A MONTH OF DISMAL PERFORMANCES
A Review By John Taylor
March began with the team in Spain on a mini-break at a training camp to try to reward the players' efforts so far and provide a fresh stimulus for the rest of the season. The experiment failed big style as our first game upon the return was an abysmal defeat to a very modest Yeovil side without a win in 6 outings. Mr Mac rated this as the worst performance in his time at the club and I would certainly agree with that. The same 11 who were so clinical at Millmoor looked unenthusiastic, ponderous, lethargic and devoid of ideas, and that's being polite to them. Yeovil, in contrast, worked hard and were well organised, despite a couple of bad injuries. Davies took his hat-trick well and the fact that 2 of them were in injury time was not flattering to the visitors. Of the team on the day, only Carl Muggleton could be satisfied with his display, despite the 3 goals conceded. This is a game best forgotten.
3-0 Glovers
A week later, we were at Tranmere to play another struggling side, though they had won in midweek at Swindon. With an unchanged side, the first half hour was a fairly dull affair until Jamie O'Hara smacked in a delicious 30-yard goal, which left Rovers keeper Seremet rooted to the spot. Within 15 minutes we'd blown it as Aiston equalised by poking in McAteer's angled cross at the back post after Picken failed to pick him up. Aiston then smashed in from the edge of the box after Zola outjumped Blatherwick and right on half-time Greenacre tapped in a rebound off Muggleton after Zola outmuscled Blathers again. On another day it might have been a free kick to us, but at the moment, little is going our way.
Jamie O'Hara's goal of the season contender woke Rovers up
After the break, we did little better, though the substitutions of Smith and Folan for Hurst and Niven helped somewhat. Colin Heath came on for Colin Larkin and looked enthusiastic at rather too late in the game to be of significance. O' Leary's 65th minute goal after a left wing break was the only strike of the second half after the energyless Bailey was stranded in the Tranmere half. The miserable nature of this encounter was summed up in injury time when we won a free kick on the half way line. The ball was in the Tranmere area at the feet of Gareth Roberts, so what did he do? He merely poked it a couple of yards and walked away-understandable if the game was tight and competitive and we were in with a shout, but pointless and petty at a point in the game where we could barely find a team-mate, we were so dispirited. There is little wonder that footballers get so little regard from fans.
Bye Muggsy
Midweek saw a surprising goalkeeping change when Carl Muggleton left the club in as low-key fashion as is imaginable after serving the club admirably over a number of years in 3 spells. In came Rob Beckwith on loan from Luton to make his debut against Scunthorpe. His introduction to meaningful action was to deal with an overhit, badly bobbling backpass from Blathers on his wrong foot-we obviously didn't realise that he was left footed. It was not helped by the fact that he appeared to be wearing spats. Other than the problems with poor backpasses and a pitch full of divots, he did reasonably well, making a couple of decent saves and taking crosses with comfort. He had little chance with Scunthorpe's 2 goals after the break that turned round our 1-0 half-time lead.
This was the proverbial game of 2 halves-splendid in the first and unlucky to be only 1 up after having what looked like a good goal chalked off after 3 minutes-dreadful in the second.
Started so well Larks made 1-0
This wasn't helped by losing Blatherwick and the Chief injured after the break and the whole side lacked any on-field guidance or drive without these two. Once the Iron had taken the lead, though, we never appeared to have a remote possibility of getting back into the game and defeat was inevitable.
Beckwith conceded late on at the County Ground 2-0 Robins
Relegation threatened Swindon were next on the agenda with the hope that we could find a bit of form returning against a side struggling to perform and sitting next to bottom of the table prior to kick-off. Kovacs was expected to play but got injured in training, which meant young Ashley Foyle got his first chance on the bench. The game, as it turned out, was completely rubbish and will be remembered only for Foyle's debut, coming on after the break for the injured Alan O'Hare. Neither side looked capable of scoring until Beckwith's error on 53 presented Jamie Cureton (who else!) with a typical poacher's tap in. Despite some endeavour, we lacked any real purpose or guile and Cureton's second right at the death gave the game a rather flattering complexion for the Robins. It is interesting to note, though rather depressing, that our only effort on goal in 90 minutes was an O'Hare header after 5 minutes that was headed off the line. The home keeper was not required to make a single save.
This month was, by far, the worst of the season and the trend of defeat on defeat must be halted or we could yet find ourselves relegated, since the teams at the bottom, MK Dons apart, are not too far from us. The youngsters are really struggling currently without the experienced players on the pitch. Bailey, in particular, looks nothing like the energetic lad of last season and seems not to have regained fitness after his injuries. At the moment, it is difficult to see where the next point is coming from, though a return of Allison, Roche and Hazell could help arrest the trend in the next couple of weeks.
Anglo Scottish Cup Winners 25 years on
Off the field, we had the 25-year Anglo-Scottish Cup celebration, which was well received by former players and fans alike. It was amazing to see how the 80-81 players had changed over the years; some very little, yet a few were hardly recognisable. Jeff Hall won the Football League "Fan of the Year" award, being presented at a big bash in London and photographed with such luminaries as Steve Ogrizovic, Jeff Stelling, Adie Shaw and Lord Brian Mawhinney.
We agreed deals with several of the current squad for contract extensions, which should give us some continuity in the next couple of years.
Fan of the Year and man of the month Geoff Hall
The choice of man of the month for March was especially difficult without anyone playing very well except in brief patches. As a result, it could go to only 1 man: Jeff Hall-support like he's shown is fantastic and his award in London was well deserved.
