Post by rjdgull on Mar 5, 2011 20:07:38 GMT
If there is one member that I really look forward to reading his match reports, it is tufc01. It is not just the home games but a lot of away ones as well and I think this forum is fortunate to have such a great contributor. Once again, Well Done Richard on being the new poster of the week. 
Below is his Accrington match report.
A dissapointing result on pretty much the worse pitch I have ever seen, including the 25 years I spent playing myself.
Well done to accrington for the prices, £5 students, £13 adults so a very cheap day for me, although the ground itself wouldn't warrant paying much more.
A crowd of 1500 and something with around 150 ish from us??
The pitch was a quagmire, end of, with no chance whatsoever of playing any sort of football. It was always going to be a scrappy game and that's exactly how it panned out, which whilst it suited them more than us we at least deserved to take something from the game.
Whilst We had 3 clear cut chances to their 0 in the first half I wouldn't say we battered them, although I would say we did deserve to go in at half time in a better position than we did.
The more I think/recall the sending off the more I think he deserved it and was possibly silly to even make the challenge, with their finishing in the game (bar the goal) I wouldn't have put money on them scoring and as phil said I would rather have gone in 1 down at half time with 11 players than 0-0 with 10 men. With 11 men I would have fancied us to win it. It might be a 3 match ban, but judging by Buckles reaction we may not see to much more of Ellis this season. How different it might have been had he put his header to any side if the keeper rather than right at him.
To start with second half, manse dropped back to right back and I think we went 4-3-2?? But the ball was getting bogged down in the middle of the park so lots of people ended up in that area. We missed Manse in midfield second half as well.
The pitch cut up after that first half making it even worse, if that's possible, in the second half. The ball was getting stuck under peoples feet, noone was able to get hold of the ball and knock it around so it turned into a midfield scrap, a scrap which they were better at. Their midfield pair were much stronger in the tackle, very agricultural with their touch but that's what the pitch was crying out for.
After the first 5 minutes of the second half you would be hard pushed to point out which team had 10 men. We we not outplayed, but we were outbattled in the middle.
They had a few shots, but most ended up heading towards Blackburn, they were poor in front of goal. We didn't really need to defend that much anyway.
As for the goal? I'm not sure who I want in goal, but I'm telling you now that if Bevan had been in goal for that it would NEVER have got past him. I might just give Potter the benefit of the doubt and say he was possibly unsighted, but I believe he should have saved that. It might have been cleanly struck from 20 yards but how on earth did it go in? I was stood directly in line behind their guy and when he struck it you just expected potter to catch it/parry it, whatever, I just didn't expect it to go in. He isn't the only one at fault though as we had a chance to clear it, then gave away a throw, their guy had 2 of our players in front of him who appeared to stand off him and he must of thought it would just give it a try. I can only recall them having one more shot on goal.
Before they scored Zebs had a chance when put through with only the keeper to beat, but hit it at the keeper.
After seeing the pitch I totally agreed with Buckles starting line up. No o'kane or Stevens because of the heavy pitch and Mansell back in a battling midfield. The substitutions were a bit baffling, especially bearing in mind we played the last 5 minutes with Branston playing up front? go figure.
I could understand bringing Gilligan on as the battle was firmly in the middle of the park, so it was right to bring on another battling midfielder, keep hold of the ball and deny them possession. Was also happy that Robinson was taken off, he had a quiet first half and was non existent in the second.
The second substitution was a little more puzzling. LRT for kee, who although was having a quiet game could have been an outlet if we were going for the draw, which I believe was why that particular substitution was made. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but when we needed to push for an equaliser we had no one to hold the ball and our 2 strikers sat in the stand.
Throwing o'kane on for the last 5 minutes or so was just a hopeful throw of the dice. O'kane had no impact on the game and as I have already said Branston was now playing centre forward.
Oddly enough their goalkeeper was named as their man of the match, not sure why as he hardly pulled off a string of decent saves, mind you noone from either side set the game on fire.
One thing that did bother me, bearing in mind that Buckle has said he is going to bring in a few loan players I would expect our players to come out fighting/playing for their places, apart from Mansell and possibly Stanley the rest didn't appear to give everything they had. I don't want to seem like I'm getting on the players back or say that they weren't trying, it's just they didn't have that spark that I want to see from a player fighting for his place.
No one really stood out for us, with the possible exception of Mansell who at least showed a lot more commitment than most.
Overall, we didn't deserve to lose but don't think we did quite enough to win it either. The pitch spoiled the game but that can't be used as an excuse as it was the same for both sides, albeit they must be used to it as it must be that bad all season.
Below is his Accrington match report.
Well done to accrington for the prices, £5 students, £13 adults so a very cheap day for me, although the ground itself wouldn't warrant paying much more.
A crowd of 1500 and something with around 150 ish from us??
The pitch was a quagmire, end of, with no chance whatsoever of playing any sort of football. It was always going to be a scrappy game and that's exactly how it panned out, which whilst it suited them more than us we at least deserved to take something from the game.
Whilst We had 3 clear cut chances to their 0 in the first half I wouldn't say we battered them, although I would say we did deserve to go in at half time in a better position than we did.
The more I think/recall the sending off the more I think he deserved it and was possibly silly to even make the challenge, with their finishing in the game (bar the goal) I wouldn't have put money on them scoring and as phil said I would rather have gone in 1 down at half time with 11 players than 0-0 with 10 men. With 11 men I would have fancied us to win it. It might be a 3 match ban, but judging by Buckles reaction we may not see to much more of Ellis this season. How different it might have been had he put his header to any side if the keeper rather than right at him.
To start with second half, manse dropped back to right back and I think we went 4-3-2?? But the ball was getting bogged down in the middle of the park so lots of people ended up in that area. We missed Manse in midfield second half as well.
The pitch cut up after that first half making it even worse, if that's possible, in the second half. The ball was getting stuck under peoples feet, noone was able to get hold of the ball and knock it around so it turned into a midfield scrap, a scrap which they were better at. Their midfield pair were much stronger in the tackle, very agricultural with their touch but that's what the pitch was crying out for.
After the first 5 minutes of the second half you would be hard pushed to point out which team had 10 men. We we not outplayed, but we were outbattled in the middle.
They had a few shots, but most ended up heading towards Blackburn, they were poor in front of goal. We didn't really need to defend that much anyway.
As for the goal? I'm not sure who I want in goal, but I'm telling you now that if Bevan had been in goal for that it would NEVER have got past him. I might just give Potter the benefit of the doubt and say he was possibly unsighted, but I believe he should have saved that. It might have been cleanly struck from 20 yards but how on earth did it go in? I was stood directly in line behind their guy and when he struck it you just expected potter to catch it/parry it, whatever, I just didn't expect it to go in. He isn't the only one at fault though as we had a chance to clear it, then gave away a throw, their guy had 2 of our players in front of him who appeared to stand off him and he must of thought it would just give it a try. I can only recall them having one more shot on goal.
Before they scored Zebs had a chance when put through with only the keeper to beat, but hit it at the keeper.
After seeing the pitch I totally agreed with Buckles starting line up. No o'kane or Stevens because of the heavy pitch and Mansell back in a battling midfield. The substitutions were a bit baffling, especially bearing in mind we played the last 5 minutes with Branston playing up front? go figure.
I could understand bringing Gilligan on as the battle was firmly in the middle of the park, so it was right to bring on another battling midfielder, keep hold of the ball and deny them possession. Was also happy that Robinson was taken off, he had a quiet first half and was non existent in the second.
The second substitution was a little more puzzling. LRT for kee, who although was having a quiet game could have been an outlet if we were going for the draw, which I believe was why that particular substitution was made. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but when we needed to push for an equaliser we had no one to hold the ball and our 2 strikers sat in the stand.
Throwing o'kane on for the last 5 minutes or so was just a hopeful throw of the dice. O'kane had no impact on the game and as I have already said Branston was now playing centre forward.
Oddly enough their goalkeeper was named as their man of the match, not sure why as he hardly pulled off a string of decent saves, mind you noone from either side set the game on fire.
One thing that did bother me, bearing in mind that Buckle has said he is going to bring in a few loan players I would expect our players to come out fighting/playing for their places, apart from Mansell and possibly Stanley the rest didn't appear to give everything they had. I don't want to seem like I'm getting on the players back or say that they weren't trying, it's just they didn't have that spark that I want to see from a player fighting for his place.
No one really stood out for us, with the possible exception of Mansell who at least showed a lot more commitment than most.
Overall, we didn't deserve to lose but don't think we did quite enough to win it either. The pitch spoiled the game but that can't be used as an excuse as it was the same for both sides, albeit they must be used to it as it must be that bad all season.