A game of two parts: The remaining hour

By: Martyn | October 1st, 2008

As I concluded in the last post on the game’s opening half-hour, what a difference a goal makes. All of a sudden there was urgency, pace, rhythm and flow to our attacks. Not only that, there were options in abundance. Every single of our players suddenly wanted to get on the ball. Joe Ledley, the worst of the worst just minutes before was now at the heart of everything. He got so involved in the game that he was even helping out defensively like his life (or EPL move) depended on it. Blocking shots, clearing corners, filling in. A quite magnificent turnaround. Ross McCormack was coming less deep as we finally started to play a 4-4-2 formation the way it is meant to be played. No gaps, options everywhere, the line being led from the front. On the subject of formations, Coventry threw everything at us, ending the game with something resembling a 4-2-4 (It is truly incredibly how many striking options teams in this division have compared to us!). Thankfully, Dave Jones kept his head tactically so we weren’t exposed. Getting Gyepes to warm up must have seemed to all that we were going to stick 5 at the back to deal with the new long ball threat being posed by Coventry. However, we retained the 4-4-2 and this allowed us to break and wear down the clock. The goal we did concede was very sloppy however. Once again, lax marking on the right-hand side (Whittingham/McNaughton) allowed a simple ball to be played in for Sky Blues CB Dann to finish. Johnson was marking thin air and clearly the amount of bodies in the box left our defenders with too much to focus on. Thankfully we clung onto the winning scoreline – how long has it been since we’ve seen away fans leave early in their masses? – and secured a vital victory. Players in rank order are as follows:

1. Stephen McPhail – Once we scored our opening goal, McPhail was outstanding and showed that we really did miss him against Brum. Tackles, through-balls, pass completion, dictation. Great stuff.

2. Ross McCormack – Ask any defender that has faced Ross McCormack this season whether they relish the prospect of facing him again and I’m sure the response will be negative. The Scot is everywhere, and showed today that he can play as a striker – recent weeks and games have seen him drop far too deep. Showed signs that a relationship is blossoming with Bothroyd with some lovely link-play, the best move of which won us the penalty. Put it away with aplomb, as he always does.

3. Joe Ledley – Part of the move that won the penalty, and as lively as the Joe Ledley of old after the first goal went in. Reminded fans why he’s so highly rated and seemed to at last remember that form stems from enjoyment. There was buzz, there was zip, there was urge, there was class. A welcome hour of returning to past form.

4. Jay Bothroyd – Finally, his first goal for the club! The ex-Coventry player finished his chance with the ease and confidence of someone who knew he wasn’t going to miss. Which took everyone by surprise! After that you could see that he felt like he was on top of the world and played like it.

5. Peter Whittingham – Whittingham really is in form right now. The assist pass for Bothroyd’s goal was truly world-class, and you’d be hard pushed to find much better in La Liga, the EPL, Serie A etc. Offered some traditional wing-play as he hogged the flank to great effect, as well as showing his invention from cutting inside and using the other foot. Even better is the fact that his set-piece delivery in these last few games has seen a tenfold improvement! Definitely our player of the month for September, and displayed here why Dave Jones dropped Parry.

6. Gavin Rae – The first decent performance from Rae since his return to the side. After the goal his involvement in the game was finally apparent as he closed down, tracked back and for, floored opposition players with his no-nonsense approach and showed strong positional and tactical sense.

7. Roger Johnson – Arguably at fault for the actual goal and the phantom ‘goal’. The former saw him marking thin air and looking overwhelmed at the amount of Coventry players flying forward, the latter is harder to blame him for seeing as none of our players bothered playing the whistle. But he should have closed down the threat better than he did seeing as he wasn’t to know the ref would chalk off the goal. These moments aside, Johnson was colossal.

8. Mark Kennedy – A welcome return to the side and the ex-Palace man offers something Comminges can’t – reliability. This in turn inspires the players around him and there’s no doubting the solid pro that Kennedy is. The legs are clearly going, but in the face of so many attackers and attacks Kennedy was in always in a clever enough position to thwart the threat.

9. Kevin McNaughton – Looked more comfortable for the game’s final hour but there’s still something missing. Maybe it’s confidence, maybe it’s fitness, maybe his media and transfer-link fuelled reputation has gone to his head post-FA Cup run? Who knows. Once again, the goal was set up from his side of the field as he dozed off rather than organise or mark.

10. Darren Purse – Given the MOTM award by the sponsors but did little to deserve it. Constantly miskicking the ball, Purse passed more to those in the Bob Bank Terrace than his own team. Struggled to handle the pace with which Coventry attacked and this won’t be the first team he’ll struggle with a pacy attack this season.

11. Tom Heaton – Little to do, but didn’t exactly tell his defence what he could see at times when they could have done with an extra voice. Quiet as a mouse and as scared as a young child on the end of his fattest Auntie’s hugs, Heaton doesn’t inspire confidence among the fans or his own team mates. Darren Purse was instructing him when and when not to come for the ball on several occasions.