Familiar Failings

Have to say I thought that never in my lifetime would I have an evening at the end of which we could be bottom of the third division; and with almost a third of the season gone. It proved to be another game which, if taken in isolation, might be written off as ‘one of those nights’. But it’s all happened too many times: poor periods of the game (in this case the first half), goals given away cheaply, chasing the game again from behind.

What went wrong this time? With Lee and Arter not available, replacements were required if the formation was to be retained (which it was). Kirk was dropped (not surprising after Saturday), Stockley came in for Davison (fair enough), Blackett-Taylor and Leko were chosen as the wide men (decent enough), while Morgan came back in but not to play as a No.10, rather as the holding midfielder in front of the defence, with Gilbey more advanced and Clare included.

It didn’t work. Accrington’s formation gave them a spare man in midfield, usually Pell, which they used to good effect. An already fragile defence had a player in front of it not accustomed to the role, while Gilbey – who had a good game in many respects – had his best moments running at them in positions in which we had presumably picked CBT and Leko. Lee’s effectiveness has been in linking up the play, bringing others into the game. We ended up being repeatedly caught out by their spare central midfielder and unable to really utilise the two wider forwards (Leko was dangerous throughout, CBT in flashes).

Post-match Adkins not surprisingly focused on the second half; because the first half was very poor and could have seen Accrington out of sight. A clumsy challenge by Morgan chasing back resulted in a free kick which Pell converted excellently; another from a near-identical position saw his shot to the other side crash down off the bar and quite probably over the line; Soare was perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch, having given the ref a decision to make over a possible headbutt (Pell went down like a pack of cards but did then seem to think better of it as he didn’t roll around clutching his face); and when Leko had a tame shot just before the break that was our first effort on target. We had in fact equalised by then, thanks to Gilbey’s driving run and low cross, which resulted in an own goal. But the stats at half-time made for very sobering reading. Half of the game wasted, lucky to still be in it.

We were much better early in the second half, with the same personnel, just as a result of higher intensity. Then against the run of play defensive frailties proved our undoing again. From a position on the left their guy was given the time and space to send in a low cross; two defenders went with one guy, leaving Pell alone to plant the ball into the net. All far too easy. Then to compound the situation their right-back was allowed to run with the ball, move inside, and hit a shot through the tracking Morgan’s legs and inside the near post.

With still around 25 minutes left and Accrington not exactly high on confidence themselves, we did get back into it, pulled one back – this time thanks to Washington (who had come on for Clare, at the same time as Davison replaced Blackett-Taylor) chasing a lost cause and his blocked cross sitting up well for Stockley – and might well have scrambled an equaliser in the dying stages. We did after all by then have Stockley, Davison, Washington, Leko and Jaiyesimi, plus Gilbey, on the pitch. But it wasn’t to be.

Nobody questions that Morgan’s a decent player, but as the first line of protection for an error-strewn defence it was an unnecessary risk. His foul resulted in their first goal, his allowing their guy to move inside onto his favoured left foot resulted in their third, while their second goal can be attributed both to poor organisation inside the box and nobody tracking Pell. That there was not a fourth was down to some profligacy on Accrington’s part and the absence of goal-line technology.

Now only Morecambe have conceded more goals than us this season (they have scored eight more than us). We sit 22nd in the league with two wins out of 13, already four points from safety (plus a worse goal difference). We’ve gone beyond hoping that the transfer window recruits would produce a quick turnaround in form, even Scottie Minto was last night reluctant to talk about the points gap to a play-off spot. Of course a top-six finish is not impossible, but it is totally pointless to consider it in our position. We are not yet in a desperate relegation struggle, but soon will be unless we perform better and start to churn out results. And we all know that won’t happen until we stop conceding 2/3 goals every time.

Whether Adkins lasts the rest of today remains to be seen. That is entirely Sandgaard’s decision. He may be thinking about the long-term plan, which in essence all of us support. However, we are more focused on the fact that this is our fifth season out of the last six in the third flight and that as things stand the best we can hope for is to make it six out of seven. Every season which ends with us still in the third flight is regarded by Addicks as a failure, that’s just a fact. I suspect we still haven’t got our heads around the notion of relegation to the fourth division being a possibility. I know I haven’t.