halfaperson
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Huddersfield (a) 14th Feb 2009Strange one this, an away game I can walk to and that conflicting sense of home comfort and away ground hostility followed me all the way. The Galpharm is home to my other sporting albeit less fervently followed team the Huddersfield Giants RL Team. As we stood on the corner waiting for a mate to give him his ticket at least half a dozen people recognised us and a mixture of handshakes, good natured banter and avoidance of eye contact ensued.
Even though it is my RL clubs home ground the Galpharm is a cheap and nasty affair. Hastily constructed on a budget by what would appear to be a combination of Bodgit and Scarper construction Ltd and Ikea. The gaps at the corners filled with Subuteo style concrete Floodlights only add to the ugly economy of the place but the pitch itself is very good. Bigger than ER so my initial fears all came together as a midfield of Robbo, Snoddy, Delph and Douglas was revealed. This combination fills me with dread away from home and no more so than here with a big pitch and an opposition fired up with motivation and local rivalry incentive.
Almost immediately from the kick off Rui got turned and left for dead by their big center forward who sped goalward. Thankfully Rui recovered and got a foot in to take the sting out of the danger but the tone was set for the half.
If we are going to play such a risky sparse midfield in these sorts of games it is absolutely imperative we get the ball to our wide men at the earliest and every opportunity. It then requires the wide men to run hard at the opposition and get some quality balls into the box, maybe even cut in and put some worrying shots in themselves. It also demands that the wide players cover the ground, work with the full backs and make the runs into good positions to receive the pass. Well unfortunately in that appalling first half very little of that was apparent. It was probably as poor a 45 mins we have put in this season.
I’ve had time to calm down and let the passing of time create a more detached view of the game but chuff me it was a calamitous half. They had one decent player in that right winger who we allowed to run us ragged and put the whole team on the back foot. It didn’t help that Dickinson was all too frequently left to deal with him and his supporting player. Neither were we helped by yet another bout of inconsistent refereeing who let Becchio get repeatedly pushed, shoved and kicked whilst simultaneously penalising us for the most minor contacts. None more so than the awarding of the free kick that led to the two corners that led to the goal. Incredibly it seems Naylor was the one holding his arms aloft apologetically as once more an unmarked opposition player nodded a corner past the lead footed Casper.
We did have a couple of chances, Rui had a header well saved and Snoddy made a good run finishing with a lame effort when perhaps a pass to his left to two unmarked players would have been the better option. It may well have been Robbo who put Snoddy through I don’t know, if it was, it was only one of his two contribution to the half the other been a good shot after cutting in well. For every good ball he delivered at least two others were over hit or he went for the lame shot. He never takes a man on the outside always looking to cut in. Contrast that with the lad on Huddersfields right who had everything and i think you might see where I’m coming from. Another mystery to me is why Snoddy plays on the right, Time and again he had to check, turn and get the ball on his stronger left foot only to lose all impetus of the run and the good position he got into it. So my question is why not play him on the left with Howson starting on the right leaving Robbo to come on WHEN REQUIRED. Starting with him in games like this is a risk too far.
Another very disappointing aspect of the half was the slowness of Johnny Douglas, his inability to get hold of the lose balls and his woeful distribution. A player of his stature and experience should really be stepping up and exerting some dominance of his area. Im afraid he is a bit of a shrinking conman who gets found out at these big games. The only defence I can offer is that there was just him and Delph effectively coping with Four of their midfielders but that doesn’t wholly let him off the hook for what was one of his more shoddy games overall. Worryingly these games seem to be happening more frequently including every BIG game we play.
Hudders seemed to take the foot slightly off the gas after they scored but still their danger man on the right was causing problems. Their crisp passing in the center of midfield often left us chasing shadows with Douglas frequently lunging into a challenge or attempted interception only to be left floundering out of position. This left Delph with an awful lot of scampering blocks and desperate sliding tackles to make which he was doing with his usual energy. A booking was inevitable though.
When we did get hold of the ball usually deep in our half we had very little outlets other than the ever eager Snoddy. JD was making half hearted gestures to his feet when in truth a ball to him would have been suicidal. So the obvious route was a pump into space for Robbo to hopelessly chase or a high ball to our big front two which leaves me to another disappointing aspect of the game. The interaction between Trundle and Becchio was non existent. Trundle had the close control and shielding abilities, Becchio was winning a lot of flicks but neither were able to offer any support to the others strengths. They did not Gel at all well.
By the time Half Time came I was thankful we were only a goal down. Hudders had three other good chances, one a header when Hughsey let his man get free for a close range header that went over the bar. Casper made a couple of decent saves once after fumbling a tame shot though and we somehow deflected a shot over the bar that looked like it might have found the back of the net. However, I was sure there would be a difference in the next 45 mins.
There was a bit of fun in the interval with the penalty takers including a young Leeds Lass taking the wind out of the Leeds fans support for her by announcing she was a Huddersfield fan. More entertaining was a huge fat bald bastard chant at the…… well, fat bald bastard doing the half time entertainment.
No changes at half time and we kicked off again this time the lads attacking our end. We just looked busier, more determined and purposeful. Incredibly Hudders decided to take their star player off who was causing all the problems presumably because of injury and the combination of that and our change in focus turned the game completely. In truth we battered them for 45 minutes and why we didn’t score is going to be the focus of the rest of the report. With Ainsworth (?) off for them this let Robbo a lot freer to run at them and do a little less tracking back and he became the penetrating runner we know he can be. In fact all the team were able to adopt a more foreword stance by a good fifteen yards such was Huddersfields flagging energy. By rights this advanced platform should have launched a barrage of attacks and it did, but it wasn’t without lots of faults and bouts of foolishness. Too many times we were taking the wrong options. Delph should have passed to his right when he broke through for instance. Johhny Howson took too many touches on one occasion when a shot was on the cards. Becchios control let him down on too many occasions when a first time lay off would have been better. Too often he and Trundle hung back waiting for the cross instead of attacking the incoming ball. Snoddy hit a great opportunity to level straight at their impressive keeper instead of chipping it over him. Howson went for placement instead of power with a glorious headed chance, while Robbo took the opposite option when he should have gone for placement. It was a fine save by their keeper though.
On the whole we looked a far superior side throughout the half. Douglas dropped fairly comfortably to full back even getting in some good crosses. Howson took control of the game in a way Douggy never did and the two wide men were really earning their crust.
The rapidly tiring and ineffectual Trundle was finally replaced by Grella but the anticipated injection of movement up front never materialised. We simply kept our pressing game plane getting it wide and looking for crosses. I think we could have been a bit more inventive and played Grella to his strengths which are certainly not getting on the end of high crosses.
By the time the last ten minutes came it was virtual siege in front of Hudders goal. Lubo came on to cause a nuisance up front with his height but it was rather clumsy. The last effort of note was a Naylor header which bounced on to the post and was cleared effectively ending our attacks and hopes of getting a deserved equaliser. The final few minutes were played out in our own half while the Hudders lot rejoiced with a frankly toy town version of Anarchy in the UK all clapping along like a school boy choir rendition of the punk classic.
It was straight out on the final whistle taking the less tense St Andrews road to the pub rather than the main route into town, scene of previous incidents. So it was into the Rat n Ratchet a good ten minutes before the Joyous Hudders fans came in. You could tell by their faces and demeanour they know we had been mugged.
Met H2 a couple of hours later (as a valentines treat tha’nos) into town itself for a few and was home fast asleep by nine o’clock. A very unsatisfactory Valentines day all round.
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