Richard Lee & Ross McCormack – Two current superheroes, only one Herts. based winner

By: Martyn | October 22nd, 2008

I wasn’t able to get to yesterday’s 2-all draw at Watford as I was stuck analysing the merits of Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos until 5pm and coaches departed to Vicarage Road at 2ish. A trip to Nottingham for the Forest game this weekend gets me back into my favourite past-time and will remedy the initial heartache that always consumes me whenever I know I have to miss an encounter involving the Football League’s finest club! However, I had my headphones in to listen to the game whilst watching the Fenerbahce-Arsenal Champions League game on TV, and one was kept very occupied and animated during an evening spent on the sofa! The game played in Turkey (thank God Kazim wasn’t playing – every commentator in Britain overdid the embarassing research and links they had unearthed on him during EURO 2008) culminated in a goal by ex-Cardiff City product Aaron Ramsey – doing his blossoming reputation no harm at the moment after two fine performances for the Welsh U21 side – and the game played in Hertfordshire culminated in a Cardiff City fightback complete with two goals by perennially score-shy striker Jay Bothroyd! Tom Heaton was as rotten and shaky as ever, but thankfully the team showed enough – wait for it, three ultimate football clichés coming right up! -character, bottle and spirit to redeem the mistakes made by Manchester United’s constantly wheeled-out 4th choice keeper. As has been the case recently, there were plenty more positives mingling in with the omnipresent negatives that I could fathom from the Ian Gwyn-Hughes commentary penetrating my ears.

- Bothroyd’s equalizer shows why he’s played in Serie A and the EPL in not too distant history – class in abundance. He ditched his marker like a guy/girl who was lucky enough to get sight of his/her blind date from a distance before the introductions began and finished where no goalkeeper could possibly hope to reach. After McCormack had missed a penalty, it was refreshing to see another member of the side ensure that we found the net.
- After seriously looking like he was incapable of missing a penalty, Ross McCormack proved that he is human like everybody else when it comes to taking set-pieces. Mind you, Richard Lee has saved 3 PK’s in his last two Hornets appearances! Let’s hope this doesn’t affect the sheer swagger and cockiness he normally takes his spot-kicks with in future.
- We had 11 corner kicks, some of which were pelted in, some of which were floated in. The fact we earned this many corners in an away game is pleasing in itself and expresses the dominance we had at times in this match. Correspondingly, adding variety to the set-pieces is a benefit as we aren’t succeeding in getting chances away or scoring from them as frequently as we were last season.
- Sloppy defensive mistakes cost us goals yet again. Can we not just concede 40-yard screamers and accept we’ve been hit with unstoppable monsters?! Apparently not.
- Eddie Johnson? Still we ask… How? Why? Who!!!???
- And as if those of who follow City on the road regularly hadn’t got the point – pun intended – already this season, we really do have more draw in us than a pothead and a box of Crayola pencils. Failure to convert more of these into wins is going to cost us, if arguably it hasn’t already. We may be in 5th place right now, but Birmingham, Wolves and Reading really are starting to get out of sight.