Friday night I left work to get the 17.10 which gets me to Durrington at 17.49, I arrived finally (via Preston Park) at 19.15, all down to a failed Wales and West train at Shoreham (they occasionally use old Virgin rolling stock and it failed and couldn't me moved for hours!).
Saturday and Liz and I bumped into Kieron waiting for the 12.17 to Brighton, which arrived about 30 minutes late due to a signal failure at Goring and now this morning the 7.41 turns up at 8.20 due to a temporary signal fault at Barnham!
God help us when the cold weather arrives this afternoon/tonight! Right rant out the way on to the football!!!!
My team prediction from Friday night was not too far out. We played a formation that was very flexible, but basically we played either a back 4 of Virgo, Butters, Cullip and Mayo. Watson played left midfield with Oatway and Carpenter in the middle and then we had Benjamin, Knight and McPhee upfront. When Mayo pushed up the back 4 became a central back 3 and it all worked rather well.
Benjamin certainly put himself about and the three pronged attacked worked well. Benjamin won us the penalty with a great bit of control, skinned one defender before being upended by the next.
I cant watch penalties and heard the groan, looked up and saw all 11 Barnsley players round the referee as he had rules some infringement. Knight didn't shirk the responsibility and calmly scored the match winner.
We looked solid at the back, but we lost our way towards the end and Hart IMHO bundled over a Barnsley player about to knock in the equaliser. I think this summed up the appalling game that the Referee had. He had no interest in the Linesman's decisions and spoiled a game with his constant interference.
Virgo nearly doubled the lead but headed just wide. I don't think Kuipers or Roberts had an actual save to make in the entire 90 minutes.
The crowd looked about right, Barnsley had about 350, the other half of the away stand was kept empty as Albion couldn't sell the tickets left in the home end!
Roberts - 5 went walk about and nearly cost us again
Mayo - 6 still gave away the ball, but did make one tremendous recovery tackle
Butters - 7 solid and still improving and looking more mobile at last
Cullip - 7 lead the team superbly, becoming a good leader under McGhee
Virgo - 7 solid display on his return to defending duties!
Watson - 6 much much better in midfield than defence.
Carpenter - 8 my MOTM with another battling performance
Oatway - 7 backed up Carpenter
Benjamin - 7 100% effort and worried the defence
Knight - 7 gave his all and brave enough to take the penalty again
McPhee - 7 was a vital part of the three man attack
Kuipers - 6 great reception when he came on and didn't let us down
Hart - 5 lucky the referee missed his foul in the penalty box!
El-Abd - 6 not enough time to do much
Referee - 1 (for giving us a second penalty kick!)
Saturday and Liz and I bumped into Kieron waiting for the 12.17 to Brighton, which arrived about 30 minutes late due to a signal failure at Goring and now this morning the 7.41 turns up at 8.20 due to a temporary signal fault at Barnham!
God help us when the cold weather arrives this afternoon/tonight! Right rant out the way on to the football!!!!
My team prediction from Friday night was not too far out. We played a formation that was very flexible, but basically we played either a back 4 of Virgo, Butters, Cullip and Mayo. Watson played left midfield with Oatway and Carpenter in the middle and then we had Benjamin, Knight and McPhee upfront. When Mayo pushed up the back 4 became a central back 3 and it all worked rather well.
Benjamin certainly put himself about and the three pronged attacked worked well. Benjamin won us the penalty with a great bit of control, skinned one defender before being upended by the next.
I cant watch penalties and heard the groan, looked up and saw all 11 Barnsley players round the referee as he had rules some infringement. Knight didn't shirk the responsibility and calmly scored the match winner.
We looked solid at the back, but we lost our way towards the end and Hart IMHO bundled over a Barnsley player about to knock in the equaliser. I think this summed up the appalling game that the Referee had. He had no interest in the Linesman's decisions and spoiled a game with his constant interference.
Virgo nearly doubled the lead but headed just wide. I don't think Kuipers or Roberts had an actual save to make in the entire 90 minutes.
The crowd looked about right, Barnsley had about 350, the other half of the away stand was kept empty as Albion couldn't sell the tickets left in the home end!
Roberts - 5 went walk about and nearly cost us again
Mayo - 6 still gave away the ball, but did make one tremendous recovery tackle
Butters - 7 solid and still improving and looking more mobile at last
Cullip - 7 lead the team superbly, becoming a good leader under McGhee
Virgo - 7 solid display on his return to defending duties!
Watson - 6 much much better in midfield than defence.
Carpenter - 8 my MOTM with another battling performance
Oatway - 7 backed up Carpenter
Benjamin - 7 100% effort and worried the defence
Knight - 7 gave his all and brave enough to take the penalty again
McPhee - 7 was a vital part of the three man attack
Kuipers - 6 great reception when he came on and didn't let us down
Hart - 5 lucky the referee missed his foul in the penalty box!
El-Abd - 6 not enough time to do much
Referee - 1 (for giving us a second penalty kick!)
