The View From Churchmans

As we got back after the game to a clan gathering, Mogga arrived home (25 minutes after the game had finished) - he lives opposite. My young cousins who were with us went to commiserate. He said he was just "so sorry we couldn't have turned it round for you". They said they were proud. He was obviously very depressed. Such a strange feeling after the game, but in retrospect it can only ... More...

Well, they did everything we asked of them. George threw caution to the wind, played 4-4-2 (dropping Thetis for Petta) and told 'em to go for it. And they did: Wilnis (and occasionally Clapham) completely forgot they were suddenly "last line of defence" full backs, and although we began by raining in efforts in on the Sheffield goal in one of the most breathtaking 20 minutes of football I can remember, it was ... More...

Just unbelievable. Who was the bloke who went on 6-0-6 afterwards and said that supporting Ipswich was the most stressful thing he'd ever done in his life? Too right. I've let myself calm down a bit before writing this. To lose at home against the bottom-of-the-table side reduced to ten men well before the end? Only Ipswich... Like Tuesday against Swindon, we passed sweetly despite the atrocious conditions, and we dominated the possession, but ... More...

Well it was never going to be as easy as Swindon, but after Saturday I thought this was going to be the inevitable nil-nil. After ten minutes even that looked optimistic! But we sorted ourselves out and were well worth the three points. Can't remember the last time so many different MotM suggestions were proferred on the way home though! QPR had an organised defence, and Kiwomya was dangerous when receiving long balls (which ... More...

There is a God (the sort that decides the outcomes of games that is, I don't mean Micky Stockwell). We "lost" the first half convincingly against a well-organised team who dominated the midfield, and although we held our own in the second half, it was debatable if we were the better side. Back to 5-3-2 at the start after Tuesday night's 4-4-2 shenanigans, with Petta given a roving brief in midfield as a ... More...

Last home game we were creating chances from all over the place and not putting any away, tonight we had about the same amount of possession yet created hardly anything - but managed to score three times. Just like the Oxford match however, we weren't mature enough to slow the game down and put our foot on the ball in the last 15 minutes, and the end was a frantic scramble ...again. Someone's ... More...

Laugh? Cry? Be pleased with the slick interplay? Or despair at the atrocious finishing? I don't know what to think. The only time I can remember us missing so many chances in a game was the away match at Portsmouth back at the start of the season. Individually, the players had great games. As a team, they performed marvellously. And yet... and yet... get them within 10 yards of the goal and they ... More...

That's better. Not just because of the result, but we played more as a team than against Everton or Grimsby. And we shouldn't find the scoreline too disappointing; Port Vale were much better than their recent form and position suggests. Harewood looked like a useful loanee (when he went off on one run down the wing, Emile Heskey or what?) although he was trying too hard to impress and often went for the ... More...

Bloody awful, the worst we've played all season without a doubt: there seemed to be a disease called "can't pass" and it affected everyone. We've played badly a couple of other times this season but not let in a daft goal, so scraped a 0-0 but today - despite the fact we had most of the possession - we deserved the kick up the pants that *yet another* home defeat should give us. ... More...

Just a brief one: some good individual performances against a weak and fairly disorganised Pompey. Alan Ball played all three subs at half time and he'd probably have played eleven if he could. Portsmouth won the toss and elected to kick against a very strong wind in the first half, the thinking being that if they could hold their own for 45 minutes, with the wind at their ... More...

Firstly I have to say that I enjoyed this game more than the awful Birmingham game last week, despite the fact we lost. Does this make me a bad person? But Barnsley are an ordinary side, with probably even more injury problems than we have, and it's worrying how easily they found us out: run straight through the middle (our biggest weakness) then change formation and see how slow we are to react ... More...

Very poor match, below par performance, great result. Maybe the gods are on our side this year. We deserved at least a draw (Birmingham were a strong side) but we've played better and lost. The defence were magnificent, and they had to be with Burley's rather dodgy tactics and team selection at the moment. You couldn't fault Richard, who was commanding in the air, but in truth he had little to test him, ... More...

Not very convincing, the team were devoid of ideas and a draw wouldn't have been harsh. But given that at least four of the side were rubbish, a win was quite an achievement. Burley has obviously put them under strict instructions to go back to the short passing game, but whilst the likes of Stockwell took this very literally (and it somwhat stifled his performance), others found it tough, and the inevitable result ... More...

In any good season you have to have matches like these. We are poor but the other team are worse (fortunately). Hands up who'd have liked to have seen Alex come off the bench on 75 minutes? On the positive side, I'd take Vernazza and a couple of million for Kieron any day. Otherwise, if you weren't there, you didn't miss anything, and I suspect this won't be a match which sparks long ... More...

Disastrous result, doubling our league defeats in 1998, but really not that bad a performance IMHO. Sunderland will be the best side we fact this season, for a start, and they proved why with the excellent opportunism they showed in taking advantage of Stockwell's injury for the first goal. The second was just a lucky break, and a great finish (Richard almost did enough, sending Phillips so wide that he had to produce a ... More...