A Review By John Taylor
After the hectic month of September, we had only 4 league games to contend with in October along with the more challenging Carling Cup tie against West Ham. Struggling Leyton Orient were first on the agenda and we were hoping to record our first ever League goal at Brisbane Road. It was not to be, however, with Colin Larkin's late effort being disallowed in a goalless encounter to be remembered for little but honest endeavour but not much real quality.
Hally pulled a goal back against the Swans
Swansea City were next up at Saltergate with the humiliation of last year's drubbings still fresh in the memory, so we had a point to prove. We didn't prove a point though as the Welsh outfit murdered us before the break and led though goals by Britton and Trundle at half time, with the Swans' keeper Gueret rarely troubled. The performance was so bad that any of the outfield players could have been withdrawn during the interval, but Kevan Hurst, who was particularly poor, found himself swapped for Jackson. Mr Mac's ploy worked very quickly and Hall reduced the deficit with a well-taken strike after just 2 minutes of the second half after tenacious work in the Swans' box by Niven and Downes. We pressed well after this and put the City rearguard under sustained pressure and caused considerable panic, something we'd failed to achieve in 2 games last term. Hall hit a post and Jackson just missed the rebound in a frantic period of the game. At the other end Roche made a great save and Pratley missed a sitter and just when a point for us seemed possible, Britton beat Picken on our left and advanced into the box, only to be flattened by Hazell. Trundle duly scored for some boring personal milestone goal from the resulting penalty kick. Smith then came on for Larkin and looked fairly lively on the left, but his right wing corner on 76 minutes resulted in our pulling a goal back from the unlikely source of Rueben Hazell's head. Swansea then opted for safety by bringing on the rather tall Lawrence to bolster the back line and held out despite 2 penalty appeals.
The inquest begings Rovers 1 shot 1 goal
Our last league game at Belle Vue followed a week later with Hurst being rested following his dismal display against Swansea. He was effectively replaced by Alan O'Hare with Folan coming in for Larkin and Adam Smith coming in for the Chief. The game was absolutely awful with only 2 moments of note, both in the first half. One was when O'Hare tackled both Forte and the linesman simultaneously to dump both on their rears and the second was when we contrived to present Donny with the only goal of the game. Two poor back passes left the ball short of Roche as he ran out of his area. He tried to clear upfield but succeeded only in smashing the ball into the chest of the onrushing Forte, who ran past the big Irishman and tapped the ball into the empty net-joke goal, joke game.
At the end when neither side had put more than a couple of passes together and created nothing, the Donny fans were shaking their heads in astonishment at winning a game when they were so poor. We were depressed at losing to such a poor side, but deserving 0-0 doesn't bring that when you throw in a daft goal for your opponents. To make matters worse, Phil Picken picked up an injury to keep him out for several weeks.
This grimness was soon forgotten with the big game on Sky against the mighty, but struggling Premiership boys, West Ham. Pre-match, we had a farewell to the Saltergate faithful from the popular and long-serving Steve Blatherwick, whose back problems have heralded a premature retirement from the game. Also pre-match, all the pundits were telling us that the Londoners had gone seven games without a goal, so it was no surprise when they netted after just 4 minutes with Hazell misdirecting a header under pressure from the oh-so-popular Zamora to Harewood. The big man hit a classic half volley straight into the corner of Roche's goal with the Dubliner looking rather out of position. The early setback failed to dent our confidence and as the half wore on we created more and more problems for the Hammers. The 1-0 deficit at the break was certainly a little unfortunate for us, particularly since we'd forced 7 corners.
Larks makes it 1-1
After just 5 minutes of the second half, West Ham scorer, Harewood, limped off to be replaced by the hugely experienced and influential Teddy Sheringham. Four minutes later, we equalised as Folan ran the Hammers back line a merry dance and forced a fantastic save from Robert Green, but the former-Canary could only tip the ball onto a post and Larkin followed up to crash the ball home. Soon afterwards, Alex Bailey went off injured and was replaced by Jamie Lowry for his first-team debut, under pressurised circumstances. He was not found wanting, however, and played a superb part in a memorable night.
Caleb snatched the late winner
We continued to press and by the 68th minute the visitors had used all their subs with Etherington and Konchesky on for Reid and McCartney as tactical changes. Two minutes later, in a rare raid, Zamora blasted over our bar and with 5 minutes left, Roche made a magnificent save from the ex-Brighton striker after a sublime ball by Sheringham created the opening. As extra time loomed, we were awarded a free-kick on the right and O'Hare whipped the ball in left-footed. Sheringham won the header, but it cannoned into Reo-Coker's back, fell nicely for Folan and the Raging Bull swept the ball into the net through Green's legs.
Saltergate erupted and the Premiership boys flung everything at us for the final few minutes, but failed to create anything of note and we replicated our 2-1 win over Manchester City to reach round 4 of the competition. The expressions of delight around the place were amazing and it was most amusing to see O'Hare acquiring a West Ham shirt as a souvenir of the night. His big daft grin summed up feelings nicely after the match whilst the cameras were focusing mostly on Caleb. National publicity was to follow along with another LMA performance of the week award. The reward for the victory was another struggling top-flight side at the 'Rec in Charlton Athletic. Those of us with long memories will recall their last such visit here when they won 5-4 in a stupid match in 78-79. Defences were not on top.
The month's last encounter saw Yeovil in town to present a stiff challenge in the wake of the cup win. The Somerset outfit came into the game on a good run and sitting second in the table. Despite a good crowd, 1500 up on the Swansea match, the atmosphere was a little subdued and the game followed suit with the first half action mainly in the Yeovil half, but all a bit tentative. The manager probably had some harsh words at the break and brought some immediate reward after the resumption. On 49 minutes, Hurst delivered a left wing free kick and found Alan O'Hare 3 yards out all on his own. The Irishman gleefully swept the ball in for only his second goal for the club. After this we continued to dominate for the next 20 minutes, with Hurst particularly effective on the left. The second goal would not come, though and following effective substitutions, the visitors started to pose a threat in the last 15 minutes. With just 4 of those left, they equalised after Lowry was dispossessed with something that looked suspiciously like a foul and the defence went missing, helping the inevitable Marcus Stewart to nab an undeserved point.
A rare goal from Big Al against Yeovil
Post-match, we learnt of another home draw, this time in the FA Cup against Worcester City or Basingstoke. It looks easy enough after the West Ham match, but remember Morecambe and Enfield.
Overall then what conclusions can we draw from October's performances? In the league we mustered just 2 points from 4 games-nowhere near good enough and leaving us perilously close to the relegation zone. We scored just 3 goals and 2 of those came from Hazell and O'Hare! We must do better than this if we are to avoid problems in the lower reaches of the table and we are more than capable of doing much better. The team has not performed other than in patches and has been hurt by injuries and suspensions, which have not helped with keeping a settled pattern.
The bank balance will have improved with the Sky fee for West Ham, coupled with 2 decent crowds (for us) and the actual performance and result against the Hammers was a massive boost to club and fans alike. Given the interest shown in Caleb Folan, if rumours are to be believed, we'll have a job to retain his services beyond the January transfer window, which would be disappointing now that he's doing the business. All this leaves is the man of the month award. Again it's not easy with no outstanding performances and some pretty dire ones to counter-balance any positives.
Mr Consistancy Aaron Downes Johns Man of the Month
Once more Caleb is in the running, solely on his match-winning performance against West Ham, but my nod this time goes to Aaron Downes for a steady month where he's started to achieve some consistency.
