| Midland Saint - Preston & Birmingham match reports 05:58 - Nov 3 with 865 views | saintwizzler |
“…You promised me a life
You promised me everything would change…”
PRESTON NORTH END 2 SAINTS 2
I must admit I was dreading this fixture having been traumatized by the two dreadful midweek defeats at Deepdale under the SKY cameras in 2007. That was actually a very poor year for us as we lost three times to the Lilywhites. For most of the second half it seemed like things were heading the same way. Saints were simply terrible and easy meat for a basic Preston side. Fortunately, the home team made the mistake of assuming that the game was already won when we got a very late corner. They also never expected that our keeper would be the only Saints player to attack the ball all evening. Somehow the ball ended up in the back of the net to give us a very lucky escape that made all the difference to the long drive home.
Preston is easy enough to get to for us. We just got on the M6 and drove for a long, long way from J6 to J32. It would have felt a lot easier without the interminable 50mph limits and doom laden “queues after junction” signs. But having set off at 2 pm we were parking just after 5 pm in the park opposite the ground that inexplicably allows free parking.
The Internet Football Ground guide sent us to a social club on the other side of the park. They were very hospitable and didn’t bother with the usual formalities of signing in. Walking the 10 minutes to the stadium I was treated to a short but rather spectacular firework display. It was coming up to 15 years since I was last in Deepdale. Having been heavily modernized it is a fine example of a Championship stadium with the benefit of being on a very large site. And the steeply banked seats gave us an excellent view.
If you think the rousing speeches we used to have at St Mary’s, before we apparently relocated to LA South Central, were embarrassing, then the paean to Preston was excruciating. And it went on and on. Strange that the team then ran on to the pitch to a tune from a band formed in Basildon rather than say something from Eddie Calvert (the man with the golden horn). The away fans made up a significant proportion of the 15,000 crowd.
Saints were wearing the black away kit. There were a number of changes including Holgate in for Harwood Bellis, Bree in for Manning and Charles in for Sulemana.
The game was very poor. The manager talks about the need to be brave. I wish we were a little less brave in our passing game around the keeper that just invites trouble. Smallbone got an early yellow card for needless shirt tugging. Charles, who looked so good at the start of the season seems to have lost a lot of confidence and Adams was just phoning it in. A bright spot was that Bree at left back looked a great deal better than Manning.
It felt like the game was drifting to 0-0 when KWP broke down the right wing, came inside and with his left foot struck a superb goal with the ball flying into the far corner of the net.
This should have been the time for Saints to finish Preston off but we slackened off and allowed them to build momentum. Mr Simpson annoyed the home fans by applying the rules. Then he started to give terrible decisions against us and really should have shown a red card for an appalling challenge on Adams. It seems ridiculous to me that a player subjected to a yellow card challenge that needed lengthy attention has to then leave the pitch to put the victims at a disadvantage. The official also made sure that Adams was kept out of the action as Preston went on the attack.
As halftime approached Bazunu made a near miraculous save at close range and then Charles blocked the ball causing it to hit his arm. VAR would have given us a lot to worry about but Mr Simpson waved away the appeals.
Adams was replaced by Mara for the second half. Unfortunately he was all over the place. Preston reinforced their attack with Osmajic. In the 52nd minute a corner was conceded and when the ball was headed out the sub thumped a shot from the edge of the penalty area. Most competent keepers might have saved a shot straight at them.
What came next was inevitable. The ball was lost in midfield. Charles tracked Potts all the way back but failed to take the yellow card necessary to stop him. The finish was straight through the keeper’s legs.
It did look like all was lost when a player tumbled in the penalty area. So we were relieved to see the yellow card shown for diving. Preston seemed to believe they had done enough. But despite multiple changes from the bench it seemed Saints could create no real pressure.
Sulemana came on and a few times did a good job in hanging the ball up at the far post for the target man we don’t have. Slowly he edged back down the pitch to be almost playing in midfield.
With Saints struggling Preston wasted time. Which was ultimately their undoing. Many home supporters had already headed for the exits when we got a late corner. Bazunu was urged up the pitch for one last go. He surged towards the ball and next thing we knew it was in the corner of the net. Even watching the replay a few times it is hard to see what happened. But although Bazunu might not have contacted the ball he influenced the own goal. The celebrations erased the memory of the awful 90 plus minutes before.
Getting away from our parking spot meant negotiating a vast swathe of people walking in the opposite direction. Luckily they were quite compliant in parting in front of us. With only a few delays we were on the motorway in about 20 minutes and home by 1am.
The one thing we can say about this team is that we do at least keep going. 21 points from 13 games is not a bad haul unless you look at the top two in this division.
Saints team: 31Bazunu 2Walker-Peters 6Holgate 35Bednarek 14Bree 16Smallbone (S Armstrong 57') 4Downes (Fraser 72') 24Charles 9A Armstrong (Alcaraz 82') 10Adams (Mara 45') 23Edozie (Sulemana 58')
Subs: 1McCarthy 7Aribo 17S Armstrong 18Mara 20Sulemana 22Alcaraz 26Fraser 27Amo-Ameyaw 29Meghoma
Summary: The only virtue was we kept going Top Man: KWP
SAINTS 3 WAYNE ROONEY’S BIRMINGHAM CITY 1
What a pleasant surprise this turned out to be. After such a poor performance on Wednesday I expected a struggle against a Birmingham side that would surely be galvanized by the impact of Rooney. But Saints played well, the Blues didn’t really turn up and at last we had a win made comfortable by a late goal.
Yet again we had an early start imposed by a lunchtime kick-off. But the virtue of being on the road so early is the light traffic so we made the trip in record time and were tucking in to breakfast by nine.
There were a reasonable number of Birmingham fans in the 28,924 crowd. They were quite noisy at first but soon became rather quiet. The away side wore their normal blue shirts and socks, but rather than swapping white socks for blue they adopted an eyeball searing orange colour.
The Saints side restored to normal strength by the unavailability of Adams once again decided to start the game by attacking towards the Chapel end.
It didn’t take long for Saints to take the lead. Adam Armstrong did very well to get away on the left to loft a cross to the far post. That gave Harwood-Bellis an easy header for his first goal for Saints. There was post match moaning about offside. But it would only ever have been considered offside in the VAR world.
Saints started to put together some decent football. Downes, now at last getting into his full stride was very good, Adam Armstrong ran his socks off and Alcaraz looked much brighter than in recent games.
In the 22nd minute Sulemana did brilliantly to get behind the defence and make for the byline. He looked up and placed the ball low across the goal eluding the keeper on its way to Alcaraz at the far post. He had the easiest of opportunities and made no mistake.
It could have been a romp from then on but the football played was not rewarded with goals. There was a moment of worry when Bazunu rushed out of his goal and appeared to clatter Burke. If VAR was available we would probably have had a five-minute wait for a penalty and red card.
During the half-time break there was a nostalgic session with Marians Pahars. But for injury he would have been one of the world’s great strikers and not with us for very long. He still seemed quite happy at being an enduring Saints legend.
Saints continued the second half looking comfortable. Too comfortable it turned out. For the second home game in a row we seemed to switch off after a lengthy injury to the opposition. The ball was boomed forward, flicked on and then KWP lost a tussle with Stansfield. Seconds after coming on as a sub he was able to run forward and power the ball past Bazunu. For trying too delicate a touch on the ball and losing it cost KWP my Top Man award for yet another outstanding game. In mitigation, he may still have been stunned by an awful scissor challenge that Mr Webb didn’t see.
A manager with something about him might have sensed that Saints were often vulnerable at this point of a game. Rooney did nothing and rather than going all out for an equalizer Birmingham’s response was muted.
The good thing was that Martin did respond. First, the fading Alcaraz was replaced by Aribo. And I have to say he did a very good job of retaining the ball, which was just what was needed. Then Fraser replaced Sulemana and finally Charles and Edozie were on for Stuart Armstrong and Smallbone.
It was the subs that made the crucial goal in the 86th minute. Fraser crossed from the left, Edozie did very well to head the ball down and Adam Armstrong finished off with a low shot driven into the turf and skimming into the net.
There were smiles all around St Mary’s now as what seemed a tricky fixture actually became on of the rarest treats for Saints fans – an easy win.
We came to the end of September on the point of despair. Yet October has ended with six games unbeaten and a very healthy 14 points. Perhaps the team is starting to come together at last?
Saints team: 31Bazunu 2Walker-Peters 21Harwood-Bellis 35Bednarek 14Bree 16Smallbone (Charles 81') 4Downes 17S Armstrong (Edozie 82') 22Alcaraz (Aribo 69') 9A Armstrong 20Sulemana (Fraser 76')
Subs: 1McCarthy 3Manning 6Holgate 7Aribo 18Mara 23Edozie 24Charles 26Fraser 27Amo-Ameyaw
Summary: Pleasantly easy Top Man: Downes
Lyrics: Tenpole Tudor – Header Now
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