[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 1, 2012
Blyth (1-2-1, 16th) at Wrexham (2-1-1, 6th)

It'd be great just to steal a point here.They're 4:7 favorites at home, we're 4:1 dogs. Juggle the lineup a bit today, still trying to figure out who fits & who doesn't, I figure a game we're expected to lose is a good time to experiment a little. We'll start in a 4-4-2 Standard, as I'm starting to think that this group doesn't play well when they're scared, so we'll try not to act scared.

GK: Knight
D: Giddings, Jones, Antwi, Sinclair
MF: Matondo, Morrison, White, Vipond
F: Mole, Chinthengah
Bench: Slaughter, Phillips, Whiteley, Groves, McDonald

08:30 - Chinthengah needs some treatment after a hard challenge
10:30 - Antwi just missed a header after a nice floating free kick by Vipond
44:00 - Baxendale just poked in a header off a corner (0-1) Ball just seemed to float forever before going in
Halftime - Tough break there to end the half. My coaches are very unhappy, I'm not seeing the great anger frankly. We outshot 'em 5-4, they had 57% poss. but we've done pretty well in most areas except in the air where they're dominating us. We'll switch to Counter.

AND I JUST MADE A SHOCKING DISCOVERY ... GK David Knight was sent off in the 47th minute with a red card ... The report doesn't say why, I haven't the foggiest what actually happened there, only realized it when I was about to resume play and Fell pointed out that I didn't have a GK.

Sub McDonald for Antwi (5.9), sub Groves for Morrison (5.9) ... switch to what becomes a 4-3-2 Defensive

Match report now says "Knight caught the ball ... Knight passed it forward to Giddings ... Freekick to Wrexham ... Knight handled the ball ... Knight was shown the red card ... Blyth couldn't believe the card ...blah blah ... it didn't seem to be worthy of a red card ... protested furiously .. blah blah

52:30 - McDonald with a fairly acrobatic save that's quickly punted out for a corner which they misplay badly
73:00 - Switch to Counter
74:45 - Mole breaks the offside trap but is denied one-on-one
77:00 - Sub Phillips for Giddings
89:00 - 3 mins of added time
93:00 - Jones with a long ball for Mole ... he's in the channel ... it's tackled away
95:00 - Vipond goes down hard & is finished for the day ... and of course we're out of subs ... and now out of time

Fulltime - What a bizarre match. Amazing to have only lost by one. We actually outshot them 9-8, managed 47% poss. Quite remarkable, in every way but the result. I'm actually a little disappointed right now, I really thought we might just draw even.

Knight 6.7
Giddings 7.1, Jones 6.6, Antwi 5.9, Sinclair 6.8
Matondo 6.7, Morrison 5.9, White 6.5, Vipond 6.6
Mole 6.4, Chinthengah 6.8
Subs: McDonald 6.9, Groves 6.9, Phillips N/A

Sept 1, 2012 (postmatch)
We watch the replay to determine whether to appeal. I've watched it repeatedly, I see Knight lay the ball out to Giddings and then turn to head back to the goal ... suddenly there's a card. No clue. And I apparently hit the wrong damned button or something, I wanted to appeal but instead didn't appeal

Shaun Vipond will miss roughly two months after landing heavily during the match and suffering a sprained ankle.

And Wrexham's manager Andy Morrell is asked afterwards whether this win might give him the upper hand over me in the future. His response was that I'd probably think twice before making comments in the future. The comments in question? My remark that "Andy Morrell is one of the nicest people in soccer" from a couple of days earlier. WTF?

And then in an even more bizarre twist (glitch?) I go down to read my original comments and return to the item ready to blast Morrell but the item now reads "You have responded to Honey's request" (Honey being the name of the reporter) ... except that I didn't !