Not the greatest of performances and no doubt Clough and their fans will be claiming they deserved something from this game, and to be fair they had an arguement as they were the better team for big sections of the gameHaving said that we defended with skill and resolution and then when we stepped it up a gear in the last 20minutes they could not live with us.First half was bit of a non event with both defences on top and cancelling each other out. They came close to scoring twice - first a corner was not cleared and their lad had a shot that Green could have saved but he chose to let it go so O'Kane headed it off the line - a bit strange that a player on the line would shout to the keeper to leave it, but that is what seemed to happen. Later on Bartley (once again a commanding figure at the centre of defence) went in strongly in the air and his header thankfully just went wide - he deserved that bit of luck. We failed to trouble them much and our best was when Hernandez broke clear and beat a couple of players but failed to get a shot off. Sacko also had a header that went wideThe general feeling at half time was that one goal would settle this game and that we needed to up the tempo to ensure it was us that got it. Second half , for 30minutes was similar to the first,with defences ruling the day. Roofe nearly got his deserved first goal but he dragged his shot just past the post. That apart it was mainly huff and puff (give credit to Ayling who had his best game for us and really tried to make things happen) Then just as we all thought this would be 0 0 Monk rang the changes with Viera and Doukara coming on. I have said for ages that Doukara has something about him and that there was a good player in there , somewhere, and we just had to get him sorted to proof it. Anyway he came on and started where he had left off on Tuesday and was too good for them. A lovely knock back by Wood to Hernandez who proved his worth to the team by threading a lovely ball through to the onrushing Doukara. He controlled the ball and whilst he dithered a bit ready to pick his spot he was taken down -100% penalty and last year would have been a red card (rather than the yellow that was given). Up stepped Wood and he hammered home the penalty, despite some dickhead in the Kop making it harder for him by throwing a bottle on the pitch leading to a bit of a delay.1 up in a game we all thought would be first goal wins - that should have been that, but the ref who gave every 50/50 decision to them the whole game, gave them a free kick on the edge of the box - a few blocks as our lads put their bodies on the line, led to the ball breaking with Wood, he had learned from Hernandez's pass to Doukara and he played the same ball through to the onrushing Doukara - carbon copy of the first goal. Again Douks bore down on goal and was again fouled in the box , the ref allowed him to go on and as he fell over he managed to push the ball past the keeper and into the net 2 0 and only seconds leftSo a victory by more than one goal for the first time at home in a while and we all went hom happy Not the greatest of games or performances but 3 points in the bag, in the sort of game we would have drawn or even lost last yearJanson and Bartley again very solid at the back, Ayling having his best game, Wood a handful and a good penaly taker, Phillips asking as many questions as answers, O'kane doing his job without fuss. Sacko infuriating (the new Huckerby - neither him, his team-mates or the opposition having a clue what he is doing)Doukara only on the pitch for 10 minutes or so and making one (that he would have scored) and scoring another - a real find if (and it is a big IF) we can get him to do this regularly So all in all a good end to a good week and a real feel good factor around the place as the players seem to have a good team spirit and seem to want to be here Dave _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected]
MARCHING ON TOGETHER
