Well, that was s a bit like buying all the tickets in a raffle but still winning nowt. Yet another forwardless line-up faced the Robins, and after the tactical masterclass of Tuesday, we reverted to the usual dominance of possession (67 % this time) but lost out thanks to an aberration by Patto who chose to play tappy-lappy football rather than hoof it upfield from a congested area, and a couple of big penalty shouts being ignored by the ref. Oh, and failing to convert any of the eighteen shots we did have.
A decent journey down was punctuated by a service stop in the company of a load of barcode shirts, Boris Johnson's fave team, Grimsby, on their way to Newport, a couple of nervous Smogs heading even further along the M4 and a family of Leeds fans in their way to Yorkshire from Plymouth. The half twelve arrival at our designated coach park found the gates locked, necessitating a two-mile loop to get back to where we started - so we decamped and legged it to the Beer Factory, where a local reckoned we'd get a hatful. Oh aye?
Having fallen in with the Somerset Mackem, who'd recognised my scarf (and after I'd polished my boots yesterday anaaal) we asked someone who City's manager is. "Dunno. I'm from Australia."
Patterson
Huggins O'Nien (c) Ballard Hume
Neil Ekwah
Roberts Ba Pritchard Clarke
... and a bench of Bishuuurrrp, Triantis, Dack, Bellingham, Mayenda, Rusyn, Burstow, Seelt, and Aouchiche
In our dayglow yellow outfit, we faced away from the travelling support and our hosts kicked off - earning a yellow in half a minute for a late one on O9 as he shielded the ball in the right back spot. That set the tone for the opening period, as we took control of things and kept threatening but never quite getting there. O9 even produced a mad pass across our box that needed a proper clatter from Ballard to prevent a chance for the home side, then we won the first of many corners and Hume (I think) had a shot saved. Anyway, it definitely was Hume who’s cross was straight at the keeper soon after as we went nearly but not quite yet again, and Roberts was next up with a typical jinking run past four defenders and into the box – but the shot was easy meat for the keeper, and that spelled a period of daftness that cost us the game.
With the home side pushing us back and thus having a load of bodies lurking up front, Patto elected to pass it short instead of hitting it over halfway, they won it back and when he dived at their man’s feet, it was a clear penalty. He went right, the shot went left and we were a goal down. Five minutes later, Huggins went away and into their box, but somehow the ball didn’t end up in the net but was so nearly in ours when a shot bounced off Patto’s left hand post on 25. Another Huggisn shot flew across and wide, then Roberts and Ekwah swapped passes for the former to get in a shot – but it was high and wide. Haway man Lads! Get one in!
There were a couple of Pritch free kicks, the first of which went low down the middle to the keeper rather than into either top corner and the second of which bounced off the top of the bar. We ended the half in total control, which we’d been in the opening exchanges – it was just that mad bit in the middle that did for us.
No changes for the second half, and Ekwah shot a couple of minutes in was spilled, but with no predator on the pitch all we got was a corner, that led to another corner which we took short to Clarke on the left, and his pass found Ba, who won another corner. This was pretty much the story of the half, with crosses and corners being repelled by the home defence – of which there seemed to be many. A header from Pritch’s cross brought a save to the keeper’s left that almost equalled that produced by Meslier on Tuesday. He then set up Ba to bring another, easier, save, then it was Patto’s turn to get in the way of a shot, ten minutes into the half. When Clarke was fouled Pritch put the free onto Luke’s head, but that was saved as well.
With eighteen minutes left, Ba made way for Bellingham in the least surprising change of the season, and Jobe was straight amongst them, helping to win a corner that brought a huge shout of “handball” but the ref was having none of it. Where’s VAR when you need it? He then had a header cleared off the line but was booked when he chased back and was adjudged to have fouled their man in front of the dugouts. There was a bit of home pressure, bringing two corners, but we dealt with them.
As we pushed to get something from the game, we went to a sort of three at the back and conceded a couple of corners with about 20 to go, which were dealt with. Jobe and Clarke combined to set Roberts away, but there was a box full of Bristol defenders and his shot was blocked, so we replaced Ekwah with Dack, presumably to add a bit more cunning to our play. At the same time, Aouchiche replaced Pritch which didn’t please our fans too much and he was given an ovation as he walked out of the action.
We continued to press forward, they continued to defend well, and with only a couple of minutes left on the clock we went for broke and brought on Mayenda for Huggins while we were lining up a corner. When it went in, it looked very much like Bellingham was pulled down, but play was waved on. A Ballard header from another free kick was saved, three extra minutes were announced and our big defender brought another penalty shout when he went down in the box. Yet another corner was fumbled by their keeper and a foul was called by the ref – which it most certainly wasn’t, and Ballard was booked after the resulting flurry of handbags.
Then it was all over. A game we should really have won given the amount of the ball we had once we’d got our heads sorted, and I suspect that had it been a Prem game there’d have been ten minutes spent studying VAR and possibly a couple of penalties to us – but we shouldn’t really be hoping for ref’s decisions to get chances, as we had enough of things around the City box to have done exactly what that lad in the pub said before the game.
I’m not sure what our next gaffer, whoever it is, will bring, but please let it be a “shoot on sight” policy.
Man of the Match? At the back, Luke was probably the pick today despite his early mad pass, but in terms of creativity, it has to be Pritch, although he was driven forward by the endeavour of Neil.
