Chaotic half needs some explanation
BY the time you read this we’ll know the result of Tuesday’s FA Cup replay.
The fact that there’s a replay at all is something of a contentious issue, I know, it’s Stockport County, we’ve seen it all before, we shouldn’t be surprised but how do you throw a 3-0 half time lead away?
Saturday’s game was, if ever there was one, “a game of two halves.”
In the first we were in complete control, sumptuous football, great passing, attacking forward play that led to two goals from Matty Warburton (though I’m sure Gary Stopforth will claim one of them) and another for the league’s top scorer, Jason Oswell.
As the rain came down there were further chances to score more from Oswell and Adam Thomas and at one point I thought we’d be seeing another 6-0 thriller.
Well I got my six goals, but I never expected that the visitors would net three of their own and leave EP feeling like they’d won.
Picking on individuals isn’t right in a team game but the second half needs some sort of explanation because in the second period it was complete chaos.
Jim took off Oswell at half time and then later Warburton.
We completely re-jigged the midfield and defence and it looked like a group of strangers playing together for the first time.
I’ll say right here that FC looked to have a game plan – the tackle on Scott Duxbury was a case in point – and that some of the referee’s decisions were borderline criminal, (we had two good penalty shouts and got neither while theirs was awarded for minimal contact and a clear dive after the lad had taken four steps from the tackle) but that would deflect from our own misdemeanours.
Far too often we gifted them an opening, Jimmy Ball gave the ball away which led to their first, immediately after they shaved the post after we just stood by and watched.
Their second was just as ridiculous; it looked like our defence were directing the scorer towards goal as again they stood around flapping their arms in a collective “it’s not my fault” gesture!
You would expect players to learn by their mistakes but we’ve seen over recent weeks that some of them aren’t.
Telford, York and now FC, it’s the same players making the same mistakes and I feel Jim has his work cut out.