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alliedaz added 21:56 - Mar 4
uuter crap season over thanx alot
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MarkFish added 21:59 - Mar 4
complete bolloX
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Mullet added 23:46 - Mar 4
After a rough week, the fixtures piled up and at the top of it today was night time trip into the North Korea of English football. As the locals sentenced all three vowels in their vocabulary to torturous hard labour amid a 90 minute vocal pageant of delusion and airbrushed history, Town set about the home side with militant vigour.

Much changed, and not too much the same in an opening where new strikeforce Wood and Varney looked very much a partnership of longer-standing. Both did neither as they buzzed and barracked into the defenders. It was Varney who had the best of the early moments, all 300 sets of Town feet left the ground with his, as he met a cultivated ball from Ando in space on the right. Piling high and hard the header met the net as we all fell back down to earth the lino's flag went up. It looked legit enough in real time from the opposite corner of the ground at least.

The midfield was stocked with the man many wanted back in the team. Occasional RB Parr started ahead of Mings at left midfield, Ando the other flank and Skuse covered by Tabb. The little Super Tabby was all things to all men tonight, in a man of the match performance where he did everything, and even did some of it quite well.

In the opening forays he nipped and tucked man, ball and yard effectively to keep Leeds on the back foot. Unfortunately they were set up to counter, and when they got the chance the backline showed the legs and the heads of beleaguered men. Only Smith came out of many things with much credit if his right foot was good for more than standing on it'd have been a performance deserving more recognition. Soon after Varney's goal had been chalked off, he ghosted into the unsighted corner of Bart's goal to deny a shot from close range and a certain opener.

Leeds might be a home from home for Mick but his side never let the hosts get too comfortable. That is once they had scared us with a marauding header on goal following a mishandled corner. Varney wafting a foot on the edge of the area towards a ball which allowed the Whites to attack needlessly.

A black mark against the man who had been six feet of footballing rash all half. An irritant to Leeds' rearguard he moved himself and the ball about constantly and looked for openings either he or Wood could exploit. No matter how much white was slapped on him it seemed he would not be suppressed for long.

It was a game where the midfield looked better, as the expansive pitch gave Town more time to tease and test. However the defence tried to instil this tika taka approach and were nearly taken off their feet more than once. Both sides did well up until the 20 yard mark when going forward but crucially it was Town who were equally dubious in their own goalmouth. Blues were left agape as Berra slipped toward the end of the half and let Leeds attack with greater numbers. The effort was eventually quelled but the rowdy edge to the home fans behind the goal grew in line with creeping Town doubts.

End to end and set piece to set piece saw Leeds smash over from miles out after a freekick was given because Skuse was simply persistent enough not to let his man pass. Smith and Wood both had a go from scrambled freekick but failed to find the target in any meaningful sense. It was encouraging but rarely engrossing. The cumulative improvements across the front and middle were negated by the sloppiness at the back.

When the second half emerged it was again Town who started brightly and with purpose, albeit largely aimless in their intent. Skuse now developed the defensive habit of miscuing in the worst possible area and was lucky not to be harshly punished in largely decent performance. He certainly made himself noticeable by not doing what he was supposed to tonight.

In a second half where the first 45's industry was accentuated by improvisation rather than invention, Chambers did well to curl his weaker foot around a return from his throw in. Mings leapt with fishy intent but failed to make a splash with a nice header well saved.

Ando again looked to motor up and down the line and across the pitch in search of the ball but found little joy. Perhaps it's time to follow Bart and remove that pirate beard. Never has a player looked so off balance each time he met the ball and let it spin away. He is again a Renault Clio of a player, odd continental touch aside, the prospect of him doing 90 must simply terrify all around him. Again he was hauled off this time for Bru on 61.

Four short minutes of fury later and the impressively vocal Town following roared into life. On came Murphy for the much battered Varney. The #15 had worked for his standing ovation but failed to produce the telling touch that might truly have earn it. You could feel everything or at least something swell amongst us.

On 71 Mings again failed to find row Z and tangled with his man stupidly on the corner of the Town box. Howatt duly obliged with a moment of “howzat?” and buried a thunderous freekick inside Bart's near post. Some might question the Pole but answers solve nothing in the face of goals that good or mistakes that bad.

All the anxieties and hope bubbled as the air filled with tangible emotion and dread. Mick chucked up the 4th official's board and on came Sears. The boy wonder was lightning fast and sh1t hot. Wood was the man cut in the mean time, as Town had fashioned chances and forced blocks but built little on their momentum or steely determination to get into the game. That is until Bru again showed that important improvisation. A jazzy ball flicked back at home side was met with a naughty touch by Sears, sending him through enough people and into enough space to embarrass the Leeds keeper. No amount of camouflage shirts can hide the fact he let the ball slip under him all too easily. We didn't care, we were having party!

A goal apiece and a sweet feeling Town at last were getting their just desserts. That was until in a manic few minutes Leeds tucked home another goal. Billy Sharp, the once 5 minute Town fans favourite, showed he was too good for Town again this season by snapping a low effort neatly from close range. Hearts sank and so did heads into hands.

Much like the selection of Parr, the lack of penalties Town have received has been indicative of something or nothing for much of the season. When Town attacked down the left and Parr joined Sears in menacing forwards, Bamba threw his hands up in panic and cut out a cross. Spotkick!

Many Town fans were lucky not to go home homeless, as the man you'd bet on Murphy loomed over the ball. Those behind the goal, hissed and bubbled like a human cesspit. 12 yards and an inch might be the measure of success and failure this year. Going for accuracy, the league's leading scorer missed his mark. Whether the keeper was trying to atone for his earlier calamity or not I don't know. But he acted as if he got a touch or his breath alone steered the shot against the post. The clang of leather kissing steel was a dagger in Suffolk hearts. It was another betrayal of this term's romance and another illustration of why we miss Didsy so bloody much right now.

A squad stretched so thin, can only beat the drums of promotion for so long and it seems as the march towards the promise of promise stalls and falters less are willing to hear the same song from McCarthy. As the game drew to a frantic but often futile close, Town spent half an hour lacking any real shape or substance. Left could be found on right and vice versa, deep and ponderous in possession and the semblance of rigid 442 long gone. Especially when the old trick of Berra hurtling forward and winning header upon header fooled no one.

As the 5 or so minutes of injury time came to an end, for many so might the season you'd think. It seems unfathomable that it could be the case just yet. But tonight saw Town often do everything right and still get so much wrong. Forcing their own errors and manufacturing their own demise. It felt like two teams determined to wipe clean their records this term and allow each other to settle for the midtable fate they probably expected from each other so long ago last summer. Oh for the sun to shine again.
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TR11BLU added 13:52 - Mar 5
Mick got the selection wrong and compounded things by taking the best player off (Varney).
Sort it out or ship out Mick.

Suggested team for Sat, mobile and attack minded.

Kenny, Mings, Berra, Chambers, Parr, Bishop, Skuse, Bru, Varney, Sears, Murphy

Subs: Baikolswki, Connelly, Wood, Stewart, Smith, Tabb, Beryu
0



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6 AugSunderland A1 - 213
9 AugBristol R CCR1H2 - 00
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19 AugQPR A0 - 13
26 AugLeeds H3 - 46
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2 SepCardiff City H3 - 28
16 SepSheff Wed A0 - 16
19 SepSouthampton A0 - 16
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25 OctBristol City A0 - 13
28 OctPlymouth H3 - 26

1 NovFulham CCR4H1 - 32
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2 DecCoventry City H2 - 16
9 DecMiddlesbrough A0 - 25
12 DecWatford A1 - 28
16 DecNorwich H2 - 28
23 DecLeeds A4 - 06
26 DecLeicester H1 - 16
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1 JanStoke City A0 - 01
6 JanWimbledon FACR3A1 - 36
13 JanSunderland H2 - 113
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27 JanMaidstone FACR4H1 - 213

3 FebPreston A3 - 27
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2 MarPlymouth A0 - 25
5 MarBristol City H3 - 212
9 MarCardiff City A2 - 14
16 MarSheff Wed H6 - 010
29 MarBlackburn A0
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