Saturday 12 April 2014

Tall order on the South Coast

Back from five tiring days at Centerparcs with the kids (well it is half-term). I missed the Yeovil match and the lack of stable wifi or mobile signal meant all I could do was find the result after the match finished. Obviously three vital points and a repeat on Tuesday against Barnsley would keep us on course to stay up.

By all accounts it wasn't a particularly good game with mistakes all over the shop and Yeovil looking worryingly potent in parts. Whatever, we scored more than a single goal for the sixth time this season and actually managed to get three, which tells you Yeovil will be heading out of the Championship. The reports I have read all focus on the fact that Lawrie Wilson was absent with a knock and that we look unbalanced with Morro at right-back. Not surprising really but he has been reasonably effective when he has played out of position  even if he has looked like a duck out-of-water. It does also question why Loic Nego or Morgan Fox weren't given a game. It would also suggest that Riga is under no pressure to play the loanees as this would have been a perfectly reasonable opportunity for Nego.

It was good to learn that Astrit Asdarevic scored his first goal for the club and that Reza set-up Sordell for a tap-in. That should give us a fraction more confidence if we feature those players at Brighton as I expect. Simon Church may have been "rested" for Brighton today but my guess is he will get a further  break as Riga looks for more goals. Even with Millwall managing an unlikely second away win in-a-row at Wigan (who fielded 8 changes with an eye on their Cup semi this weekend), today's match is a "free hit" in my view. We still have games in hand and can't be expected to get anything at a side pushing for the play-offs. We rode our luck last season to grind out a 0-0 and expect our recent W-L-W-L-W-L-W to continue. 

Unfortunately, I won't be enjoying myself if the sunshine down in East Sussex as it's my Mum's birthday and family and close friends will be having lunch at a pub down in Weald. I hope the mobile signal there is better than Centerparcs.

There will be as much focus on the result of Blackpool this afternoon as they are in free-fall and look increasingly like being caught by one or two of the desperadoes below them. They are at Leeds today who look completely lame, so failure there would set the alarm bells ringing for the Seasiders. We do look favourites for Tuesday's match at home to Barnsley but will need another committed performance. Not only would it effectively relegate the Tykes but it could put distance between as and Millwall again if the Lions see off Watford at the New Den today and climb a point clear of us. 

As I said, today is a "free hit" and it would be great to get something from it although I think that would be expecting too much...

1 comment:

  1. Dave, I went to the valley on Tuesday, there as a lot of comedy defending and what seemed to be the inability to get out of our half by the defence. A better team would have killed us. I am still concerned about our revival although I feel we are a more attacking team under Jose Riga. I am going today with a Brighton mate using his sons season ticket so I will have to sit on my hands. Like it or loathe it this is an exciting end to the season everything to play for.

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