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Monday 28th August. Following Saturday’s inept display Bruce has lambasted his players, and described it as the worst performance since he took over at the club. He has told the players to roll up their sleeves and show a bit more grit and determination. I hope he has had this translated into Dutch for the benefit of Mr Wijnhard who looks completely out of sorts at the moment. On the subject of Mr W, I heard a rumour that he had a clause in his contract that says he has to be picked for every game unless he is injured. This is interesting, and perhaps this explains why sometimes he plays like a man whose shirt isn’t under threat. Town had the chance to redeem themselves today with an away game against Stockport County minus Kevin Gray. The transfer saga continues, with Gray's illness proving to be genuine and although he is technically still on loan, he only played for around an hour in his first game. The deal looks to be dead and it is a question of him regaining some of the 10lb weight he has lost and hopefully we will quickly see him back in Town’s central defence alongside Chris Lucketti. I didn’t make the short trip over the Pennines to South Manchester as I felt that they didn’t deserve my support, and besides that spare room will not decorate itself (unfortunately). Whilst filling and sanding however, I listened to the match commentary on Radio Leeds Leeds Leeds as guess what, there were no Premiership games to cover so we were the featured game on FM. It really annoys me how our local BBC station ignores the poor old Nationwide teams until the top flight have a gap in their fixtures, I think I might switch my allegiance to Home 107.9 permanently, at least we are guaranteed coverage. By all accounts the performance was far better than the one we suffered just 2 days earlier. Chris Beech made his first start of the season replacing Scott Sellars in Midfield, and Jon Dyson partnered Chris Lucketti in central defence with Thomas Heary returning to right back. Bruce also gave Delroy Facey a start, partnering Clyde Wijnhard up front, with Martin Smith playing wide left. It sounded as though Town had the lion’s share of the game and the lion’s share of the chances, but were unable to convert these into 3 points. A combination of sub standard finishing and top drawer keeping from the Stockport custodian resulted in the first clean sheet of the season at both ends of the pitch. Following his injury, Chris Beech was restored to the side, and both he and Chris Holland showed that Town were keen to put Saturday’s inept display behind them with early shots effectively collected by Lee Jones. The attacking intentions continued throughout the half with chances falling to Facey, Irons and Wijnhard, the best of which was a Facey header from only about 6 yards out which was put wide after about 20 minutes when it seemed easier for him to score. Stockport created absolutely nothing in the opening half hour whilst most of Town’s better chances fell to Martin Smith but he was unable to find the target for the most part, and the few shots on target were weak efforts easily collected by Jones. As the end of the half neared Lee Jones was called upon twice to make two excellent saves as he turned a looping Delroy Facey effort over the bar and then denied Clyde Wijnhard at point blank range. As the minutes ticked by I become more edgy ever mindful of Town’s recent record of conceding stupid goals as the half time interval approached and it was with some relief as I heard Nico Vaesen save well with his feet as the dangerous Ian Moore shot for goal having collected a pass inside the penalty area. The resulting corner came to nothing and for the first time this season we had managed to negotiate the pre interval period safely, now there was the little matter of the early stages of the second half. Having safely negotiated the infamous period just before half time, Town suffered a blow within a minute or so of the restart with Chris Holland sustaining an injury, which sounds as though it might keep him out for up to six weeks or so. The opening period of the second half sounded a much more even affair which few chances coming from either side, Ian Moore again come closest with Nico Vaesen needing to be alert to make a timely block. Ben Thornley who replaced the injured Holland seemed to be lively on the ground where he spent 3 months on loan prior to joining Town, and we gradually regained our dominance for the latter part of the second half. Town began to go in search of the elusive goal that should have brought 3 points over the Pennines, but chances for Smith, Wijnhard and Facey were all saved by the Stockport keeper. Even at the death, shots from Irons and Baldry gave hope of a maximum points return but it was not to be Town’s lucky day. With some tough games on the horizon particularly against Bolton and Wimbledon it was important that Town got a solid 90 minutes under their belts, and the commitment seemed far more evident with Town unlucky not to score on a number of occasions. It has been a long time since we last managed a clean sheet (March last season I think) and it’s just a shame that we couldn’t notch at the other end. However it’s a useful point anyway and keeps us unbeaten away from home. Now, if only we can just get our poor home form sorted out we can really start to motor…
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All words and thoughts by Chris except where stated.
A big thank you to Machala for putting up with me doing this and Ian for his support and my Mum for her proof reading.
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