County v Gainsborough: Match Thread (26/08/2017)

not a lot to say about this one. there was such an imbalance in the play that i didn't find it particularly interesting as a spectacle. trinity only just survived last season, and will struggle again. in vain, probably.

first half was all county, but only flirtation, not penetration. took the lead ten minutes into the second half when oswell looped his near post header over the gainsborough 'keeper. it hit the far post and looked like it was bouncing onto or over the line, their 'keeper also getting a touch as it came back past him. it looked to us like he'd put it in, but i didn't hear any mention of that on imagine after. not a great view from down our end!

gainsborough might even have come out of their shell slightly as a result. we certainly managed to make a load of chances as though the opposition was pushing on, although the opposition didn't actually push on anywhere significant. we replaced mckenna and oswell, who both appeared to be limping (oswell certainly was later on when he was warming down). new new walker was played in a minute into his county career, beat the 'keeper with his finish, but it came back off the left hand post. stephenson was next to go, going round the 'keeper fairly centrally, steadying himself, and then hitting it over the bar.

a corner from the left was headed against the bar by chris smalley, and we got into their box and took their 'keeper out on a couple of occasions, but we either didn't get a shot away because their was always a defender in close attendance, and therefore passed instead, or they got a block on when sam walker did shoot. as we were getting towards the latter stages of the game, it was still all county, but we weren't committing as many forward on corners any more, and trinity were leaving three up in forward positions. a dominant performance, but of course when you don't put them away, you're always one slip or one decent set piece delivery away from disaster. in the end, we emerged unscathed, as trinity were pretty poor. sam minihan had the last proper chance, an excellent low drive that we were right behind, which the 'keeper dived to tip round the left hand post.

well deserved, but a more comfortable win was even more deserved. oswell limping isn't great with the quick turnaround of games, although we managed to make -if not take- a lot of chances after he'd gone off. thought ball was decent, same walker will be better for having played a full game and being so involved, minivan was popping up prominently in forward positions all afternoon, possibly because gainsborough didn't demand anything else from him. new new walker showed some nice touches, but might be a little lightweight and we thought he sh*t out of a couple of challenges slightly. duxbury was impressive today. i haven't rated him at all over the last year. seemed like he'd regressed from the raw talent we had several years ago. today though he was very composed and played really well.

seven from nine over the three games starting today would be nice (if not nine), but i suspect this will turn out to have been the easiest test and we'll have to be more clinical when we're not facing gainsborough's path of least resistance.