My match report...

Just a few thoughts on the game today...



Well, I and friends cringed when we got hold of a team sheet, oh look, Feeney is upfront by himself, typical stuff. The first half was a rather bleak affair, Cowan-Hall tried to fire things up numerous times, he reminded me of Noone when he first came to us, very fast and willing to go forward but quick to give the ball away, he has potential to become a good player though. We conceded a sloppy goal, Despite 3 defenders standing close to him, Nicholls was allowed to turn on the penalty spot and find the bottom corner, with Cole wondering why nobody put in a challenge in. Our only real first half chance fell to Connor Hourihane who somehow managed to bobble his shot wide from point black range. The highlight of the first half was Akinfenwa, who put in a great shift for Northampton, good in the air and with his feet, he seems a great guy as well and enjoyed banter with the Devonport and he was cheered many times. Alex Macdonald got a huge cheer when he came on for the injured PCH with 10 minutes remaining.

Half time, well, I would have given you three figure odds on us to win the match, we looked like doing nothing, but it was good to see Rhys Griffiths come on, the green army's hope was restored.

Bhasera had the first effort, straight in to the keepers hand, but he then provided the perfect cross and Warren Feeney stuck his head on the ball and directed it well in to the bottom corner, a well worked goal and a reward for Feeney's hard work rate. Our confidence built, and Griffiths and Macdonald were both playing huge roles. A Macca cross was well flicked on by Griffiths but live wire Bhasera was inches away from making contact to send the ball in, which would have been a reward for his brilliant shift today. Not to worry, Argyle kept the pressure on and here came the move of the match. Bhasera had the ball trapped in his feet on the left, he short passed to Hourihane who found Macdonald in space on the right, Macca burst forwards and provided a low cross for Feeney who was all but on the goal line with his back to goal, he put the ball nicely in to the path of Rhys Griffiths who provided a fantastic calm finish before celebrating with fans in the Devonport. After 5 straight Northampton corners it seemed Griffiths had picked up a knock and he went to ground, he was able to run off the pitch so I wouldn't think the injury is to serious, his 20 minute cameo changed the match. Curtis Nelson replaced him, bizzare decision, Curtis was played the CF role. Nobody was confused after about 5 minutes, a great cross from Williams was met with a superb looping header from Nelson sending the devonport wild. There was to be one more chance for the greens but Feeney was unable to get enough power in his header. Northampton took charge but couldn't find a decent strike and Cole caught numerous soft long shots. 4 minutes in to added time, a throw sparked confusion between Blanchard and Cole, the cobblers capitalised and got a goal back, but to little, to late.

Awful first half, great second half. Fletcher was an idiot, and a genius at the same time, good subs and half time tactical changes.

Cole - 6 - Didn't have anything to do until the final goal which he should have done better with.
Berry - 8 - great game, did very well, always solid and had their LM in his pocket for the whole game.
Purse - 5 - Not a great game, lost the ball in dangerous areas to many times, couple decent blocks but he could have cost us today.
Blanchard - 8 - solid as ever.
Williams - 7 - solid, linked well with Baz.
Cowan Hall - 6 - can't fault his effort or desire to attack.
Wotton - 2 - this guy can't play football any more
Young - 5 - got better as the game went on but very average.
Hourihane - 5 - same as young.
Bhasera - 10 - Yes, he does deserve a ten, ripped Northampton apart today, excellent.
Feeney - 8 - did what he could in the first half then did very well in the second, never fault his effort or desire, last to leave the field at the end.

Macdonald - 7 - great pace and always found space.
Griffiths - 8 - that's a good target man, took his goal well.
Nelson - 8 - came on, did well and scored, well done Nelson.

Akinfenwa - 10 - standing ovation from the devonport when he went off and he clapped the entire ground, great guy and great player.

Good win and something to build on, lets hope fletcher learns lessons, KEEP THE 442

carl fletcher is not a genius

To, too, two.

Good report Cobi, your enthusiasm is back I see.

yeap fletcher is good now till the next loss

Renegade wrote:

yeap fletcher is good now till the next loss

Bet you can't wait...

Was hoping for a story Cobi, can i get your views on the yellow fireman hats being passed around?

GreenWhiteBlack wrote:

Was hoping for a story Cobi, can i get your views on the yellow fireman hats being passed around?

Handy to piss in.

Cheers Cobi, good report.

Thanks Cobi

That's a nice little summery of events. I swear I actually felt the sound waves in my chest when Akinfenwa landed heavily during the first half. Swapping Wotton for Griffiths was a tactical masterstoke and it won the match for us. That sounds criticial of Wotton but I don't mean to be. He actually played quite well within a 4-1-4-1 during the first half. Defensively he cut off loads of supply aimed at Akinfenwa and offensively he was always available to receive a pass and sprayed a few good passes out towards the wings rather like a quarterback sitting in the pocket and looking for his wide receivers. It looked to me like a tactic designed to stop Akinfenwa and mostly it did. The problem was it mostly didn't work offensively and when it did work first Bhasera and then Hourihane missed horribly when scoring looked easier. Exactly how it easy it is to score was shown to us by Griffiths after Fletcher showed some balls and made a swap to 4-4-2 in the second half. All in all it was a wonderfully enjoyable match with lots of balls being played to feet and possession retention was key to our success and you can chalk this win up entirely to Fletcher swapping it around at half-time. Credit to him for that. Though I doubt that much of it will be forthcoming from the Fletcher Out! brigade. It was a pleasure to be at Home Park yesterday.

good to hear sfd

I'd go along with all the positives - though the need for a good target man/scorer up front has been obvious for a while.

But it's one win. It's one excellent performance in one half of the game.

Good work by the Trust in publicising the meeting in a couple of weeks with Mr Brent.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

That's a nice little summery of events. I swear I actually felt the sound waves in my chest when Akinfenwa landed heavily during the first half. Swapping Wotton for Griffiths was a tactical masterstoke and it won the match for us. That sounds criticial of Wotton but I don't mean to be. He actually played quite well within a 4-1-4-1 during the first half. Defensively he cut off loads of supply aimed at Akinfenwa and offensively he was always available to receive a pass and sprayed a few good passes out towards the wings rather like a quarterback sitting in the pocket and looking for his wide receivers. It looked to me like a tactic designed to stop Akinfenwa and mostly it did. The problem was it mostly didn't work offensively and when it did work first Bhasera and then Hourihane missed horribly when scoring looked easier. Exactly how it easy it is to score was shown to us by Griffiths after Fletcher showed some balls and made a swap to 4-4-2 in the second half. All in all it was a wonderfully enjoyable match with lots of balls being played to feet and possession retention was key to our success and you can chalk this win up entirely to Fletcher swapping it around at half-time. Credit to him for that. Though I doubt that much of it will be forthcoming from the Fletcher Out! brigade. It was a pleasure to be at Home Park yesterday.

Fair points. What is troublesome though, is that a manager starts a game with what he instinctively thinks is his 'A' option.

Fletcher actually thought that that first-half line up, shape and balance playing 4-5-1 with a lone short-arse up front was the way to go, in a home game, when the opposition had played 44 hrs previously, and really should be there for the taking.

We can only pray that after he went to his 'B' option, he's realised he got it wrong, and won't feckin do it again.

We can but hope.

Nick Wall wrote:

Renegade wrote:

yeap fletcher is good now till the next loss

Bet you can't wait...

not me cobi

Based on the first half most would have got one or two as a rating. Different team second half so your ratings look more accurate, we were fortunate to win they missed several easy chances. Overall we were still poor, however agree with 2 for wotton he was shite all match. Ten for Akinfenwa definitely - great sportsmanship and humour given the insults thrown at him re his build. He has the last laugh - he was the second highest league 2 scorer last season, more than our joke strikers scored together.