Saturday, 8 October 2011 Npower League Two Plymouth 2-2 Accrington FT Goals Plymouth: Walton (pen) 27, Soukouna 45+3 Accrington: Long 56, Amond 67 Teams Plymouth Argyle 23 Cole 02 Berry 05 King 06 Nelson 03 Williams 07 Daley 08 Walton 13 Soukouna (Griffiths 72) 20 Hourihane 21 Atkinson 27 Lecointe Substitutes 01 Larrieu, 19 Gibson, 15 Young, 22 Griffiths, 10 Hitchcock Accrington Stanley 01 Murdoch 04 Hessey 12 Murphy 14 McIntyre 17 Long 06 Procter 10 Craney 11 Joyce 09 Guthrie 21 Fletcher (Barnett 46) 23 Amond Substitutes 25 Dunbavin, 02 Coid, 15 Burton, 08 Barnett, 07 Lindfield Att: 8,013 First Half As the first half kicked off you could hear the rousing chants from all the fans located in Devonport. With a good starting momentum Argyle surged forward and tested the Accrington defence witha few balls into the box, no one was able to put the ball where it was needed however. Accrington pressed forward a few times but the attacks were scuppered. It did not take long for the first goal to come, after a good bit of forward play Hessey pulled Lecointe's shirt in the box and the ref awarded a penalty. Hessey was sent for an early bath as the penalty was smoothly despatched by Walton. 1-0. The action continued with Argyle looking for the second goal, a few crosses into the box easily gathered by Murdoch and as half time approached there was a positive atmosphere about the ground. I almost missed the second goal as I was buying a coffee but as I walked back to my seat, the ball dropped to Soukouna in the box and he twisted to the side and powered the ball past Murdoch, 2-0. After some brief exchanges in midfield the half time whistle blew. Second Half As the whistle kicked off my attention moved to the Accrington supporters, only 50 or so in number but the drummer in the stand kept the beat as the players came out again for the second period. Straight from the off it became apparent that despite being a man down Accrington were not going to lay down and die. It only took 11 minutes for them to lessen the deficit. New addition Barnett crossed the ball in and Long knocked his header past a flapping cole into the net. 2-1. As we have witnessed before this season as Argyle supporters - the defence seemed to lose their nerve and despite only having ten men on the field Accrington dominated, it again took just a further 11 minutes for them to equalise, almost identical to the last goal the ball came in and Amond knocked his header past a increasingly flaky looking Cole to level. 2-2. They did not stop there, Argyle looked like they had lost the plot and never got close to the Accrington box. Accrington however pressed and pressed, never looking like they had a missing man, Craney had a shot at goal denied by Cole and the defence scrambled the ball away. Time and time again Argyle just managed to hold on, then, after Craney and Barnett had had shots fly high over the bar and we suffered a few extra time minutes more - the ref brought the game to a close. Stats 23 Cole - 5 I know some people will say 1 but I think he saved a few chances well (the double save a highlight). His lack of awareness when coming out to claim is an issue I hope Larrieu will address. 02 Berry - 6 A good game I thought, positive play, kept to his man and was positive going forward. 05 King - 6 Usual fairly solid display, unable to keep up with the pacey Accrington strikers. 06 Nelson - 6 Ok performance, some of the performance of last season shining through at last. 03 Williams - 6 Not the best game for the LB, did not pick up his man on a few occasions. 07 Daley - 6 A good display first half marred by a lack of vision second half. 08 Walton - 7 A good performance, scored the penalty with ease, 13 Soukouna - 7 Another powerful display, attacked well and cooly despatched the second goal. 20 Hourihane - 6 Good tackling and chased the ball, lack of confidence was evident when on the ball though. 21 Atkinson - 6 Positive display first half, seemed to lose his cool second half. 27 Lecointe - 8 A good game for the young forward, covered Feeneys role well. Subs: Griffiths - 6 unable to make any impact. MoM: Soukouna Hobo's MoM: Lecointe - I think the lad played well and looked very professional on the ball, shame he was not given much chance second half. Summary Another great turnout from the Fans United. Special thanks to Brighton, Portsmouth, Reading, the Norwich fans who attended the fansfest and all the other supporters who made the journey to the Theatre of Greens! Well, first half I was impressed with the coolness and ease that Argyle displayed. Soukouna's goal was a highlight. Lecointe and Daley seemed to lead the attack well. Second half...I think Fletcher may have to work on his half time talk. It was men against boys second half, though full credit to Accrington the loss of a player did not dent their spirit and they deserved the point.
Once again a fair summary hobo although I think Accrington will be totally pissed off not to have gotten all 3 points in the end. I was more disappointed that we remained with one up front after the sending off. All they did was play a back 3 instead of 4 and maintained their 2 up front. We should have forced a change from them and that is where I fear Fletcher is still tactically flawed. I was more unhappy coming away from the ground this time than when they have been beaten previously. Cole saved a couple which makes him a reasonable shot stopper. As for the rest of his game it is nonexistant. He is by far and away the worst keeper I have seen at Home Park in years and years. Larrieu must pick himself or we will suffer again and again if anything comes into the box in the air. He rarely comes for any cross and if he does he invariably gets it totally wrong and is nowhere near the ball. Ref was a bit fussy at times I thought but Walton was lucky not to walk himself. He pulled their No.9's hair which caused him to react. Still shows that childish petulent side to his nature and is not Captain material. Fletcher is much better on the pitch. I despair at the future for the rest of this season if some experience is not brought into the club and on the pitch. If we won our home games we would be ok but it is going to be a very long season with the current squad and form. 4 points out of 9 is actually reasonable on paper but we won't be that lucky every time.
Fletcher and Larrieu are weakening the team by standing in the dug out. When Accrington started dominating the second half it demanded a change of approach.........Fletcher didn't do anything to try and reverse the situation.........all he did was to protect Soukouna from further injury..........good idea but there was more important things required than taking one of our best players off. How do you do nothing to stop being dominated by ten players...........their manager must of thought that Christmas had come early........definately two points dropped........and that might be vital at the end of the season.
You could say that Accrington fans would have wanted all 3 points but I think they will concede that we were the better team first half and their team was the best second half. A point a piece is a fair result really.
