In good company for the Walk to the Wood. 20 Saintsfans for the 8 mile stroll to Meadow Park, Broughinge Lane. The highlight was the refreshment stop at The Queen Adelaide in Shenley. The single, temporary relief barman was unprepared for the local interest in the Manchester United vs. Arsenal cup game on T.V. Then 20 thirsty City fans appeared. He lost it. £1,800 or so raised, I hear. Well done to everyone concerned.
Woood. 16th in the league with 34 points from 30 games. They have struggled of late with 1 point from the last 12. Lee Harvey has left for Hendon but among their ranks today are former Saint, Noel Imber and recent former temporary Saint, Jude Stirling, on loan from Stevenage. City are third in the table, desperate for points to maintain a title challenge.
Cookie selected Wilmot in goal, 3 at the back: Evans, Brown (C), and Naylor; 5 in the middle: Young, Challinor, Hyatt, Lodge and Oakes; and up front Slinn and Crawshaw. On the bench: Moran, Kean, Deacon, Standen and Martin.
This was awful.
The Saints never really got into the game. From the first half, City threatened once or twice and a Crawshaw volley was comfortably saved by Imber. Woood were the more lively in a poor game. Their goal, after half an hour, summed up the day. A punt from Imber hit Crawshaw on the backside. He immediately turned and challenged Imber who did well to dribble the ball away wide to the right, unchallenged by the City midfield. The Keeper found Preston on the half-way line and sprinted back to his goal. A long ball forward to the edge of the area, hesitancy by the City defender, and Stirling nipped in to beat Wilmot from just inside the box. 1-0.
At half time, Cookie replaced Lodge with Moran, who had a sound second half, and reverted to 4-4-2. The back line was solid but other than Crawshaw, who put in his usual high work-rate, and Young who found space intermittently, the rest of the City side weren't at the races today. Speculative long balls, and we saw plenty of those, were comfortably handled by the home defence. No sustained pressure was created and the final ball into the box was poor. Woood are a very ordinary side and City had enough possession but didn't seem to know what to do with it. Slinn was replaced by Martin who saw litte of the ball. F.T. 1-0.
This was really disappointing. The most disappointing element was the apparent lack of effort. We all have bad days but too many players appear to accept that someone else will put in the effort. That won't be acceptable to Cookie who needs to kick ass, and soon. A disapponting crowd of 268, about half of which were the Travelling City Faithful. No, I didn't walk home.
Entertainment 3/10. Atmosphere 3/10. Technical merit 2/10. Referee 4/10. |
