My first game of the PSF’s so I was looking forward to seeing how the players from last season were going to carry on and to get a good look at the new players.
I know it’s only a PSF and you shouldn’t read too much into it, however I was mightily impressed by last night’s performance.
I would imagine that the Bristol side was made up of trialists/reserves (with the exception of their number 20) as we played them off the park for most of the game, the score (no that it matters) really did flatter them.
I believe the side that started the game last night is going to look remarkably like the team that lines up against Northampton, the only exception for me would be Branston for Charnock or Ellis.
The game was barely a minute old when Gritton showed those that haven’t seen him before how good a player he is in the air, flicking one on for Benyon, whose shot was tipped over for a corner. The first of many in the first half.
My thoughts were, in no particular order, with the obvious rider that it was only a PSF and as I explained to Phil before the game it doesn’t take much to get me excited in pre season;
We did everything we needed to do and did it well. You can only beat what is put in front of you, City were no great shakes but we did all the smalls things right. We defended from the front, played the ball around nicely, got it wide, took players on, got some crosses in, closed them down really quickly, got stuck in, didn’t let them settle, showed some real quality touches. Buckle has his detractors but you can’t deny he is developing the players really well, they played some nice football and more importantly penetrative football, not knock it from side to side keep the ball football. There is a small exception to that which I will get onto.
Zebs was OUTSTANDING, the best I have seen him play in a long long. Easily the Man of the Match. He beat his man every time, got some good crosses over, tracked back, won lots of ball and finally the lay off for Mansell’s goal was sublime. I didn’t think he was the same player last season, but I was so impressed last night, if he plays half as good as that every week then a very good season beckons for him.
Gritton; fantastic addition to the squad. I would expect him to start every game, give it 60 minutes or so and then see him replaced by Benyon/Kee (whichever didn’t start with him). He won pretty much everything in the air, shows a good touch, a good positional awareness and he is strong. The eldest referred to him as a stronger, fitter, faster Sills, to that I would add, better ball control. Tired a bit in the second half as you would expect.
Benyon; ran his heart out as usual, chased everything down. I like attackers who defend from the front. He also lays off a decent ball when he needs to, he will be a bit disappointed he didn’t score. He did have a couple of half chances and one where he failed to connect with the ball a couple of yards out.
Kee; Another who impressed in the short time he was on the pitch. A stocky lad, who makes Benyon look positively slim, however as strong as an ox, really keen to get stuck in. Another who chases everything down and gives it his all. I think the 3 of them will score a few goals this season. On an earlier post I noticed comments about Branston and Red cards, Kee looks the type who may pick a few cards up this season as well. He looks hungry, although not in the literal sense obviously.
Stevens; drifted in and out of the game, but when he was ‘in’ he seemed to make more impact than usual.
Mansell; The usual for him, covers every blade of grass, gets stuck in, took his goal well (only criticism I ever have with him is his lack of goals, wouldn’t it be good if this season he weighed in with half a dozen this season).
Wroe; Time for him to step it up again. Not a huge impact on the game and last season he was quite hit and miss. If he could deliver what we know he is capable of, week in week out, we would be sitting pretty.
Potter; another who impressed. Pulled off one fantastic save and did all the necessary things well. Also very commanding, comes and gets the ball and you can hear him from the other end of the ground which is no bad thing. I like him. Another who I believe will have a good season, as our Number 1.
Nicholson; Set piece delivery is second to none. Sent in some quality corners that will bring us a few goals this season. Didn’t really need to do any defending.
Charnock & Ellis; This is the area where if it is going to go wrong it’s going to go wrong here, and I’m not sure that Branston will make that much difference because the problem is their distribution, its poor at best. If you keep giving the ball away cheaply it’s going to keep coming back in spades. We WILL get punished by this, we will concede. They get caught out of position to easily and don’t win enough of the ball from corners/set pieces, we will concede from these. Admittedly Branston will help out in this respect, but his distribution is not the best. I know at our level it is difficult to find a centre back who can win the ball, have good positional awareness and good delivery/distribution, but we could do with one.
Of the other;
Macklin appears to have pace in abundance, which could unlock defences late in games when he comes on. Lathrope was only on for a few minutes but one thing that became apparent was how calm and collected he looked, a couple of times he got the ball and gave it simply to Wroe. Early days but he gave the impression of a player that will win the ball/get the ball and just give it simple to Wroe who can then deliver the killer ball. Again he was hardly on long enough to form any opinion, but he just caught my eye, not sure what it is but I just think he can offer us something.
The most unsavoury moment of the game was City’s number 2 head butting Ellis in the face, what is this game coming to when in a ‘friendly’ a player feels the need to head butt someone, outrageous. The referee bottled it, which was bad enough, but Coppell not taking him off was reprehensible, IMO.
All in all a surprisingly enjoyable evening. A thoroughly impressive performance. A quick trip to the bookies today to take a rather miserly 25/1, higher than both Oxford and Stevenage?
. (I Thought we would more likely be 33/1 or 40/1) However, I’m really looking forward to the start of the season now.
Before that a MUST win game against Yeovil. PSF it might be for the players but working in Yeovil, in an office full of Yeovil fans, who only don’t give me hard times because of our FA Cup victory over them, it will be a long time before they let me forget it if they win. I can’t believe people take PSF so seriously.
. (I Thought we would more likely be 33/1 or 40/1) However, I’m really looking forward to the start of the season now. 
