Well I came back and have yet to see my beloved City lose at home this season. And hereâs my take on yesterdayâs hard earned draw with Blackpool. I was impressed by several things and I will cover those rather than dwelling on the negatives that will only become positive with maybe one or two more signings, but also some good results. Firstly I expected to see a team come out and be so timid from the kick off, but the side started in a much more positive mood than that. Yes you could see the lack of confidence to pass a ball short from defence, but there was less of the long ball out of defence than I anticipated. The team backed each other up when Blackpool attacked, the best example was how they supported Joe Bryan, who grew visibly in confidence throughout the match. I thought he handled Ince very well. Heaton made some good saves and one excellent one down to his right in the first half to deny Ince which kept us level in the game. And he generally commanded his goal area. The back four seemed to be better organised than some recent games and coped reasonably well with Blackpoolâs long ball over the top throughout the game. I did not really notice Bates but perhaps that shows he did alright. I know it irritated some of the crowd, but we played more âkeep ballâ than of late, especially in the first half and this made Blackpool do more chasing than they wanted. I feel it allowed us to be the more dominant team in the second half. Playing with only John Stead up front, limited our attacking threat but he was very well supported by Albert and Danns, who impressed me. His high energy helped to unsettle Blackpool until he ran out of steam. The midfield worked so hard that it wasnât a surprise that Marvin seemed to âout on his feetâ toward the end of the match. Heaton got âMOMâ but for me all 14 players used were my Men Of the Match. It was good for Bobbie Reid to get on and the City fans got right behind the team from start to finish. It was only a small step for City but we moved up one place. I now feel more confident than I did a couple of weeks ago. Onwards and upwards!
