City must get back on the horse after Lady Luck takes a night off at Town
TALKING POINTS: WAS THERE ANY NEED FOR CAPTAIN PUGWASH?
Hull City’s one hundred percent record in League One came to a somewhat abrupt end at Fleetwood Town on Friday evening. Grant Mccann’s City were thumped 4-1 in front of the Sky Sports cameras as Joey Barton’s Cod Army ended their three-game losing run in style.
Here we look back at the evening’s talking points...
Lady Luck obviously didn’t recognise City’s new sleek away kit...
In football, most people tend to say that you get what you deserve and that you make your own luck, and they’d probably be right.
Some would argue that in the opening four games of the League One season, City had ridden their luck at times and it ran out on the Irish Sea.
Lady Luck just wasn’t shining on City, right from the eighth minute when Dan Batty’s terrific ball into Keane Lewis-potter saw the striker take it down expertly, before unleashing a breathtaking strike into the top corner of Jayson Leutwiler’s net.
The flag was up for offside and play continued, but replays showed that LewisPotter was in fact onside - had the Tigers taken the lead, you fancy it would be been a very different outcome to the one it became.
And then there was the header from Reece Burke which crashed off the middle of the bar before being cleared to safety, add to that one or two other scrambles inside the box which could have fallen City’s way and you can see how the little things maybe didn’t fall for them on the night, compared to previous weeks.
Don’t underestimate the importance of the opening goal
The importance of the first goal in any football match is obvious, but particularly in League One where last season a ridiculous amount of games were decided by the side which scored first.
A case in point already this season has seen City win four matches when they’ve netted first.
Although at Fleetwood, the Tigers roared back within four minutes of falling behind, that early concession always meant not only were they chasing their tail from early on, the hosts, lacking a little confidence after a poor start to the season, were playing full of it and that made City’s life far more challenging.
There are going to be numerous games this term at grounds like Fleetwood, Rochdale and the like, where Mccann’s charges come under pressure, and it’s imperative they stand firm, and not fold like the proverbial pack of cards.
That soft underbelly still needs some work
Those who watched City with any degree of regularity after Christmas last season, will know that from somewhere this team developed a lack of confidence when things started to go against them, when they conceded goals.
Up to now, in the league at least, we’ve not seen that tested for the very simple reason they hadn’t conceded. You could point to West Ham and say that 3-1 became 5-1 very quickly at the Olympic Stadium, which it did, though in fairness to them, the Hammers’ Premier League quality has to be taken into account on that occasion.
Here, though, an error-strewn second half presented Fleetwood with a glorious chance to make it 2-1 just two minutes into the second half which they snaffled up.
Mccann’s message at the break would have been along the lines of give nothing away in the first 15 to 20 minutes of the half and take control.
Well, by that point the game was over and City were out of it.
The ease at which the Cod Army swarmed all over the Tigers was of great concern and that’s something which needs to be remedied because there will be numerous occasions this season when Mccann’s side fall behind and they can’t capitulate with such a soft approach.
Dust yourselves down and get back on the horse...
Managers and players always talk about the reaction to a defeat, you’ll hear it in every single interview, it’s one of the most overused cliches in this game.
That said, there is some importance to it. Mccann has a long week ahead of him to digest this result and more importantly, the second half display which he admitted caught him off guard.
It’s fair to say this is a midweek in which the whole club would welcome a game, ideally at home, to try and banish the memories of Highbury.
They haven’t and so must spend the next few days licking their wounds ahead of a trip to Rochdale and while Brian-barry Murphy’s side are not as gifted as Fleetwood, it will still be made to be a tough experience at Spotland for City.
It is imperative the players, whether it be the same eleven or one with changes, go out and deliver a performance to give them a little confidence boost, because make no mistake about it, their egos would have been bruised with that second half showing in front of the television cameras - especially after the praise of the opening month.
Onto the rather thorny subject of goal music...
If ever there was an advert for not playing music after a goal is scored, this was it. The chimes of the theme tune to the BBC’S 1950s animated series Captain Pugwash was particularly hard to take. Unfortunately, Matt Ingram and his defenders will probably be waking up to that sound for days to come.
When will football clubs learn that even without fans, we still don’t need music blasted out after a goal has been scored.