City Ease Drop Worries

They say a weeks a long time in politics, well in football 15 minutes can be season changing.

After probably the worst 45 minutes of football i have seen City play all season, they managed to take the points with a second half performance straight out of the ‘How to avoid relegation’ text book.

City made 3 changes from the team that lost to Leicester last week with Scott Wiseman replacing Alton Thelwell at right back, John Welsh coming in for Mark Noble and Darryl Duffy in place of the injured Ryan France.

City started cautiously with Plymouth looking to use the pace of Pericard to upset the Tigers defence.Elliot had a snap shot saved by the Argyle keeper after being played in by Parkin, & Parkin also had his own effort at goal blocked by the defence.

Plymouths first chance came via a 10th Minute free kick, but the training ground routine was left behind at Home Park and it came to nothing.

You sensed that Argyle had come for the draw, as their keeper decided to spend an eternity kicking the ball up field every time they had a goal kick. As you can imagine the City faithfull aired their displeasure at such tactics.

City though had their own problems and the team looked like 11 strangers playing for the first time together with no ideas or creativity except a long ball into the final third of the field. In fact i can only recall 3 further chances in the half for either team.

The first was a poorly placed shot by Duffy after 25 minutes, the second was a Lee Hodges half volley for Plymouth which sailed wide of the mark form the edge of the box.

The third though was the only moment of drama in the entire first half. Myhill rushed out of his goal to make a clearance but the ball broke free and found its way to Lillian Nalis on the edge of the penalty box. With the empty net at his mercy he rifled in a shot which had goal written all over it, but somehow from nowhere Leon Cort stuck out his right leg and deflected the ball over the bar.

When the ref finally brought the first half to a finish, boos eminated form the East stand faithfull which nicely summed up the action we had just witnessed.

Half Time City 0 – 0 Plymouth

The talk at the interval around me was of how many City would concede in the second half with 2-0 being the favoured reply. But oh how wrong we were.

Peter Taylor made two changes in the first half with Noble coming on for the innefective John Welsh and Craig Fagan replacing Darryl Duffy. It also seemed that Stuart Green had been given permission to play a more free roaming role.

The difference was immediately clear as City began to play football and actually pass the ball to each other rather than a white shirt.

Delaney came up for a free kick but his shot was blocked on its way to goal and from the resulting corner Cort could only head over.

City 1 – 0 Plymouth

City took the lead after 55 minutes thanks to a great finish by Fagan, Andrews played the ball to Parkin in the centre circle and the Beast played a through ball to Fagan who latched onto it and raced goalwards pursued by 3 plymouth defenders. With silky aplomb he steered the ball around the advancing Larrieu and into the net to send his team mates and the City fans wild. Unfortunately he was booked by the ref for removing his shirt during the celebrations (A pointless & stupid rule in my opinion.)

City had their tales up now and Green was starting to play some good passes to the front two.

Parkin nearly had his name on the score sheet when an Elliot cross went over the plymouth defence but the Beast at full stretch could only volley into the side neting.

Noble had a chance a minut later but his shot from outside the box sailed just over the bar.

Myhill saved well from a Pericard header as Plymouth tried to get back into the game.Indeed the Argyle keeper suddenly seemed to increase his speed taking the goal kicks.

Elliot had an 80th minute header deflected wide of the post and Delaney had to take a yellow card as he brought down the dangerous Pericard when the frenchman would have been clean through on goal.

With time ticking away the City defence held firm, and when the ref blew the full time whistle the relief on the City players was very evident with Delaney jumping up and down like we had just won the cup final.

With the points safely in the bag our attention now must turn to next week and the vital 6 pointer against Crewe at the K.C, if we can perform like we did in the second half then a win is a distinct possibility and with it probable championship survival. It promises to be one of the most important games in City’s history so lets hope we turn up in the right frame of mind.

Player Ratings

Boaz Myhill 6
Looked nervy in the first half and was not dominent when coming for the ball, can buy Cort a large drink for saving his blushes with that clearance.

Alan Rogers 7
Another solid performance from the Forest defender who never shirked a tackle, what he lacks in height he makes up for with terrier style tackling

Scott Wiseman 7
A good performance from the young starlet, looked assured on the ball and handled the Argyle left side well.

Leon Cort 7
Played well against the dangerous Pericard and never left his side for the whole game, superb block to deny Nalis a certain goal.

Damien Delaney 7
Solid at the back with Cort and dealt with the Argyle strikers well.Good tackle on Pericard even though it cost him a yellow card.

Keith Andrews 6
A poor first half from the skipper but came into the game in the second period and held the midfield together well.

John Welsh 5
Never in the game and was rightly substituted at half time.

Stuart Green 8
Quiet first half but when given license to roam in the second period he was a different player, always looking for the killer pass and played his part in defending too.

Stuart Elliot 6
Not one of his most effective games and was caught on the ball too much for my liking, had a couple of chances in the second half but other than that was pretty subdued.

John Parkin 7
Had to contend with poor service in the first half but he held the ball up well and was looking to bring players into the game.Given a hard time by the ref who seemed to penalise his every challenge.

Darryl Duffy 5
Nothing to write home about save for one chance in the first half, but in his defence he, like Fagan was not served well by the midfield. Brought off at Half time for Fagan

Mark Noble 7
Played well in the midfield area and gave Andrews confidence to get forward and start picking up the ball in the final third. Looks a future England captain to me with his constant encouragement to his fellow city players.

Craig Fagan 7
Made the difference in the second half as Argyle struggled against his pace, took his goal well and should have done enough to warrant a starting place against Crewe.

Match Reporter

Manager Rating
Peter Taylor 8

Got his substitutions spot on in the half time interval and for that alone he deserves the mark.Good to see him playing the 4-4-2 which i believe is City’s best line up.

ood to see his team battle in the second half especially the defence.

Opponent Rating
Tony Pullis 6

Looked like he brought his team to do a holding job on City and for the first half it seemed to succeed.Lost out tacticaly to Taylor in the second half though.

Peter Taylor Post Match
‘We needed the three points badly.

‘We’ve done well in the last three or four games but we’ve nothing to show for it.

‘We kept saying we were relying on teams below us losing every week and that can’t be right.

‘It’s tough but we think we’ll get enough points to have another go next year. It’s been a big test but if we survive that will be as good as a promotion.’

Tony Pullis Post match

‘We are very, very disappointed. We should have been winning at half-time.

‘But when you have enough chances when you are on top, you have to score.

‘Without being too disrespectful, I thought we played really well and controlled the game in the first half.’

Match Reporter
Thought we battled well today and though it may not have been a vintage performance we rolled our sleeves up and when it was needed we stood up and were counted.

Luckily no teams below us managed to win yesterday so we have the cushion of an eight point gap going into the final testing stage of the season.

The first part is done now so we must look to continue the battle against Crewe at the K.C next saturday.If we can take all three points next week i feel we will be almost safe and hopefully the pressure will lift off the team, which may well allow them to pick up some unexpected points in our last few matches.

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