Just got back....

[Hazey SUFC]

In one word, scrappy.

Too many times we gave the ball away with sloppy passes or hopeful hoofs upfield. However when we managed to retain possesion we looked very capable of doing something with it.
Great 2nd half display lots of grit and determination. I will leave a proper match report to the professionals

but i will give you my ratings.

Flavs 7: Solid in goal, wasn't really his fault we conceded but produced an outstanding save to deny coventry late on.

Hunt 7: Didnt do much wrong or right TBH, a quiet came IMO.

Hammel 6: A real jekyll and hyde player, we saw both sides today. Needlessly gave away a corner for their goal and lost the ball quite a lot. Still made some good interceptions though.

Clarke 7: Solid player, really improved lately. Some really good tackles and looks to become a regular in the line-up.

Barret 8 MOM: My man of the match, looked like a real man on a mission today. Won lots of headers and tackles and really posed a theat up front to. Could have had a hat-trick today. Good to see the Barrett back again.

JCR 7: Possibly the most improved player this year, actually has an end product all of a sudden. Looks like Tilly and Brush have finally harnessed his ability, top guy.

Gower 7: Had a quiet game until he scored, after that he woke up. Same old Gower solid yet unspectacular.

Maher 6: Ok, some nice passes and tackles but gave the ball away far, far, far too often. The amound of pressure the guy put us under at times today, where did the tidy Maher of 2 months ago go?

McCormack 6: Again too many misplaced passes. Would still rather have him than Clarke in midfield though.

Harrold 5: This guy is not what we need. Sometimes when on the ball he looks like he hasn't got a clue what to do with it. Next.

Bradbury 6.5 : Hard one to rate. Had good spells and bad spells. If only he had got to freddys low cross half a second earlier.

Subs:

Eastwood 5: Nope, no improvment, nice cross for bradders to almost score but thats it. Is he really is, or is he thinking of being somewhere else.

Francis 6: Didn't do to much wrong.

I think we need to stop the hopeful hoofs and get it down on the ground where we play our best football. Roll on monday UP THE BLUES.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Barrett was immense ,can't belive how fit he was having been out so long  .The all round effort was fantastic  .Sadly lacking a goal threat up front again  .

 

[sufcintheprem]

I think that today's game would have been improved if someone had mentioned that the round thing needed to stay inside the outermost white lines. Both teams' play seemed to be littered with mish!t passes. Unfortunately for us, it was just as we were getting some rhythm going that the pitch became saturated and it spurred Coventry in to more sliding tackles whilst slowing down our passing game.

It was typical of a lot of our performances. Perform quite well in comparison to the opposition but still find yourself behind. Coventry were a team at their lowest confidence and when we conceded I thought that 'that' was going to be 'that'. I wouldn't say we raised our performance by the time we scored because we had been gently probing away all game but the goal came from exactly what we had been missing all game. A great first touch from Gower to collect it and a composed chip over the keeper.

Barrett really could have marked his return heroically. First, roaming forwards in a way that supposedly costs goals, he found himself on the opposition six yard line with the ball at his feet. Inexplicably, after excellently dummying the defender to set himself on his left, he delayed the shot. This was quite excusable for a centre back in that position. The one that hit the bar was disappointing. I'm sure the first thing anyone tells you about attacking headers is to head them down. Well, when someone with AB's goalscoring prowess is presented with a free header after Ward mystifyingly marked Eastwood on a corner, you expect them to score. That he hit the bar makes him sound unlucky but that was game,set and match on a plate.

My main objection to the ratings above was that of Darryl's performance. The positives first. Kicked reasonably well and made a great reaction save after a corner was inadequately cleared again. Those very much gloss over a return to the dark days of concrete boots Darryl. In my book, he was definitely at fault for the first goal and got away with several others. A keeper has to control his six yard box. By that, I mean he has to challenge any ball that is floated, not fired, in to the six yard box. For the goal, he was rooted to the line and irrespective of what happened after, he should have been punching clear at the near post. This happened again and again.

Of course, we shouldn't have even conceded a corner. Hammell obviously didn't know what was behind him or, more importantly, what wasn't. There appeared to be no shout from Darryl. Further evidence came later when Gower was at the back. I watched more carefully that time and there was no call whatsoever.

He's a great shotstopper but that's not enough for this league. Everyone's asking why we have everyone back. Well, it's because we're having to defend the six yard box every time as well as the rest of the box. If Darryl was more commading, we could put someone outside the box to collect from punches or headers out. As it is, we are more concerned about conceding direct, as we did today.

The rest I pretty much agree with except JCR who I thought looked the standout player on the pitch. Good effort. Even Angell Delight would have taken delight in some of his angelic first half crosses.

 

[superhooper]

I thought the whoe team did very well today - except the two striker's don't have enough about them.

Barrett and clark were simply oustanding.

midfield were also very good.

Its been said before, but when will our luck change?

?

.... we were, again, very unlucky not to win today, shots cleared off the line, a ball that seeemingly crossed the line but no goal was given and again we hit the wood work.

Coventry were a long ball team, but I think we delt with them fairly well.

With a really good striker up front, and a little bit of luck, this season could have been so so different.

Still, they battled on, and although not entirely rewarded for thier efforts, this good away draw must boost thier confidence going into west brom's game.

Up the blues

 

[mattytheshrimper]

what a day out was brilliant!

 

[Andy_S]

Quote[/b] (sufcintheprem @ Dec. 30 2006,20:35)]The rest I pretty much agree with except JCR who I thought looked the standout player on the pitch.  Good effort.  Even Angell Delight would have taken delight in some of his angelic first half crosses.

Leg-end.  

My new interest now Tes has gone to pastures new.  

Glad to hear Clarke played well again, now he's finally in his proper position. I was perhaps a bit worried before the game that he'd struggle a little bit with Barrett next to him and not the dominating Sodje.

 

[sufcintheprem]

JCRIG?

Clarke was good today. His distribution is pretty shocking. I'm still adamant he's going to ping in a screamer soon!

 

[Suomi Shrimper]

Barrett, Clarke and JCR were definitely the standout performers today. We don't have to worry about missing Sodje so long as today's centre backs stay fit, and I'd love to see Adam stay and show us more of the free-scoring rock at the back we saw in League 2. From the performance he put in today, maybe we won't have to wait too long.

JCR's hunger and sheer determination has been evident since he joined the club, and for the last two games he's been putting in the good crosses he needs to cement himself as a Championship standard winger. I've always said the potential was there; Tilly seems to have finally begun to bring this out of Jamal. Let's hope it continues!

It's been said, but we NEED a good goalscorer brought in as early as possible. Harrold looked better than he has in recent games, getting into good positions early on, but whenever he got the ball he had his back to goal and couldn't seem to shake his defender and resorted to playing the ball backwards when he should really be moving it forward. I like Bradbury, but I'm not convinced he can really perform on a regular basis in this division. One look at our scorers table says everything: Freddy has scored 11 in all competitions this season, and our next top scorers are Gower with 4 and Harrold with 3. His reputation also preceeds him, and thus is marked out of many games by defences well-alerted to his ability. With a serious second threat up front, I wouldn't be surprised if defences focusings on Freddy would allow space for a proficient (more so than Harrold/Paynter/Bradbury) second striker to take advantage.

 

[silentshrimper]

We need to start putting the round thing into the net more times than our opponent... Our players no they can do it!

 

[fredheim_holm]

Very pleased with the performance today, and onwards and upwards from here!

 

[OneDreweBroughton]

Quote[/b] (Brum Uni Shrimper @ Dec. 30 2006,22:10)]We don't have to worry about missing Sodje so long as today's centre backs stay fitantage.

Can't agree with that whatsoever. We are going to get slaughtered in the air with a keeper rooted to his line and no centre-back who attacks in-coming crosses. It was no surprise when we conceded from a corner which we failed to attack.

The sooner Sodje and Prior are back the better.

 

[fredheim_holm]

Quote[/b] (OneDreweBroughton @ Dec. 31 2006,16:25)]

Quote[/b] (Brum Uni Shrimper @ Dec. 30 2006,22:10)]We don't have to worry about missing Sodje so long as today's centre backs stay fitantage.

Can't agree with that whatsoever. We are going to get slaughtered in the air with a keeper rooted to his line and no centre-back who attacks in-coming crosses. It was no surprise when we conceded from a corner which we failed to attack.

The sooner Sodje and Prior are back the better.

I totally disagree. I would be more than satisfied if Barrett and Clarke played the rest of the season.