And It Continues ...

Fair to say that after Saturday we were still pinching ourselves to see if it’s real. Into a play-off spot, automatic promotion spot only eight points away. How long could this go on? How many more times would Jones be able to announce an unchanged team/squad? The dressing room must be on cloud nine too – but hopefully with high confidence not diverting attention from the need for improvement in areas of the game and the immediate issue of two really tough challenges. Barnsley came to The Valley on the back of three straight wins having revived their play-off hopes (after they were only narrowly beaten by both Huddersfield and Stockport) – and while we’ve been knocking them in late in the day we haven’t forgotten that they matched us in that department at their place back in October, our 93rd minute goal to put us 2-1 up countered by their 95th minute equaliser.

We didn’t get a repeat of the drama of Saturday – but far more important we had a repeat of the outcome, another three points secured. And this time you could say it was down to a thoroughly professional (in the positive sense) display. Barnsley pulled us apart in the first 10 minutes but, helped for sure by taking the lead against the run of play, we progressively got on top and through the game effectively nullified their threat. This involved not just the defence but also the forwards running their socks off. As on Saturday we should have been more clinical in front of goal, but I honestly can’t remember feeling more comfortable defending a one-goal lead in the final stages than I was last night.

Barnsley’s manager talked of it being a ‘game too far’ for them, with suspensions and injuries before and during the game, also highlighting the significant impact of the first goal and how different things might have been if they had scored first when on top. That’s all fair enough. From our perspective we did what we needed to do – and did most of it very well.

For the team Jones had the same decision to make as on Saturday, whether or not to recall Docherty for Anderson. This time he did go for the switch, probably taking account of the greater threat from the opposition. Otherwise it was as you were.

Barnsley came out of the traps quickly and we barely got a touch of the ball in the first 10 minutes. The defending was desperate and improvised at times but we didn’t concede. And in what was probably only our second foray into their half, on 10 minutes Campbell moved inside and drew the foul, giving us a free-kick in a decent position, fairly central but a fair way out. Berry ran over the ball, leaving it for Gillesphey, who hit a low drive around the wall and towards the corner of the net. Their keeper got there quickly enough, but got his positioning wrong and if anything dived too soon, the ball going over his outstretched arm and in.

It was unexpected and undeserved, but most welcome. As was the save by Mannion which followed a few minutes later as their guy was able, with the run of the ball, to dribble through our defence into a very dangerous position. Fortunately his shot was close enough for Mannion to parry. After that alarm we did settle more into the game. Berry might have done better running onto a good ball to find him but had a heavy first touch. But through the rest of the half chances were few and far between, most of the play involving both sides getting behind the ball quickly when out of possession and us not often able to get Campbell or Small into positions to threaten, leaving Godden nothing to feed off.

At the break the stats showed they had edged possession and that we had had one effort on target (the goal) and just three attempts in total, against their nine (three on target). All that paled into insignificance set against the scoreline.

In the second half we really should have put the game to bed. Almost all the chances were for us. On 58 minutes good work from the increasingly effective Campbell ended with a low cross and Berry getting to it first, only for him to fail to make a decisive connection. From the other flank Small skinned his marker and found Docherty, who set up Berry again but the shot was weak. And after the first changes made by Jones – on 68 minutes it was Leaburn for Godden and Anderson for Berry – a Jones header from a corner hit the post only for the ref to give a foul against him (from the replays I saw nothing wrong), Coventry hit a powerful shot from distance which their keeper at full stretch turned around the post. All Barnsley offered was a fierce shot which went just wide.

Into the final 10 minutes and we had another good chance to make it two. Campbell again the provider, playing in Leaburn. His shot was reasonable but saved. That was almost the cue to shut things down. Aneke, McIntyre and Watson were introduced on 85 minutes for an exhausted Campbell, Docherty and Small. There was a minor alarm as Jones and Mannion went for the same ball, but it led to nothing. There was still the thought that we could end up losing four points this season to Barnsley in stoppage time, but in truth we ran down the clock quite comfortably, leaving the celebrations at the final whistle to be ones of satisfaction (rather than the outpouring of emotion as on Saturday).

We have to get through Stockport on Saturday before we can take stock – and even then we will have another two games the following week (away at Crawley, who will be looking to do the double over us, and home to Wigan) before there will be the chance for a breather.

In the interim, let’s just reflect and value the fact that, although we are often not the prettiest team in the division, we have worked out a style and set-up which is proving very effective. A 3-5-2/5-3-2 on paper but with one of the forwards (Campbell) operating mostly on the left side and one of the midfielders (Berry) often filling in as the second striker, combinations on both flanks (Edwards and Campbell, Ramsay and Small) which offer real attacking threats, a hardworking midfield, a tight defence, and players off the bench capable of doing different jobs depending on the situation (Aneke and Leaburn, Gilbert). 

We’ve been fortunate of late with injuries/accidents and suspensions and have to hope that continues, and deal with the fact that other teams will come up with plans to try to neutralise our threats. But for all this, if Jones doesn’t get manager of the month there is no doubt he bloody well deserves it.

Far From Perfect But What An End

No doubts about this six-pointer: a win would be fantastic, a draw acceptable (depending on the circumstances of course), a defeat a serious setback to our play-off ambitions. We ended up getting the whole gamut of emotions. For the first 45 minutes it looked like we would get something, quite possibly a win, as we more than edged the first half; they had chances too, but we’d not converted the only glaring one. For the second 45 we were looking down the barrel of a defeat, as Leyton Orient from the start upped their effort and had us on the back foot, took the lead, and looked as capable of adding to it as we did of levelling things up, even though we had a second moment when it seemed we had surely scored. Then in what ended up being eight minutes of stoppage time we went from likely to defeat to getting away with a merited point, then utter delight as we won the game with a carbon copy of our first. Cue pandemonium, wherever you watched the game from, and the complete reversal for them and their fans.

It was a game in which there were so many half-chances, good openings, for both teams. The final stats showed 36 attempts on goal, more than one every three minutes, almost evenly split, with 14 on target (nine for us, five for them). But nearly all of them were wasted; both keepers did well (until one had a stoppage time to really forget) but their saves were ones you’d expect them to make, including those involved in our two golden chances. Instead we had them taking the lead with a wonder strike from distance and us winning it with two if not free then barely challenged headers at the far post from corners.

Did we deserve all three points? I suspect the neutrals would say a draw would have been a fair result. Of course if you play eight minutes of stoppage time against anyone, never mind a defence that, although depleted, ranks among the tightest in the division, you are going to score twice very few times. Of course we don’t care, but there are still some lessons to take from the game.

There was a decision for Jones to make when it came to team selection, namely whether or not to bring back available-again Docherty for Anderson, who had stepped up so well against Exeter. Jones I guess opted for the line that if the guy in possession of the shirt has done nothing wrong he keeps it. So Docherty would be on the bench, with Kanu losing out and still no place for Mitchell. Tough on both of them but something has to give and it would seem that Mitchell has, at least for now, fallen below McIntyre in the pecking order. At least this meant a balance among the replacements, with two defensive (including a wing-back), two midfield, and two attacking options.

Again, I don’t propose to go through all the game’s incidents, it’s a day after the event and there were just too many. Enough for whichever side lost to have pointed to their missed opportunities but with nobody to blame but themselves.

So the first lesson is surely that we have to be more clinical in converting good openings in open play into goals. Sure, Berry has to feel that if only he had directed his header to anywhere other than down at their prostrate keeper it would have been a goal. And just how the Docherty shot in the second half did not end up as a goal is still a mystery. There’s no legislating for those moments, but others that came and went were more problematic.

Campbell, who was again central to most of our attacks, was played in and we had numbers up, but the move ended with a weak effort easily blocked (he seemed to be trying to repeat the effort against Exeter but from a wider angle), while an early break saw Edwards clear in space but Campbell’s first touch let him down. Godden had a shot on the turn around the penalty spot after their keeper spilled a high ball, colliding with his own player, which he couldn’t get on top of, nor could Berry control one that rebounded to him (not the one off the bar) and hit it well over. Coventry shot over the bar, as did Gilbert late on, while Aneke tried to curl one in from inside the box but didn’t get the angles right.

Perhaps it was just one of those days when for most of it looked as though we would never score. We had been pretty clinical against Exeter and you can’t get it right all the time.

Second, what was wrong with the defence? Forget their goal. It actually came after we had blocked successive shots from much more dangerous positions, seemed like the danger had passed as the ball was well outside our box. As soon as their guy hit it though, you felt ‘oh merde, this doesn’t look good’. Rather you have to criticise aspects of our display as there were too many misplaced passes which put us in danger, an offside trap sprung in the second half resulting in a very good chance for them. Ramsay in particular had a wobbly afternoon, very unusual. Give Leyton Orient some credit here. They passed the ball well and were adept at creating space with intelligent runs going forward. They even managed to bring on a winger for the last 10 minutes or so who scared the life out of me and so nearly laid on a second, which surely would have killed off the game. But I don’t doubt Jones and his team will be taking a look at some of their openings and our mistakes. That we only conceded one was due primarily to their failings in front of goal.

Did Jones’ substitutions change the game? Yes and no. He waited until the 68th minute before changing anything, with Leaburn, Docherty and Gilbert on for Anderson, Berry and Edwards, him being sacrificed for a shift in the set-up. Then on 77 minutes Aneke entered the fray for Coventry, by which time we were getting back to basics and going longer and longer, for good reason. It all led to a very happy combination of circumstances, but was it accident/desperation or design? Something Napoleon said about lucky generals comes to mind. 

Their keeper had already dropped one cross, albeit impeded by his own player, and misread another, which saw Ramsay fail to put away with a clean header. But when it came to stoppage time we had Leaburn, Aneke, Jones, Gillesphey and Ramsay to target and with Gilbert someone who it seems can deliver quality balls in from set pieces. With the others causing mayhem and occupying their main defenders, first Gillesphey and then Ramsay were left relatively free to head home at the far post from close range, having manoeuvred to find themselves up against smaller opponents. Was that the plan? If so it worked to perfection, even though it did rely on us getting the corners in the first place.

Apparently we’ve now scored more goals in stoppage time (10) than any other team in England. That is not accidental but it is in stark contrast with recent seasons, when the opposition tended to bring on effective fresh legs for the closing stages while we couldn’t do the same – and paid the price. The matchday squad now gives us options, whether through a change in formation, fresh legs in like-for-like changes, and increased physical presence up front when we are chasing games.

We have to keep our fingers crossed for the run-in that we avoid injuries and suspensions. In addition to the 18 in the squad yesterday you can add Maynard-Brewer as and when fit, Mitchell, Kanu and Ahadme in terms of players who would (I hope) expect to be in or around the first team. That may be enough, but we can also draw on Hylton and if needed the youngsters – Laqeretabua and Enslin have at least had a taste of it.

Will it be enough? Nobody knows, but we’re still on a roll and we’ve put ourselves in one of the play-off spots. Barnsley at The Valley on Tuesday night and Stockport away on Saturday have to be negotiated before we can breathe a little easier. But isn’t it a good feeling after a match like yesterday’s to be looking at the table and thinking … ‘eight points behind Wycombe, is it possible … we still have to play them …’?