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THE ROAD TO WEMBLEY Part 1 - Macca keeps us in the fast lane, just.
When we were outside
Suddenly I looked at my watch, the 13.40 was five minutes away, catch it and another pint in the Head of Steam, a recommended station pub, I had to try it. Got it with 30 seconds to spare! 20 minutes on the Trans-Pennine Express, not that I saw much Pennine as the majority of the the journey takes place in a tunnel, the slower service may show the sights but takes over an hour, and I was ordering a pint of the lovely Cooper Dragon. What a wonderful pub this was, they are only in five stations at the moment but I hope they plan to spread south. As it was time for another but even I bulked at the Black Sheep Riggleswoth, all 5.9% of it, no it had to be the relative calm of a Daleside Leg Over, oh err missus.
Talking rugby with a rather large
As with earlier in the season we took up the mantle of flat track bullies against sides lacking in confidence, our precise passing tearing
My preview, apologies it was not able to get posted, made one point about the heading ability of the veteran Booth and there he was, from a corner, (what percentage of goals have we let in at set pieces now?), climbing above Francis and Clarke to power in the equaliser. Ridiculous, however I did not feel as down as I did at Millwall and Cheltenham, we were still playing some good stuff and Huddersfield were never going to be as bad as they were in the first half looking far more dangerous, especially down the left flank. On our left hand side Grant, who had looked a bit wobbly at first when replacing hamstring victim Mulgrew, grew in confidence and finished the match well. (Victors injury should see the Hunt to Millwall rumours put on hold for a while.)
I must here make a comment re some daft comments about Tilly's tactics. Home teams tend to attack you, away teams tend to defend more. That's the nature of football, these facts tend to happen more when the home team goes in one down. Tilly will always produce sides that play football and try and keep it on the ground, it's been the template of our recent successes. Frustrating though it is when we try and be the Arsenal of League One and walk the ball into the net, a passing movement between the Moose, on as sub, with Robson-Kanu, was annoying to say the least, but that's the way we do it, and the second best scorers in the division, nine more goals than money bags Forest, says we might be doing something right.
Anyhow, you all know what happened next. As I stood at the top of the exit ready to make a quick getaway Darryl made a long kick upfield in the third minute of the five added on. A flick on from, I believe, Moussa, let in the marauding McCormack who smashed the winner from the edge of the area. There had only been one side looking to get all three points and it was Southend who deservedly got them. Let's face it, when you've got a five hour journey home there's nothing like a last minute win to bring a smile to the face.
Other than a bridge being blown up on the M1 which meant a detour around Hemel Hempstead and the monsoon that hit
Flahaven - 7; Played well, confidence back after some wobbly performances. No fault with the goal, bad marking let him down.
Francis - 7; Did OK, still looks better going forward at times than doing his day job but as we had the ball for most of the game that was good enough. Did look shaky once
Clarke - 7; Where was he for the goal? Booth of all people. Other than that, the usual Clarkey ninety minutes, the odd slip matched by 100% effort and some brave tackling.
Barrett - 8; Another stirring performance of old following on from his terrific game on Tuesday. Winning everything, Adam was the starting point of some promising moves forward.
Mulgrew - 7; Perfectly OK until the injury forced him off for; Grant - 7; Made me very nervous when he first came on, probably wondering where he was! Not his best position I feel, maybe Barrett to the left and Francis inside for Hunt to return on the right if Mulgrew is out for a while, however, much improved second half which will cheer T&B up, the more options the better as we hit the Easter programme.
Black - 7; Far better game from Tommy than we've seen for a month. Wanted to be involved, swapping wings with Gower at ease, the
McCormack - 7; Good call by Tilly to bring the hungry Macca back over an unlucky Moose. Battled away and what a strike, not as good as
Bailey - 7; Got clobbered early, I think opposition managers are sussing out how important he is, but always looking to get into the action. Some nice short, quick passing to keep things moving forward.
GOWER - 9; Oh yes, Marky is back. Another, like Captain Adam, that realised it was time to up one's game against
Robson-Kanu - 7; Another great finish, not up to Tuesday's standards but good enough, added to some promising approach play means young Hal is improving with every game. Would not let him start in front of Barnard over Easter if Lee is 100% fit but useful to have on the bench.
Walker
Subs (not including Grant): Moussa - 6; Came on wide right for Black, which he doesn't enjoy, but continued to prove we have a player of real promise here.
Barnard - 7; As ever, a real pain in the backside for the Terriers defence once he replaced Robson-Kanu. Might have settled it if on earlier, Lee is the one Blues player who knows you are allowed to score from a yard out. Welcome back dude, hope he starts on Friday.