I thought that maybe if I stayed in the pub long enough somebody else would have done the write up. Having downed a few all I can say is "bugger". Anyway back to the task in hand. Argyle started brightly today but that only lasted a couple of minutes before the passing started. Cambridge are probably the best passing side I've seen in a couple of seasons never mind just this one. They pass it to death and back to life again. One problem is that they dont create anything much with it. Throughout the whole match they had around 3 proper chances all with a one on one with the keeper. Mac did them everytime with a decent save and to be honest apart from that they didn't really create much else. They kept the ball well and to be fair this looked all the way a 0 - 0. Reason I say this is that Argyle seemed to get the Cambridge disease. When they could they passed it around well enough but didn't do a lot else. The second half proved to be a lot better than the first. They still passed it and passed it but at least Argyle scored. There were one or two Argyle players that in fairness were below par for what was needed. One of them was Bobby Reid who had been caught on the ball a number of times and lost it. He also mispassed it quite a few times and wasn't exactly impressing. His corners were terrible but then again I think they usually are with the floated ball rather than the whipping it in. However, he had a cracking shot which the keeper parried straight back out in front of him. Brunt who had come on as sub was alive and followed the shot in. He cracked it home into a pretty much empty net. One nil and deserved after Argyle had begun to exert a bit of pressure. The referee hasn;t had a mention so far and neither has the lino on the lyndhurst side. The Ref was a bit rubbish all game and the lino got nothing right at all. Keeping up with play might be a good idea if you are going to assist the Ref but this bloke was generally at least a couple of yards behind play virtually everytime. The reason I mention them is because of the next bit of action. Bobby Reid made a decent run into the box with the ball and was blatantly brought down by he Cambridge defender. Of all the penalty decisions I've seen this season this was the easiest decision to make. You guessed it he blew it. He looked at the lino who stood there like a bit of wood. He then pointed to a corner. Now not only was it blatantly a penalty but if he thought it wasn't then it wasn't a corner either the ball having come off Reid himself. The corner was taken short and was played around a couple of players before Alessandra blasted it in from the 6 yard line. A well taken goal and he is the one player that looks like he can score because Rueben Reid doesn't. 2 - 0 and poetic justice for the Ref being a pillock. A couple of players looked like they need a break today even if one of them was instramental in the goals. Both Reids look tired and jaded and I think our squad is strong enough to give them a day off. MOM was Alessandra and I think that was a pretty fair assessment this time. Nine points in the last 3 games all of which have been well earned and justified. Bring on Exeter who should be more worried about the match than we should be.
3 more points (9 in the week and 3 clean sheets) against a decent Cambridge team. Just been reading some stuff on PASOTI and I cant believe some people are still moaning. JS sent out the same team that conquered Wycombe on Tuesday night. It was no surprise that both teams kept the ball down and tried to pass their way from defence to attack. To be honest Cambridge had the best of the chances in the first half but a good piece of goal keeping and a poor shot kept the Argyle goal intact. The first half flew by as both sides probed and passed - a bit of a game for the purist. Bobby Reid had a bit of an off 45 mins as did (very unusually) Curtis Nelson. Reuben yet again didn't look interested - if it wasn't Exeter next week then there has to be a case for resting him in favour of Brunty. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable 45 mins with both teams playing 'proper' football. Second half much of the same really but then Brunt replaced R Reid and Cox for Lee allowing B Reid to push further forward, and then the goal came. B Reid's shot was only parried by the keeper and the rebound wellied into the net by Brunt -he must have an impressive goals to minute ratio since he arrived. Lewis Allessandra soon finished off with a scurffy goal. Purrington replaced the excellent Tareiq Holmes-Dennis (cramp/hamstring) and very soon it was all over. We were denied a nailed on penalty and Cambridge continued to pose a threat but Hartley in particular was not going to be beaten. A great 3 points, bring on exeter.
Sorry sens we must have been typing at the same time-but pretty much agree with all of the above. esp ref and lino! Not sure I would change a winning team thou.
Should be 3 more points next week as they are on the slide now and we are on the up again, just the right time to play them and put them 9 points behind us and we have a game in hand over them,,,
yes .. but I am confident of a 10 game winning streak., I had that score correct today and Pompey at the bookies so not a bad return.. topped it all with a handful of the Liverpool game, both to score and Liverpool to win . so on a roll and next week will be 2 nil to the greens .., worth a punt
What still???? Christ I had double man flu this week and am feeling great now. It might have something to do with a couple of alcoholic beverages of course rather than a cure.
Sensible I read that the first time as saying that Mrs Jools should amalgamate you and Lyndhurst personally. Not only would that be against the rules for genetic science but it's a really ugly thought. I'm relieved on second sight to see that you meant amalgamate only your posts. I have it on impeccable authority (which I cannot disclose) that there's been flu in the Argyle camp, which is I suppose not a surprise, but also that Reid B has some particular problems which are likely to be affecting his game. I don't know if it's fitness or health but there's something holding him back. That's not good news but I suppose that with 3 wins and 3 clean sheets on the trot, the silver lining is that there's more to come from an important player and from the squad generally..
I don't know, lyndible Senshurst has a sort of ring to it don't you think. He has youth and I have the brains so it would be a great combination. (well he is younger than me). All I know is Bobby Reid was not firing on all cylinders yesterday. If he has a problem somewhere then it didn't show for all of the match and there were a few things he did right otherwise we might not have scored. Seems strange to say he had a bit of a mare yet was responsible for us winning the match but that is how it was. I'm a bit surprised that nothing has been made of the penalty that wasn't on the boards. The only comment I have seen seemed to think it was a correct decision by the Ref. Not sure how anyone could come to that conclusion as I am as convinced it was a stonewall cert. Just shows how different things are seen by different people I suppose. Onwards and upwards as they say and our neighbours are next in line. One match at a time and I'm not even thinking past that one. I think that 3 or 4 weeks ago we would have been on the end of a dicking with this one but now I think we have a decent enough chance. Not saying we will get the result as a given but we are better now than we were then.
I have been looking at the league as it stands now and also the fixture list. Sometimes you just can't make it up because the next four matches are against the teams in 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Or put another way the 4 places immediately below where we are now. I didn't realise that until I was looking at it. How significant would this period be for our season? Get a decent return out of those 4 and it would have to put some daylight between us and them. Fail and it might not look so rosey. Anal nerve tweeky time........
Thanks for the reports, it's getting exciting again now, 3 wins, 3 clean sheets and 9 points in the space of a week, let's take our form into Saturday and win the derby COYG!
Don't worry about the teams below us.. we will catch the ones above us.. first up for the beating.. Excreta.. one game at a time.. 10 points from the next 4 games .. coming up!! the bets are going on.. about time they bookies gave me a bit back.. well they did last weekend.. first in a while
