Just got back from sitting amongst a group of rather quiet PNE fans watching an uninspired and rather aimless rather than than utterly abject performance. The fact is that we were outplayed more or less from start to finish by a side that consistently did the simple thing of getting the ball on the ground and then playing a pass-and-run game. They also had an exceptionally talented player - Danns - who was a threat every time he got the ball and roasted more or less anyone who tried to tackle him. Even when we were in the lead we looked feeble in midfield and fragile in defence and you just knew that once they scored they would get a couple more. Though curiously we had a couple of chances when we were one up and if we had taken one of them we might well have coasted to an easy victory because they would probably have collapsed, they are not a great side and might yet get relegated - you can sometimes see how a game can swing wildly around a single incident and the second goal in this game was always going to be the fulcrum on which the game would turn.
The line-up was 4.4.2 with Treacy to the right and Carter to the left. But what signalled the way the afternoon would go was a dreadful mis-header by St Ledger that allowed them to get a shot in after barely a minute - luckily it was over the bar. After that it was actually a very lively game with both sides looking rather slipshod and giving the ball away so there was always a threat to goal. They made a couple of chances for themselves and wasted them and then one of their players slipped allowing Coutts to run free with Treacy to his right and Mellor to his left. He eventually pushed the ball forward and though it was overhit Treacy did well to get to it before the keeper and push it into the net.
We then had two more chances - a volley by Parkin that went just over the bar and a run by Mellor in which he just couldn't quite shape up to shoot before he was tackled. But at the other end they had a header from a corner cleared off the line and then another free header from a corner tipped onto the bar by Lonergan. As I said you just knew this could not stay 1-0. Their equaliser came after a simple header into the box found one of their players with all the time in the world to control the ball and pick his spot. (By the way a couple of minutes earlier Lonergan had made a fantastic double save - first from a header, then from the follow-up only for the linesman to raise his flag for offside).
In second half they scored early on - Danns got free on their left, ran at our defence and crossed for them to score again and after that the game was really only going to have one result. I don't really see the point in recounting any further incidents, so let's turn to the actual causes of our defeat. They are not hard to identify - a midfield that simply did not get the ball on the ground and use it and a defence that looked edgy and vulnerable almost every time they got the ball in the box. We improved a bit after Davidson came on for Carter - he gave us a bit of the the drive that we had previously lacked and we might even have snatched an equaliser. But we did not and we really did not deserve to do so. In the end we were outplayed by a team that, one individual apart, were not very good but wanted it more - wanted it an awful lot more - than we did.
Player ratings:
Lonergan 8 - made some good saves and though their final goal came from a mis-punch by him he had previously done more than anyone to keep us in the game.
Jones 4 - more or less anonymous.
St Ledger 3 - I never thought I would give the lad such a low mark but he was sloppy and error-prone all afternoon. This season probably cannot end soon enough for him. I still want him to be here next season, but right now he looks like a shadow of himself.
Ward 7 - I thought the lad did OK though he ought to have won more in the air.
Williams 6 - looked determined going forward in the first half but could not handle Danns, though neither could anyone else.
Treacy 7 - looked bright and sharp early on, took his goal well and almost sent Mellor through with a very clever pass early in the second half. Still a lot of developing to do, but could become a good player.
James 5 - disappointing, I expected more.
Coutts 6 - put a lot of effort in but little real invention.
Carter 1 - more or less irrelevant, I can't really recall anything he did of note.
Mellor 6 - chased and harried, but given no service other than punts for him to run after - I really don't see that any other striker would have done any better.
Parkin 5 - if you looked you could see the man was trying, but his first touch let him down all too often.
There is nothing left in this season now except to survive and then regroup for the next campaign. What we need most of all is some leadership and determination in midfield. The James-Coutts partnership is promising but is too lightweight to cope when on one side it has an apprentice and on the other a non-entity. We still need a really strong Greganesque central midfielder and a forceful wing-half type player for the right flank. Oh a final note about today - our corner kicks were consistently awful, just punts into the six yard box that went straight to their goalkeeper. As I said so long as we survive then today's match will just fade into obscurity. I am already well on the way to forgetting it.
