Stick that Conrad Logan (long)

On arrival this one looked like a potential banana skin - the pitch was bumby, slopy, mostly lush and had rugger lines barely concealed on it. Moreover my pre-match prediction that the right-back thing was a wind-up proved spectacularly wrong as Drury lined up on the wrong side of the pitch.

Initially the Drury decision looked poor: he started like a fish out of water and as Stockport pressed the defence collectively looked unsettled by the change. With one exception: every ball found its way either to the head or feet of The Doc.I'm not a fan - but the only way to describe his performance is "commanding".
Nevertheless Stockport should have gone ahead. A poor through ball should have been cleared by Askou - but it hit a divot jumped over his foot and left their forward one on one with Forster who came out well and dived to push the shot away.

Out of the blue we went ahead. Drury in the right wing position was shoved to the ground. Lappin floated across a poor free kick - straight into the hands of the keeper - who missed it, leaving Holty to nod it in. Cue - stunned silence. I don't think anyone could really believe that we had scored such a soft goal.

Either side of half-time a poor game meandered on. It was a bit like Swindon really, the opposition having a fair amount of the ball without ever looking like doing anything with it. Around the hour mark though Stockport began to apply some sustained pressure and even their crowd awoke from their slumbers (they were the quietest I've heard this season). So we scored again.Chrissy Martin jigged into the area, beat one and then another steamed in and tripped him up. As at Yeovil the opposition then made a great show of protesting, there was a bit of pushing and shoving. As at Yeovil it was clearly designed to put Wes off. As at Yeovil Wes took no notice and placed his shot in the net.J ob apparently done.

That appeared to settle it, City finally began to knock the ball around - and then Stockport scored as a long range shot that Forster had well covered took a massive deflection and went in. Except that no-one seemed tp think it was a goal. Even the fans behind the goal barely reacted until it dawned on them that it had been given. So from nowhere it was game on: Stockport applied serious pressure and it all looked like being lost. So we scored again. Stockport's official man of the match dallied on the ball, Cody rushed in, nicked it off him and made a bee-line for the area, looked up, and rolled the ball to Holty who slid it in. Job really done.

There was still time for Holty to break through and shoot when he really should have squared - but who can blame him? Overall this was a good result, but not a particularly good performance. That was really down to the pitch which prevented us knocking the ball around, and the right-back situation which unbalanced the side. On the plus side it does appear that against the majority of teams in this division we are capable of scoring at any time. Man of the match - I reckon 3 candidates. Forster who had little to do, but did it well. The Doc who was the reason Forster had little to do. But I think it was Holty, not just for the goals but for his non-stop effort both in defence and attack. At the end Lambo and the players all came over to salute us, and we all went home in good heart. Onwards and upwards.

Posted By: Northern upholstery, Nov 1, 12:04:10