Posted by jimmy on February 29, 2008, 2:15 pm, in reply to "Re: City 2-0 Newport IoW: A View From The Terraces"
Not sure it's the self belief, more like the half time team talk!!!
--Previous Message--
: Another precise and well articulated review
: ChrisB. I agree with your sentiments that an
: on the ground passing game suits us more
: than the hopeful long ball. The first halves
: against Paulton and Newport were excellent.
: Do we lose our self belief?
:
: --Previous Message--
: With the disappointing return of only two
: points from the last four matches hanging
: over them, it was important that City
: regained some lost momentum and got their
: promotion-bid back on track. Having held
: City to a 1-1 draw on the Island, and
: recording their first home win of the season
: last Saturday, the visitors might have
: harboured hopes of making a nonsense of the
: points-gap between the two sides.
: The home side made their intentions clear
: from the kick-off when, within the first 30
: seconds, Leon Woodruffe’s pass released Mark
: Bell on the left and his lofted pass was met
: by Darren Pond whose left-footed shot beat
: Sam Webb in the Newport goal but curled just
: beyond the far post.
: In fact the first five minutes saw several
: chances come in rapid succession for City.
: A Bell cross picked out Mark Jones at the
: far post, but his header was blocked by a
: defender; Mike Lyon rolled a pass into Errol
: Telemaque’s path and his accurate shot was
: well saved by Webb at the expense of a
: corner; an interchange of passes between
: Lyon and Telemaque saw the latter pull his
: shot wide; and Lyon hit the side-netting
: from a very narrow angle. Mark Lilley at
: the other end latched on to a misplaced pass
: from Woodruffe, but was quickly closed down
: by Avery before he could take advantage.
: But after all this pressure, it came as no
: great surprise when City took the lead in
: the ninth minute.
: Jones held the ball up well on the right and
: played it back for Andy Gunn to loop a high
: cross into the box where the ball was missed
: by Telemaque and a defender jumping together
: in front of Webb who, unsighted, failed to
: gather the ball and Mark Bell , using his
: head in more ways than one, stooped low to
: nod the ball gently home.
: The half continued in this vein throughout
: with City generally in command of the
: midfield and probing well on both flanks,
: whilst the visitors were clearly defending
: resolutely in numbers, intent on damage
: limitation, and hoping that a quick break
: from defence might catch the City defence
: cold.
: A clever free-kick routine allowed Telemaque
: to lift a ball to Gunn at the far post with
: the defenders expecting a shot, but Webb
: saved well at the foot of the post; a foul
: on Liam Malone gave City a free-kick twenty
: yards out and Telemaque’s precise shot drew
: a fine low save from Webb.
: Around the end of the first quarter Newport
: ventured forward a little more, and, after a
: patient build-up, Richard Moore found
: himself in space and faced with a retreating
: defence but pondered too long on the
: options, and the chance was gone.
: Webb, who was being kept busy and generally
: performing very well, was at fault, however,
: on the half-hour when he misjudged a ball
: into the area from Pond, allowing Bell to
: take it past him only to see his shot
: rebound from the post.
: As the half reached it conclusion a quickly
: taken free-kick from Jones to Malone
: produced an opening for Pond, but he
: snatched at the shot and cleared the bar;
: and then Bell, put through by a ball over
: the top beat Webb with a good shot that just
: failed to curl inside the far post.
:
: Half-Time: City 1-0 Newport
:
: From the restart a flowing move saw long
: crossfield pass pick out Mark Jones whose
: pass down the line set Telemaque free in
: acres of space but his cross was gathered by
: Webb at the second attempt.
: In the lively first-half the home side had
: created plenty of chances, but they
: struggled in the second period to really
: take command and put the result beyond
: doubt, with Webb comfortably dealing with a
: succession of high crosses into his
: territory from various parts of the field.
: Lyon just missed the target after some good
: footwork on the edge of the box, while
: Telemaque was close to beating Webb to a
: bouncing ball over the top and was then just
: offside as he raced into an inviting space
: between the back-four and the keeper.
: Lilley seemed surprised at the Clubhouse End
: to find himself with time on the ball and
: pulled his shot wide, and with ten minutes
: left Saunders had by far the best chance to
: square matters but, after some neat
: footwork, shot weakly at Smith.
: With two minutes left a through ball finally
: produced a clear run on goal for a City
: player, and substitute Yashwa Romeo
: accelerated away from a last-ditch tackle to
: finish calmly and deliberately beyond Webb.
:
: Full-Time: Oxford City 2-0 Newport (IoW)
:
: City : Smith, Saulsbury, Woodruffe,
: Gunn, Pond, Avery, Jones, Malone, Lyon (
: Redknap 72 ), Telemaque ( Romeo 72 ), Bell.
:
: Newport : Webb, Woodford ( Squib 57 ),
: Bailey ( Tigwell 30 ), Lewis, Mann, Lewis,
: Bartlett, Moore, Saunders, Lilley ( Thomas
: 84 ), Zamitt.
:
: Three points then; and now just one point
: covers the top four. The clubs around us
: all have games in hand, so it’s going to be
: a long, hard two months to the end of the
: season. But could we really expect anything
: different?
: A goodly number of chances in the first
: half, but really rather unconvincing after
: the break, and a feeling among many watching
: from the sidelines that more of a
: passing-game, rather than the long-ball over
: the top, might have been more successful in
: unlocking a packed and determined defence.
: Still, isn’t this when managers say, “it
: wasn’t pretty, but it was three points”?
: And certainly there have been, and will be,
: times when City play much better but don’t
: win.
:
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