Grim up North Vs Rotherham (League 2)

Ok , lets have a show of hands. Who is disappointed that we only started with one left back and one right back?

Oh, right then.

It's quite a long way to Rotherham. Almost as far as it is to Sheffield, which is where Rotherham play. In an athletics stadium rather than a football ground. An athletics stadium that they only use one side of.

As footballing experiences go, it's pants. Us yellows ended up sitting high up in one corner, with a load of empty seats, some concrete, an eight lane running track and a bit of grass in between us and the pitch. I joked to someone as I sat down that I should have brought binoculars. Once the teams ran out, that little quip was ringing a bit hollow. It was hard enough to read the numbers on the back on the players shirts, never mind trying to identify which player was doing what at certain times. The only stand to be used is along the side of the pitch, so no fans behind either goal. I promise never to moan about the lack of atmosphere in the Kassam again. The Don Valley Stadium made our little three sided lovenest look and sound like Rio on carnival day. It was really difficult to get hugely involved in the game - it was like watching ants running around on a picnic blanket; our paticular ants were for some reason wearing the blue away kit, when we could have worn the not-quite-as-blue home kit and not clashed - I am starting to really get fed us with us not wearing yellow.

The match. Well our three new boys started with Beano on the bench. Worley partnered Futcher in central defence, with Tonkin (somehow) and Purkiss preferred to Kinni and Batt. Wotton had Clist and Payne for company, while Mclean was in a front three (sometimes) along with Alfie and TC. We started quite well, and pushed the Millers back for the first half of the first half. We were then undone by a nasty deflection that fell to (of all people) Le Fondre. Who accepted his slice of luck gratefully. There looked to be a suspicion of offside - but being 50 yards above and half a mile away from the action it's hard to tell. We then started flapping a bit, and looked fairly deflated. It wasn't a real surprise when Rotherham scored another- even though it was only their second shot on target. Le Fondre again. 16 goals already this season. I'm amazed the bloke is still playing for this team in this division. There are three possibilities.

1) He has no ambition
2) They are paying him a huge amount of money
3) They've got hold of some photos he doesn't want the world to see!

Whatever. Oddly enough the goal sparked us into life, and we went close(ish) a couple of times before just about all of our outfield players had a go until Clist managed to get the ball in the net. That was a great relief as it had been just let's say 'some time' since we had last scored.

Half time came with us on top. We were unlucky to be down after a much better perfomance than recently. More about that later.

With the Rotherham Millerette cheerleaders stirring the crowd into a frenzy and the mini-football on the pitch between two unidentified teams of eight year olds hacking the ball about an unmissable spectacle, half time just flew by. Honest.

It got colder. The second half passed with Heslop coming on for Payne, Green for Potter and Beano for Craddock. We set up a couple of decent efforts just outside the box (row z shooting), Wotton had a good shot well saved. Our defence gave the ball away in dangerous situations, and as we got more desperate, the ball went in the air more. Rotherham kept coming forward - they had to as their defence didn't look as if it was made for shutting up shop. I honestly thought we might get something out of the game as the second half started, but it was not to be, and the final whistle went just before my feet actually froze to the concrete. Which was nice.

So, overall? Better. Despite not marking Le Fondre a couple of times (doh!), the defence looked a little more solid. Jake will be back on Saturday next, so that should help. I'd like to mention one glorious cross that Tonks put in later in the second half - credit where it's due. The midfield were more combative, actually tackling a few times - the forwards helped here as well, doing their tackling back duties fairly well. The strikers looked a bit more threatening - although the official stats seem to say that we had two shots on goal, that simply isn't correct. I can remember three. But probably a bit better than the one shot we managed against Burton. Treble it again on Satuday and that will be acceptable.

There's a lot to work on in training though. The corners and free kicks were generally laughable still. One amazing free kick we managed to stub five yards to the nearest (far too close) Rotherham player who then galloped straight towards our goal with all our players (who had been standing in their penalty area) running about like the Anthill Mob they looked like. We gave the ball away time after time when under no pressure, and seemed to think that the ball over the top was the one that was going to catch Rotherham out. It never vaguely looked like working.

Rotherham have one good player (they gave the MOM award to someone else though - I mean it must just get embarassing giving it to the same player week after week!) and one tactic. Pass the ball on the floor past the opposition defence for him to run on to. I do wonder if we ought to adopt a similar strategy - have a simple plan that all the players can understand. At times our players were treating the ball like a hot potato, trying to get rid of it as soon as possible - usually straight back to the poor bugger who'd given it to them and was now marked by two men.

If you're wondering why I haven't commented in detail on how the new boys did, it's because I couldn't see which ones they were! That will have to wait until the home match against Gillingham next week, which is now looking just a little bit important. Don't Panic Captain Mainwaring!

Just Back ... vs Burton (FA Cup round 1)

I have taken to posting match reviews of OUFC matches that I go to on http://www.yellowsforum.co.uk/. Mostly I only bother with away matches, as I don't like to clog the forum up and most people go to the home matches. But I enjoy doing it so might review home matches as well and put them here. Here's my most recent attempt...

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Haven't read any other comments, or listened to any radio, so this all me!

Team selection. Bizzare, to say the least. Beano apparently 'ill', two left backs, two rightbacks.

We started in some sort of 4-4-1-1 (I think). Batt and Tonkin playing as wingers. What a surprise, it didn't work. So they then swap with their respective full back after about 10 minutes , so Kinniburgh and Purkiss are now 'wingers'. Well blow me down, that doesn't work either so Kinni is hauled off and Potter brought on. During the whole of that first twenty minuted this sparkly new formation managed one cross (Batt to Craddock).

Meanwhile, Burton were cheating. They kept passing the ball without taking what I thought was the required three or four touches, and kept making it hard for us to mark them by moving into the spaces between our players and running about. I'm pleased to report that our lot resolutely stayed where they were put and weren't at any point impolite enough to try and get the ball off the Burton players or run into space, or indeed to keep the ball when they had it.

Really though - we couldn't do the basics right, in fact at all. It was an abject first half. The worst I have seen us play for a long long time. We were very lucky to go in level, and if I am honest, Burton looked as if they were a league or two above us rather than just a few points. They were quicker, more inventive and had a game plan - something we were totally missing. Our sole method of attack was to boot the ball up to our star target man - Matt Green. Who was on his own, Craddock playing as some sort of third left back half the time. It looked like eleven blokes who had never played together before.

Second half, we improved from laughably bad to not quite as good as mediocre. But we all knew which way the game was going to end. Burton got in behind us time and again. It was only a matter of time and probably a bit cruel that it happened so late. Good luck to Burton, they were the better team and we deserved what we got. Nothing.

While I am at it, could the brains trust who thought it was a good idea to start chanting songs about Jack Midson as soon as one of our strikers misses one, please just SHUT UP. You might be right about it being a poor decision to let him go, but support the players on the pitch during the game you numpties!

So apart from a poor display from the manager, players and sections of our crowd, were there any positives? Well it used up one of Jake's suspensions. Clarkey was good, Payne and Creighton weren't absolutely terrible, and the drive home wasn't too bad.

We desperately need some steel in the middle of the pitch and up front (not Zola - if we get a great tall striker, we'll just lump it up front even more). We need a ball-winner somewhere. We need someone else to help with or even take the training sessions, as there is no improvement in any area of the team's performance (in fact it is getting worse). Fail to improve, and we'll be checking the distances to Bath and Grimsby next season.