A Review By John Taylor
Familiar visitors Blackpool kicked off the month with new manager Colin Hendrie in charge of a team who'd had a poor start to the season but were slowly picking things up. Town brought back Niven and N'Toya for Davies and Stallard. The game began brightly and the Tangerines were soon on the attack with Muggleton needing to be alert to save from Blinkhorn in a one-on-one situation. After this we tended to have the upper hand with Campbell-Ryce and N'Toya looking lively, but the telling cross or final shot proved all too elusive. Just before the break we came closest when Nicholson's corner was not properly cleared and Allison's instinctive effort hit the bar.
The second half proved to be almost one-way traffic towards the kop with N'Toya and JCR remaining busy and threatening and The Chief causing untold difficulties for the Seasiders' back line. Despite much pressure and good prompting from the middle, the break just would not come. Blackpool made a double substitution on the hour, which seemed to have little effect, though as the game wore on we became a little more edgy and on the rare break, the Tangerines looked capable of sneaking a goal. We needed to change things, but the manager persisted until 10 minutes from the end when he sent on Folan for TNT. This was not a universally popular move, as the Tcham seemed the man most likely to net. Allison, however, was using his presence and experience to such good effect, that to replace him would have been a massive relief to the visitors' rearguard.
Almost immediately, Caleb shot inches wide, then forced a fingertip save from the keeper. Blatherwick and Evatt then came close from a corner and the game wandered into injury time, 4 minutes of which were to be played. With 3 of those elapsed, we won a throw in on the right. Allott's long thrown was sufficiently deep and the keeper flapped under pressure from Blathers. The ball broke to Allison, who was off balance and stabbed it towards the goal, where Folan was on hand to poke the ball in with his shin. Unsurprisingly, this was greeted with much joy around the place, though not on the Cross Street end. It was no more than we deserved, and Hendrie was swift to congratulate McFarland seconds later at the final whistle.
A week later, it was the FA Cup at top-of-the-table Scunny, where we were without our loan players Clingan and JCR. In came Smith, for his second start-both on Humberside, and Hudson, who has lost his popularity with his decision not to extend his contract. Allison was crucially injured, replaced by Stallard and Caleb came in for TNT.
Almost from the off, Scunny were on top and took the lead on 13 minutes when Hayes cracked in Torpey's knock-down from a throw. On the occasional break we did manage something resembling football and Allott twice looked dangerous on the right but could not find a finish. Folan also had a half-chance, but his touch let him down and the moment evaporated. This was rare stuff, however, as the hard-working and confident Iron were totally in control.
At the break, we were relived to be in the game at just 1 down, with an improvement surely on the cards for the second period. It was not to be though, as the first half's lacklustre display was Brazil 1970 compared to the second. With 15 minutes left, the home side wrapped the game up with a fine shot from Barraclough. I doubt if Scunthorpe will have an easier win all season, as we played as if we wanted a Christmas shopping day on the first Saturday of December. With considerable justification, the players were booed off the pitch and Evatt took exception to a comment and came back to challenge the offending fan. The constabulary prevented his ill-judged intervention, however. Despite the potential problem with his action, I was pleased that he clearly cared and that the criticism hurt. The spineless cup defeat hurt us, though, even if we should expect it. Since the semi-final, we've managed FA cup wins over Northwich Victoria and Stalybridge Celtic only in 8 seasons-what a pathetic effort!
Next up was the uninviting trip to the Fitness First Stadium, previously known as Dean Court. There was no need for half-time sprinklers this season as the rain was steadily falling on a very miserable day. The game started with a surprise, as Richmond started in goal, though the tannoy man announced Muggleton. We surmised that Carl got himself injured in the warm-up. Campbell-Ryce and Clingan were back after missing the FA cup nonsense.
Early exchanges were largely in the Cherries' favour and Richmond had some work to do without being greatly extended. As the half wore on Bournemouth became more dominant and Richmond made a good save with his feet from Fletcher, whilst a Wade header hit the top of the bar after one of numerous home corners. Just after the half hour, Stallard missed with a header then in the last few minutes of the half, Elliott missed an open goal and JCR hit the bar with a header after a flowing move.
At half time we could perhaps count ourselves lucky still to be level, though we had defended resolutely and counter-attacked with purpose. The game was still there for the taking. Bournemouth, however, began the second half on top and Evatt was forced to clear off the line. As time progressed, we began to break more often and the cynical home rearguard committed several fouls, particularly on JCR, finally forcing the ref to produce his yellow card. The home fans, true to form, whinged and accused us of diving. In the last 15 minutes, we appeared to settle for a point as our counter-attacks lacked any support or conviction. Bournemouth threw all they could at us, but Evatt and Blatherwick were solid and each thrust was repulsed. So it ended goalless and we had a deserved point.
At the end JCR came over to the fans, clearly saying "farewell", so he wasn't going to extend his stay. His signing for Rotherham came as a bit of a shock though: a strange move for both parties in the circumstances. Even so, he is an unfinished article and his departure could give Adam Smith an excellent opportunity to prove himself.
November ended playing-wise with the tough home fixture against the in-form Swindon Town. Muggleton returned in goal and Hudson replaced the departed Campbell-Ryce, so giving the midfield a somewhat unbalanced look. The visitors began brightly and we could hardly get the ball in the first half hour. They created surprisingly little, though, and the nearest they came was from Duke's shot against the post after 10 minutes. Otherwise we managed to get in a header or a block and keep the Wiltshire outfit at bay. Muggleton made a couple of saves at feet and couldn't hold the ball, but his defence helped him out on both occasions. In the last 15 minutes, the Robins appeared frustrated and Jerel Ifil was booked after a foul on N'Toya after being warned by the ref seconds earlier. The half ended goalless and we were all glad to get there with our goal intact.
Roy Mac obviously did a job on the team at the break as they came out in different vein for the second half. This may have been helped by a crude challenge on Derek Niven after a few seconds, which saw the Scot replaced by Smith before we took our first corner of the game on 48 minutes. The enforced substitution actually helped us as it improved the shape of the midfield, though Niven was actually performing well. Evans pulled off a fine save from Evatt's header after Nicholson's delayed corner and we were, at last, starting to threaten.
The arrogant Christian Roberts was lucky to stay on the pitch soon afterwards as he left his foot in on Evatt, but the lenient referee merely booked him, along with Blatherwick, presumably for the pushing, not the foul. Parkin was also lucky when he elbowed Evatt in an aerial challenge, but the ref merely had a word: others would have brought out the red card. Just after the hour, a sweet move down the right saw a move break down in the box, but the ball returned to Clingan wide right and his accurate cross saw the Chief stoop to head in against his former club.
A few minutes later, N'Toya annoyed the ref by telling him that Swindon were pinching 15 yards with a free-kick, so was booked. He then got a little niggly and was replaced by Folan 10 minutes later after a very poor performance. The substitute came close to increasing the lead, but Evans made a fine save at his feet. The Robins tried to press forward as the game edged towards a conclusion, but our defence kept them well away from Muggleton and we ran out 1-0 winners. The player and crowd reaction at the final whistle showed just how big a win this was and it was good to get one over our old friend Andy King again. I can't help feeling that King actually helped to engineer Swindon's downfall on the day. His animosity towards us appeared to take Swindon from killing us with good football, to unnecessary aggression, which played into our hands.
This was a fine, satisfying performance when we came back from being outplayed to looking in control and composed. Blatherwick, in his 200th game was splendid along with Evatt, whilst Allott on the right of midfield was magnificent. Allison, who seems to get some unwarranted stick from a certain section of the Town crowd, again did a good job up front and scored the vital goal, whilst Clingan and Bailey also had fine games.
So, the month ended with 2 league wins and a draw with no goals conceded-a pretty good performance. The cup was the usual miserable defeat, so we'll gloss over that. The positives were the defence and the form of Allison and Clingan in particular, whilst Niven's injuries with the attention afforded him by opponents is a real concern. Another problem is Mark Hudson, who after refusing an extended contract,lost some of his popularity with the supporters and on current form doesn't deserve a place in the side, which is a shame as when his head and fitness are right he is a fine player.
Tcham is also a worry at the moment. He appears to have lost a bit of confidence like Mark De Bolla and we have lost a few options upfront as a result. Caleb Folan, however, appears buoyant and we could see some goals from him with a bit of luck in the forthcoming fixtures. It's a shame we have nothing on the first Saturday in December, however, and there I was saying we'd gloss over the cup.
Oh, I almost forgot-we made a signing in the month: the Duke of Devonshire as President, following in his dad's footsteps. Not only that, he's got a cracking name: Peregrine.
