Town 1 Bristol City 1
Picture from Mark’s Mobile Phone
Mark Harrison, Writer.
Twitter: @MarkHarrison15
Another 518-mile round trip for me from Devon for the game against Brizzle City. Taking in Leicester as a halfway break and an over night stay at mum’s place.
Would the journey be made worthwhile with 3 points and a scintillating display of front foot football? Or would storm Elin sweep in at around 3pm and spoil it all?
The actual attendance in the stadium was as low as I have seen this season. The weather, the “lure” of Christmas shopping and Town’s recent unattractive, functional football all contributed to this, I am sure.
In the first half, Elin lay somewhat dormant and the biggest issue was the away side finding their feet rather quicker than Town, who had Maxwell to thank for not being 2 or 3 down early on, with some good saves.
Town deployed attacking wing backs in Koroma and Headley which was a sign of intent. However, The Robins quickly established that this was an area to exploit and spent the first 20 minutes getting in the space down the sides with Knight and Weimann looking dangerous and James pulling the strings in midfield. They just lacked someone in the middle in that period to provide the finishing touch. Helik, Lees and Pearson as well as Maxwell doing well to quell the storm.
Then mid-way through the half, against the run of play, Town caught their opponent cold as they broke away from the away side’s corner. David Kasumu (Town’s man of the match in my eyes) showed great pace and then a composure to play the right pass at the end of his lung buster run for Bergzorg to finish very well.
The rest of the half was even with neither goalkeeper really tested.
During the half time interval, storm Elin got a bit angrier, and that meant Town were well and truly playing into the wind in the second half as conditions got trickier and affected the quality of the football. Once again Bristol City started quickly, and Town were caught square as a nice through ball found Weimann who picked out Conway who finished with a crisp shot past Maxwell.
City looked the more accomplished side throughout, but were generally kept at arm’s length by Town in the second half. The referee continued to be inconsistent with his interpretation on foul play and was increasingly becoming less than a firm favourite of the home crowd. Then in the 54th minute, the big talking point, as Tanner looked to, no in fact, definitely handled the ball in the box with Burgzorg poised in front of a gaping goal. Mr Davies decided there was nothing in it and waved play on. (VAR in the Championship anyone? Perhaps a discussion for another day)
Spot of Bother
At this stage it’s worth pointing out that Town don’t generally get awarded penalties. Do they Mr Moss?
The last penalty we were awarded was on 22nd October 2022 (432 days ago) when Rhodes (13 goals in 17 for Blackpool) converted at Luton. We must go back even further for our last penalty in a home game. This was 5th March 2021 (1044 days ago) when dear Yaya Sanogo missed v Cardiff.
At one point, Bristol City had suffered a similar anomaly with no pens and felt so aggrieved they contacted the PGMOL to raise the issue and a fan site set up a clock measuring the time since their last penalty. www.bristolcitypenalty.co.uk if you’re interested. Thought not.
Anyway, I hope by raising this, it may positively jinx us into a penalty on Tuesday V Preston.
The “elephant in the room” on this penalty question is that you need to enter the box to get one. It would be cruel to suggest Town never do, but I am sure that stats would bare that we are one of the lowest in the league for box entries. Anyone got an Opta account??
Running Out of Steam
Once again, it was notable that we had players who could not complete 90 minutes. Match fitness is an issue and counts against Town upping their box entries. If you don’t buy a ticket, you can’t win the raffle or in this case, if you don’t enter the box, your XG is crap. I don’t think the latter phrase will replace the former.
Why are we seeing players running out of gas? It’s not a simple answer, but here goes….a small, unbalanced squad lacking in the ability to be rotated, which can lead to more soft tissue injuries which in turn depletes the squad. A defensive style which is more energy sapping, and it is noticeable that the majority of the injuries are players in more attacking roles who do a lot of sprints, twists and turns. Was the pre-season adequate to get the whole squad match fit? I am not certain on that and there are one or two individuals who still lack basic fitness, which is unforgiveable.
Maxwell v Nicholls
When Town signed Chris Maxwell in the summer, I thought he was as good a number two goalie as we could have got. A definite tick for this piece of recruitment. Since he has come into the side he has done brilliantly. Having said that, I was surprised that he got the nod over Nicholls even though it would have appeared harsh should he have been dropped to the bench. Unless Nicholls is still a little short of fitness or there is transfer business going on in the background, I would have put him straight back in. He remains a huge asset and a top keeper in my eyes. But I am sure there are plenty who would disagree with me on this selection dilemma and one of them is Darren Moore!
Looking Ahead
Once again, we welcome Preston for an evening match this Tuesday (it might have even happened by the time you read this) Are we in for a classic? Almost certainly not sadly as they rarely are against Preston, who are digging in like Town after a poor run of form. Neither side seem adept at being able to shut the back door and yet offering a threat going forward.
Town really need to rotate the team to give them their best chance, but personnel is thin on the ground. Sorry it has 0-0 written all over it. Or can Town repeat the feat of two seasons ago and win without registering a shot on target?!
Up The Town!!
Matt’s ratings
In this section Matt will rate the players on a scale of 1-10 with 6 being used as an average to passable performance. TRIGGER WARNING! half marks will also be used if a player is between scores.
Chris Maxwell -7- Solid again, although the equaliser seemed to go straight through him. Deserved to keep his place.
Matty Pearson -6- He could plough fields with his right foot. Defensively fine but caught out on the equaliser.
Michal Helik -7- Also caught out a little for the equaliser in an otherwise solid performance.
Tom Lees -6- Struggled initially with the advanced midfielder Bristol deployed but thereafter solid as usual.
Josh Koroma -6.5- Was fine as a right wing back. Moved up front later in the game and had Town’s only 2nd half attempt at goal with a saucy overhead kick.
David Kasumu -8- Added the kind of energy and thrust you don’t realise you miss until he’s not there. The Town goal was all about the best of Kasumu. Was cynically hacked at by Joe WIlliams on several occasions who should have been shown 2 or 3 yellows but received none. Ref = whopper.
Jonathan Hogg -6.5- I didn’t really get the criticism of Hoggy after the game. His passing aside I thought Town struggled with their organisation which was brought back in line after a rough 20 minutes thanks to Hoggy taking control of midfield and organising those around him. Hogg won plenty of 2nd balls but only his use of it stops him from a higher score.
Ben Wiles -5- Still struggling with form and injury recovery. It’s been a tough start to life in HD1 for the midfielder. Hopefully sunnier times ahead.
Jaheim Headley -5- Headley’s first half was comparable to Martyn Booty away at Doncaster on 2002 - if you were there, you know. After being shredded by Mark Sykes in the opening 25 minutes, Headley to his credit recovered to put in a better 2nd half performance. We all must remember that he is still learning on the job - me included.
Danny Ward -5- A couple of nice layoffs early doors but after 25 minutes he looked absolutely cooked. Wardy is still working his way back to fitness and if our attacking options weren’t so stark, he would more than likely be allowed to work back to match sharpness from the bench.
Dr Burgzorg -7- Like all good Dr’s gave Town a welcome shot in the arm by finishing Kasumu’s pass like the good clinician that he is. Usual Zorg performance, a dash of panache, a mix of frustration, but a goal and was denied a stonewall penalty which should see Andy Davies refereeing in the Heavy Woollen Gate League this weekend as punishment.
Edmonds-Green -5- A natural right wing back said Darren Moore post match on Radio Leeds. Yeah, I don’t see it Darren to be honest. Right sided centre back, yes. Wing back? Nah.
Brahima Diarra -5- A frustrating cameo, but in fairness when Diarra picks up the ball for those mazy runs, the passing options are few and far between.
Josh Austerfield -NA- Only had two touches of the ball so not enough to offer a fair mark. Another angle to Town’s lack of squad depth is that it hinders the development of players like Austerfield who desperately need to be out playing football and learning the game. Town unfortunately can’t afford to let Austerfield go as we can barely fill the bench this season, so Austerfield stays to make up the numbers. In the past, a lot of young talent has stagnated and regressed rapidly by being utilised as squad fillers and having little exposure to meaningful football. Town need to halt this going forward, otherwise the next Lewis O’Brien could become the next Chris Atkinson very quickly.
