Argyle's recent excellent run came to a shuddering halt against a well drilled Bury team who deserved the 3 points. I normally come away from HP following a defeat completely depressed but on this occasion it was one of those matches that we lost against a better side and to be honest , it is case of forget about it and move on. Two enforced changes saw Cox come in for the suspended Lee and Brunt replace the injured R Reid. It shouldn't have made too much of a difference, but the temptation to lump it up to Brunt was too much resulting in a huge gap between the front 2 and the off colour midfield. Bury started with great intent, they were quicker, stronger and for much of the 1st half looked like the home team. Better finishing would have seen them 1 nil up when they missed the target from the middle of the box with only Luke to beat. Argyle put one or two decent passing moves together and Talbot should have done much better to finish one of them off with a goal-as it was, he tamely side footed it to their keeper. Unusually there were NIL added minutes at the end of the first half with the distinctly average ref blowing bang on 45 mins. Argyle started much more brightly in the second half and for the first 15mins there was real hope that we would nick one. The match had the feeling of who ever scores first, wins-and so it proved. An uncustomary slip from TH-D let their player in down the right wing and a good cross was headed in (inevitably) by Nardiello with Luke having no chance. Bury killed the game off quite professionally with a combination of solid defending, time wasting and generally hoodwinking the ref who gave nothing to the greens all afternoon. That said we had the ball in the back of the net twice via Alessandra from very similar positions but both were (correctly) ruled offside. We also hit the bar following a corner. A triple substitution saw Brunt, McHugh and Cox replaced by Mellor, Bantan and Blizzard resulting rather surprisingly in Mellor playing at CF- probably says more about where Tyler Harvey is the pecking order than the ability of Mellor as a striker. The changes didn't make any difference really and Bury added a second towards the end resulting in a max exodus of the home fans. To make it worse the rain even found its way as far back as row Q in the Lyndhurst Stand. To be fair to the ref he added 6 mins of stoppage time but really he needn't of bothered. So three points taken by the better team and Argyle slip back to 8th. Every chance to bounce back on Tuesday. Forget and move on.
Spot on lyndhurst and hugely disappointing. They were the better side and anyone who thinks we were robbed in any way is way off the mark. Yes the Ref was rubbish and yes he didn't give us a thing but the result had nothing to do with him being pants. I absolutely agree that we were beaten by a better side and that it doesn't hurt as much as it might because of that. I so wish we could import their No.6. He ran the show all day long. I believe we could have been out there even now as I type and we would not have gotten back into the game or scored. We have a very difficult period coming up. All of the games are those 6 pointer types everyone bangs on about. If we can get through this patch and still be there or there abouts then we can still make the play offs. If we do and we end up playing Bury at Wembley thenit might not end well although I will be a little surprised if they don't do automatic.
I agree, they are probably the best away team I have seen at HP this season. Not necessarily for their talent, but more for the way they were well drilled, knew how to stop the opposition from playing and their general desire to win. It was one of those where you come away a bit frustrated in the realization that you have just been seen off by a team that are probably no better than you but have outwitted the home team- the sort of spoiling display you would be delighted about if you were in their camp.
Followed the match on my sons phone.....whilst watching a mediocre Championship match at the Valley....Charlton 3-0 win against Huddersfield.......25.000 plus down there.....many of us getting in for a fiver....Chris Powell Charlton's ex manager now with Huddersfield got a good reception. No Rueben what a disaster......just no back-up strikers....other than five minute subs....couldn't have happened at a worse time.
I actually think this was as good a match as any to rest Reid if he is carrying a knock or two. I don't think it would have made a blind bit of difference if he had played today if honest. We got a lesson today and if they learned anything from it then it was almost worth the spanking. I learned that Brunt isn't half as much a nuisance as Reid is as a stiker and Alessandra doesn't play as well without him either.
I have just read some comments made by Sheridan and to be honest find them a tad worrying. He says that somebody told him Alessandra wasn't offside when he scored and if that goal had stood it would have been all different. He thought Argyle matched Bury especially in the second half and there was nothing in it between the sides. First thing is he needs to get somebody better to tell him about offsides because there is no way in my opinion Alessandra was onside for either. Second thing is he needs to get some proper glasses if he thought Argyle matched Bury. They did well for about 20 minutes out of the 90 and the rest of the time were second best to everything all over the park. During the 20 minutes they were held as we have held sides in previous matches ourselves. I do not know which game he was watching because it does not sound like the same one I was. Infact it sounds like excuse making and totally clutching at straws.
If beaten by the better side so be it, now bring on the next! Away to Stevenage and the autos still possible as we all well know Argyle can do the impossible like at Hartlepool and Wycombe! LOL.
Argyle from what I have read and listened too had a good period after the restart......and maybe became a little gung-ho as they attacked......forgetting the main reason that has got them into a play-off position......a sound defence.......the dreaded fact that they cannot win this season when going behind came back to haunt them.......a 0-0 draw would have been fine....it would have kept the status-quo between the teams with Argyle's better goal difference acting still as an extra point.
It was because 10.000 probably turned up....... they where charging only £5 a ticket.....so that made it worth going.....my son had two tickets...and my grandson had two parties to go to on Saturday so he didn't go.....so I went instead.
Fiver a ticket seems like yrs. ago in the old days when paid on match days but held a season ticket for 10 yrs. or more.
