[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 13, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1-5-6, 22nd) vs Braintree (2-0-10, 23rd)

Relegation battle time. If we can't beat these guys I'm starting to wonder if we're ever going to win again. Thing is, we're actually underdogs here & deservedly so. They're 4:6 faves, we're 7:2 dogs. Keep an eye on the ref, he's averaging 7 yellows per match so far this season. We'll be starting in a 4-4-2 Standard, then hope to quickly react to the situations that arise.

GK: Knight
D: Martin, Jones, Sinclair, Groves
MF: Slaughter, Matondo, White, Richards
F: Armstrong, Mole
Bench: (Purvis, Hands, Stamp, Giddings, Dovey)

1:15 - Groves free kick from the point cracks off the crossbar ... hope that isn't a bad omen
4:40 - Slaughter with a nice tackle for a turnover ... loose ball to Matondo ... pass to Slaughter who shoots from the top of the area ... GOAL !!!(1-0) his first goal for us in league play
23:45 - Marks into the area, with room ... Knight lunges and makes the grab
31:00 - Groves with a free kick ... lobs it into the area for Mole .. he goes up and the header is in !(2-0)
40:00 - Richards takes flight down the right sideline ... lifts a pass ahead to Mole on the break ... quick touch and a shot from the right side of the area ... GOAL ! (3-0)

Halftime - Well that's an improvement. We've actually been outshot 7-6 but 4 of ours were on target to their 2. We need to be doing a lot of things better - heading, tackling, passing - but the results have been fine. Keep it going boys.

53:15 - Slaughter with a long throw-in to the area ... Mole is there but the keeper denies his quick shot
Switch to Counter
54:30 - Martin clears a dangerous situation off the line
71:00 - Sub Hands for Armstrong (move Matondo forward), Sub Purvis for Richards (move Groves to MR, Sinclair to RD), Switch to Defensive
78:30 - Mole with a nice cross to the left side of the area for Slaughter ... he's clattered by Junior Osborne ... Penalty ! They protest to no avail. Cards however remain in the pocket, could have been Osborne's second yellow but wasn't.
79:15 - Mole calmly steps up for the penalty ... and airmails it high into the stands
83:00 - Sub Giddings for Matondo (yellow card)

Fulltime - Not exactly a work of art but it's surely a relief. Outshot 12-9, we got just enough at the right moments to win comfortably. I suspect we'll be hearing from the league about the 4 yellow cards though.

Knight 7.5
Martin 7.3, Jones 8.0, Sinclair 7.1, Groves(MOM) 8.0 & 1 assist
Slaughter 7.9 & 1 goal,Matondo 7.2 & 1 assist,White 6.8,Richards 7.2&1 assist
Armstrong 6.3, Mole 7.6 & 2 goals
Subs: Purvis 6.7, Hands 6.6, Giddings N/A

Oct 13, 2012 (postmatch)
The win improves my mood but not our place in the table. Still stuck in the drop zone, 21st with 11 pts, ahead of Stockport on GD but still trailing Welling & Lincoln by 2 points. Lincoln stunned Dag & Red (2nd) 3-1 to remain in front of us, Welling lost to slip back a bit

Only 3 days to enjoy this, with a trip to Salisbury (9th) followed by a match at home against Welling (19th) a week from today.