There is nothing else to write except we owe them for the defeat at their place big time. We can bounce back and win this and I think we will. I am getting a bit fed up with the football gods who keep injuring our players. What is it about us that we get kicked in the scrotum it seems every season at the wrong time. Never mind we have strength in depth (anyone remember those words after January?). COYG
................................................................................Burton ........................Wilson.........................................Gillesphey...........................................Galloway .............Edwards.........................Houghton...............................Butcher.....................................Mumba ..........................................................Azaz..................................................Mayor .................................................................................Hardie Subs Parkes, Ennis, Cosgrove, Lonwijk, Earley, C Wright, Matete,.
2-0...F/T Hardie...46mins. Ennis...87mins. Good win against one of our bogey teams, 14 corners for Argyle.....without much joy. 17 shots...5 on target. Charlton 7 shots...none on target. Whew.....I can hold my head up high with my Charlton STH family members.
Only 9 seconds between...Charlton kicking off the second half and Hardie scoring. Is that a record I wonder ? That would have been fast even if Argyle had kicked off.....but the opposition kicking-off......wow.
Well, that was a tense affair. Charlton started the stronger and in my opinion are the best side I’ve seen at Home Park this season with the exception of Ipswich. Sheffield Wednesday are big and strong but don’t have much guile. Despite having some very big lads, Charlton played some good stuff too. it was 15 minutes before we started to play and from there on were the better side, but not by much. We had numerous half chances in the first half but neither keeper had much to do. From the kick off to start the second half, Charlton conspired against themselves to gift the ball to Hardie 35 yards out and you just can’t do that. 1-0. It was a tight second half until right at the end when Wright broke away down the right and got it to Ennis, who manoeuvred himself into enough space to slot it away nicely. We just about deserved this but Charlton didn’t make it easy. Uniquely, this game was played entirely without a referee. Instead, a small waste of space with a Napoleon Complex moved about the pitch intervening on a random and utterly inexplicable manner.
Lets start with the Referee and here I agree totally with notdistant. I would throw in the Lyndhurst lino and can't really say about the other one who is too far away to judge. This Referee, and I do object to have to use that title, was probably the worst example of one that I have ever seen. And we won. I cannot even begin to explain that statement he just was the worst and you would have had to have been there to know exactly where I'm coming from. They must be desperate to even think of employing him. However, as for the game itself I don;t agree particularly with notdistant's statement that Charlton were good. They played some good football and did just about huff and puff a lot but there was nothing in their play that had me worried they might score. Surely the shots on goal and lack of any on target gives that some validity. The first half was a case of both sides huffing and puffing going forward or backward with very little to make anyone think this was going to be more than a 0 - 0. We did create some chances but never really looked like taking any. The Ref did his best to feck up anything that looked promising. On a good day we might have been several to the good by 45 minutes. Second half Chalrton managed to carve themselves apart from the kick off. Ball as usual played back to a defender who is supposed to hoof it into touch. Well not really but that is where it normally goes. Instead he took a bit too long to hoof, Hardie stuck a foot out, the ball hit it and bounced towards the Charlton goal, Hardie ran forward direct at goal and chipped the keeper as he often does for 1 - 0. After that Charlton huffed and puffed a bit more as did we with neither looking to add to a scoreline. Eventually Schuey did a swap about and on came Ennis to eventually make it 2 - 0 in the final few minutes of normal time. Once that went in then it truly was all over. Nobody stood out today for me yet nobody had a bad game either. Not sure who I would pick as my MOM. They were all a kind of 6.5 to 7. Results were pretty good today as well in other places so a good day at the Office I would say and onwards to Tuesday.
Gillesphy for me. You have the advantage of me Sensible as you go every time, so I’ll bow to your judgement. Of the ones I’ve seen though… I suppose the further we get into the season, the more there is at stake. It’s stressful just watching. Still, we got there in the end. Were you aware the pundits on the Cheltenham game suggested Hardie’s chipped goal was a botched cross? Hardie posted somewhere afterwards and it was said he “laughingly” claimed he didn’t pass or cross to anyone inside the box. Now you and I know that’s not “laughingly” at all. It’s a statement of fact! That’s how you score 19 with a third of the season remaining.
Hardie's goal was no more a fluke on that game than it was today. It's what he does and does mostly well when he's on it. Who was it who once said "the more I practice the luckier I get". To be honest today he could have had 3 easy. How we contrived to cock up so many tap in type chances I don;t know and mostly that was not getting a shot off when we should have. Hardie was guilty several times.
This was only tense today because Argyle didn't score the goals that they should have. The stats suggest that Charlton NEVER hit the target once and missed the target eight times. Argyle are second highest goal scorers in the league.....but defence wise not so good....and because of that we have fallen short recently missing out on wins that we should have got. We are regular goal scores and have only failed to score on a few occasions.....but like today until we scored the second the win wasn't gauranteed with Charlton only needing one lucky moment to rob us of two points.....and that has happened a few times lately. Two or three first half goals would turn the game into a more relaxed occasion.....which Argyle never do....so the stress on players is always there and that builds up pressure that shouldn't be there.
Plym I know you don’t get to see Argyle much but you must understand that it isn’t that we can’t defend but that we’ve made a conscious decision not to bother. There was a moment in the first half when we’d been under a mini siege when the ball fell at Wilson’s feet on the edge of our box. What does he do? Hoof it for touch? Try a long ball to Hardie to run after? Of course not, this is Plymouth Argyle. He starts to run with the ball, straight through the middle of their assembled masses, beats two men and advances to the half way line. We have wing backs who’ve never fully taken on board the second word in their job title. The wide CB’s spend nearly as much time on the edge of the opponents penalty box as they do our own. You remember Ryan Lowe’s adage? You score 3 and we’ll score 4? We’re still doing it, it’s very much a lifestyle choice.
14 corners yesterday....most of them taken before Cosgrove came on...a big lump designed for corners.....Hardie does best lately breaking from the half-way line. The game seemed to be in the balance until Ennis scored our second......yet Charlton's shots on target ZILTCH and both keepers it says had reasonably quiet games. We had five shots on target.....doesn't seem to blend with the adage that if they score three we'll score four.
It was the golfer Gary Player who, when asked if he’d been a bit lucky in winning a tournament, said “I find the e harder I practice, the luckier I get”.
Cosgrove is more than a big lump. He's a big lump who can play a bit and is a demon finisher. We aren't converting as many chances as we'd like but it's not for want of trying. As the pundits will tell you, it's far, far better to be making chances and missing them than not to be making chances at all.
