LFL: B'BURN

A defeat is never a good thing especially when it’s the third in a row but to some extent this game had the air of a practice match. We played well in patches and I was impressed by Jones, Anderson and Aleksic while Jobe was looking close to his best again. Our passing and finishing continued to be below par and too many times a decent cross came over but nobody was there to hit it home from close range. Blackburn took their chance well. Bristol City and Coventry both lost and with only two games left it’s still by no means clear who we’ll face in the play-offs.  

BEFORE

Of course I hope we win today but the result won't really make any difference to where we end up in the league. I'll be keeping more than half an eye on how both Bristol City and Coventry are doing as I'd much rather we face the former rather than the latter in the play-offs. Coventry are away to Plymouth while Bristol are away to Luton and that's good for us as both of the home sides are battling against relegation and so will be fighting like hell. Blackburn have a slim chance of getting into the top six and are bound to be going for a win today. They beat Millwall 4-1 on Friday so their tails should be up. Danny Batth will probably be in their starting eleven and I imagine he’ll get a warm welcome. Apart from Hume’s absence we'll be changing our side again no doubt, resting players and giving younger players more first-team practice. Watson was severely criticised for his (non-)showing on Friday so he may well not feature. I'll be at the game and my match prediction is 1-1.

I got the team-news on the bus over and there were only four players remaining from those who started against Bristol City i.e. Patterson, Mepham, O’Nien and Watson. Of the missing seven, six were on the bench. Jones, Anderson, Aleksic, Jobe, Browne, Abdul Samed and Isidor were the players coming in. I was in my seat in the East Stand just after 2.30 and it was cloudy and on the cold side but so far it was dry. Before the match started there was an enthusiastic minute’s applause from both sets of fans for our coach Carlton Fairweather who recently died.

THE GAME

We started off brightly and won three corners in the first couple of minutes. Just after that Isidor hit a low shot on target that Toth in goal made a meal of grabbing as it slowly rolled towards the line. Watson had been booed by many of our fans when his name was announced but when he came over to take a corner on our left a number of fans made a point of standing up and applauding him. I was impressed by Jones who looked confident as he moved forward strongly and he was always looking for a pass. After our opening pressure the game became more even but we continued to edge it. Aleksic too was looking good going forward while Anderson was doing something that not many of our other players can do well, winning headers and directing them to a team-mate. A Browne effort hit the side-netting in the fifteenth after some sustained pressure. Five minutes later the Blackburn fans started to make some noise at last but their side hadn’t created much at all really, though they demonstrated that they could break quickly especially down their left. 

We continued to win corners and just before the hour-mark Watson and Isidor combined well for the latter to hit a low shot that went out for another corner. Just after that Isidor received the ball in the left side of their box but he lobbed his shot well wide of the right post. Two minutes later Blackburn took the lead. It followed another of their rapid moves down the left and when the ball came across, it finally fell to Dolan who was in plenty of space and he smashed it home from close range giving Patto no chance. We battled back and four minutes before the break an O’Nien shot ricocheted out to Jones but he blasted his effort well over the bar. We’d had a number of decent chances but our finishing had left a lot to be desired. There was a loud burbling going on around the stadium and it’s not a sound I like to hear. There was only one minute of added time and the half finished with Blackburn still ahead.

Gordon Armstrong came on to make the half-time draw and he received a good round of applause from our fans. In the other games Plymouth were 2-1 up against Coventry while the Bristol City game was goalless.    

The team received a decent reception as they emerged for the second period. Three minutes in, Watson had a shot from an acute angle on our right but it sailed high and wide. He was having a good go, though, overall as far as I could see. Our best effort for a good while came in the fifty-fourth when the ball deflected powerfully from Batth, I think, and Toth had to dive to stop it from going in. Next thing a Watson shot was blocked and then an Isidor header skimmed the roof of the net. Just after the hour mark we won our ninth corner but when the ball reached Abdul Samed, he ran forwards as if to strike it but didn’t connect with it and a good opportunity was wasted. A few minutes later we made a triple switch, bringing on Le Fee, Mayenda and Rigg for Abdul Samed, Jones and Aleksic. I was expecting this to galvanise us into a goal or two but I think we actually went off the boil.

I checked the scores in the sixty-seventh and Bristol City were losing 2-1 while Coventry had gone further behind. I hoped that Bristol could get at least a goal back. 

Anyway, with around twenty minutes on the clock, as we won yet another corner, I felt a goal was coming our way soon but it didn’t happen. Not long afterwards Hedges was the first player in the book for dragging Browne back and he started acting the wounded soldier before referee James Bell walked over to flash the yellow at him. He was soon subbed as Blackburn made three changes at once. In the seventy-eighth Rigg put over a great cross from the right but nobody was there to get on the end of it. I then started to feel we were never going to score. With eight minutes to go there was a good deal of handbags near the half-way line after Forshaw fouled Rigg and it ended with both of them in the book. Our passing hasn’t been good for a while but in the final stages too many of our passes were well wide of the mark and our fans were getting frustrated. Not much happened as full time approached but during the five minutes of added-time Mayenda went down with what looked like quite a serious injury. Mercifully after a minute or so he was back on his feet and looked none the worse for it all. Many of our fans had drifted off well before the end of the game and there was some not very enthusiastic booing as the whistle went. As the sides gradually left the pitch Danny Batth trotted along the front of the East Stand applauding our fans and he received a good deal of applause back – nice touch.