The first half was as poor as we've seen all season. We just weren't with it. We were second to every ball and they were thinking quicker than we were. It's hard to criticise the manager for keeping a winning team, but had it been my decision, I would've made one, perhaps two changes. Firstly because Windass struggles to be effective twice in three days. Also because Garcia gives good balance on the right wing and lastly because I think we are a bit predictable sometimes. Other teams scout us quite easily. Bristol set up with 5 across the middle, 3 good ball playing central midfielders, 2 greyhounds out wide and a huge centre forward to compete with Turner and Brown in the air. The nullified Marney and Ashbee and for long periods in the first half, they kept Delaney and Ricketts on the back foot too. That wasn't the whole reason we were poor, as well as they defended and kept the ball, we were lifeless in possession. The passing was poor, but there wasn't a lot of movement off the ball. Campbell, who'd harried and hustled them for 20 minutes, got fed up of haring around for no reason and wandered around the middle. Marney rarely found any space and McPhee and Hughes were barely in the game. As a result, we played the ball longer and longer and failed to pick up anything from defensive headers or knock downs. Bristol didn't create a lot, but they had 3 very good strikes that had Myhill worried. We were stubborn in defence, which thankfully, is becoming the norm.
Their left back was sent off for two stupid challenges. Pulling down McPhee when he was looking to run onto a Ricketts through ball and then tripping Ricketts after Sam had skinned him, even though the ball was running out. The only half time change saw Garcia replace Hughes, who'd taken a heavy knock in the first half. We totally dominated the second half, which might not sound impressive against ten men, but there are plenty of City fans who'll remember a time we once lost to nine, let alone the numerous times we've failed to trouble ten. We kept the ball better, we were patient and we moved the ball around to create openings, which generally came from Delaney or Ricketts advancing. Marney picked up every second pass from Turner and Brown and started to dictate things. Our best two moves of the game saw Marney at the heart, once just failing to collect a McPhee flick and the other when he shot just wide. Unfortunately, we then withdrew McPhee for Okocha. McPhee didn't produce a lot, but at the start of the second half, he'd started to find space, won a lot of headers and found the room to pick out Ricketts over and over. Ricketts and Delaney has pushed their wingers back and had oodles of possession. When JJ came on, it clogged up the middle of the pitch and didn't really come off. Folan for Campbell was the last change and again, didn't have a lot of effect.
It'd be interesting to look at PB's pro zone stats for crosses and crossing positions tomorrow morning. We must have put in at least 20 or 30 crosses in the second half, from free play and set pieces. Apart from 1 or 2, they were awful. We crossed from deep far to often. An early cross can surprise a defence and open up new angles, particularly for far post knock back's, but if you do it every time and against defenders of the quality we faced tonight, you'll get nowhere. They weren't surprising anyone and they weren't good enough. To Bristol's great credit, they headed and booted everything that moved in the second half. They got through a lot of work, but stayed disciplined, kept good positions and denied us any real shooting opportunities. Our final ball let us down. We didn't deliver well enough from wide and not just Ricketts and Delaney, but McPhee, Okocha, Marney, Windass, Garcia and Hughes all wasted opportunities at one time or another. Windass was pretty quite in general. He seemed more interest in trying to con free-kicks than in winning headers or linking the play. As the second half went on, we lost the patience and started hitting early balls and crosses, which were food and drink to their defence. We made it far too easy in the last 20.
We should have won the game though. We didn't deserve to overall, but we should have, because we had 3, perhaps 4 penalty shouts. One was absolutely cast iron. As the ball squirmed away from goalie, the grounded goalkeeper grabbed Garcia's foot and pulled him down. You'll never see a clearer penalty in your life. The others were more debatable, but still infringements. Showumni appeared to save a goal bound Turner header with his arm, Windass was pulled down near the bye line and another Bristol defender handled the ball as Windass tried to control it. the last one would have been harsh. Bristol had their own shout in stoppage time, but that should have been academic.
I was disappointed with Ashbee tonight. I thought he showed all of his weaknesses. He did some good things, spread play a few times, got some strikes in on goal (or in the general vicinity of West Hull) and got out of tight spots with a brave turn and pass. Far more often though, he chased about aimlessly, failed to cut out the ball or to get tackles in and wasted possession. In the last 5 minutes, he just hit rubbish, long, aimless 'passes'. He was always supportive, though often ignored by the man in possession, but for the standard he's now set himself, he was a long way below. Marney was about our best player. He was the only person who looked like opening them up. He was smothered in the first half, but kept possession and remained patient. in the second half, he put in a lot of work and until Okocha came on, he ran the game. Then he took a back step to the maestro. Well, if a maestro is defined as "promise lots, deliver little" that is. Okocha just doesn't look fit. He's not beating players or delivering the ball. He never looked likely to play a killer pass at all and frustrated his mates and the crowd by hanging on to the ball when passes where on. As much as the crowd want him on the pitch, we often look a better side without him. His corner delivery in injury time was incredible, right on Folan's head, 6 yards out (A Bristol defender was swapping shirts with Caleb at the time). Why he didn't take them all, I'll never know. If Sam Ricketts could deliver, he might have had 5 assists tonight. He could've wrapped up the player of the season award in one game!
It's disheartening not to extend our winning run and never fun to drop points at home, but on the whole, we've got to be realistic. We were relegation certainties 6 months ago. We've taken giant leaps forward but we haven't undergone some magic transformation. We'll have off days and the first half tonight was one of the worst. In perspective, we're 4 unbeaten, we've taken 4 points from the last 2 games, we've won our last 2 away games and we've taken 13 points from the last 7 games, which is nigh on promotion form. Our subs bench tonight, Duke, Dawson, Garcia, Okocha and Folan shows the depth we have. Defensively, we're excellent, tonight being our third clean sheet in 4 games.
Keep the faith.
Ratings: Myhill 6, Ricketts 7, Delaney 6, Brown 6, Turner 7, McPhee 6 (Okocha), Hughes 5 (Garcia), Ashbee 5, Marney 7, Windass 6, Campbell 6 (Folan).