I felt that if we played in the second half as we did in the first, we’d be fine, but for everything positive I took from the first 45, I lost it in the second. I get pelters for being too club-centric, an accusation levelled without any real basis, and I do hope those who criticise have read this far, because the second half was bang average.
However, some of the criticism isn’t justified. I’m told we created nothing, but that’s not strictly true – we had six shots in the second half, compared to their four. Our xG second half was 0.97; theirs was 0.30. I can’t say we were the better team; that would be too outlandish, but we had the better chances to secure the win.
I want to look at those chances first. Just four minutes into the half, James Collins missed one, and watching it back, it is a worse mess than I realised. I say ‘worse miss’ – a great corner comes in, Collins peels away, creates space and directs a header downward, but just wide of the post. How different would the opinion be if that goes in? The same goes for another chance for Collins on 27 minutes. In a rare showing of nice football, we created some space down the left, and Sean Roughan (my Man of the Match) delivered a great ball, which Collins couldn’t direct in.
Then Paudie had the golden chance, the chance that could have lifted us into tenth in the table. I’m surprised the xG for this is only 0.20. It’s a Hackett free kick, delivered into the area and deflected up into the air. Paudie is there, all the goal to aim at, and he does it right; he looks to get it across the keeper, who has covered the near post. He just gets the execution wrong, and the ball goes wide. That’s three chances, all of which could have resulted in a goal on another day.
Cambridge had chances too, but Garry Monk’s assertion that they did enough to win the game is ridiculous. A late curled effort saw a full-stretch dive from Jeacock to push the ball away, but they were only ever speculative pot shots. While we struggled to get a foothold in the game in the second period, I never felt we’d lose the game. My fear was not winning it, which is very different to losing. Cambridge were alright, and by the way, massive respect to their fan base travelling in decent numbers and giving a good account of themselves. However, they clearly felt a point was a great result, and it was all they deserved.
What was not deserved, in any way at all, was Joe Gardner’s late red card. When he came on, I wondered if it might spark a moment. I’m told he’s a real prospect, but just four minutes into his Football League debut, he was sent off. I’ve got to say, it’s one of the weakest sendings off I’ve seen in years. In fact, I recall one by Ellis Chapman on Gary Deegan against the same opposition which had me incensed, and it was even softer than that.
Having watched to replay back, Gardner is actually fouled as he gets away, and the referee (rightly) waves play on. He breaks at pace but just overruns the ball a little. He’s stretching, and their player comes across, and they clash. Is it a foul? Yeah, and probably a yellow, but a red is the biggest overreaction I’ve seen since 5 pm last night when I accidentally logged into Twitter. I’m fairly sure the club will appeal the decision. I’ve seen it from three or four different angles, and it’s just not a red card, he’s not out of control, he’s not over the ball and their player has come across rather than Gardner going in on him.
The lad was clearly distraught when he went off, and rightly so. Their bench has got him sent off, that’s up to them to react, but the referee needs to be stronger. I thought he had a decent game up until around 75 minutes, but then the yellows started coming out, and some other tackles went unpunished. Here’s the thing – for the second game in a row we’ve had a referee who has come out of the National League, and I’m not sure they’re ready. Steven Coupland, yesterday’s official, has sent off eight players in his 18 matches this season, which includes Gardner. He was officiating his first League One match, and on Tueday night he took charge of Halifax and Fylde, giving two penalties. I’m just not sure he should be stepping up to League One after just three League Two outings this season.
It didn’t change the game, his decisions weren’t why we drew, but if Gardner had stayed on, who knows? Maybe he’d have sparked something. Sam Clucas didn’t spark anything, because despite warming up all second half, he remained on the bench.
In the end, the boos rang out around the stadium, and I’m reliably informed the Skubala Out messages have began to spread across social media like rust on the wing of an old Cortina.
After the game I listened to some of the analysis, suggesting we didn’t put cross into the box and didn’t create anything. I hate to rely on numbers and facts to prove a point, but xG of 2.32 (more than against Peterborough), 14 shots (more than against Peterborough), 39 positional attacks (more than…. you get the idea), and 25 crosses, 11 accurate (more than all but one game since Boxing Day). I’m not saying we weren’t lacking in some areas, but we did create something.
Of course, if you’ve accessed this on social media, you’ll be able to read all of the reasons that I’m wrong in the comments section, so please do enjoy that. Me? I won’t bother. I know what I saw, and I know it wasn’t good enough in places, but it was also half-decent at times. On another day, we win that 4-1, which I know is something I seem to say a lot. If we really were as bad as the vocal minority say, we’d probably have lost it.
I’ll just leave you with this. A couple of years ago we played Cambridge, under Mark Kennedy. It was 0-0 and I remember wondering what the hell came next after that. I wrote as much (believe it or not) because I genuinely thought it was dire. Yesterday wasn’t perfect, but it was a long way from that performance.
A hell of a long way.
Thanks, a very good analysis of the game.
Football games are often won and lost on small margins. I was directly in line for the shot for Cambridge’s goal. The deflection definitely did for Jeacock. Then, as the cliche goes, goals change games.
Good balanced analysis. I said at the end of the game we should have won it in the first half .