This was a hard fought game in a difficult swirling wind.....won by the defenders. I was mildly surprised that both sides played reasonable passing football in the blustery cold conditions.....probably better playing then sitting in the stand. Reuben Reid had a hard night running channels that where too wide and of course dominated by the wind.....ending up by the corner post where he was less effective. With Lee Cox out injured the latest loanee Andy Kellett got his first start in league football......and had a good game fitting in well. With defences ruling the match.....it was inevitable that a defender would be Argyles star player.....the back four played well....Curtis Nelson was solid,but Carl McHugh dominated the game,extremely good in the air and getting to the ball first everytime, my man of the match by far. Man mountain Akinfenwa was generally well marshalled,although he is a hard man to contain and difficult to knock off the ball once he gets a sniff of it.....the usual jokes came from the greenarmy that he must of heard a thousand times........suggesting that he had ate all the pies.....and that he hadn't seen his little willie for a long time....all taken in light hearted fun by the home supporters. He did have the nearest moment to scoring....when he just got to a cross with his head, the ball looping over the defence and bouncing over off the cross bar for a goal kick.....Luke was nowhere near it. Lewis Alessandra had difficulty getting into the game.....Bobby Reid played well in mid-field but the openings just didn't come and the wind often controlled the ball.....at times aerial balls looked more like a badly hooked golf shot.....drifting away on the wind.......possibly 8 or 10 balls disappeared over the stand opposite the main stand (I won't call it a Grandstand...cos it ain't) where the greenarmy where. Quite amazingly for a Tuesday night match there were 882 away supporters....who were applauded by the home fans when the attendance figures where announced......this was followed by a chant.....that you all live in London......which I expect to a certain degree was correct.....when back at Waterloo it was obvious that a lot of Greens had got off the train......and even at Waterloo East I saw quite a few waiting for various Kent bound destinations......the train I got on a fast to Hastings......Orpington the first stop after London Bridge.....had greens on it obviously going further than me.....surprisingly I saw no one I new from PASALB all evening. One quirky moment......half-time lasted over twenty minutes......a tannoy announcement asked if there was a qualified referee in the crowd......reason the match ref couldn't continue because of an injury......eventually someone else took the whistle over.....and did okay. We now have the best defence in Div2......and only bettered in the Premiership....exellent situation.....but we need more goals .....we could have sneaked three points last night with more goal scoring potential.....just not quite working out in attack.......with Reuban driven too wide most of the game....goal chances were rare.....lke hens teeth as they say. PS......On the whole I felt Argyle looked a good team.....far improved from a year or so ago.....a hard working unit......with no obvious weaknesses....other than scoring more goals.
Thanks Plymborn, a good report. Fantastic to see yet another clean sheet and our unbeaten run extended. I agree however that we are just lacking slightly up front, for all his hard work Alessandra is no striker in the traditional sense in my opinion, more a busy bee who should play behind the one or two forwards, he's just not a natural 15 plus goal a season finisher and we can't rely on Reuben to be on top form in every match. To sustain our current(I'll say it quietly, promotion form, shhhh) we are going to need more goals from elsewhere on the park from the likes of Morgan or Smalley when selected or midfielders like Blizzard, Banton if he can sort himself out, Bobby Reid who sounds a decent aquisition and will hopefully stay longer than the initial month and Thomas(does anyone have news of his condition after his suspected asthma attack?) Anyway another three points on Saturday and team and supporter confidence will continue to grow. COYG.
Wasn't expecting an eye-witness report on this one but I forgot we had a spy in the East (and perhaps 2 now, welcome Essex). Good report Plymborn and I'm glad you came away happy, or happier anyway. Hope you enjoyed it. 0-0 away is I think a very acceptable result against a team with 2 players in the top 5 league scorers in this division. Two successive tough games to come though against teams in the top 10.
Yes notdistant I came away pleased.....but I must admit that that was the coldest I've felt anytime this year.....such mild.... even warmish weather earlier this week left me fooled by last nights temperature, of course the wind didn't help.
Whilst walking out of the ground last Saturday I remarked to my mates that it was another 3 points in the bag albeit another hard fought one and a point on Tuesday would be good if followed up by another 3 points on Saturday this week. We are two thirds the way to that and I'm happy with the point last night. We have some snarly games coming up over the next 3 weeks or so. If, and I'm still pinching myself with the fact that there is an if, we do reasonably well and pick up points over that period then I think we will be in with a shout. I also think the numbers will rise a bit on the gates. All good from where I'm sitting. If you look at the forward line on show for Wimbledon last night and the goals for they have then keeping a clean sheet speaks volumes for our defence. I have to say that I no longer panic when the opposition have the ball and I'm watching. They will let in goals of course they will but they will stop most efforts in my opinion as long as there are no lasting injuries to disrupt them. The last thing we need is to have to change them about.
