As this was only my third match of the season and as one of my previous two had been our only league win I actually had a vague sense of optimism for this match.
This disappeared after only a minute or so of the match. A simple ball between Purches and Cooper allowed that old codger Lee Hughes to run clear and easily slot the ball under Flahaven. Realism set in. Despite this we had possibly the better of the rest of the half despite only carving out a few chances. Taylor and Pugh had efforts blocked in quick succession and not long afterwards Taylor had another attempt charged down. MacDonald sent a free header wide just before half time but County had also been active in front of goal. Hughes had cut inside Byrne, a far too easy occurrence, and curled his shot around the far post and Jeff Hughes should have done a lot better from the middle of the penalty area rather than sending the ball well wide.
One nil at half time could not be argued with but it was not all doom and gloom…….well not as bad as reports from previous matches.
Bradders took decisive action at half time and replaced Taylor, all effort but little end result, with Stockley who after his two midweek goals is pleasingly pushing for a starting slot but with our lack of fit or available strikers (not sure which Symes fits into and I’ll leave the reader to decide this) this is not an onerous task. Indeed Stockley put himself about well and troubled the far more experienced Co defenders.
Flahaven made a fine save from a one on one after Judge had run from deep, something that we really have to prevent happening so often, the midfield have to be brave enough to tackle and the centre backs brave enough to step up if this does not happen. Pugh and Barrett could not make anything of half chances before we equalised in the 71st minute. Pugh timed his run nicely to get onto the end of a delightful Arter chipped through ball. He controlled in nicely with his chest before pivoting and sending his shot home via the underside of the bar. At that stage it was what we deserved as we had looked the better team in the second half although this was marginal.
Bradders said in his post-match interview that he thought that we then looked the more likely to go on to win the match and I agree with his sentiment. Regretfully he (and I) were both wrong. Within seven minutes Co were ahead again. Fletch had been replaced by Molesley and this played a part in the goal. Cooper had to take over the marking of 6ft 2in (at least) well built Pearce and at 5ft 10in this was not a fair match. A straightforward corner saw Cooper out muscled to allow Pearce to score with a powerful header. Cooper then redeemed himself slightly by making a fine last ditch block before we went further behind. Another corner was properly cleared and Montano turned sweetly on the edge of the box and sent an unstoppable shot past Flahaven. Arter had a couple of efforts in added on time but by then our goose was well and truly cooked.
Despite the all to regular defeat there was a degree of promise in this match as we held our own in general play. The biggest problem, which we fans have realised since the start of the year, is our defensive frailty. Barrett is a reasonable replacement for Pearce but being 4ins shorter is a real problem as having two 5ft 10in centre halves is not what is needed in this division especially this season in which there appears to be a lack of quality and hence more high balls. For a bit of physical presences I feel that Baudry has to be given a chance in place of Cooper and if this does not resolve things then the loan market has to be entered. An alternative is to change formation to three centre backs. Whilst on the subject of formations it should be mentioned to Bradders that he is allowed to use others apart from 4 4 2. Now that Feeney has departed it gives us a good chance to explore new formations especially as Byrne has not impressed me at all although I suspect that part of his loan deal may be that he has to play if fit.
Eddie Mitchell’s rants and outbursts at the recent fans forum cannot go unmentioned here. At the end of the 2009/10 season he was saying, and appeared to be doing, all the right things. Now the true bully appears to have appeared and is totally uncontrolled. It seems likely that there is some other agenda that he is now following and that he is attempting to manipulate things so that he can take some outrageous action which he will attempt to justify by saying that the fans have driven him to it. This is despite the whole situation being instigated by him. I hope that I am wrong but I can see no other motive at the moment. His aggressive stance indicates that he is aware that his actions are wrong but this is the way of the true bully (as mentioned above). Mr Mitchell please prove me and all the other doubters wrong by telling us what is really going on. Blandly saying that we could not get a replacement for Feeney because the transfer window closed is just not acceptable. A replacement for all ‘sellable’ players should have already been lined up, from non-league if necessary.
Back to the match. MacDonald looks to me to be a really good signing but my man of the match is Arter as he was responsible for most of any good play that we produced and he also made some good defensive blocks. Admittedly he also made several basic howlers……but he is not unique in this within this team!
AFCB: Flahavan, Purches, Cooper, Barrett, Cummings, Bryne, Arter, MacDonald, Pugh, Fletcher, Taylor
Subs: Jalal, Baudry, Gregory, Stockley (for Taylor, HT), Molesley (for Fletcher, 76 mins)
Phil Nesbitt, Acocks Green