As you can see from the result above I need not have worried.
Indeed after the previous Saturday’s 5 – 1 demolition of Peterborough this was a similar thumping of Tranmere and it was done without our goal machine. Josh McQuoid came into the side as Brett’s replacement and within 8 minutes had put his hand up for the job full time. A Tranmere free kick into our box was cleared and played back to Symes, who had intelligently dropped off to allow this, and he pumped the ball forward. Josh, who was standing just outside the D, read this and as the striker realised that he needed to be upfield to at least hassle the defenders. In fact he sprinted past the lumbering defenders to be 5 yards clear of them when he got to the ball. He then kept his cool to advance on goal with several touches before calmly slotting it under Tranny’s young ‘keeper who showed his inexperience by not forcing Josh to make a decision. Brett would not have scored this goal as he does not have the pace to have got to the ball.
Things were even better 10 mins later. A long ball forward was flicked on by Symes and Josh again showed his pace by bustling passed the sluggish Tranmere centre back. Despite losing his balance Josh still managed to get the ball to Symes who had sprinted forward after the flick on. Ian Goodison tried to challenge but got his legs in a tangle and then managed to get Symes’ left leg included in the tangle and over he went for a cast iron penalty. No complaints from any Tranmere player it was that clear cut. Symes coolly sent the ‘keeper the wrong way. Until he picked himself up we were wondering who was our new penalty taker as no other player looked interested.
Tranmere offered no real threat and their only shot on target in the first half was a daisy cutter from Labadie just before half time. In contrast we looked dangerous every time we went forward with every player apart from the centre backs being allowed to bomb forward at will. McQuoid, Purches and Marvin were just 3 of the players that had attempts on goal. The only surprise was that it was only 2 – 0 at half time.
Tranmere perked up for the first few minutes of the second half as they made a substitution and changed formation from 4 3 3 to 4 4 2. After a couple of minutes we got to grips with this and normal service was resumed. Tranmere had more of the ball but no idea what to do with it whilst we were just awesome as we sped forward on the break. After 61 mins it was 3 – 0 as Wiggins intercepted an awful pass and sprinted forward. His pass to McQuoid was a gem but he was brought down by a horrible dive in just after making it. The ref waved play on and Josh quickly shipped the ball onto the over lapping Pugh, who was in full flight, and he sped into the box and slotted it in off the far post. Thomas-Moore was correctly called to account for his challenge and booked as we celebrated.
We now saw out the match with ease. Schwan’s only employment until the end of the match was to make a punch, collect a couple of Fletch like headers, deal with a number of back passes and take numerous goal kicks after poor wide attempts by the home side. We continued to look dangerous but no longer had the fire of the first hour. The main talking point was in fact how Labadie stayed on the pitch. He had already been booked and proceeded to commit 3 more fouls worthy of another. No doubt the ref was feeling sorry for the hapless home team but this was ridiculous. Labadie (the baddy more like!) was eventually subbed, as was Thomas-Moore, to avoid being sent off. Josh was taken off just after the third goal as he appeared to have a minor leg problem (possibly cramp). Feeney was pushed up front with Bradders coming on out wide (?!) no doubt to keep pace up front. Feeney was then replaced by Hollands with Bradders going up front (pace abandoned) and Robinson going out wide with Danny in the middle. Stockley replaced Symes for our final substitution which was at least like for like. Jayden’s (or rather Jeff’s as he was called by Jonathon Pearce) only telling contribution was an excellent volleyed clearance of a corner. 3 - 0 was a fair reflection of our dominance although we could have had more.
Eddie has learnt very quickly in this division and has decided that we are strong enough to attack teams. We gave Charlton too much respect in the first half of the first match and paid the price. There is now so much pace in the team that we can scare the opposition by running at them. In effect we are now playing 4 2 4 with 2 out and out wingers and teams don’t know how to cope with this and with quick cross field passing we can open up defences with ease. The key is the solidity of the defensive middle 4 of Cooper, Pearce, Bartley and Robinson. They have to be strong to stop the opposition, with the help of the others, to allow those others to play the expansive stuff. Pugh and Symes have added so much going forward that Brett may not be missed too much. Symes gives us much of what Fletch can do but plus pace and mobility. There must not be any getting carried away with what we might achieve as the test will come when we are worked out and angles and space are closed down. Eddie’s (and Jason’s) plans B C and D will then need to be shown.
My man of the match is Marvin Bartley. He would have been my nomination for this against Peterborough as well. At Tranmere he did not play quite as well as the previous match, t would have been difficult to do so, but was still Marvellous! He can now play full throttle for virtually 90 minutes. As he has also filled out a bit he must now make a fearsome opponent. I thought that it was just me thinking this but Phil Henstridge also commented that he noticed that several Tranmere players ‘got rid’ as soon as they saw Marvin heading towards the. Les Parry has problems if this is the case. None of our players had a poor match.
The ref, Carl Boyeson from Hull (poor chap), is not one of my favourites (understatement!) although he has improved. He bookings of Purches, Robinson and McQuoid were ‘away team’ bookings whilst their Labadie was, as previously mentioned, able to get away with 4 bookable offences without being sent off. Consistency, or rather lack of it, has always been Mr Boyeson’s problem in my view.
AFCB: Jalal, Purches, Cooper, Pearce, Wiggins, Bartley, Pugh, Robinson, Feeney, McQuoid, Symes
Subs: Garry, Cummings, Arter, Partington, Bradbury (for McQuoid, 63 mins), Hollands (for Feeney, 76 mins), Stockley (for Symes, 83 mins)
Phil Nesbitt, Happy of Acocks Green