Poor Approach And End-Result

Having scraped the win at bottom club Burton then seen off the challenge of Walsall in the FA Cup (a contest which went as well as could have been hoped: no new injuries, a morale-boosting brace for Ahadme, a first of the season for Campbell, and another for Godden), the hope/expectation for last night was that we would maintain our record of very good results against those at the lower end of the table. Win, hang in there, stay in touch, be looking upwards etc, once again no real thought about how we do it.

Well, perhaps that mentality cost us, because we played poorly and got beaten, by a team which focused, like Burton had done before their red card, on trying to play football. In our position nobody really minds winning ugly, but losing ugly is obviously a different matter. And be in no doubt, this wasn’t a case of inconsistency, after ‘good performances’. This was downright poor, consistent with recent league performances (Walsall aside). You have to go back to October before you find a game that you look back on and say we played well. Only difference was that last night we coughed up a couple of preventable goals and with one exception failed to capitalise on the few half-chances which came our way, against a side with one of the division’s worst defensive records and previously without an away win to their name all season.

The team showed a couple of changes from Walsall, both it seems enforced (Berry’s suspension, to add to that of Docherty, and Anderson not fit). It was a 4-4-2 (or a diamond if you prefer), with an unchanged back four (Edmonds-Green, Mitchell, Gillesphey and Edwards), in midfield Campbell(A) given a start alongside Coventry and Taylor, with Godden behind the front two to make up the four, while Leaburn returned to accompany Ahadme up front, reuniting the ‘big man/big man’ combination. On the bench there was the (very) welcome return of Jones, along with Laqeretabua and Small, plus Edun (presumably either as full-back or a midfield option), while Campbell(T) and Kanu provided the forward options (with Hylton missing out).

Hindsight of course, but as against Burton the set-up smacked of nothing down the flanks and no pace, with all the pace and width on the bench. Have two big guys up front, lob the ball in their general direction, have both Godden and Campbell(A) looking to feed off the scraps, despite them trying to occupy the same space and deprived of any option to spread the ball if they received it. Quite frankly, not much above ‘hit and hope’. Against Crawley Town.

The result was as comfortable an evening for Crawley’s back line as it could have hoped for. Never put under sustained pressure, never pulled out of position, always able to anticipate what was coming next. Wollacott was beaten once but otherwise didn’t have a shot to save. At the same time, Camara and others had the time on the ball to play through midfield, getting joy down both flanks. And their big guy up front gave ours an object lesson in how to hold off a defender and score.

The first half was pretty nondescript, as we are used to. But instead of keeping a clean sheet, just past the half-hour that goal came along. A throw-in on their left and the forward did what Newton and Robinson (Martin) used to do for us, quick dummy while letting the ball run across them, take it on, hold off the defender (in this case Gillesphey couldn’t get close to the ball) and the space is open for a shot if nobody cuts off the route. The guy did put in an excellent shot, but it was a set-up which afforded him some margin of error to curl it into the top corner. Super strike but also poor defending.

We did respond to some degree, with Campbell putting in a decent shot on the volley from the edge of the area which went just wide, and especially as Mitchell failed to get decent contact on a whipped cross from the left from Edwards after a throw-in. Not much of a return for 45 minutes of graft.

There was no surprise that Jones opted to change things at the break, with Leaburn – who had looked off the pace from the start – taken off and Small coming on, prompting a shift to a 3-5-2 with Godden moving back up front. But it was Crawley who next came closest to scoring as before the hour was up a simple one-two around our area enabled their guy to cut inside Small and put in a good shot well saved by Maynard-Brewer and the effort from the rebound was blocked.

On the hour, after a superb delivery by Taylor from a free-kick found nobody to get the necessary touch, further changes were made. Campbell(T) and Kanu were introduced for Edmonds-Green and Coventry. This meant now Campbell(T) and Small operating as the wing-backs, Taylor and Campbell(A) trying to hold the fort in central midfield, with Godden now moving deeper again and Kanu up front. It looked like a case of shit or bust.

Indeed, the game appeared to change within minutes as we equalised. Another high ball was met by Ahadme. He seemed to head it into a congested area, but Kanu anticipated well and got on the end of it and as Wollacott came off his line coolly chipped it over him and into the net.

Surely, we all thought, this would be the cue for us to go on and win the game. It was not to be. Instead with around 10 minutes of normal time left we let in another soft goal. What appeared a routine shot from distance was not dealt with well by Maynard-Brewer, who like Mannion earlier in the season palmed it out into a dangerous area.

In the time that remained we huffed and puffed but failed to create a meaningful opening. Laqeretabua came on for Godden, with Campbell(T) moving forward, and finally Jones replaced Gillesphey, to add more height up front. Maynard-Brewer came up for a corner in the final minute of stoppage time but to no avail.

It was a real kick in the teeth, for the manager and players as well as us. But where we might part company is this talk of inconsistency and not being able to reproduce recent ‘good performances’. There have been none. Last night was different, but only to the extent that in front of a Valley crowd there was greater pressure on the team to get a result and instead of translating into strong resolve it made us nervous, edgy, and increasingly desperate. And responsibility for that has to lie in an inappropriate approach to the game in terms of team selection and formation. What is good for a battling effort against a side around the top is not necessarily good for putting away a struggling team. And we did have alternatives, as the changes from the bench in the second half demonstrated.

OK. It is done. Surely what we have to look at now is that for a tough trip to Lincoln on Saturday we have Docherty and Berry back available, with it would appear Potts, Jones and Kanu back, presumably Anderson also available. Quite suddenly what was a lengthy injury list is much reduced, with only Ramsay and Aneke standing out, even if some returning will not be match-fit. Jones the Boss is going to have to look again at what he thinks will work in what context and decide between alternatives. It is his job after all, not ours.