Just back from Brum and what a great trip it was , Totally outplayed the home side but we are crying out for a pacey winger still(still no Conway?) For me MOM was a split between Hudson and Marshal but def Taylor was our weakest link again . The home crowd of about 17000 was silenced first half by the yet again tremendous away support (no rugby songs) ...;o)...........but yet again we went in half time 0-0 when it really should have been Cardiff in front . Great save by Marshal for the 100% pen they had but other than that and their break away goal we bossed the match and played total football without the end result. Nice to see at the end the home crowd applauding the away team and us fans and a bit of banter after on the way to the buses them saying we were the best away team up there so far and saying how well we played in the cup final . Players coming back from injurys and if we can keep playing this type of game we should make the playoffs and who knows...............we all know what a lottery it is ... PS, if any of the Barry lads are reading this ,yes we did go back to that pub ...;O) JH
so it sounds like we were the better team? i think with confidence low, the performance is important as well as the result, players like miller need performances and goals so they can kick on and get over the line into the play offs. we need pace and of the players we have in the squad who can come in and make a difference, conway is one who can. pace, trickery and not a bad shot on him either....after seeing the line up i was convinced we would struggle to get 3 points and that was unfortunately proved to be correct, the 11 need freshening up, its just the same old players who are struggling to replicate their earlier season form... play offs are not a lottery john, but other than that nice to see you talking football..
A nice article John. Thanks for the update How close was Gestede's chance at the end - should we have nicked it?
Sounds like Burke should have scored at the end for them as well. Seems we did have control of the game for large periods but Brum perhaps had the better chances. We had to rely on our central defender to volley in a goal!! Don't want to do that each week!
Brums goalkeeper made a great save from Gestede`s header and most of us were up in the air but then again Marshal made a great save yet again this time from Burke as he turned on the spot from close range and to be fair we all thought that was it!!!. Thankfully Brum did not play the ball to Burke that much but when he got it he was trouble as we saw from their goal ...pace and taking defenders on . We were asking about Conway in the crowd but no-one knows the reason behind his absence ,got to be fair on the away support we were behind the lads for the whole 95 mins .............god knows where they got that 5 mins from but it was in our favour and we looked the stronger fitter side at the end . Bring on Millwall JH .
well it shows malky has got the fitness programme right, if we were in the PL players would be dropping like flies with tight hamstrings etc i'm surprised that we were the better team, brum are a good team, and we just drew against a team that hadnt won away from home.... 3 points against millwall at home now is a must..
Have not seen the stats Swamp but they must be 60/40 in our favour in possesion and corners 2/1 . We played a lot like the home team and Brums best chances from the break and set pieces,Burke the danger man on the break as we still have no pacey wide man to take defenders on and create openings for the front players. Whitts class tho .,;O)
Good report JH. I heard the game on the radio and it sounded like we were well on top for most of the game but couldn't find the target. Until our goal Myhill had only 1 shot to save. I guess Kenny will be back on Sunday. If Malky won't pick Conway (wonder why - 3 strikers on the bench - no way all 3 would get on) then why not use Mason a bit wider as he has some pace and isn't afraid to run at people. That will mean dropping Lawrence or Cowie assuming McPhail remains fit. While Don still covers every inch of the pitch his lack of pace is really showing when out wide. Lawrence similarly lacks any pace but doesn't cover the same ground as Don. Decision time for malky as we really need all 3 points against Millwall
oh right, i forgot miller didnt play, well thats 2 games on the bench for him to recharge his batteries and come in and play a big part in the effort to make top 6 whitts always does well, when he plays well the team plays well, rarely gives the ball away and the first name on the team sheet. his goal vs coventry was sensational, but that got overshadowed by the late goal conceded. he's been outstanding this season... good to hear we played with confidence and like the home team jh, as i said when confidence is low its not purely about the result, the performance needs to be good aswell...
I hope we put more players forward next week. All respect to Millwall, but if we don't get 3 points this week, we may as well pack it in this season.
Miller came on towards the end. I wouldn't say we dominated as much as people are saying. We had a lot of the ball but failed to do anything with it, hence having only 2 shots on target. Don't get me wrong it was a much better performance than the last few games but something was still missing. Whitts started playing out wide which makes no sense seeing as we have two wide men in Conway and Laurence! Once whitts went back into the middle we scored. McPhail had a good game, hopefully he can stay fit until the end of the season as we seem a much better team with him playing just in front of the defence.
Imagine if you had a 2nd chance the entire game john & scored to win . Instead of scoring late on your only chance to get level , the Brum fans would have carried Malky & his men off the pitch Lol !!
We have come away from St.Andrews with a good point.It seems Brum were reluctant to go all out for a win at home in the closing minutes and chose to play for the safety of a point. Interesting stat: City,Brum,Hull and Blackpool have only won one game so far in March.Bad month all around by the seems of things.
Fair play John you've created a very popular thread.Over 200 have looked in though I'm surprised so few have commented.
Good reports from JH and Nat, ccplayer is okay but it's no comparison to being there. I yearn for the day I return to Wales and get down to Sloper road. I guess the stadium is officially on Leckwith Hill but it'll always be Sloper road for me
Thanks Nat. Can't understand playing Lawrence in the middle, the one place we have options. The best we seem to have had from him was when he moved out on to the right a couple of games ago.
