Not the most appetising of matches to go to. Hopefully GW will play an adventurous game with Holmes & Monakana on the wings. GW should get a reception from the home crowd but he did guide the team from obscurity to near championship league footy. And they are not doing too badly at the moment. Let us hope the officials are up to scratch.
It's now 4 games unbeaten for North End as they travel to Westley's old stamping ground on Saturday. Both games with Stevenage were drawn the game at Deepdale gave us a taste of the future when Tango Man's under achievers met Westley's functional robots. It was goalless. The home side lots a fair few players during the summer,sounds familiar although possible manager Gary Smith may have recruited quite well during the summer, he has two ex North Enders in the squad David Gray and Paddy Ageymang. Huntington suspended for us after Joe Garner's panic attack on Tuesday, Bailey Wright will deputise, Monakana should be back from suspension, anybody expecting a classic will be lucky. Would love to go to this, but I'm not that desperate. Expect a summary Barnet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4-1 four different scorers, Westley will be beaming tonight, big question is why are we sh**e at home
One reason could be, Maclad, that PNE have very good support away from Deepdale. I was really impressed. There was an almost picnic atmosphere in the South Stand where the NE supporters were. And there seems to be good rapport between the team & the away supporters. I think TH should throw a grand Chrstmas party for supporters who can show an away game stub. Stevenage...hmm. Were 2nd & are now 3rd in the league...hmm. If that is the third tier's standard of football then NE, playing as they did yesterday, should from now on walk the division. You can get the details from LEP but from a supporter's view, this was a clash betwen 2 different styles of footy. Stevenage are a big side & would intimidate a team lacking confidnce. They played the channels with percentage balls. They had the early pressure & I thought this was going to be one of those games where the pre-match warm up would be more entertaining. Then NE scored! PNE had confidence & played across the park with 2 wingers turning a static defence. If Stuart Beavon was an inch or two taller, the score would have been 6 - 1. The four goals came from good play cutting through the Stevenage defence Beavon started the goals with a beauty into the roof of the net. The outstanding Jack King scored next after Stevenage had equalised. They caught NE flat footed from a corner but in general Robertson & Wright dealth with the big lads of Stevenage very well. Stevenage, apart from the goal, had only 2 shots on goal. Jeff Monkana scored a lovely goal dribbling from the wing into the centre and slotting a delicate shot past their goalie. PNE played well but they are not Swansea - yet! They did use the percentage ball occasionally but generally they passed through the Stevenage defence. Unfortunately Monkana was taken out by one of Stevenage's full backs which went unpunished by the ref who 10 seconds later pulled up PNE for a similar tackle. They did mark out Monkana for hard tackles and he took some stick. He had to be carried off & I doubt he will be playing for ome time. Holmes played 45 plus 15 minutes which is encouraging but he is not as effective as Monakana. Over all, the officials were not too bad. This was a third tier game but I think some championship sides would have struggled against NE's play yesterday. There were quite a few mistakes but I expect NE to move on from now.
Cheers Barnet, I rate Jack King, does a lot of work, seen the goals the one from Wroe is class, as for Stevenage suspect their pinnacle came last season when Sheff U scored in the play offs,can only see them slipping back down the leagues. Away from home we catch teams on the break at home slightly more different, big test against Brentford coming up on Saturday. Holmes miles off full fitness, Jeffrey will be fit for next week. Since Robbo came back into the side they have looked better, another unsung hero.
I do not think PNE caught Boro on the break: NE dominated the play so much. There were quite a few mistakes: poor passes etc. But it was encouraging to see NE play like a team most of the time. There was some versatility and movement. If NE play against Brentford like they did against Boro, then I would expect another win. You are correct about Robertson. He had their guys in his pocket. Wright does seem small for a CB according to today's third tier standards but he played very well along with Robertson. I can see how other posters on LEP clamour for him to be played as CB rather than full back. He was very composed. A pity he is an Aussie.
