Post by a more piratey game on Apr 14, 2017 18:05:58 GMT
not a report, just some jottings;
we were in what my Gills mate calls the 'air-conditioned stand'. Its a temporary stand that has been there for 15 years now he said
the air conditioning element sapped a lot of the atmosphere compared with the sonorous low roofs of some of the old stands that we visit
there weren't as many of us as I was expecting. I don't know how many we were tho
with Leds out, the 3-5-1-1, or something like that, seemed to be the option. Ellis looking a bit lonely upfront at times, but nothing new there
without Ollie C, I think Mans was brought in as our closest thing to a holding midfielder
Bradley Dack was out for them, courtesy of a red card, which meant they were missing their best player I think
Jake CS had a few little bits to do early doors, and did them all well. He played sort-of left back in a back 3
a bit later on we found out that he isn't as fast as I thought he was though - he got done for pace by their winger
his tackles were good though, and he had a good first half
though our teamwork was at times excellent, Linesey seemed off his game, and they weren't passing it enough to allow Sincs to play his best game of breaking up the opposition's play
I thought we did some lovely passing first half, although apart from one BillyBo shot straight at the keeper I don't think we had much
they looked quick on the break, but not much cop at passing
Josh Wright, brother of them two off TOWIE, had their best/only chance of the half when he took a cross first-time at the edge of the box but put it two feet wide
0-0 at half-time didn't seem unfair, though we'd looked the better side
second half was much more of the same. Their goalie is 6' 9'' and moves like a lumbering giant. My Gills mate says he can 'rest his elbow on the crossbar'. He didn't look that big until we saw him standing next to BillyBo
Ellis, who had had a decent first half I thought (though I've seen that some on here don't agree), went off and was replaced by Luke James. None of us could see where the goals would come from now but James put someone through on goal with about his first 5 touches of the ball. It wasn't his fault that no one had any finishing boots. And he put in some top challenges towards the end
Byron Moore had a fair bit of the ball, but seemed to lack commitment to the harder stuff to me
Browner, on the other hand, looked to me to have a very good game on the other flank
they posed an occasional threat through Josh Wright, but not too much else
they finally got a bunch of corners and throw-ins (they have a bloke who can do Ian Hutchinson/Rory Delap ones) which we weren't clearing very easily. Then one got a good bounce for them and someone nodded it in
it was exactly the sort of bounce that we'd had none of in front of goal
we continued pressing and, after a fortunate mix-up in their defence, we got a pen when their defender did a professional foul in the box
BillyBo tucked it away, and there was an exciting 15 minutes or so left
we had a bunch of chances, none of which quite worked out
I suspect that Sweeney had just been put up front to try to help get the 3 points when a long clearance left their bloke with a high ball up against Sincs and the goalie. Sincs tried to hassle and slow him, but he got off a wonder-shot that put them 2-1 up with about 3 minutes left
we chased the game, and they got another on the break when the same bloke, full of confidence now, completed a lovely lob over Lumley
overall, we were the better team but got ourselves mugged by chasing the game - which, to be fair, was probably the right thing to do. They were a bunch of set piece and long ball merchants, and got away with it
