We had plenty of chances to score and put this game to bed but couldn’t quite do it and again we conceded very near the end, though this time we came away with nothing.
BEFORE
The Blackburn game left me with mixed emotions after we'd fought back mightily only to see us lose two points right near the end. Still, in the cold light of day it was a decent result. I think we'll do better this afternoon and I'm expecting us to win. Stoke have just sacked their manager Narcis Pelach and that often produces a positive reaction in the squad but I still think we'll get the better of them. They’re currently sixth off the bottom and they haven’t had a win for a good while. We’ll be without Rigg as well as Ballard and there’s been a lot of speculation about who’ll replace the former. There may be a bit of juggling anyway with the busy program at the moment. I’d like to see Aouchiche be given a go as he’s done well in his recent appearances as a sub. Leeds and Burnley are both playing away this evening so we’ll have to wait to see how it all develops. I was hoping to watch the match in the company of other members of the London Branch but I've just found out that our regular venue is closed for the holidays so it'll have to be SAFSEE for me. Match prediction: 2-1 to us.
Sheffield United only drew at home to West Brom in one of the early games so that was a great result for us. There were two changes in our starting line-up from the Blackburn game with Aouchiche in for Rigg and Aleksic replacing Roberts, who was on the bench. Apart from duffing that good chance against Millwall, I liked the look of Aleksic. I got SAFSEE on and awaited developments.
THE MATCH
Commentators Barnes and Benno said that there were a lot of empty seats around the stadium but not in our end, where over three thousand of our fans were gathered. Stoke were in the red and white stripes while we were in our third kit. We won a corner in the third minute and it came to nothing but we kept pressing forwards. Stoke managed an attack in the eighth but Cannon’s shot went well wide. It suddenly became apparent that Gooch was playing for them and this had escaped the commentators’ notice as he wasn’t on their starting sheets, no doubt due to an injury in the warm-up. O’Nien did well to head away a Stoke attack in the tenth and their fans had something to cheer about. Patto made a good save from Cannon and we were on the back-foot for a while. Stoke won their first corner but we got it cleared and then Phillips received the first yellow of the afternoon. Patto had to save at the feet of Cannon after Mepham had lost the ball so the game was going from end to end. We were helping them through some sloppy defending. Gooch was booked in the twenty-first for a foul on Mayenda but we didn’t capitalize on the free-kick.
In the twenty-seventh Moran also got a yellow so a red card was looking more than likely. We hadn’t had a shot on target yet but at least we’d escaped when Stoke had had their chances. Having just said that, Aleksic promptly had a decent shot but Gooch did enough to affect its power and Johansson in goal saved it easily enough. Next thing a twenty-five yard shot from Aouchiche was put out for a corner after a good save by Johansson. Cirkin nodded it down but Mayenda couldn’t quite connect with it. In the thirty-fourth an Isidor shot was tipped away by Johansson and we were getting closer to a goal. Aouchiche should have done better when he shot straight at Johansson instead of passing and then Koumas forced a save out of Patto. The game continued to ebb and flow and a Hume shot was put out for a corner. That led immediately to another corner but when were we going to score from one? Mepham was half-splattered as he attempted a shot but ref James Bell didn’t react. Aouchiche’s corners were sounding better than our usual ones actually so maybe they’d pay dividends before long. Johansson joined the yellow card club for a bit of verbal towards the referee but that didn’t quite shut him up. Aouchiche hit a shot into the side-netting under pressure from Phillips and we survived a late Stoke corner. It remained goalless at the break but both sides had had their chances and surely there’d be a goal before too much longer.
Soon after the restart Mayenda did well to win another corner and Tchamadeu cleared a shot from Cirkin. In the fiftieth we won our seventh corner but it was easily cleared. Cirkin became our first player to be booked and that went down very well with the home fans who’d sounded badly done-to. The game continued to flow back and forth and I wondered if we’d freshen things up before long, though both Aouchiche and Aleksic had done well enough so far. Just after the hour-mark Roberts started to warm up but then we escaped when Patto and Mepham combined to clear a dangerous chance. That led to a corner that we took a long time to clear. Stoke put us under a lot of pressure for several minutes and we were pinned back until Patto finally got hold of the ball. An Isidor effort came off the post and led to another corner. We made a double switch in the sixty-seventh bringing on Alese and Roberts for Cirkin and Aleksic and we changed to 4-4-2.
With a quarter of the game to go I felt sure there’d be a goal and I hoped Roberts would help to create it. Jobe became our second player to be booked. Mayenda had a great opportunity in the seventy-fourth to put us in the lead but from a good position in the centre of the box he somehow headed wide. We made a third switch in the seventy-seventh when Connolly replaced Mayenda, who’ll be having bad dreams tonight. We won our tenth corner but it ended in a free-kick to Stoke. Johansson kept shooting his mouth off and he’d have to be careful. With seven minutes to go Aouchiche went for glory when he should have passed to Jobe in a better position and the chance was gone.
It was looking like it wasn’t going to be our day, just as long as it wasn’t Stoke’s. Gooch was injured and had to go off in the company of Phillips as Stoke brought two more defenders on. With three minutes left Benno felt that we’d get another scoring chance. Next thing Jobe shot over and then Isidor headed over. Four minutes of added-time were announced and my heart sank in the ninety-second when O’Nien lost the ball and Cannon won an encounter with Mepham, before shooting home to win the game for Stoke.
