We better go up or we risk losing a host of our best players in the summer, reckon we will not lose another game and we have Beaten and drawn with Barnsley, drew with Luton twice, Beaten Doncaster away, beat and drew with charlton, but lost to the bogey team Portsmouth so either us or they go up automatically. First time i have seen Lowe he is exellent mind, Maguire and Watmore are a miss as is Maja.
I thought their player burgess was motm fit for them. He was immense 2nd half, and was the player cutting out most of our chances when we'd have been on goal if he hadn't.
I'd say the CBs were the difference today and that's been our problem all season, if we had two lads like Burgess we'd be getting promoted automatically. I like Baldwin, Flanagan and Dunne but if I'm being honest they're not particularly good for this level.
Well , if we’d scored the most penalties, we’d be cup winners . But scoring the least , I’m saying we didn’t lose the cup . Upwards and onwards!
I was disappointed that Wyke didn’t take a penalty but also with Honeyman. He is captain and leader and I thought he would have stood up to take one. Commiserations to Catts on missing. He had the nads to take one. We move on from the disappointment and let’s get promoted!!!
So where does that put us if we get promoted? Both of the Portmouth CB's are on about £3k/wk. Burgess getting respect on this thread but his partner is 4 years younger and selected for the League 1 first 11. Are either of them good enough to start in the championship? Or do we have to go shopping somewhere else for a pair of central defenders? Reading, and John O'shea were in big trouble in the championship. They signed a CB on loan from Chelsea and have lost only 2 of their last 11 since then. They are still only 4 points above the drop, so they must have been way down 11 games ago. That CB cost Chelsea about what we payed for Grigg. The punchline: Chelsea bought him from NY Redbulls, where he was a home grown player.
Right that is the Tinpot Cup diversion over. We played well first half but were stuffed 2nd half. Mcgeady was the MoM. Catts had a good game but missed the penalty that cost us the cup. We Jog On... game on Wednesday and the rest of the season (Portsmouth revenge game included) are vitally important..have to win them all... hopefully we have a fit squad..
Now that the dust has settled a bit I thought I'd give my two pence. We were tremendous in the first half up until the final pass. Probably some of the best football we've played in 2 seasons for me. Nice big pitch, triangles, movement. Pompey couldn't get close to Honeyman, Morgan and McGeady. That final ball into Grigg just never came though otherwise we could well have been out of sight by half time. I thought that we'd tire around the 65/70 min mark but unfortunately we tired at the 46 min mark. We invited pressure on as we were shot. The decision to not play with a striker when we took Grigg off didn't work. It invited more pressure on as we had no outlet up top. Overall Pompey probably deserved it, they looked fitter and played better football from half time onwards. I'm not going to lie and say I didn't want to win it or that it's just a tin pot cup, I'd have loved to have seen the lads lift the cup, but it wasn't to be. Gutted for Catts too, thought he and McGeady were the two best players on the pitch.
I thought that was a good sub. We kept sending long balls to Grigg, more or less on target, and he didn't win any of them. Power was sent on to be that outlet up top when we were pinned back, and to bolster the midfield in transition, Ross probably felt it was just a bit too early to bring on old man Wyke.
Gooch was the most advanced player with Power behind him. We had no real shape as a result and no outlet up top. We don't play to Grigg's strengths at all. He isn't a target man.
Grigg didn't see much of the ball in the 1st half but I thought he was doing a good job of occupying defenders and pulling them around to allow the three behind him space. When were under the cosh though, he wasn't really the outlet we needed but he was doing a better job than Gooch did when Grigg came off. It surprised me that Ross seemed to want to pack the midfield and sit on the 1-0. That's always a dangerous tactic, especially in a cup final, and just invites pressure without someone up top.
I agree with all of that. I thought your wingers were excellent first half and your midfielders were just strolling through ours. Second half Jacket made a few tactical adjustments and bought on Evans who ran the show after he came on. The initial endeavor in the second half got the fans going which I think played a part in getting us over the line. Defending a 1-0 lead you could almost argue is harder than searching for the an equaliser! Quality occasion in good spirits. I got the train which was mixed and people mingled happily.
Spoke with several Pompey fans after the game and they were all saying we should have been home and hosed by half time which is true. It was very warm come kick off time and I said to Rooch at HT that we would tire second half but wasn't expecting such a change around. Why when we have a two weeks rest we never win our next fixture? Their number 7 ran the show after half time by dropping deeper giving him space to find his passing game, Jack should have had a man on him minutes into the second half but didnt. We never gave up and credit to the team for that, penalties are what they are and we hardly ever come out on top, don't know why. I thought the support for both teams was superb we did go quiet second half for obvious reasons just when our team needed us the most. Referee was shocking, his handling of McGeady's tough treatment was appalling and to yellow card him was rubbing salt into the wound. I can't made the play-off final of we end up going down that route as I'm away on holiday so yesterday could be my final bow at Wembley and I took the time to look round and appreciate a full house. Winners yesterday were both sets of fans, didn't see any agro and it Was a pleasure to experience a cracking game, the nuturals watching must have enjoyed it too. What can JR do, we'll have a better idea come 10pm Wednesday but can't see Grigg or James recovering in time.
Jacket got your players to kick McGeady out of the second half which worked a treat - he looked the best footballer on the pitch over the 90 minutes and Jacket realised that and tried to nullify him - proven completely by his yellow card!! Something I've often wanted our players to do but we seem to attract yellow and red cards for next to nothing this season (including referees not knowing the rules!!)
Yeah we'd have been out of sight if we just had that killer ball, totally different game then. Fair play for weathering the storm then taking the game by the scruff of the neck. Great occasion and great attitude from both sets of fans. No bad blood or anything at all. Good advert for lower league football and English football in general IMO.
