofts made sense to me at the time. They were targeting Byrne with long high balls from the start and I thought he did very well. Second half they were packing that side and had clearly decided that was our weak area in training. The mistake was in not putting Crofts with fresh legs over that side IMO.
Watt was embarrassing. Outpaced by a centre half that had played 80 minutes by a good few yards. Hopefully scoring a good penalty will help, but I doubt it.
I also thought Aribo was very good. We should start building a team around him and Konsa. If Roland would do one a dream team of SCP and Jason managing them.
First half we were comfortable and looking good. Scunthorpe didn't offer any threat. Second half fine until Magennis was injured and Robbo replaced him with a midfielder. Then it all went to pot and we were lucky to stay in it. Glad we got a penalty and sneaked a win. Got away with it in my view.
Scunthorpe though did look poor. Their goal after a mistake by Rudd. You can tell Jacko has the passion after his goal celebration. Watt loves being loved. Finally a winning feeling on a Tuesday night at home means getting up at 5.30am won't feel quite so bad!
This says all I was going to say. Well except perhaps that I felt Jacko provided the leadership the team has been missing (and he played pretty well to boot). Plenty of talking, encouragement and how he's still got the legs to do 90 minutes of that pressing is beyond me. Captain's performance.
The team, with the notable exception of the fresh legged Tony Watt, worked their socks off. Scunny were poor though, so poor.
Lowest crowd I can remember at the Valley since our return though. Would be amazed if there was more than 5000 people in there.
Unfortunately I feel completely meh about it - have nothing but negativity in me about it all at the moment.
And to hear that Watt celebrated his goal like we won the cup just pisses me off even more.
Maybe I'll feel better in the morning.
I see the "Trust" Board Bloke liked this statement. What a traitorous swine he is. And you wonder why the Club are a bit reticent to meet up and communicate.
Don't the trust have a meeting this week? Nice to see you back Major, what happened for the whole of February where were you?
Essex_Al should be along shortly.
Never been away mate! (posting in bold because I was there last night supporting my team)!
Haven't posted much recently so that you could enjoy your European tour in peace, how was the little walk around the back streets and local car park?
Comments
Konsa's recovery tackle was superb, as was Rudd's save from the point blank diving header.
First half reasonably decent. Jacko yet again proved his worth.
Second half they began to impose themselves. We seemed to be open down the right. Their goal was coming. After than it looked like there would be only one winner and they weren't playing in red.
Even with Watt coming on we really weren't creating. The penalty was unexpected. Watt took it well. I thought for once with only 4 mins of stoppage time we might hang on - and we did fairly comfortably.
The players did play for the shirt - that made a change.
Decent ensemble performance. Team were up for it. Didn't rate Scunthorpe too much - lots of niggling fouls and unprofessional stuff. Well drilled but limited.
Brings into relief how the season could have gone - on 58 points and confident of the play offs.
The home crowd made good noise despite that.
Nice ti see a win and it eases relegation fears. Worry over KR tactics continues
Jacko scored a cracking volley, following good movement from a corner, and you could see how much it meant to him after the team's dismal run. He may be in the penultimate month of his professional football career but he played like a man who is determined to make the most of every minute he has left. Tex hit the bar with a very skilful shot and we generally dominated against a very out-of-form Scunthorpe side. Practically all their attacks peetered out as a result of overhit passes or one or more of their forwards being caught offside.
The balance of the game totally shifted in the second half with Magennis' injury and the introduction of Crofts from the bench. I appreciate that Robinson is not spoilt for choice with Watt and Aherne-Grant on the bench and that eight games without a win discourages an expansive approach but Crofts is no left-sided midfielder and the change left us impotent up front. The shape of the team seemed to disintegrate, as we offered no attacking threat and dropped deeper and deeper as the game went on, often with six players strung out along our 18 yard line. We also started to look very leggy. Scunthorpe made some attacking changes themselves and totally dominated the midfield, mounting wave after wave of attack. They should have equalised before they did - from what looked like an error from Rudd - especially when their striker contrived to hit the post when it was far easier to score. After that, there looked to be only one winner, although - to immense joy and relief - we won a penalty out of the blue and Watt converted it.
I thought we were fortunate in the end but maybe we were due a bit of luck after all our travails and the win will hopefully get the monkey off the team's back and inspire a bit of confidence. There was a marked improvement from most of the players - notably, Ulvestad and Tex - and I thought that Holmes, Konsa and Jacko did particularly well.
I thought that it was by far the smallest attendance of the season and there really cannot have been more than 5,000 in the ground.
All this despite KR making some weird subs. Big Josh had to go off (not sure what he injured 'cos he left the field without looking in any discomfort) and KR put on Crofts instead of KAG. From this point onwards we lost all semblance of shape & purpose - Holmes & TWWW as a front paring is not the way forward. Their manager then shows KR how it should be done & it was all Scunny from then on & only some great last ditch tackles kept us in it.
Another win & a couple of draws should see us safe & another season in this division.
MOTM? No question. The Skipper rolled back the years, scored a peach of a goal, (which he celebrated like a 5 year old on Christmas morning) and ABSOLUTELY lead by example. Won a number of hugely important defensive headers, broke up attacks, and drove the team on.
A special mention for Konsa, who made a couple of really top class tackles...
For the first 45 i thought we were great, best i have seen for a long time, game changer of course was Magennis going off, and the subs, sit back and the inevitable happened.
Lets start again on Saturday.
Essex_Al should be along shortly.
I mean a traitor for having feelings about our pathetic joke of an experiment club that I'm 100% certain no one wants to have.
The lucky ones are the cuckoo land ones who are happy to ignore our worse position in 40 odd years and the inept running of our club that has led to the smallest crowds at The Valley in 32 years .
Bringing on Crofts made sense to me at the time. They were targeting Byrne with long high balls from the start and I thought he did very well. Second half they were packing that side and had clearly decided that was our weak area in training. The mistake was in not putting Crofts with fresh legs over that side IMO.
Watt was embarrassing. Outpaced by a centre half that had played 80 minutes by a good few yards. Hopefully scoring a good penalty will help, but I doubt it.
I also thought Aribo was very good. We should start building a team around him and Konsa. If Roland would do one a dream team of SCP and Jason managing them.
Well, we can all dream.
Subs bench looked very weak yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised If we see KAG play a lot more until the end of the season.
Delighted Jonny scored. We can always count of the skipper.
Cannot wait for this pathetic season to be over to here promises of promotion challenges once again come May.
The team, with the notable exception of the fresh legged Tony Watt, worked their socks off. Scunny were poor though, so poor.
Lowest crowd I can remember at the Valley since our return though. Would be amazed if there was more than 5000 people in there.
Haven't posted much recently so that you could enjoy your European tour in peace, how was the little walk around the back streets and local car park?