It’s probably no bad thing that we have no match this weekend
Pierce Sweeney talks the recent defeats, Ollie Watkins back in the England squad, and the Rugby World Cup in his latest column
Having lost four of our last five League One games, it’s probably no bad thing that we find ourselves without a match this weekend. While we weren’t a million miles off in the defeats against Oxford, Northampton, Charlton and Barnsley, there’s no doubt that over recent weeks we’ve fallen short of the levels we hit earlier in the season.
A ridiculously long injury list hasn’t helped but, even so, we know we can do better and 10 days without a game will give us the opportunity to put in some hard yards at the Cliff Hill Training Ground and have a bit of a reset. For sure, we were desperately unlucky to lose 1-0 at home to Barnsley on Saturday. Tykes supporters might see it differently but I thought we should have been ahead so it was a hammer blow when the visitors opened the scoring in the 89th minute.
All the more so as, once again, we were the architects of our own downfall – giving the ball away cheaply just outside our penalty area and then allowing ourselves to be picked apart in the space of two passes. Up until that point, I felt we’d been pretty comfortable defensively and, what’s more, had looked by far the more likely side to break the deadlock.
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Indeed, Demetri Mitchell did everything but score midway through the second half when he made good ground down the left-hand side only to see an exquisite 20-yard strike with the outside of his boot ricochet back off the post with Barnsley keeper Liam Roberts clawing at thin air. Unfortunately, the rebound came at the well-positioned Vinny Harper with such pace he couldn’t react quickly enough to dispatch it into an unguarded net.
Even after Barnsley had taken the lead, we came desperately close to replying only for Demi to be denied by the woodwork, again, in injury time. As he rose to head the ball goalwards I was convinced there was only one place it was going and couldn’t quite believe it when the post intervened to deny us the equaliser which, in my opinion, was the very least we deserved from the game.
And we might have made more of a corner in the final few seconds but only succeeded in making a right Horlicks of it. With Viljami Sinisalo joining the attack, we needed to get the ball into the six-yard box but, instead, our short corner almost gifted the visitors a second goal.
Demi suggested I give him the ball so he could dribble into the penalty area and, so well had he been playing, it seemed at the time like a good idea – seconds later, when the ball arrived at the feet of the unfortunate Kyle Taylor, who found himself racing back in the direction of his own goal, not so much.
On reflection, it’s plain that the corner should have been whipped into the six-yard box and the discernible sense of frustration amongst supporters and teammates alike that this didn’t happen is entirely understandable. Moreover, it’s something for which I hold up my hand and take full responsibility – as one of our senior players, it was down to me to take charge of the situation and make sure we chose the right option.
While Charlton eventually ran out fairly comfortable 3-1 winners of our game at The Valley last Tuesday, I can’t help feeling it could have been very different had one or two critical moments gone our way. I thought we played pretty well in the opening 45 minutes and were good value for our 1-0 lead, courtesy of a good finish from James Scott. Jamesy might have had another not long afterwards and had that gone in, I reckon we would have gone on to win the game fairly comfortably. Unfortunately, all our good work was undone when the home side bagged an equaliser just before half-time.
