Cynicism and Poor Refereeing Decide The Outcome

I like to think that, while partisan, I’m not unreasonable. So we let’s begin with a word on our visitors, Leeds. Scum. I don’t in any way mean the supporters. From all that I saw they were fine and in addition to turning out in impressive force offered their team excellent vocal support through the game (with the obvious exception of that silly song about ‘champions of Europe’; sad or what?). I mean the team, and by implication the manager. McDermott has a decent reputation and I suspect most of us think that he did a fair job at Reading. But if your team on the pitch behaves as they did, it has to reflect on you. Cynical, ‘professional’ if you like, but pathetic is more accurate. I would be ashamed to support them.

Then a word on the ref, Keith Stroud. Crap. His decisions had a major influence on the outcome of the game and, subject to seeing them again, he got the major ones wrong. He allowed himself to be conned by Leeds’ tactics and was weak throughout. He had two major penalty decisions to make. When Stephens went onto a ball in their box and was flattened, he did nothing; when their guy dived he gave a penalty. Their third came from a free-kick that was nonsense. When a ref warns a keeper, the obnoxious Kenny, for time-wasting, what does he do next? Warn him again, then again, and finally shows a yellow card. Would he send him off for still doing the same thing? You just knew he wouldn’t. Gutless in addition to rubbish. The conditions made life difficult for the officials, as well as the players, but he allowed himself to conned. So cynicism triumphs, for a day.

All that aside, this was a game that we still should have taken something from, for positive reasons. The major crime was that, having levelled at 2-2, we conceded a poor third goal, to give the advantage back to them. In addition, the obnoxious Kenny pulled off two saves at key times. Up against a cynical Leeds, and a dreadful ref, this was one to win against the odds. That we didn’t was down to that third goal. The fourth was an irrelevance, but when a forward’s on fire you have to doff your cap to the strike from the free kick that sealed the victory. And for once in the game it did actually look as though the ref got the decision right. I hope he feels pleased with himself.

Before the (delayed) start the question was whether Kermorgant might be fit and, if not, whether Sir Chris would stick with 4-5-1 at home. In the event Yann was on the bench, so 4-5-1 it was, with the defence picking itself (Wood seemingly being unavailable), and Harriott playing instead of Pritchard, more as an outright winger than in the hole as before. A midfield trio of Stephens and Jackson, in advance of Cousins, should ensure we had a fair amount of possession, but would the goals come with Church operating as the lone striker?

Attacking the Covered End in the first half (why?) the first good chance came early. Harriott had the ball around the edge of the box and was under no great pressure but his his shot over the bar. There’s nothing wrong with scoring early and given the time and space he had it should have been on target. The conditions were poor. It was difficult, especially in the first half, to judge a pass, putting the emphasis on playing in the opponents’ half as mistakes seemed inevitable. And generally we were having the better of things, controlling play and keeping them on the back foot. But the idea that having not conceded a goal for seven hours-plus was always a bit of a deception (when you go that long you have some luck and Blackpool might have scored against us late on, while Wigan had a number of good chances that weren’t taken); we aren’t watertight. This showed with a poor first goal for them.

An ordinary ball into the box might have been claimed by Hamer but wasn’t. Instead there was hesitation and their guy knocked it on and their forward who scores goals latched onto it and finished well, although a fellow Addick in line said it was definitely offside. Cheap goal to give away. But we were still playing well enough and we had to endure Stephens being flattened in the box and nothing given, then Church, who had previously failed to convert from a tight angle, connected with a good cross from the left only for the obnoxious Kenny to pull off a blinding save.

Just as the sense of injustice was building, we equalised with a truly stupendous strike from Stewart. A ball into the box was headed out only for him to catch it on the volley and send it soaring into the far corner. It has to be a contender for our goal of the season and meant that at the break we were fuming about the ref’s failure to give a penalty (and the plain daft booking of Morrison when other cynical challenges by Leeds had gone unpunished), about the poor goal we had conceded, and the obnoxious Kenny’s save, but were level and playing well enough to have confidence about the eventual outcome.

That changed quite quickly in the second half. Ball in the box, Leeds guy adopts that attitude of ‘there was contact so I fell over’ (ie dived), and the ref stupidly gives a penalty. Their guy who scores converted and we’re on the back foot again, chasing the game. Seemed like a tough period ahead as they not surprisingly concentrated on getting men behind the ball, but we equalised again, somewhat out of the blue. Good work down the left and a low ball in which saw Jackson move ahead of defenders to get on the end of it and convert.

Having come from behind twice, playing one up front, the emphasis now was surely on keeping things tight and upping the pressure on them, to go on and win the game. Instead we self-imploded, with the ref making another poor decision to contribute. He gave a free kick to them for nothing, but the ball in was surely there for Hamer to claim. He didn’t and as with the first goal the result was confusion and the ball ran on to their guy who scores to convert. Even worse than the first and, in the context of the game, awful. Once again behind and on the back foot.

The first change saw Kermorgant come on, for Harriott. Can’t help feeling that we should have sacrificed one of the three central midfielders, but no matter. This did seem like an afternoon set up for Yann, if he was fit, but this proved not to be the case as he was quite frankly off the pace and failed to have the impact we hoped for. As the clock ticked down Stewart and Wilson gave way for Sordell and Pritchard. This also seemed strange as we’d lost both wide players, while now having three up front, but we were getting desperate.

There was the time left for the ref to possibly get a decision right, giving a free kick to them on the edge of the box. We left a number up front and it was one of those ‘well, if he scores so be it’. Their guy who scores took it and did. Game over.

It was a game we shouldn’t have lost. Most of the blame can quite rightly be attributed to the dire referee, allied to Leeds’ tactics, but the real sin on our part was that third goal conceded having for the second time levelled. Tough one to take, but to be positive there was nothing wrong with the attitude and effort. We’re fine, just not our day.

Player Ratings:

Hamer:  4/10. Sorry, but he was culpable for that third goal of theirs, possibly also the first. He seemed to realise that he’d not made the right decision when afterwards coming for one without conviction. He’s played his part in our recent record of not conceding and just has to take this one on the chin and rebound.

Wilson:  7/10. No complaints, no bad mistakes and played his part going forward.

Wiggins:  8/10. Same again, he had a good game. Worked well with Stewart going forward, put in some excellent balls, and didn’t seem at fault with their goals.

Morrison:  5/10. Generally fine, but there’s something wrong – or was today – in the communication with Hamer. They have to sort it out.

Dervitte;  5/10. Same as with Morrison. Their first and third goals were the result of us not dealing with ordinary balls into the box. I don’t know who’s to blame.

Stewart:  8/10. The guy was dangerous, in conditions that made it difficult to run with the ball and judge a pass, and he scored a stunner.

Cousins:  6/10. Not an easy game for him as the ball didn’t run true on the surface and his role seemed to be to sit in front of the back four.

Stephens:  6/10. Not easy for him either; we spent most of the game behind and them squeezing the space in front of him.

Jackson:  7/10. Would have been the same mark but the guy scores goals and his leveller should have been the platform for us to go on and win.

Harriott:  5/10. Well, he should have shot on target early in the game and it was his challenge for their poor penalty. 

Church:  6/10. Was unlucky with the obnoxious Kenny’s save, but also didn’t manage to squeeze one in from a tight angle.

Subs:  Kermorgant (5/10 – no idea about his fitness, but his introduction failed to have the desired effect); Sordell & Pritchard (not on long enough for a mark).