| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Richard
1154 Posts |
 Posted - 08 Oct 2011 : 20:32:39
|
Swindon's complete inability to defend crosses into the box turned what should have been a comfortable victory into an unlikely point for visitors Hereford this afternoon - the Town somehow contriving to concede three goals against a side that didn't look like scoring!
There was little danger apparent after a first period that Swindon completely dominated. Early on, Jake Jervis showed his pace, chasing down a long through ball and beating the Hereford defence comfortably - but he didn't connect well with his shot under pressure.
With just seven minutes on the clock though, the Town took the lead - and it was one of three identical goals scored in the Stratton Bank end during the match. From a free-kick on the left, Kerrouche delivered a ball into the centre, where Raffaele de Vita was inexplicably completely unmarked. He got what looked like a soft head to it, and I have to admit I expected it to flash past the post, instead it bounced into the corner of the net.
The next twenty minutes or so were pretty dull, which was slightly frustrating as I felt that had we got the call on the deck, we were far too good for them - too often the ball was in the air. Jervis and Smith were guilty of firing shots in from distance when better options were available. For their part, Hereford had obviously done their homework, as they were whacking crosses into the box to the back post whenever the opportunity arose - admittedly this wasn't very often at this point in the game, but they would get their rewards later in the game.
When we did get it on the deck, at times we were capable of ripping them to shreds - on the half hour, a great move nearly doubled the lead. Ritchie took the ball down the right flank before playing it back to Ferry, who in turn slipped in Caddis who was overlapping down the touchline. The Scot did superbly well to first cut inside then out - going past two defenders as he entered the area, before he played a cross into the near post. Kerrouche met the ball with a glancing header, but it went agonisingly past the post, missing by inches. Minutes later, another Kerrouche header from a set play went over when he perhaps should have done better, the Algerian also had a shot on the turn that went wide.
With five minutes remaining in the half though, Kerrouche finally got his reward, and from a Hereford point of view, it was far too easy. The ball was played into the edge of the area, where Kerrouche controlled it with his back to goal - he turned to his right, and under no real challenge, unleashed a shot into the bottom corner. The goal summed up the last twenty minutes of the half for the Town - we were completely in control at this point, and really should have put the game to bed. At half-time, I honestly expected us to go on and add two or three more.
The dominance continued into the opening period of the second half. Jake Jervis went close, cutting inside to drill a shot diagonally just past the post. Ferry also volleyed over after a decent move ended with the ball spinning into the air in the area - one of those that would have been great technique had he have scored, but still expected him to get it on target! It felt very comfortable indeed - the Bulls were hardly getting out of their own half, it seemed like just a matter of time until we'd get it wrapped up. This period was also when a number of bizarre decisions were made by the referee - and Kerrouche was denied a penalty which looked to me like it could have been a good shout - unfortunately I think the Algerian is getting himself a bit of a reputation, and that combined with di Canio's daft comments following last week's game probably means we won't get another one all season!
So, when Hereford scored with twenty minutes remaining, it really felt like more of an inconvenience than anything else - a little annoying that we hadn't kept a clean sheet, especially as the goal was entirely preventable, and had more than an element of luck, and unfortunately bad goalkeeping. Hereford's full-back Tom Barkhuizen picked the ball up near the corner of the area, and he looked to play the ball across to the back post - Lanzano seemed to be in a bizarre position, and the ball seemed to be close enough for him to have gathered it - instead, the Italian threw himself at the ball to make a diving save that didn't really look like it was needed, he didn't get enough on it, and his weak touch only diverted the weak effort into the top corner. This was made further annoying by the fact that the ref had missed a blatant push on Abdullah in the build up.
At the other end, Ritchie had a powerful effort punched away by Hoult - the rebound too quick to be picked up by any Town players that were lurking.... just five minutes after that though, the ball was in Swindon’s net again as Hereford equalised - their second goal against the run of play. From the touchline on the Town’s left, a ball was swung into the box, where former Town triallist Yoann Arquin got a glancing header to it, and it nestled in the far corner, in a very similar fashion to de Vita’s opener. We had quite unbelievably thrown away a two goal lead.
As if to highlight that we could just have wrapped it up if we’d have wanted to, we went straight back up the other end of the pitch and reinstated the lead within two minutes. It was a very neat goal indeed - a ball was played in to the centre of the pitch, about twenty-five yards from goal, Matt Ritchie cut inside to get onto it, his first-time pass found substitute Magera, whose first-time pass in turn played in Ferry, who coolly slotted it past Hoult. Well... thank god for that we all thought.... normal service had been resumed, Hereford had threatened to steal a point away then!! Magera almost made the difference two again when he ran onto a superb through ball from fellow sub Liam Ridehalgh, but his powerful shot went across the face of goal, very similarly to Jervis’ effort earlier.
But... unfortunately, the scoring wasn’t over. As the game approached injury time, Hereford won a free-kick right on the touchline on the Town’s left side, and as it was swung into the box, Harry Pell got his head to it, and glanced it into the far corner, just as de Vita and Arquin had done before him. The away side and support went nuts, the people behind me went nuts also when it looked like the ref might not book Pell for taking his shirt off. Personally, I couldn’t have given a crap about that, I was more concerned that we’d chucked away two points that should have been wrapped up long ago. With just four added minutes left, there was no time to rescue the lead again - we’d been well and truly done. Fair play to Hereford, they had obviously spotted our weakness (then again, who couldn’t!) and exploited it to their advantage.... once again we looked decent up front, but you can’t expect the strikers to score four to keep us out of trouble at the back.
Undoubtedly, our failure to deal with a cross into the box, and our away form are the two things that are preventing us from making a lasting impression in this division - they both absolutely need dealing with sooner rather than later. |
|
|
John_
ENG
1182 Posts |
Posted - 09 Oct 2011 : 13:58:43
|
Cheers Richard.
It must've been an immensely frustrating afternoon.
More so for me in many regards as Hereford's late equaliser saw my 'guaranteed win' 4-fold crash and burn. 
Anyway, I've got two buckets in my bedroom labelled 'Optimism' and 'Patience'. I can confirm that both buckets are nearly half empty.
I've also got a couple of other buckets in my room but as this is a family forum I can't really go into any detail what they're used for.
|
 |
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Swindon Town 3-3 Hereford United
