We've had a week off for a change so the team will hopefully be revitalised for this afternoon's match...
With the return of Alex Neil the game certainly has an added edge to it and I'm sure there'll be a lot of booing for him but I won't be joining in. Booing will probably boost the Stoke players anyway. I didn't like the manner of his sudden departure but he did a great job for us before that and we've done even better without him, so far. We've clearly been outmuscled in the last couple of games and no doubt we can expect more of the same today. At this early hour I haven't heard any team news but I'm not expecting any major changes from last Saturday. West Brom's defeat last night got the footballing weekend off to a good start. I'll be at the game in the East Stand and am looking forward to it. My match prediction is a battling 2-1 win for us.
I stopped in at Fitzy’s on the way to the stadium and got the team-news there. Pritchard was starting instead of Michut and that was the only change. I always like to see Pritchard on as much as possible. My friends’ match predictions were:- 2-1, 2-1 and 2-0.
There was a lot of booing as the teams and staff emerged. After a minute we were awarded a free-kick in a good spot not far outside their box and though we won a header from it, the ball was cleared. A chant of “Fuck Alex Neil!” rang out loudly followed by, “One greedy bastard! There’s only one greedy bastard!” Stoke had a good attack in the sixth minute but when a low cross came in from their left, Smallbone steered it well wide. We won the first corner on ten minutes and after taking it short the ensuing cross was headed clear. Next thing a Gelhardt low shot was blocked close to the line. Stoke soon had their first corner and we struggled to get it clear. They were cutting through our defence much too easily for my liking and they soon won a second corner. We managed to break quickly from that but having won a throw on the left we proceeded to pass the ball back to Patterson. Wilmot was down injured for several minutes after a foul by Neil and they were awarded a free-kick in a dodgy spot, though we booted it clear into their half. Neil was booked and Wilmot was soon replaced by Fox.
Pearson was down ‘injured’ for a while and this was accompanied by much booing from our fans and cries of, “Get the fucker off!” A lot of our passing was poor and a lot of it was sideways and backwards too. We were also giving away too many free-kicks around our box. We won a corner in the thirty-eighth minute which ended with Hoever down injured. The ref Jeremy Simpson mysteriously gave Stoke a free-kick as a result of this and they broke quickly down the right crossing for Laurent to slam it into the net and put them one ahead. “You’re not fit to referee!” echoed around the stadium. Five minutes of stoppage-time were announced, unsurprisingly, and we badly needed to get one back before the break. Pearson was yellow-carded and that brought some sarcastic cheering for a most unpopular ref. It remained 0-1 at the break and the ref was booed off very loudly. We’d been below par, anyway, and needed to really up our game in the second-half. Our rival teams were doing a lot better than us and it was raining and cold so the overall mood wasn’t too cheerful. But there was a whole half to go…
As we kicked off again Michut and O’Nien had replaced Gelhardt and Alese and I was glad we’d made changes early. Laurent was booked for a foul as we broke down our right but Pritchard’s free-kick was driven straight into the wall. Next thing we were two down when Stoke broke quickly down the right and when the ball came over to the unmarked Campbell at the left side of our box he gave Patterson no chance with a low shot. I could see Stoke getting another and they promptly did just that as Campbell slammed in their third in the fifty-seventh minute. At that juncture a number of people around me stood up and left. Five minutes later, though, we pulled one back when Pritchard bundled it home from close range after nifty play by Amad and Roberts. The fans and team were greatly boosted by this and I felt we could pull another back.. However, it was Stoke who got their fourth when, from a corner, Gayle shot home from close range. Many more people immediately departed. There’d been three announcements about missiles being thrown down from the visiting fans section.
Defeat was clearly inevitable but I hoped we could at least pull one or two back to keep our goal-difference decent. In the seventy-sixth minute our goal-difference got worse when a free-kick floated in from the right of midfield and Gayle headed in their fifth. Loads more people left and it was getting chillier with all that open space around me but at least it would make exiting the East Stand easier. The attendance of just over 43,000 was announced but the majority weren’t there to hear it. We were making some attacks but the final pass was usual awful. I only ever leave a game early if I have to catch the last train so I stuck it out till the end. Patterson saved well in stoppage-time to stop a sixth and it ended 1-5. I can’t remember ever seeing us get beat 5-1 at home and I certainly hope I don’t see it again.
We were poor in the first-half but got a lot worse in the second and Stoke took advantage of our failings in all departments. It’s back to the drawing-board.
