MotM: 14-03-26. Chester (H) Evans

[Sheffield Harrier]

The ref aside, we didn't create enough to deserve to win.
Chester had done their homework on us and there was no Plan B.
First half was quite boring with Harriers having plenty of possession but Chester not pressing and content to play 11 behind the ball. Second half was a slight improvement but, apart from Cooper's goal, a fairly forgettable match.

I really enjoyed it.

[Mirage Molby]

Yeah that was a tough game. They definitely worked the ref and did it effectively. I thought we were the better team overall, but as above, didn’t create enough clear cut chances. Donnelly was expected to do far too much - and he kept trying to, without much success.

I didn’t think Dibs was at fault for the goal, it was well taken… but a bit of a crap goal to concede. It was sloppy play at the back that provided Chester with most of their chances.

What a goal by Cooper. I’ve seen him hit a few rash shots this season but this was a tremendous strike from at least 30 yards out. Shame it didn’t win us the match.

A point gained and I hope this lot don’t end up in the playoffs against us. Head injuries r us, what a joke.

[Phil]

[Harrier1994]

Reminds me of Horsfall v Brackley a few years back. Perfect strike

[Medieval]

Evans & Foulkes just pipped the others for motm for me, suppose says the story of the game, not enough in attack. Why keep sending high balls to Donnelly?

The "head injury stop game" rule is broken. I counted 3 times it was used as a defensive tactic, has to be changed or it will ruin the game. Stopped us gaining momentum & pressurising them, could have stopped us winning. My suggestion, if you stop the game through head injury, you immediately get subbed off (subject to normal sub rules).

[andrewb]

prediction league - a few picked up a point, but grats to Joe Stalin who correctly got the 1-1 scoreline and named Cooper as goal scorer

[COYRedder]

I own up. I voted Dibs MOTM. He kept us in the game in the first half. At least two goal-saving saves when we hadn’t tested their GK at all. I’ll look at the Chester goal on the highlights but didn’t think him at fault at the time. Evans other vote.
We seem to revert to a slow build game at home which means Devine and Donnelly making runs and watching as the ball goes backward or sideways. I thoughSeb was relatively anonymous today except for one shot at their GK.
As for a Chester player going down holding his head every time we broke away in the second half, I almost felt sorry for the referee he has no choice but to stop the game. (Didn’t stop me calling him a useless pillock though!) But can’t the simulation law be applied? If they jump up straight away, as the Chester players did, he should give a yellow card?
He did try to put it right by restarting in a way that gave us an advantage but the Chester defence had regrouped.
I left the ground fuming at the Chester rough-house tactics and the cheating with head injuries but now I’ve calmed down a bit I’m more in admiration at the way our players fought for every ball and kept their cool despite the cheating.

[Mirage Molby]

Reminds me of Horsfall v Brackley a few years back. Perfect strike

I’m not sure it’s worth having the goal of the month competition for March. I’ve watched that about 30 times already. Beautiful.

[maxspeed]

Chester came for a point, used all the dark arts going and got what they wanted. Harriers the better side for 90% of the game but did have to rely on Dibbs to keep Chester at bay after some sloppy defensive errors and unfortunately he couldn't do it for the equaliser. I thought we played well, loads of energy and effort and what a goal from Cooper - goal of the season ? Chester had done their homework and closed the game down and won nearly everything in the air - Donnely and Thompson feeding on scraps. MotM goes to Evans, thought he was superb and nullified the threat from top scorer Muttley - he didn't get a kick all game. The fact that Merthyr lost again sweetens the pill somewhat, so it becomes an important point won. On to Chorley , another point minimum.

[Bud G Smuggler]

These 'ere Astronomers can keep their comets. I was stood right in line with 'Cooper's Comet' and it was an out of this world strike. Also fair play to Charlie for not throwing himself to the ground whilst clutching his head when Chester were on the attack - all in all a performance a few on the pitch today could learn from.

[Phil]

No foul on Declan there. He went across Cooper then went to ground.

It is a contact sport after all.

[Krasnyi]

I don’t want to get too holier than thou about the use of the dark arts given Dibble’s (former?) 70 minute recurring leg injury but the fake head injury ruse was employed effectively by Chester, halting promising breaks for us on at least three occasions. One way of dealing with this could be to insist that all players with ‘head injuries’ are either substituted or have to leave the field of play for 5 minutes to be properly assessed. Hard on genuine injuries I suppose.
In contrast to Chester’s amateur dramatics I was pleased to see Joe stay on his feet on a couple of occasions when he’d been pulled back or tripped. Sadly, in retrospect though I guess he’d have been better off going down.

[Cyberia]

The ref aside, we didn't create enough to deserve to win.
Chester had done their homework on us and there was no Plan B.
First half was quite boring with Harriers having plenty of possession but Chester not pressing and content to play 11 behind the ball. Second half was a slight improvement but, apart from Cooper's goal, a fairly forgettable match.

Just what I was thinking. Another afternoon of predictable hoof ball and head tennis. I felt sorry for Donnelly and Thompson - up against huge defenders and yet we continued to pump high balls towards them that they had no realistic chance of winning in the air. If we're going to persist with this style of play then we might as well put Obi up top. Admittedly, Chester didn't make it easy by continually breaking play up with bogus injuries and sitting deep but we have to find a way of breaking teams down who do this. It was good to see Bird back in the side. I thought that he looked very calm and composed again and his distribution, one or two passes excepted, was pretty decent.

[Sheffield Harrier]

The ref aside, we didn't create enough to deserve to win.
Chester had done their homework on us and there was no Plan B.
First half was quite boring with Harriers having plenty of possession but Chester not pressing and content to play 11 behind the ball. Second half was a slight improvement but, apart from Cooper's goal, a fairly forgettable match.

Just what I was thinking. Another afternoon of predictable hoof ball and head tennis. I felt sorry for Donnelly and Thompson - up against huge defenders and yet we continued to pump high balls towards them that they had no realistic chance of winning in the air. If we're going to persist with this style of play then we might as well put Obi up top. Admittedly, Chester didn't make it easy by continually breaking play up with bogus injuries and sitting deep but we have to find a way of breaking teams down who do this. It was good to see Bird back in the side. I thought that he looked very calm and composed again and his distribution, one or two passes excepted, was pretty decent.

We are not always “hoofing it”. Sometimes it’s done out of necessity and sometimes it’s a poor decision from the player on the ball. Donnelly is certainly awkward and tenacious enough to cause defenders issues in some situations.

[Sheffield Harrier]

I don’t want to get too holier than thou about the use of the dark arts given Dibble’s (former?) 70 minute recurring leg injury but the fake head injury ruse was employed effectively by Chester, halting promising breaks for us on at least three occasions. One way of dealing with this could be to insist that all players with ‘head injuries’ are either substituted or have to leave the field of play for 5 minutes to be properly assessed. Hard on genuine injuries I suppose.
In contrast to Chester’s amateur dramatics I was pleased to see Joe stay on his feet on a couple of occasions when he’d been pulled back or tripped. Sadly, in retrospect though I guess he’d have been better off going down.

Perhaps the physio could be allowed on the field to treat the “head injury” as play continues. I’m sure you’d find players staying down less.

Agree about Joe too. If he’d gone down, the yellow would come out. But that shouldn’t be the case. Referees are too influenced by whether a player goes down and whether the other team appeal.

Also, when Weeks tripped one of our players whilst on a yellow can someone explain why he wasn’t given a second yellow? You’ve seen them given. Instead the ref booked Bird indicating persistent fouling.

Players are only doing what they get away with. Managers are obviously going to send sides out to influence the referee. The shirt pulling and holding is endemic at all levels of the game. A ball goes into the box and most the time there are several fouls that could be given either way. Some refs just decide to let it all go and some make the easy decision of giving a free-kick to the defending team. Assistant referees must see these incidents. When a penalise is given the defending side protest (rightly thinking “well I’ve been doing this all game and you’ve not given anything”).

Finally, interesting to see Chester exploit the weakness in our leaving five up at corners tactic.