| Midland Saint : Stoke and Rotherham match reports 07:36 - Oct 9 with 886 views | saintwizzler |
STOKE CITY 0 SAINTS 1
“…And how I wish I, wish I'd done a little bit more…”
Stoke City under Pulis were perhaps the most vile team we have encountered. That mean spirit of vicious tackles, shirt pulling and in the face intimidation of officials still lives on at the Bet 365. So it was very satisfying to come away with a win that left the home fans howling with displeasure. It would have been even more satisfying had the good chances we created been converted to deliver a thumping. In the end the win relied on some resolute defeat and good work by Bednarek.
The M6 is not to be risked on a Tuesday evening. So we took a more scenic route via Coleshill and Lichfield to Stoke. As a frequent visitor to Stone for work I had found it very easy and free flowing. That was though before the advent of HS2 that has spread its malicious tendrils to bring traffic chaos across the Midands. Even so, we were still there early enough to park in our usual car park off Sir Stanley Matthews Way. It was a relatively pleasant evening, with just the first signs of an autumn chill. But the 15 minutes of hard rain coincided with our walk from the carpark to the Harvester adjacent to the stadium.
Stoke are an example of what can happen all too easily when a team used to Premier League status doesn’t make a swift return. The crowd was only just over 20,000 and they seemed relatively supine in contrast to the aggression that use to sway referees into bad decisions. There was a good contingent of Saints fans that largely outvoiced the home fans. We had a very good view in the lower tier, with the goal just off to the right.
Saints turned out in what has previously been the cursed black and yellow New Forest shirts. It was good to see that at last the team was unchanged.
You have to say that the game was not that great. Stoke were shockingly inept. Saints put some good moves together but the final ball was missing. The home crowd got on the back of Smallbone. That was very small minded as he was only on loan there, it is not as if he left them.
Our only moment of worry was when Bazunu raced out to make a clearance only to present Stoke with an open goal that they cam nowhere near to taking advantage of.
Mr Bell missed a few terrible challenges and the frequent shirt tugging. But he did show enough yellow cards to annoy the Stoke fans. Maybe the shirt-tugging did eventually get to him, because a few minutes before half time he awarded a free-kick that isn’t usually given.
It was in perfect JWP position. I wasn’t sure how Stuart Armstrong would do. But he did it brilliantly. A curving up and down strike gave Travers no chance. Strangely, even though the award of the kick and lining up to take it took over a minute just one minute was added on. The officials were held back for protection by stewards as they headed for the tunnels just to our left. As the home fans gave vent to their displeasure they were applauded off by the away fans.
There were no changes to either side. And for the second half we had a great view as Saints attacked towards us. It might have been game over very early on as Adam Armstrong got in a quite brilliant cross from the right to put the ball on the head of Stuart Armstrong. He did everything right by attempting to head the ball down into the turf in the way that always causes problems for keepers. By misfortune the ball hit the foot of a defender.
Just before the hour, Sulemana speeded into the penalty area and hit a shot that was pushed away. Wilmot, who was trying to cover, slid into the post and needed a long period of attention before being substituted by Thompson.
Alcaraz spent much of the game on the verge of doing something absolutely brilliant. Yet failed to deliver on doing something adequate and he lost the ball far too often. He is clearly a very good player, but right off form at the moment. How he has made the Argentina squad is beyond understanding.
It says a great deal that when we desperately needed a player to come on and make the ball stick Adams did not get the call. Instead we got Mara for Alcaraz. Fraser was a useful change for Sulemana who had run himself out, and he brought a useful note of nastiness to combat Stoke’s bile.
When Stoke introduced Wesley, the heir apparent to the title of “great galoot”, we knew what would happen. This is the 6ft 3ins unit that Villa paid £22 million for and then gave away to Stoke. Hard to imagine, but Stoke went even long ball.
It was time for the central defensive pairing of Bednarek and Harwood-Bellis to stand strong. There was a nervous moment when Bednarek came close to giving away a penalty as he crashed to the ground on top of a striker. It was hard to give in real time, but VAR probably would have given it as you can see Bednarek wrapping his arms around the player at one time.
Mr Bell might have been disinclined to give anything thanks to the constant dissent by Stoke players, with the obnoxious Johnson the ringleader. Even their keeper kept coming up the pitch to get in the face of the referee. To add to the bad feeling, after we had kicked the ball out for a player to get attention they didn’t return it and went on the attack.
Aribo came on for Adam Armstrong and then Holgate replaced Smallbone. I had 10 minutes on my stopwatch at 90 minutes. That is exactly what we got, which makes a nonsense of the 1 minutes for the first half. We played it out pretty well and Bazunu made a very good save from a low drive by Burger.
With seconds left Aribo did very well at the corner flag to win a time-wasting corner by kicking the ball off a defender. The assistant couldn’t see what was right under his nose yet very clear to us about 10 yards away and gave the goal kick. It would have been so Saints to have conceded from the resulting attack. But we held on for a very satisfactory win.
Harwood-Bellis, like Smallbone a former loanee to Stoke, gave it to the home fans at the final whistle. There was also a melee with the Stoke keeper scuffling with Alcaraz and going down dramatically although the replays don’t really show anything.
The car park allowed a very fast exit back to the southbound A34. It was all going swimmingly until just outside Coleshill we found the road actually shut – even though there had been no warning on the outward journey. So we had to divert back to the M6 that I had desperately been trying to avoid. We were still back before midnight though.
Saints team: 31Bazunu 2Walker-Peters 21Harwood-Bellis 35Bednarek 3Manning 16Smallbone (Holgate 93') 4Downes 17S Armstrong (Charles 81') 9A Armstrong (Aribo 81') 22Alcaraz (Mara 72') 20Sulemana (Fraser 72')
Substitutes: 1McCarthy 6Holgate 7Aribo 10Adams 14Bree 18Mara 23Edozie 24Charles 26Fraser
Summary: Ugly win against the ugliest of teams Top Man: Bednarek
SAINTS 1 ROTHERHAM 1
There was a feeling that this was going to be a straight-forward victory. I always had my doubts given our unusual history with the Merry Millers. Three times in a row we have lost cup games with them as a lower division side. The last time we played them in the league, 1965-66, we lost away and drew 1-1 at home. I doubt that many in the away following have ever seen them lose to Saints, and that probably applies to their parents as well. For the first half it did seem that we might steam-roller them, but for some bad luck and inspired goalkeeping – what you might call the Jonathan Gould effect – we would have done. For the second half we disappointingly reverted to the uninspired sideways passing with zero penetration that blighted our September. That still would have been enough but for a lack of professionalism in needlessly returning a ball that had been kicked out to allow Rotherham to make substitutions, and then switching off when it was humped forward.
It was a glorious October day. You could have believed it was spring but for the leaves falling from the trees. The journey down was also very easy, despite an inexplicable delay on the M3 caused apparently by the slow down signs.
Remarkably, the gate was still over 28,000. There were less away fans than usual. But those that did travel will have enjoyed their first visit to Southampton for generations.
Having won twice with an unchanged team, changes were made today. Che Adams was back in and apart from his early contributions was very poor.
The start was very bright indeed. KWP burst forward and hung the ball up brilliantly at the far post. Adams climbed to head against the post and Stuart Armstrong put the rebound away.
It looked like we were on the path to an easy win with Sulemana rampant on the wing and the ball zinging about superbly. Good chances were created, including a very good deflected header. But we found Johansson in the Rotherham goal in excellent form. He was though helped by so many shots being straight at him. The 25-year old is exactly the sort of competent and inexpensive keeper who would have made a tremendous difference this season.
The ball did go into the goal following KWP’s low cross but was given offside due to Adam Armstrong trying to get to it.
On the halfhour Rotherham made a decisive change with Oneydinma replaced by Revan. The aim was clear. By going for a back five they were going to stifle our chances of scoring more while hoping for something that might come our way.
The tactic certainly worked, although as half-time approached there was disruption caused by a medical emergency in the Kingsland stand to our right. Mr Busby came under some very vocal criticism from the crowd, although I understand that the protocol is now for the game to continue. Opinions on this will vary. My view is that it is perhaps better to play on instead of stopping and having the whole crowd looking on as a potential tragedy unfolds.
During a rather muted half-time it was announced that there would be a further 10 minute delay. The break of 25 minutes may not have helped. But where Saints were bright in the first half in the second half they were execrable. It was all about possession rather than penetration. Time and again the ball appeared to be moving forward and then when a cross was needed the ball was recirculated into the centre. It did not help that Adams could not possibly have looked less interested. There were times when we shot from the edge of the penalty area but it was always blasted high over the bar.
Just after 60 minutes a rather needless triple sub was made. You can see the need when losing. But when winning? It just disrupts the team. And why did Adams stay on? Alcaraz was hopeless as the replacement for Stuart Armstrong and it was nonsense to take off the striking potential of Adam Armstrong. Fraser, as we saw at Stoke, can have a role to play. But not when you desperately need someone to get down the right wing. Edozie was also a poor change for Sulemana, I would like to see both deployed at the same time.
In the 74th minute the ball was kicked out although no Rotherham player seemed in obvious distress. That enabled them to make a triple substitution. Naively we agree to play it back to them. Minds seemed to be elsewhere as the ball boomed towards our penalty area. The header away from Harwood-Bellis was halfhearted. The ball dropped on to the foot of Hugill and he met it instantly to lob Bazunu who was well off his line.
The Rotherham game plan had worked perfectly. One attempt on goal, one goal and a point in their grasp. Saints did at last start attacking. But the Rotherham keeper was in unbeatable form. Mara was a late change for Adams, while Aribo was swapped for Smallbone. They were not going to change the game.
The game petered out to give Rotherham their first away point of the season. Russell Martin’s post match interview focused on what should have been. It is his job to make the easy games certainties. Because while the play-offs remain still possible, another two points lost from being in the lead makes automatic promotion very unlikely.
In making my pre-season prediction of 72 points I budgeted to draw at home with Rotherham and lose away. I wish I had been wrong.
Saints team: 31Bazunu 2Walker-Peters 21Harwood-Bellis 35Bednarek 3Manning 16 Smallbone (Aribo 86') 4Downes 17S Armstrong (Alcaraz 63') 9A Armstrong (Fraser 63') 10Adams (Mara 86') 20Sulemana (Edozie 63')
Substitutes: 1McCarthy 6Holgate 7Aribo 14Bree 18Mara 22Alcaraz 23Edozie 24Charles 26Fraser
Summary: Lost concentration lost points Top Man: KWP
Lyrics: Beverley Knight - Shoulda woulda coulda
Next report - Hull [Post edited 9 Oct 2023 7:37]
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