Oxford Won, Beano Ton (vs Mansfield L2)

Hello all,

A few matches since I've written. From an excellent performance away at Wimbledon to 70 minutes of some of the poorest football it's been my misfortune to see recently against Gateshead. Our excellent away record contrasts markedly with our 'meh' home form.

It's got to the stage where I look forward to away matches much more than I do the home ones. So, the match against Mansfield was one to savour. Not too difficult a journey for me, straight up the M1 - quite a way up mind you! This month isn't Movemeber for me, its Gigvember. So the soundtrack to my drive up the spine of England was two of those I've already seen (the Toy Dolls and Bellowhead - both blew me away) and two I am looking forward to (the Young Knives and Half Man Half Biscuit). The difference between seeing a band live and listening to a crappy mp3 version of their music is the same to me as actually getting off your arse to watch your football club and sitting on the sofa watching highlights. Not that there would be any highlight of this particular game on the Beeb. Oh no! Apparently if the Championship teams aren't playing then it isn't worth showing any League 1 or 2 highlights. I have sent them a stiff email that will surely see this policy reversed. Not.

Anyway, with the sound of 'Fisticuffs in Frederick Street' reverberating in my ears I got into Mansfield and parked up just down the road from the One Call stadium. Field Mill as was. I hate being late for anything, and as a result am normally embarrassingly early. So I sat and ate my lunch and turned Radio 5Live on to listen to the first part of their well advertised '10 hours of live international sport'. Hmm. Since the first of the days rugby union didn't start until 2.30, what the first 150 minutes of this sporting extravaganza consisted of was pundits waffling. On and on. Not really 'live international sport' is it?!

Anyway, kick off approached, so into the stadium. Last time I was here was in the Conference days, and the stand to the left of the away stand was derelict and Billy Turley (who was out of the team for some reason) acted as ballboy down that side since Mansfield obviously thought that having real ballboys was a new-fangled invention that they wanted no part of. The derelict stand was still there, but (from memory) had sprouted an impressive collection of added advertising boards that hid most of it. Worryingly, the TV camera gantry was perched on top - lets's hope it wasn't actually as decrepit as it looked for the cameraman's sake!

I'd like to say that the teams were announced. They might have been, but Mansfield had obviously used the same tannoy company as British Rail did in the seventies. Calling the tannoy 'indistinct' would be doing it a favour. In fact you couldn't make out a word of it in the away stand. That's OK, I'll have a look at the scoreboard and get the information from there. Nope. The scoreboard is actually in the picture above. Really. It's in the far corner, set back behind that last white advertising hoarding. I was dead in the centre of the stand, half way back (row I, fact fans) - and couldn't read it at all. Not brilliant really.

The rest of the ground is fine. The stand behind the opposite goal would presumably be rocking later.

But in fact during the game, most Stags fans were in the larger stand to our right.

Anyway, word filtered around of the team. Clarke, Hunt, Mullins, Raynes, Newey, Whing, Rose, Williams, Rigg, Kitson and Smalley. 99 goal Constable among those on the bench.

The wait for kick off was enlivened (in a cruel way) by a bloke at the bottom of the stand getting hit in the nadgers by a stray shot. And he had his phone in his pocket. Ouch. I don't know why that makes everyone (else!) laugh, but it does. Hope it wasn't too bad!

And off we went, with the mighty yellows (well, purples actually since Mansfield were in yellow)  kicking towards us. We'd taken about 800 supporters (oddly enough I couldn't hear the official announcement over the PA later on!) and all were in decent voice once the game began. We started pretty much on the front foot, at a decent tempo, but it was Mansfield who had the first decent chance with Clarke having to make a decent save. That resulted in a corner and a free kick, both of which passed of relatively trouble free. After just ten minutes or so however, we took the lead. Danny Rose picked the ball up and ran with it (something Mansfield didn't like all afternoon) and put in a decent shot. The (ex-Scummer) keeper kept it out, but could only parry it across the goal. Rigg was there, and had stumbled, but sorted himself out and while the Stags defenders looked on, poked it into the empty net. Cue noisy celebrations in the stand and lots of congratulations on the pitch. Not that Riggy will want to see to many photos of them, what with having bits of blood-stained tissue poking out of his nose as a result of an unpunished elbow as early as the second minute. Actually, that was a pointer to some of Mansfield's play during the afternoon.  They certainly 'put themselves about a bit' - but this season's Oxford aren't going to let themselves be bullied. When they gave as good as they got, suddenly Mansfield didn't like it, and the challenges got more and more reckless. Perhaps if the Stags concentrated on playing football a bit more (and they showed glimpses of it during the match) they would do better in the league this season.

Whing (just returning from injury) had to go off after about 20 minutes and was replaced by Asa Hall. I don't think Whings injury was the result of any Mansfield skullduggery, but It was really not much of a surprise when a couple of minutes later, yet another heavy challenge by the home team was mistimed and Rose was taken out. The referee was in a good position and it was a straight red. I can't say that I saw exactly what happened from where I was standing (sorry, 'sitting' officer!) but I'll look at it on the Football League Show and .... oh, maybe not. Raynes and a Mansfield player were booked in the handbags after the tackle. Playing ten men hasn't been the best thing for us in season's past, let's see how it goes this time!

In fact, Mansfield tried to take the initiative, although it was largely ineffective. We had some chances in this period. The lively and impressive Williams shot over after yet another forceful run, Asa Hall tried a volley which bothered nobody (but might have worried the corner flag) and Johnny Mullins couldn't get a header on target. As the half drew to a close, we were all thinking 'one up against ten men at halftime, not bad' - when the board went up for eight minutes of stoppage time. Not unreasonable really though. There had been a stoppage for the elbow to Rigg, one for treatment to Rose after the sending off and Mansfield's John Dempster had been treated for a cut after a clash of heads. Plus a substitution.

About four minutes into added time, Mansfield had a free kick on the halfway line. As they did all afternoon, they hit a long high ball into our area. It was headed away - but up rather than out - and eventually fell to a Mansfield player who thumped it through a crowded area past a probably unsighted Clarke into the net for the equaliser. Against the run of play, but we hadn't taken our chances and had been punished. For the first time in the afternoon you could hear the Mansfield fans. Damnation.

Then CW made an inspired substitution, taking off the hard working but unthreatening Smalley and bringing on Mr 99 Goals. A minute later and we were back in the lead, the home fans had shut right up and he was Mr 100 Goals. A fine pass from Dave Kitson through the defence (not for the first or last time in the afternoon) saw Ryan Williams run into space (which was also a feature of his afternoon), who put in a fine cross on the floor to Constable who tucked it in off the far post. James Constable I salute you. A loyal, hardworking footballer who never gives less than 100%. A brilliant achievement for you - now go for the scoring record!

Half time came, thankfully. Too much excitement. The half time entertainment was two teams of young girls playing a match in the middle of the pitch. One team in yellow, one in blue. Both sets of fans were cheering on those in yellow, but I don't think either team scored. I wasn't that interested!

The second half started and Oxford began if if they had a train to catch. It was all high tempo, one touch stuff with Kitson, the revitalised Rigg, Williams and Constable causing all sorts of trouble for the Mansfield defence. Beano could have been one closer to that record, but just missed with a lovely turn and shot which was just tipped over, Williams nodded on to the top of the bar - it looked like men against boys. But we didn't score and were almost punished. A Mansfield forward was nearly though but fluffed his kick and Clarke made a good punched save only to see the ball crossed though a thankfully vacant 6 yard box.

Then Kitson played a lovely ball inside the fullback, Rigg raced through and crossed the ball and the fleet-footed Williams was there to slide the ball under the keeper and into the net for a two goal lead. An excellent team goal, played at pace with overlapping and one touch passing. More please!

We than settled for that really. There was 25 minutes to go, and we kept the ball for the most part it, putting together 20 or 30 passes at a time. 'Top of the league and we're shit at home' sang the Oxford faithful. If we were any good at home, we'd be 15 points clear by now. The whistle brought Mansfield's misery to an end (although a significant part of their support had gone home after Ryan Williams goal with 25 minutes to go - what's that all about?).

CW gave the crowd a clap and congratulated Beano (who didn't seem to want to make a big thing of it), Williams came over to the stand to give his Mum a cuddle (which brought an Ahhh from many of the normally stony hearted U's supporters) and Kitson came and gave one of his boots to a young fan. Good stuff. I just wish 'home only' supporters could get a flavour of the away games, it gives you a whole different perspective.

On the way back to the car, most Mansfield fans who I overheard were in equal parts being very complimentary about Oxford and rude about their own team and the ref. Twas ever thus! One brave middle aged man mumbled 'You'll never win foock all' at me as I walked past him. Maybe, maybe not. But I enjoyed the last 100 minutes of football more than you did and we are top of the league. For now that will do me. At least until the next home games when I will doubtless slide into abject misery. Is there a more bipolar club in the country?

The next match is the cup replay at Gateshead. I won't make it - too far, midweek, part-time supporter, whatever. Good luck and well done to all that go.... The prize and TV money (and for the Wrexham game in the next round should we get there) would be very very handy come January.

COME ON YOU YELLOWS!

Spirite Kettle (vs Chesterfield L2)

Hello everyone,

I've been a away on holiday in Dorset, so missed the away games at Burton and Cheltenham - both of which I would have gone to had I been about. Shamefully, that leaves Portsmouth as my only away trip this season so far. It does however allow me perhaps to reflect the views of those who are 'home only' supporters - the ones that pay the ticket money that keeps our club going!

I have to admit that I was not optimistic about today's match as I drove down. Which is odd, given our points total so far, being unbeaten etc. Partly it was the home performances this season, partly the fact that Wright and Constable (as well as Marsh) had managed to add themselves to the injured list. Smalley (who is still very much in the 'jurys out' category as far as I am concerned) was a doubt with a hamstring problem, but Rigg was apparently fit enough to appear on the bench.

Getting down to the stadium I tried to park in the East Stand car park, only to find that it had been infested with stewards turning people away - which was a new development. So off to the 'only an hout wait to get out because the road infrastructure is crap' car park for me then. Pah.  Still, at least that might mean a decent crowd.

Here we go - a table topping clash between the two teams with the best reccords in the division. Chesterfield were four points ahead however, having a 6-1-0 record as opposed to our 4-3-0. We'd scored loads, they'd conceded very few.

The team was much as expected - packed full of the new vibrant young players we've been promised, all playing in their favoured positions. I'm joking of course. Raynes in for Wright, Hall on the left Smalley (apparently fit) up front, with Kitson playing behind presumably. Except that would have been a 4-4-2, and we started with some sort of 4-3-3 with Hall playing more centrally. Although to be honest, it was all a bit of a mess. The out of sorts Whing is slower than a slow thing in slow motion this season, and he lurks just in front of the back four. Which sort of made a 4-1-2-2-1 formation. Oddly enough this didn't work. Chesterfield play with proper wide players. In case you can't remember what they are, they stay wide, have pace, go past their man and put crosses in. Having such a  narrow formation just invited them to use all that lovely width. They obliged. To be brutally honest, far from being a well-contested top of the table clash it started off looking like a training game for Chesterfield.

They aren't Barcelona - don't get me wrong - but as far as league 2 goes, they are very good. They play good football - and I hope that when our players are sat down to watch the DVD, they take some notice of what was happening. What was happening was: accurate passing, movement off the ball, attacking quickly, going forward with the ball rather than sideways or backwards, keeping the ball on the deck, closing men down rather than letting them run with the ball at will, passing the ball for the man to run onto rather than straight at him or behind him, playing the game with your back to your own goal rather than the one you're suposed to be attacking... and I'll give you a clue - it wasn't the men in yellow doing any of this. It was a mixture of excellent play by Chesterfield and sheer ineptitude on the part of Oxford.

The first chance fell to the visitors after ten minutes or so, and not for the last time in the afternoon Ryan Clarke pulled off a good save. Another shot/cross flashed across the face of our goal. One thing about Clarkie this season is that he is palming the ball away rather than catching it. At Cheltenham, it ended up going straight to an opposition player and creating a goal - it caused a few nervy moments today as well! One factor in Chesterfields play, was as noted above, that they played the ball on the floor. When we did it properly for the first time we looked good and created a decent chance that Smalley put wide. We'd come back into the match a bit - mostly as a result of switching back to a more usual 4-4-2 (although it was really a 4-1-3-2). Let's give CW some credit for making that particular change. The blues had already had quite a lot of success down the flanks with neither Newey nor Hunt prepared to make much of a challenge. I do understand that you don't want your fullbacks diving in, but backing off and backing off and backing off until the opposition player has a chance to shoot or cross is just barmy. At some point, you have to try and make them go around you or pass the ball elesewhere. That's what their defenders were doing to us! A case in point was their goal on about half an hour. Too much space on the Oxford right, two defenders backing off, a simple cross and a side-footed finish.

As happens so often and so annoyingly, the Oxford players suddenly woke from whatever half-speed dreamland they'd been in and actually got their arses in to gear, however briefly. Smalley had two more half decent chances that he failed to trouble their keeper with.

Half time came, and the faithful didn't boo. I think most of us were realistic enough to know that the scoreline could have been worse except for the Chesterfield final ball (which was pretty ropey all match). A hit the crossbar competition raised a bit more money for Dave Langan's fund - and Rosie has obviously been practicing!

The second half started with us playing towards the East Stand, and it whatever momentum we had a the end of the first half had completely gone - not that there was much to start with. Chesterfield moved the ball about well without actually looking very threatening. I can't really remember exactly where in the sequence of events this next incident happened, but a through ball was played into the Chesterfield penalty area, Smalley made a run towards it and the defender simply stood in front of him and then barged him over. The ball was three or four yards away. It was a penalty, or rather it wasn't but should have been. Anywhere else on the pitch it would have been a free kick and probably a booking. But no. I've restrained myself so far, but can do so no longer. The ref. Oh boy, the ref. Take a giant step forward Mr Trevor Kettle and accept your award for 'most useless official of the season so far'. You are winning it by a country mile. Someone said that Chesterfield have never lost when this particular 'official' has taken charge. I'm not surprised. I AM surprised they haven't won them all by four or five. If there was a foul to give for them, he gave it. If there was a foul to give against them he didn't.

Hall went off after a quarter of an hour of the second half to be replaced by Sean Rigg, who had recovered more quickly than expected from his injury. Suddenly we had a bit of width, and suddenly we looked a whole lot better. That's not the say Hall had a bad match, far from it actually. But he simply is not a left sided wide midfielder.

Kitson was then clattered from behind by a Chesterfield player. Even Mr Kettle couldn't ignore it. Except that the yellow card we were all expecting didn't come. What a surprise! The Chesterfield player was laughing all over his face as he ran away from the site of his assault. And then Andy Whing mistimed a sliding challenge. In my opinion it was a certain yellow and a possible red. Mr Kettle couldn't wait to get the red card out - blow me down with a feather! Two similar challenges, one not punished at all, one given a straight red. That's consistency for you - he was consistently crap.

Once more, any momentum was washed away. Raynes (who had been fine) was sacrificed for Davis and we were now 3-3-3 I think. The Chesterfield wingers took advantage and Clarke had to make another couple of saves to keep us in it at all. Smalley had a headed chance, but it was difficult to get any power onto it and it went straight into the goalies arms. Rufflles came on for a bit in place of Rose, who got a knock. A decent bit of play from Kitson gave Smalley another headed chance which he knocked onto the post.

In truth though, an equaliser would have been a travesty. The final whistle blew and the best team won the match - and that 1-0 scoreline could have been a lot more had their final passes been up to the standard of the rest of their play.

So let's take some positives.

Clarke played well (it's always revealing when your man of the match is the keeper)
Rigg spiced things up and will bolster us in matches to come.
Raynes and Mullins were alright.

Hmm and the negatives?

Compared to the league leaders we were second in every department.
Whing will miss the next three matches (I was considering putting this in the positives list. He's been very poor and at least CW will be forced to do something different).
Kitson obviously didn't fancy a trip up to the monkey hangers and managed to pick up his fifth booking so he's out of that match.
The squad is looking so threadbare it should be in an Oxfam shop.
The ref was appalling - but we would have lost anyway in all likelihood.

So - as someone who has mainly seen only home games this season - taking into account the squad, injuries, disciplinary record, playing style etc...

We will come eighth or ninth this season. Sorry.

As for me, I'm going to sit on the soccer sofa with Whing, Kitson, Wright, Constable, Meades and Marsh next Saturday afternoon listening to Radio Oxford because I don't fancy a trip up to Hartlepool either. And if anyone thinks that's because I look like a monkey and am a bit scared ... pass me a banana!

A sense of Deja Vu (vs Wycombe L2)

Hi all -

After a couple of matches with no blog report (I found the Bury match a bit depressing and didn't go to Torquay), I thought I'd fire up the trusty typewriter and pen a few words about todays home match against Wycombe. Why? Well I usually try to write about the away matches I go to, on the basis that far fewer people will have seen it first hand. Home matches don't seem so bloggable as most people have seen the game anyway. But for me, alarm bells were ringing after the Bury match and I thought today would actually be very interesting in the light of that.

As I set off down to Oxford, the British weather was up to it's normal tricks when there is a test match on - raining cats, dogs and quite possibly horses and elephants as well., but it cleared up as I got to the stadium and despite some very ominous looking clouds the weather held off over the afternoon. The other ominous clouds that had been gathering were to do with our home form and the team selection. Home form? Now before you all click the 'back' button in disgust, I know that we've only played one home league game and we won it. What's to worry about? A one hundred percent record - couldn't be better. But as we all know, the old cliche is that the league is a marathon not a sprint. So if a 50 year old bloke with a limp wearing carpet slippers set off running a marathon at a sprint and was leading after the first fifty yards, I think you could quite justfiably doubt his ability to keep that up for the next 26 miles!

We had beaten Bury, but to my mind it was very unconvincing. I kept having flashbacks to last season when the away form was actualy very good but at home, the word 'average' could have been coined for us - if the coin maker was feeling kind. So on to the second home match of the season, the not-really-a derby-well-I suppose-it-is-geographically game against Wycombe Wanderers, who had so far managed not to set the league alight.

Rigg had pulled a hamstring at Torquay so he was out, and then on Radio Oxford before the game they said that Smalley also had a hamstring twinge so he was out too. Oh and CW had already said that Kitson would be on the bench as he was not yet recovered from his rib/shoulder injury completely.

OK that shouldn't be too much of a problem, we have another left winger in Callum O'Dowda. Swap him in for Rigg - he'd looked good in preseason when I saw him. Beano up front, and find someone to play with or just off him. Maybe Hall, maybe Davies. That in itself is a bit of an indictment of the depth of the squad when two strikers are injured (not uncommon for two to be injured or suspended) and the other one in the squad (Tyrone Marsh) isn't generally considered to be an immediate replacement.

Then the radio announced the team. Normal back four and goalie, then Davies Whing Rose and Hall midfield and Beano up front with Alfie supposedly playing 'just off him'. What?!! Let's pick the bones out of that. Alfie plays best on the right wing, so we put a central midfielder there. And while we are at it we put another central midfielder on the left wing. And the Beano/Alfie partnership up front has never really worked. Alfie floats back to where he is happy, leaving Beano isolated then wanders back infield when he remembers what he is supposed to be doing. We all know how good Beano is as a lone striker... it's just not his game.

Anyway, having got to my seat in what was a fairly busy stadium, and having realised that the ref was Andy D'Urso and one of the linemen was Danny de Vito, we started off by kicking towards the fence end as we prefer. To be fair, the first quarter of an hour was fairly tight, with us perhaps having the territorial advantage. But there were warning signs. As the half wore on, the signs got more obvious. For some reason, a windy day in Grenoble Road has made us think that hoofing the ball in the air was a good idea. 'Keep it on the floor' (and variations thereof) was a common sound in the East stand. As was 'Challenge for it' - mainly aimed at an empty area of the pitch (empty of men in yellow anyway) that is known as the midfield. Danny Rose was doing sterling work, but Whing was as usual the more defensive of the central pair, sitting just in front of the defence. The other central midfielders (who were sort of supposed to be pretend wingers) weren't, if we are being honest, doing very much of anything. Running up the wing and crossing the ball was just not happening, but they were sitting a bit wider then they needed to if the were going to be effective at getting hold of the ball in the middle.

Wycombe were coming more and more into it, with corners coming frequently, and we weren't looking dangerous, with the only decent shot I can remember in this period being a turn-and-shot from Beano - he almost managed to make something out of nothing. Then the ex-Oxford Dean Morgan (talented but very tempramental) had a header directed to him inside our box and headed it past Clarke, with our defenders looking to Danny de Vito to give an offside. He didn't and we were one down with halftime coming up. It's harsh to say that the goal had been coming (Wycombe weren't exactly peppering the goal with on-target attempts) but in truth they had got hold of the midfield and were running the show. It was almost two as a Wycombe lofted shot found Clarke (whose kicking throughout the game was dismal!) backpeddalling towards his line. It would have gone in under the crossbar so he had to gather it, then found his momentum was still carrying him towards the net, so he threw the ball away and danger was averted. Half time came.

The half time entertainment was Chicken George (probably not allowed to call him that really, but think of it as 'historical') drawing the 50/50 raffle and a bloke asking his girlfriend to marry him. I must admit I think any marriage is off to a rocky start when the groom can't think of a more romantic and intimate setting for a proposal than a football stadium where half the people aren't interested and the other half are chanting 'You don't know what you're doing'! Still, each to his own. I'm starting to regret the passsing of the crossbar challenge if that's what it's come to. Not the Kick the Ball into the Buildbase Box though, that was really pants.

So the second half dawned with Davies going off for Kitson. Not that Davies had played particularly badly, but he was a round peg in a winger shaped hole. Kitson partnered Beano and Potter went to the right wing - where he should have been to start with.

This immediately paid dividends: as Alfie raced past the Chairboys left back, the hapless Wycombe player threw out an arm and caught him in the face. After Torquay and now that, his nose must look like he's done a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson. Was it a sending off? I'm not convinced that it was deliberate really - but the consistently poor Mr D'Urso thought it was, so off he went. The resulting free kick was taken by the hyperactive Duracell Bunny otherwise known as Danny Rose. He put a lovely free kick into the area (something we had avoided doing when given the chance a couple of times in the first half), Oxford players missed it, Wycombe players watched it go past and it bounced rather comically into the net. What was their goalkeeper doing?

Back on par, the formation better and the opposition down to ten men. And 35 minutes to go. Great. So what happens? Straight away, CW makes a substitution. Riiight. We spend the whole of the first half playing people out of position and he does nothing. Then he largely corrects the error for about ten minutes and it works beautifully. So he changes it again. What? He takes Hall off (peg, winger, hole again) and moves Potter to the left - and brings on Ryan Williams on the right. Sigh. Leave Potter on the right, take Hall off, put a left winger on the left. It's not hard.

Kitson had a decent headed chance that should have at least made the goalie work and didn't, but in general we were now suddenly misfiring. Williams is pretty raw, and didn't have the experience to exploit the space, Potter hardly saw the ball again for the rest of the match. The ball, which we had actually started the half by passing on the ground, suddenly went airbourne again. Kitson won his fair share - but come on, we are better than hoof and hope. While we are on the subject, please could Oxford players look where they are passing the ball before they try to do so - I promise it makes it more likely to go to a teammate. Thanks.

Then Morgan dashed into our penalty area, Hunt dangled a leg, Morgan went over it and D'Urso blew for a soft (but probably corrrect) penalty - which Morgan scored. 2-1 down against ten men. Rubbish. Still there was still the best part of half an hour to go, surely we would dominate against the ten men as the game went on by passing it on the floor to our speedy wingers? Nope. Oh, then maybe we'd get hold of the midfield and play some incisinve balls through the triring defence for Beano to run on to? Nope, not that either.

Mullins had a decent shot that the keeper saved (but it looked destined for the post or the side netting anyway from where I was sitting), and Kitson showed a touch of class with a shot destined for the goal that the Wycombe keeper saved excellently. But time was ticking on, and a neutral observer would hardly say that Wycombe were under the cosh. What they obviously were under was orders to waste time. A sniper in the stands kept shoting their players, only for their physio to keep coming on and making sure they weren't actually hors de combat and making them better with a combination of neck massage and magic water.

There wasn't much that Mr D'Urso got right this afternnon in my opinion, but one thing he did do correctly was to add seven minutes injury time to make up for all this Holby City quality acting. In the fifth of those minutes, Kitson flicked the ball on, Constable somehow knocked a Wycombe defender over without D'Urso noticing and Mullins hammered the ball into the net to earn an unlikely draw. There was even the hope than we could snatch a ridiculous win, but time beat us even if Wycombe couldn't.

The final whistle blew and the Oxford team got a rather undeserved ovation. If injury time had been a couple of minutes shorter they would have been jeered off the pitch.

And back into the car and home.

Our home form is absolutely vital to any sustained success. At the moment we are a team good at counter attacking, bad at taking the initiative. Some of the passing is dire and is made too slowly - there were numerous occasions in the second half when Wright in particular had the option to pass the ball quickly to a wide player, but dawdled so long the pass was either never made or the recieving player was closed down. Is there a case for not playing Andy Whing? He is a great 'stopper' in front of the defence but that leaves Danny Rose isolated as the central midfielder higher up the pitch - we were getting overrun there today - did we win a single second ball? Maybe Whing plays away (that's not some sort of accusation!!!) and Davies at home? We've had success this season playing with wingers - keep doing it CW. And when you've just done something clever that is working - don't fiddle with it!

I know some readers will find this report unduly harsh - how can I moan about 10 points from 12, and we are top of the league for God's sake. And of course teams always 'raise their game' when they come to our place. Yeah right. I'd say Portsmouth were the big fish in L2, not us. But I'm only saying this because I care. It's not me it's you etc.  And as for that marathon runner, maybe it would be a kindness to pull him aside and suggest that he used better tactics and used his resources wisely by wearing footgear designed for the job. I think I've just broken that metaphor.

Well let's see what next Saturday's home match to Rochdale brings, hopefully experience is a great teacher - four points from the two home matches wouldn't be a disaster. Any less and I'll be revising my 'possible auto promotion' hopes to 'probable playoffs'.

See you all next time and

= COME ON YOU YELLOWS =

PS Big congratulations to Beano and partner on the birth of their daughter!