County v Bradford PA: Match Thread (19/11/2016)

County 2 - 1 BPA, Att 2727. Lloyd (assist, Hinchliffe) and Montrose with a low strike from the edge of the box.

Good news for the squad as Duxbury has just posted that he's been given the all clear now after that nasty facial injury against Fylde.

Particularly as Cartwright seemed to pick up an injury on Tuesday evening. Best of luck to the young lad, hope they raise a decent amount

3-2 County Lloyd, Montrose, Ball with 2850 attendance (down as it will be cold....)

From the off, BPA were able to control possession.  Thankfully they were rather inept creatively and didn't utilise their possession very well or have the quality to exploit the very obvious advantages their shape had against ours, especially with the 118 potential full back overlaps they had in the first 25 minutes.  I was sure JG would change things before half time, either the system itself or to bring on someone with energy for the midfield as surely being dominated on the ball by BPA wasn't the game plan! 

Then came our goal against the run of...er... possession.  Lloyd got into their final 3rd and put in a lovely 'attack me' ball.  K did just that, heading it powerfully in.  (Writing this reminded me of why I get annoyed at him being put to stand on the 'keeper at corners when he could just take up an actual heading position instead, like his goal against FCUM last season.)   Thereafter, other bits and bobs presented themselves to Lloyd and K along with little snap shots, the odd last ditch block from Stopforth's attempt and so on.  But, again, opportunities to get the game killed by half time were lost and going in 1-0 against a team who knew they had kept the ball much better than us was never going to be ideal.

With Marsden and Minihan on the bench, I didn't expect Ball to come out for the 2nd half due to a really poor first half.  But we came out unchanged and the game continued as before.  However, we then had to make a sub - Minihan was introduced a few minutes in when Stopforth wasn't right.  (Hope he's ok as there are comments about him feeling his heart racing).  Although this change meant we should be more secure on our right side with some aggression, energy and pace, it also meant the middle, which already had CMW not doing particularly well in it, would now be joined by Ball.  

However, my mind was taken away from that concern when Lloyd opted not to manufacture something for himself but instead use the run of his teammate, finding Minihan with a lovely ball.  Minihan shot well but it was saved.  And then Lloyd did what he does best.  GO FOR IT!  He created his own penalty after committing the defender to the tackle.  We were all expecting the scoreboard to change to 2-0 in our favour as he lined up the kick.  Unfortunately his smashed effort came back off the crossbar and rebounded further than I can actually kick a ball.  Just 3 minutes later and, what do you know, it was 1-1!  We were in an advance position when we lost possession again.  They were able to get up the pitch and slot home.

Two penalty shouts later (2nd one looked more likely but didn't have a great view of either) and with K still doing his thing, the game wasn't really calling out for Amis but I was still hoping to see Marsden come on.  He did, for Ball, but was only given 10 minutes in a double sub that saw K removed for Amis.  Amis went up for balls but things now seemed less likely to stick.  

We need Lloyd and Amis to get through this month without another booking to avoid an automatic ban so I was concerned when Lloyd got into a couple of incidents, squaring up and pushing the opponent's chest (and being accused of an elbow too).  Not only did we look like dropping 2 points but also now risking him getting carded.  Minihan also ended up in a face-off with their 'keeper in the corner.  

In the last minute of added time... well, let's just say it was hard to believe someone can pick up a ball on the half way line, walk past challenges and be allowed to shoot, regardless of how unlucky we were on the actual deflection.

So, 3 points well and truly thrown away I'm afraid to say.. and against a side I still expect to finish in the bottom 5.

Yup, we've definitely got the right man and he'll build something for us! We can all imagine how different things would have been if we could have had the Lloyd, Denton, Thomas front three but one didn't come and one got an ACL in preseason. Neither, in terms of attributes, has been replaced so we've played over 1/3 of the season with 1/3 of the intended attacking impact.

Although pretty flat today, the performances overall have been committed and there's been a decent level of excitement which always helps to get the fans in I guess (winning more important of course). Hopefully a bit of quality can just be added and embedded into the starting 11 to take us on a bit and keep us in the hunt for a playoff place.


Should say that to see £1225 was raised for young Lucas and that the winner of the half-time draw gave the cash to the cause was brilliant.

pretty galling to have dropped two points, so three made everybody quiet and sullen as they exited the ground. bradford made much the better start in terms of possession. looked like if we didn't establish ourselves as a force in the game, we could end up losing it. no worries though, because for all their control of play, we made all the useful chances (in an almost precise reverse of every other county home defeat).

the goal might not have been deserved on play, but had a nice 'proper football' feel to it - a cross in from the left, and a firm header back where it came from. 'keeper beaten all ends up. scorer something of a surprise, but a pleasant one. danny lloyd dinked another shot just wide, there was a scramble where it just wouldn't sit for anyone, and big kay headed another one goalwards but this time the 'keeper dived and got both hands to it. these didn't feel like massive acts of profligacy.

...nor did sam minihan's head down blast towards the near post after being slipped in by lloyd in the second half. ideally, he probably should have gone across the 'keeper, but it nevertheless took a smart diving stop to deny him. no, the real act of profligacy was not converting from the penalty spot. no criticism of lloyd given his contribution this season, and fair play, he created the danger and won the penalty. when it cannoned off the bar though, there was no mystical music as i said "watch that cost us" - i suspect that was being muttered all around EP.

...and so it came to pass. their equaliser trickled in and our hopes began to trickle away. we huffed and we puffed, but bradford's house stayed up...unlike two county players in their area in quick succession - in the same move in fact. the first one looked like a possible pen from my distant vantage point, the second clearer still. the referee pointed to his bullet point list, including

• no more than one penalty to be awarded to the same side during the game
• ensure officials are laughably behind play at all times
• after every two minutes of normal refereeing, put whistle in shorts pocket for further ten minutes to give it a rest, regardless of any acts of ritual violence being carried out on the pitch

so we didn't get a second penalty. and our finishing was getting increasingly erratic. well in fact 'increasingly erratic' probably suggests a spray of outcomes which could include 'on target' as well as 'wildly off target', 'in through the tea hut serving hatch' (not today, sadly), and 'into orbit'. yes. 'increasingly off-target' would probably work better.

so we got BPA slowing the game down to try and ensure a point. we got a chunk of injury time and i must have forgotten the injuries. we got a failure to challenge compounded by a deflection which left hinchliffe stranded. we got f**k all out of the game. we got three thousand swearwords simultaneously released into the cold sky, and we walked to our cars or the pubs talking in short sentences or not at all.