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A real game of two halves.

We had the best of the first half and Ladapo and Harrison were causing them all sorts of problems. Harrison looks a really talented player but perhaps not always on the same wavelength as his teammates at the moment. I’d hope that will come after a few games together though. Reminds me of Leroy Sane in his style.

Second half, Bury went more direct and lumped the ball into Hanson and played off the scraps. Those sorts of balls are meat and drink for experienced centre halves like Turner and Ferdinand though and we dealt with their onslaught quite comfortably I felt. We seem to have grown a backbone from somewhere, I think earlier in the season we’d have lost this game but that point could be vital come the end of the season.

Disappointing not to get the win but without Cox and then Kightly after half time, we lost a lot of our quality playmaking in the final third.

Freddie Ladapo for me looks a bit rusty but does have pace and power. Harrison is tricksy with good feet but quite lightweight. These two will definitely play their part this season but we definitely missed Simon Cox tonight.
 
Normally 0-0 against the bottom club in FL1 might be considered 2 points dropped, but Bury were definitely up for the scrap tonight. They weren’t the most skilful of teams but they had plenty of heart and effort. Thankfully their finishing skills were equal to ours tonight, not very good. Too many players, on both sides, snatched at chances or wanted to take another step before shooting. The few clear chances that did come along ended up in the stands at either end and neither keeper was really tested.

The good points for us tonight were that we battled for every ball, more often than not won the second ball and had the best of the midfield encounters. Timlin especially was immense tonight. His tackling was first rate and he put his head in places where only Timlin will put it. Dru was his able deputy but he didn’t have the same composure as he did against Wigan, blowing some not difficult chances in front of goal. Up front Ladapo and Harrison got their first starts and had some good moments, especially in the first half. Again a lack of game time for them was evident in some of the rushed finishing. McLaughlin and Kightly again looked dangerous and it was unfortunate that Kightly had to go off injured.

A special word of praise goes to Anton tonight. I thought that he and Turner had a great game between them not really giving Hanson a sniff all evening. So a point on the road and nothing conceded and Timlin getting my MoM.

Roll on Saturday and a big noisy crowd at Roots Hall. The good times are back again it seems.
 
Would have been a two nil defeat if played six weeks ago. A solid point, respect to the away faithful this evening!
 
In the end it is another point and another game to add to the unbeaten run. I feel Bury were a litte underrated by some - current form puts them 12th in Lge 1 and us 8th so overall I think a point on a cold damp night in Greater Manchester is to be considered a point gained rather than 2 lost!
 
How good is Timlin at the moment, gone from a useful squad player to our best man on the pitch under Powell, sign him up for another contract!
 
10 points in four games. Thank you lads, enjoy your pizzas on the motorway. Noticed Portsmouth threw it away tonight against Blackburn, roll on Saturday.
 
10 points from SCP first four games against the opposition we have had is an immense effort. 0-0 is no disgrace tonight against a team desperate for points.

Positives: clean sheet, front two got game time as did the improving Anton
negatives: kightly injury, such a shame just when we were seeing the best from him

hoping the Cox personal issues aren't too bad.

Roll on Saturday, a packed roots hall and another big game
 
Away clean sheets under Brown in 17/18: 1
Away clean sheets under Powell in 17/18: 2

Poor away runs are as much about confidence and belief as anything else. Think we could have stolen it on another night but Bury were clearly fired up and would have beaten a lot of teams in this league tonight.
 
Another point on our quest for survival. Three more wins will probably be enough now, let's start with Pompey on Saturday.
 
A real game of two halves.

We had the best of the first half and Ladapo and Harrison were causing them all sorts of problems. Harrison looks a really talented player but perhaps not always on the same wavelength as his teammates at the moment. I’d hope that will come after a few games together though. Reminds me of Leroy Sane in his style.

Second half, Bury went more direct and lumped the ball into Hanson and played off the scraps. Those sorts of balls are meat and drink for experienced centre halves like Turner and Ferdinand though and we dealt with their onslaught quite comfortably I felt. We seem to have grown a backbone from somewhere, I think earlier in the season we’d have lost this game but that point could be vital come the end of the season.

Disappointing not to get the win but without Cox and then Kightly after half time, we lost a lot of our quality playmaking in the final third.

Freddie Ladapo for me looks a bit rusty but does have pace and power. Harrison is tricksy with good feet but quite lightweight. These two will definitely play their part this season but we definitely missed Simon Cox tonight.

I pretty much agree with the above. The last time I saw us was at Scunthorpe, and we were a completely different team in the first half at least tonight.

One thing I noticed was Harrison jumping for headers, the way I was taught at school many years ago, with hands by his sides. None of his arms flailing around that Alan Shearer insists is required for purchase. He got the height without giving away silly freekicks.
 
I have some sympathy for Bury - their ground has "character" (just like Roots Hall) and they are adrift at the bottom of Division 3 after some high hopes at the beginning of the season. There are 2 big teams a few miles away in Manchester with money to burn and who draw in "fans" from a wide area. The "home" end of Gigg Lane was empty and the other 3 stands were less than half full - 2,795 crowd says the B.B.C.

Bury got rid of the ball from defence when needed and played down the channels. The pitch wasn't too bad but it wasn't good either - some poor patches didn't help midfield play for either team.

But we started the first half in great style - Tims, Ladapo and Kites having good chances, some intricate triangles and neat work before we began to sink down to the same level as Bury and the game started to stagnate for quite a while until we came towards half time when it seemed only a matter of time before we scored - Ladapo again getting in good positions but the chances came and went and then the players disappeared down the tunnel. The game had that feel that if we scored one we would go on and score more.

2nd half and Bury came out and played very well for 10 minutes or so - causing problems and some goal threat. McGlashan wasn't up to speed, Tims and Dru were misplacing passes and Kites was clearly being missed but the game then settled down into a rather turgid affair at times. And again it is only my opinion but I felt we were tiring as the game wore on.

Harrison couldn't get in the game and was, for me, trying "too hard" when he did eventually get the ball. Ladapo was isolated and Thompson had him in "his pocket" for much of the time. I think the formation was more of a 4-4-1-1. Both players will have benefited from this game but their relative lack of experience showed at times.

Eventually Fortune came on and a couple of late chances could have seen us go home with all 3 points but I'm not sure we would have completely deserved it.

And there it is - a freezing cold night, average game and the unbeaten run continues. Hope Cox is back for Saturday.
 
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Cake

After filling the TZ faithful with far too much cake on the way up a freezing cold night in the Manchester suburbs offered up the prospect of three points against the bottom team. However, in the circumstances it turned out be an excellent point.

For various reasons we started with the two new boys up front. Always a risk that, but I gather CP's hand was forced by a Cox domestic issue.

A difficult game to properly assess. We were the better side in the first half. Played some tidy football. Macca particularly was a handful and quite often made it to the bye line. Lapado had a decent effort battered away by the keeper and there were lots of ooh and aah moments. Bury didn't offer much going forward. Second half was more evenly matched with neither side making much of a threat. They had one cleared off the line and McG blasted over when he should have hit the target. It's really quite difficult to tell what we did up their end given the vantage point.

Disappointed to lose Kightly, he has been the player we've wanted to see recently. Timlin was one again huge in the middle, even if Dru was a little more subdued than Saturday. Defence was solid and never really stretched. Turner, for me, our best player. Just looks a class act. The general concensus was that we'd have found a way to lose that a couple of weeks ago, so ultimately more progress.

Bury, to their credit, defended like lions at times without ever looking like scoring. 0-0 was a fair result, and probably one we knew was coming quite early on.

244 of us made that journey, and made a bit of noise in the process. Well done us.
 
I agree with "Prague Blue" comments, on another thread.. this was 2 points dropped against a bottom side, I would have realistically had those 3 points last night against Bury, and searching for a point against Blackburn, than vice versa.

On the plus side, it's another game passed, and we are no closer to the danger zone than before. & Our home record is awesome. I think Portsmouth will give us a real game, but "Fortress Roots Hall" will hold again.

In SCP...We trust.

UTB
:happy:
 
Certainly wasn't a dull game for a 0-0. We had some good early chances and the two new boys looked lively. Despite plenty of pressure, including pinning them in their own box for the last 5 minutes of the half, we just lacked that final finish that sadly has been missing for most of the season.

Second half they put us under siege for the first 5 minutes after that we did come back into it but never reached the same standard as the first 45. Dru had a great chance to round off his run of impressive games under CP but blazed it over, so in the end both teams settled for the point.

Timlin or Turner for MOM rest of the back four and Oxley were fine. Harrison started lively in more of a 10 slot rather than next to Ladapo but faded so MAF on was the right decision. Harrison looked better running at the goal rather than with his back to it. Having said that he might not be as strong as Cox shielding the ball but can turn sharp and look to attack if they sit off a yard.

Ladapo has some pace and worked himself in for a good early chance but instead of going across the keeper, he chocked it into the side netting. More concerning is his timing going up for headers....Jumps to early and not really looking to win it. I was hoping for more of a number 9 in the air but I'm getting hints of Joe Pigott. Still early days so lets see what he can do on the floor.

Shame about Kightly going off. His season so far has roughly been 7 on and 7 off. He did get into some good positions but I thought he should have fired the ball in much quicker. Even when he did get a final shot away there were plenty of defenders to block the goal.

McL had the measure of their left back and to me looked more dangerous than Kightly. With McG coming on for an uneventful second half out on the right, it meant McL switched to the left and never quite got going down that side. Dru was good at picking up cleared second balls and played some lovely passes out wide in the first half. Not for the first time he did drift out of the game for a bit in the second 45. Don't get me wrong he is doing fine in that slot but just needs to check himself when the game drifts.

Bury looked much stronger than they did at RH a while back but I think if we had scored one it could have easily become two. Never mind it wasn't to be, so well done to the boys and girls who made the journey.

By the way I wasn't actually that cold until we left the ground. All I had added was the peaked (visor if your really cool) beanie hat to my thermal protection. But for an February evening game up North it wasn't bad.
 
I thought it was a good game given it was 0-0 and probably the last 20 mins were played with neither team willing to take the risk to go for all 3 points. The first half saw us build a good amount of pressure and I was disappointed we couldn't go in at half time with a lead, perhaps a bit more sharpness in the box was necessary. I liked the front two a lot, although they did fade in the second half - Ladapo was always involved and clearly awkward to play against - however chucking the ball up to him isn't going to get the best out of him. Harrison played a bit deeper and is clearly a threat when running with the ball. The two of them complemented each other nicely and with Kightly and McLaughlin pushing forward we had a nice balance to our attack.

Timlin was also a stand out player, defending well and orchestrating play. Yearwood looked class in the first half but faded quite dramatically, which was a shame but not wholy unexpected given the amount he's played recently and his age. In fact, the team probably did fade a bit in the second half due to a difficult pitch, the cold conditions, and the recent run of games.

I was a bit disappointed with McGlashan who in many ways had an opportunity set up for him after Kightly had worn down their full back for the first 45, however the pitch won't have helped his cause.

Defensively we were solid - Coker sat back for much of the game and Demetriou added width down our right. Ferdinand was maybe a bit behind play at times and a little circumspect, but we limited Bury to only a handful of half chances, and Oxley had little to do. Turner was always in the right place at the right time and moved the ball around nicely.

Overall perhaps a little bit disappointed we couldn't have beaten a very average Bury team, but 10 points from a possible 12 is an incredible return and with Cox missing for the whole game and Kightly only on for 45, I can understand why Powell looked to close things out in a sensible fashion.

Bury have clearly worked on making themselves solid and hard to beat, but lacked much real quality. Looks like they've left it too late to survive the drop unfortunately for them.

Shout out to the shrimpers who travelled, because they got behind the team with some good noise at times, given the cold and slightly poor/distant view from the stand.

Ratings
Oxley - 6.5 - not much to do
Demetriou - 6.5 - fine
Ferdinand - 6 - slightly struggled when Bury broke and ran at us
Turner - 7.5 - a strong and classy performance
Coker - 6 - solid but maybe played a bit too deep. A sense he's still feeling his way back into things
Kightly - 7 - very impressive first 45, and a shame that he's picked up a knock
Timlin - 7.5 - Won the midfield battle for us and excellent on the ball
Yearwood - 6.5 - Great start to the game with passes and touches that show his class, but faded significantly
McLaughlin - 7.5 MOTM - Attacked and worked hard for the full 90. Great performance
Ladapo - 6.5 - Worked hard and could have come away with a goal with a touch more composure. Struggled when challenging for headers
Harrison - 6.5 - Offered a good foil for Ladapo in the first half in particular, and will be dangerous on breaks

McGlashan - 5.5 - offered little of note
Fortune - 6 - Fine
 
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Who could complain with 10 points from 4 games, happy days!!! I did think we were the better team last night and probably should have won. Even though it said 50 50 in terms of possession I thought we had the majority of the ball. Plenty of chances created but no end product unfortunately, it's easy to say but I think we might have won that had Cox been playing. Still, on to Pompey!
 
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