Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm Posts: 4886 Location: In the Armchair.
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THE MELTDOWN – ACCRINGTON STANLEY“THE GET OUT OF JAIL FREE EDITION”Ummmmm….don’t ask me, I haven’t got a clue what just happened, and if anyone from Accrington is tuning in …sorry…..I’m not really sure you deserved that, but you should have put us away in the first half when we reset to Alexander mode.
We never got the best of starts with O’Hora having to drop out for personal reasons, and of course are thoughts are with him, then we had the news that most people were expecting after Harrison limped off last weekend, Kemp was going to be the one playing upfront, with no real options elsewhere, as I don’t think many of us thought Tezgel would get the nod to start the game.
The first half was bloody awful, one of the worst we have witnessed this season, and certainly the worst since MW has taken charge, and was made worse by the goal …well of course….but it wasn’t just the deflection that wrong footed the rookie keeper that pissed me off it was the fact that Nolan made his way in from the left wing, skipping past three or four half arsed challenges and taking his chance, it was awful defending with several guilty parties.
It was a huge slice of luck, but that’s football, if you don’t shoot you don’t get the breaks, and I did feel for Marschall who can’t get a break….but you have to admit he still looks as shaky as hell, a disaster waiting to happen in my eyes.
Other than the goal the first half was largely forgettable, the only other thing of note was the niggly fouls that were starting to add up as Accrington set about disrupting our game plan….and I say that in the loosest of terms as I’m not really sure we had a plan, anyway the ref started collecting names, and I thought that this might be our way back into the game as several players had to be a tad careful.
I can’t say we started the second half much better until just after the hour Kemp, and the unfortunate to get the hook Robson were relieved of their duties and on came Wearne who had shown promise in his last cameo by setting up Gilbey, and Ellis Harrison also entered into proceedings.
I have to say Harrison has not yet set the world alight although he has been responsible or at least pivotal in some of our late, late shows. He’s not my fav player by a long chalk but he took the game by the scruff of the neck and made it hard work for the Accrington back line, he only played 30 minutes, but to me he was head and shoulders above anyone else in our team, a superb individual performance, certainly the arrival of the Dons subs changed the destiny of the game.
The game for us came alive with about 20 minutes to go when Payne hit a superb freekick from about 25 yards that had Scott Twine written all over it as it sailed into the back of the net, beating Vitek all ends up, the first goal he had conceded in 250 minutes of football for Accy.
What was noticeable was the crowd, a very lowly 5,505 finally woke up as did many of the team who had looked well out of sorts for the previous 70 minutes, and I think I detected a little bit of doubt creep into the Accy players minds, as previously they had tried to play it out and forward, now they were just booting it long.
Gilbey who I thought had had a quiet game until then looked like he was everywhere, the whole tempo was lifted, and with Wearne getting on the ball finally we were looking dangerous.
It looked like time had defeated us with just a minute or so on the clock left but a corner presented us with a final chance, the first attempt was easily cleared but it finally made its way out to Wearne who teed up Tommo from almost the same spot Payne had fired his freekick, with cries of shoot from the Cowshed, he looked to have fired a tame effort goalwards, but somehow it went through the crowd of players and past the unsighted Vitek to commence the celebrations.
Gilbey could have made it three way past the allotted time as Wearne laid it on a plate, but Vitek got a strong hand to it, but no matter, somehow we had got ours noses in front to steal the points.
There are sayings in football about bad teams or bad performances and somehow you find a way to win but its not good for the heart and I would certainly prefer them to get the job done without too much fuss.
This game might be forgotten in a few weeks, or we could look back and say that was the game that our fortunes changed and kept us well in the mix, but whatever you think, that was vital to come away with the three points, it eradicates the Barrow result and keeps a little cushion between us and the teams chasing the pack.
Coming up we have some difficult fixtures, Bradford (A) on Tuesday who turned over Hollywood FC 1-0 on their own pitch, Swindon (A) on Saturday who drew 1-1 Salford, and then another midweek fixture versus TV’s favourite team back at SMK….it doesn’t get any easier.
Until Next Time WD
_________________ Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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