[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 29, 2011 (morning)
Blyth U18's lose at home to Dover 3-0. Not much to say about that.

Oct 29, 2011 (afternoon)
FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
Blyth (9th BSBN, 7-1-6) at Welling (7th BSBS, 6-5-3,)

We're 9-2 underdogs on the road, they're 1:2 faves at home, sounds about right given our recent form. The Wings should have enough to handle us on their own pitch frankly, but we'll hopefully give it a good shot. We'll also gamble a bit here, debuting 18 y/o DC Phil Stevenson with the first team. Call it a hunch ... or incredible stupidity. Defensive minded 4-4-2 to open

GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Stevenson - Purvis - D'Laryea
MF: Phillips - Matondo - White - Emms
F: Armstrong - Mole

2:17 - Corner into the middle, header by Harris, right through Knight's hands (0-1) Well that didn't take long did it?
9:30 - Mole makes two of his best tackles of the season & ends up on a breakaway with what looks like half of Welling chasing him down the right side. Plays it off to Emms, who takes a weak dribbler of a shot that goes harmlessly wide.
14:00 - Fazakerley fires one off from about 30 feet out, just inside the upright & he beats Knight badly (0-2) This is not going well at all.
17:15 - Kendrick with an enormous free kick from at least 45 yards away, straight to the GK Holloway ... who inexplicably drops the ball and is saved by the quick thinking of a defender who puts the ball into Row Z before Armstrong could pounce. Funny looking play I haven't seen before.
21:30 - McBean dribbles all the way into the goal box, weak shot but even that is only pushed aside by Knight who now looks completely out of sorts
33:03 - Another miserable effort by Knight, D'Laryea then drags down the shooter in desperation after the rebound, that's a penalty ... Healy from the spot, no chance for Knight at all there (0-3)) I'm not sure how much longer he can/should stay out there
41:41 - Mole tries to find some space on a little run, takes a pop to no avail
43:31 - Purvis is laid out at midfield by McBean, they run 3 on 2 but miss badly wide left.
Halftime - Sigh. Purvis out, Jones in. I expect better & tell them so, to a room full of blank stares.

49:56 - White finds Armstrong in the area, he fires at the onrushing keeper, shot blocked ... but the rebound falls straight to Mole who buries it (1-3) At least we won't get shutout

60:00 - They miss a decent chance from the right of the spot, we'll just switch to Attacking here & try to generate a miracle in the now increasing rain

65:40 - Emms corner Stevenson at the near post, he can do nothing with it & plays it straight back to Emms ... long pass to the opposite post for Jones right-foot .... GOAL !!! (2-3)

67:00 - Mellish on for Stevenson, he was just overmatched today
68:15 - Matondo out, Vipond in
79:00 - Phillips leaves with an injury, we're down a man since there's no subs left ... let's just go all out here & see if there's anything left
84:10 - Healy on a breakaway into the vacant space, taken down by Mellish, luckily just a yellow card there ... Day takes the freekick, it's blocked out for a corner ... Harris does us a favor & puts it up & over
89:00 - they put it over the touch line sloppily, we'll have 4 mins of injury time ...
89:30 - And it won't matter as Armstrong turns it over, McBean embarrasses Mellish and scores easily 1-on-1 against the onrushing Knight (2-4)
93:00 - White comes off injured now as well, we'll finish a few seconds down two men
Fulltime - I actually gave them credit for some effort as a team, spoke to several individuals independently afterwards to address either good (Mole, Jones) or bad (Stevenson, Matondo) performances. The comeback was actually pretty impressive to me, even though we were outshot 15-6 we managed to make a match of it until we found ourselves short a man. Only 39% possession, once again didn't pass well off the back line.

Knight 6.1
Kendrick 6.2, Stevenson 5.8, Purvis 6.2, D'Laryea 5.5 not sure why so low
Phillips 6.6, Matondo 6.0, White 6.0, Emms 6.8 & 1 assist
Armstrong 6.6 & 1 assist, Mole 7.4 & 1 goal
Subs: Jones 7.4 & 1 goal, Vipond 6.5, Mellish 6.2

Oct 29, 2011 (post-match)
Horrible news from physio Fairgreave: Wayne Phillips suffered a broken ankle in the collision with Fazakerley, he'll be out 3-4 months

The presser afterwards isn't much fun, but truth is I'm more worried about the loss of Phillips than I let on, "hopefully they'll rally round" answer not withstanding

Our 11/2 match with Boston Utd has been moved to 11/16 ... what with them still alive in the FA Cup and all

Just before midnight we acknowledge the signing of 19 y/o MF Hassan Janneh. Has some ball skills & pace, not much in the way of mental strengths though. Just wish he was a lefty instead of a righty.