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| First of many... |
2 players down after Wimbledon and then Ben Woodburn goes down with a positive Covid test. It's all Hallow's Eve and the Pool are cursed. Perhaps the returning James Husband will come out dressed as the grim reaper to add some comic value to when he inevitably scythes someone down. See what I did there? If we didn't laugh we'd cry.
Talking of scary things, the Mighty trailed their new addition to the managerial team with the kind of photo that suggests big Colin Calderwood has been brought in to add some serious darkness to the dugout and dressing room. If Critch and Mikey G resemble jolly youth workers imploring their charges to give it their all and handing out milky bars and orange juice for everyone afterwards, Colin looks like a glowering storm cloud ready to dish out a few meaty bollockings.
I don't really know a lot about yer man Calderwood that isn't obvious from reading his wiki page but I do know he's from Stranraer and that's a place which makes Fleetwood look like an opulent world of high end boutiques and fine dining experiences. Last time I went to Stranraer the sea was literally frozen and this shop window display caught my eye. There's something quite reassuring about the idea of having a nae nonsense Scot on the managerial team that appeals to my inner football puritan.
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| Stranraer's finest shop window display. Back to basics. |
There's something exciting and exotic about having Daniel Gretarsson in the back line. He's an international and everything, even if it's one cap for a country with a smaller population than the Fylde coast. (Iceland: 341,000, Fylde Coast, 352,000) - Think about that. It's possible that with those maths this lad is essentially 'as good as Matty Blinkhorn' who'd probably have got a few caps had the Gold coast ceded from the rest of the UK. That said, by the same logic, he could also be the new Jimmy Armfield. We'll see.
We also play Kenny Dougall for the first time, who should, on the evidence of his name alone, be another no nonsense Scot but is the first Aussie to play for us since David Carney (I think) and the goal brothers Jerry and Gary both start in a side which also has Sullay and CJ in it. I can't really work out who going to play where, but I guess it's Sullay in midfield adding theoretical silk to the steel of Williams and Dougall.
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The game starts with the usual promising bit of Blackpool possession before Burton make a series of half chances, the most notable coming from a what was either Husband dallying in possession or getting pushed off the ball. Other early highlights include a surprisingly good sliding tackle from Sullay, Gretarsson looking quite comfortable, Husband with a slightly dodgy professional foul as if just to tease us all with the prospect of a 3rd red card in 4 games and CJ belting one miles over after nice work from Yates.
The first sign that the Viking and Marvin are a new pair comes when Burton cut through with alarming ease - a simple forward pass draws out Gretarsson who can't make the challenge and the next pass exposes the hole he's left. Fortunately Burton's finish is wild - this won't be the only time this half we have course to be grateful for the Brewers' profligacy.
It's shaping up to be a bit frustrating. Madine does a great job to head the ball from the edge of the penalty area to under the crossbar where the keeper tips it over. Jerry Yates looks at the keeper from 3 yards away so the referee blows up because he's that sort of ref. Maybe Jerry made a nasty face? Burton then pass the ball out of play for no reason other than it's a League 1 match between two out of form teams.
Then we're in front! Us, in front! How about that? It's nice goal too, Sullay slips a pass to die for to shirtless Jerry who finishes beautifully, running diagonally and clipping the ball the other direction into the bottom corner. That's what he did on YouTube and there he is, doing it for us, for real.
The game steps up a gear. The newly confident Yates takes it in and threads a lovely pass to Hamilton who pulls back but to no one. At the other end Pool escape as a heavy touch denies Burton a chance after great work from Ennis on the right.
Dougall shows nice feet to create a shooting chance on the edge of the box which he drives low but too close to the keeper.
We also play Kenny Dougall for the first time, who should, on the evidence of his name alone, be another no nonsense Scot but is the first Aussie to play for us since David Carney (I think) and the goal brothers Jerry and Gary both start in a side which also has Sullay and CJ in it. I can't really work out who going to play where, but I guess it's Sullay in midfield adding theoretical silk to the steel of Williams and Dougall.
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The game starts with the usual promising bit of Blackpool possession before Burton make a series of half chances, the most notable coming from a what was either Husband dallying in possession or getting pushed off the ball. Other early highlights include a surprisingly good sliding tackle from Sullay, Gretarsson looking quite comfortable, Husband with a slightly dodgy professional foul as if just to tease us all with the prospect of a 3rd red card in 4 games and CJ belting one miles over after nice work from Yates.
The first sign that the Viking and Marvin are a new pair comes when Burton cut through with alarming ease - a simple forward pass draws out Gretarsson who can't make the challenge and the next pass exposes the hole he's left. Fortunately Burton's finish is wild - this won't be the only time this half we have course to be grateful for the Brewers' profligacy.
It's shaping up to be a bit frustrating. Madine does a great job to head the ball from the edge of the penalty area to under the crossbar where the keeper tips it over. Jerry Yates looks at the keeper from 3 yards away so the referee blows up because he's that sort of ref. Maybe Jerry made a nasty face? Burton then pass the ball out of play for no reason other than it's a League 1 match between two out of form teams.
Then we're in front! Us, in front! How about that? It's nice goal too, Sullay slips a pass to die for to shirtless Jerry who finishes beautifully, running diagonally and clipping the ball the other direction into the bottom corner. That's what he did on YouTube and there he is, doing it for us, for real.
The game steps up a gear. The newly confident Yates takes it in and threads a lovely pass to Hamilton who pulls back but to no one. At the other end Pool escape as a heavy touch denies Burton a chance after great work from Ennis on the right.
Dougall shows nice feet to create a shooting chance on the edge of the box which he drives low but too close to the keeper.
The referee is making a few dicey decisions, Gretarsson being barged in the back with the force of a bulldozer goes ignored somehow but Burton don't make the resultant corner count.
Turton picks it up and goes, for once not checking back, he drives it forward, finding Yates who again finds Hamilton and makes himself available for the return, adjusts himself, shimmies, makes space and then hits the post. So close. This is the real Jerry Yates. He's now finally looking better than Chris Long.
Burton respond as Niall Ennis makes a ridiculously good run, making Pool's defence look absurd, going past three before slipping at just the key moment. Again we're thankful for a poor final touch.
Sullay gets just about chopped in half by the Burton left back and the ref books Chris Maxwell because he's that kind of ref.
The forward play is much, much better - gone is the 20 sideways passes replaced by three direct passes - Sullay again, that little bit of magic threading the needle to find Madine, who in turn finds Yates who has a decent strike at goal. Yates alone has caused more threat than the team combined in the last few games.
Hamilton lifts it long, the Goal Machine takes it down and is off but can't quite run on to his own touch on.
Turton picks it up and goes, for once not checking back, he drives it forward, finding Yates who again finds Hamilton and makes himself available for the return, adjusts himself, shimmies, makes space and then hits the post. So close. This is the real Jerry Yates. He's now finally looking better than Chris Long.
Burton respond as Niall Ennis makes a ridiculously good run, making Pool's defence look absurd, going past three before slipping at just the key moment. Again we're thankful for a poor final touch.
Sullay gets just about chopped in half by the Burton left back and the ref books Chris Maxwell because he's that kind of ref.
The forward play is much, much better - gone is the 20 sideways passes replaced by three direct passes - Sullay again, that little bit of magic threading the needle to find Madine, who in turn finds Yates who has a decent strike at goal. Yates alone has caused more threat than the team combined in the last few games.
Hamilton lifts it long, the Goal Machine takes it down and is off but can't quite run on to his own touch on.
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Lets be clear. This hasn't been the second coming of Cruyff's Ajax, but it has looked much more like a coherent football team. The main points seem to be Sullay is getting on the ball, whereas he might as well not of existed on Tuesday. That's creating opportunities for Yates who looks a different player today and took his goal really well and has been involved in nice link up play. Dougall and Gretarsson have both done fine and both appear to have some quality on the ball and the latter isn't pining for astroturf as far as I can see.
Defensively, we're probably happy that Burton haven't finished their chances well, but we've had, in my opinion, the better of the half. It was definitely an improvement on previous weeks. Now lets go and win the game.
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Pool start well, Turton pulling back for Yates, who can only flick it up in the air, it falls for Kaikai who belts it hard but into the body of a Burton defender and out for for a corner. There's appeals for a penalty but nothing doing. From the corner, Madine flicks and Dougall hits it on the volley - it's blocked again but Pool getting close once more.
Kaikai picks up on a lovely Dougall interception then runs at the heart of the Burton defence, sells his man with turn and only lets himself down with the finish. There's the real Sullay. He's been so much more influential today.
Burton have a good spell where again the impressive Ennis causes problems but Grettarson's diving near post header prevents the critical moment of danger. It notable that Pool are playing as team defensively with unlikely players like Madine and Hamilton doing some good work.
It's getting a bit end to end. Yates and Kaikai interchange well and but for a strong 50/50 challenge Madine would have returned the ball to Sullay who'd have been clean through on goal. Pool have another move where it won't quite fall for Madine after another direct and quick interchange between the forwards.
You get the feeling Pool need to score and it feels like one of those where if we could get one more, we'd get four.
Score we do. But in this season of absurdity, of course it's in the wrong net. Burton go down the left with substitute Vernon crossing low into the box. Gretarsson sticks out a leg and diverts it home. Because of course he does. This is now the test. Do we fall apart or get on with it?
Yates takes in a ball from Dougall, shakes off his man runs a few yards and plays a beauty of a ball to Madine. The Goal Machine holds off his man, takes aim and fires, high and wide. If he could finish he'd be unreal.
A horrible bit of pinball sees Burton fire two efforts into desperate Blackpool defenders. A few minutes later, Vernon again gets away and drives the same dangerous ball across but this time it's through everyone. The game has swung back to Burton.
Just as I'm starting to think dark thoughts, Yates has a drive from a Madine flick on, it's charged down for a corner. Sullay delivers, Madine wins yet another flick on and Big Marvin is the unlikely man trying to turn and shoot but going down and drawing a refs whistle. We've got a fucking penalty! Shirtless Jerry steps up and slips it, no fuss, into the corner.
Sullay comes off, Ward comes on.
It's end to end with Burton having lots of possession in Pool's half and looking dangerous but Pool hitting on the break. Yates has a lovely run right up the middle where he lays off at the last moment for Ward who can't find the right cross. Madine spins and plays one of those beautiful passes he is capable off but again, CJ can't find the cross. Gretarsson then almost gets beaten at the far post only for the ball to scuff off the head of the Burton forward. Madine the total footballer releases Sarkic (now on for Jerry) who in turn strokes a lovely ball for CJ, who comes inside but can only fire into a sliding Burton defender.
Somehow the ref pulls out 5 mins, it's a tense time but we keep our footing and stand firm. It seems like a real match as they slide into tackles and we head away and block and when the final whistle blows it feels fucking fantastic.
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That's the best we've played since Swindon without question. Kenny Dougall deserves a knighthood for his calm, battling and surprisingly incisive performance in midfield, Yates has got a massive monkey off his back and looked really decent. Sullay playing deeper and getting up and about the forward line has worked, the enigma had an effect today. They've all done alright. The defence did pretty well, the midfield had more grit as well as purpose and the forwards more potency.
I've been critical of Critchley and his seeming obsession with a rigid way of playing. Today gave me hope in that he changed that way of playing, he got players up and around Madine who might not be the greatest finisher but is a decent fulcrum. Yates sitting just a bit deeper brought out a totally different player and the forward line looked coherent and . Arguably the weakest link came from CJ's end product and that's a sign of progress in that we've won a match without him shining.
Most of all, we've deserved that win, provided threat from the left, the right and down the middle. Ok, we've not looked like a side that will walk through the division, but we've looked like a team with some togetherness, awareness and ability to move the ball quickly. As welcome as the three points were against MK, we didn't look like that in that game. This was a much better display, we actually WON this match as opposed to happening to win it.
It's over a year since Armand won a defensive header and laid off to Feeney who then galloped all down the right, with Armand going up the middle, matching him for pace, one stride to each one of two of Feeneys. On that September night, the cross was inch perfect and the big man powered it home. All was good and I leapt for joy. Today, I did the same.
I've been critical of Critchley and his seeming obsession with a rigid way of playing. Today gave me hope in that he changed that way of playing, he got players up and around Madine who might not be the greatest finisher but is a decent fulcrum. Yates sitting just a bit deeper brought out a totally different player and the forward line looked coherent and . Arguably the weakest link came from CJ's end product and that's a sign of progress in that we've won a match without him shining.
Most of all, we've deserved that win, provided threat from the left, the right and down the middle. Ok, we've not looked like a side that will walk through the division, but we've looked like a team with some togetherness, awareness and ability to move the ball quickly. As welcome as the three points were against MK, we didn't look like that in that game. This was a much better display, we actually WON this match as opposed to happening to win it.
It's over a year since Armand won a defensive header and laid off to Feeney who then galloped all down the right, with Armand going up the middle, matching him for pace, one stride to each one of two of Feeneys. On that September night, the cross was inch perfect and the big man powered it home. All was good and I leapt for joy. Today, I did the same.
There's enough going on outside the game to not over complicate this. There's a lot of water passed under the bridge since that last away win.
We won. We played much better. We're tangerine wizards once more.
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