Today's game - Page 15

Kiwi John · 02-03-2008, 17:12

Love that pic REDASH lol ...looks like someone out of the "Village People"

What a great result . Good onya Accy Stan.

Phil Whalley · 02-03-2008, 20:57

9 times out of 10, yesterday would have been a 0-0 draw. Rotherham were poor with little up front other than weight and height, but with Kenny back in goal, Robbo back in favour, and Kempson partnering him, we now have four-fifths of a defence. Aswad is a real prospect and looks a natural at left-back. Bring Leam back in at right-back and it’s a solid unit. We restricted Rotherham to a couple of chances – the most dangerous of which came towards the end of the first half, a decent move that ended with a ball to the far post where Aswad had lost his man, his only blip of the game. The incoming shot flashed across the goal. We were all waiting for the net to bulge but it went wide. In the second-half they had a decent headed chance, but there was a Stanley player there competing for the ball and the challenge probably prevented a goalbound effort.
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And that competitiveness could be seen throughout the side. We didn’t create much ourselves up front, but the application was excellent, rarely was a Rotherham player allowed to settle on the ball. With Mannix at the heart of the midfield, we now have someone capable of holding up the ball, seeing off the challenge and finding a man. For me, Jay was again a little lost on the wing, and he will have a job dislodging one of Craney and Mannix if they continue to complement each other in the middle as they did yesterday.
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Just shows how quickly things can change in the wonderful world of the Football League. I made the home game and thought Rotherham beat us at a canter, but they turned in a shadow of that performance today, while we looked as solid as I can remember for a while. Robbo looked ring rusty in the first half but gained in confidence as the game progressed. Kempson and Kenny did their bit there, encouraging Robbo along, even when he nearly put into his own goal (though Kenny I think enjoyed the opportunity to show everyone one of his more theatrical dives). But we didn’t look like scoring until Craney actually did with what was, I think, our first shot on goal. But what a shot! As soon as it left his boot you were thinking: ‘Hmm, that’s got a chance,’ but the keeper saw it early and looked to have it covered. Next second it was rattling around in the corner stanchion. As close to a religious experience as I’ll have all year.
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We then held the lead without too many nervous moments. The header wide mentioned earlier came after we had scored, and Whalley had a better chance after he had turned sharply in the box, but he scuffed his shot from a good position. The only other concern was whether the ref, in cahoots with the linesman to our left, would contrive to keep the game going until they equalised. The liner was so bad that I wondered whether he’d taken a bung, contriving fouls from non-existent shirt tugs on more than one occasion. But time did its thing, and Leam’s showboating was the icing on the cake, nutmegging the bloke before going round to beat him again and then winning the corner. Really not the conduct befitting a union member, but bloody funny from where I was standing.
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We shouldn’t be counting those poor steroid-bloated animals just yet, but to those insufferable bores who can’t think of anything to say except to call for Coleman’s head, note that he’s lifted the team again, and, once again, has done it without resort to the cheque-book (if we can afford such a luxury) but by bringing in exactly the right sort of loanees. Just three wins and a draw or two from another season in the League, another chance to consolidate and build for the future. This isn’t to say that things can’t improve, but on gates of 1,200 I’d call that a fair deal.
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Phil