Man bites dog
Burnley 1 Notts County 1, 17th October 1998
Steven Tattersall
One change to the line-up saw old
timer Swan swapping the Number 2 shirt with young Turk Chris Scott, who was suspended (is
it me or is it in his contract to be booked every game?). This meant a fair bit of
shuffling to the formation: back three of Swan, Reid and Heywood, midfield of Armstrong
(no. 3), Vindheim (no. 4), Robertson (no. 8), Smith on the left wing, Little on the right,
the two Andys up front. This had some effect on the way we played.
First of all, the addition of thirteen years'
playing experience didn't help the confidence of the side. Previously we had two defenders
who could distribute with confidence (Reid and Armstrong), but with Swan in we had
problems bringing the ball out from the back.
Meanwhile the midfield did look a lot brighter -
for the first eight minutes. Armstrong pushed the ball around reasonably IMHO, Vindheim
looked confident (as it turned out too much so) and Robertson is improving, despite all
the slaggings he has received (theory: he only gets stick because Weller isn't playing).
Early doors a ball through to Big Glen got him
to the by-line only for the cross to ruffle the hair of Cooke as it sailed across the
goal. We then proceeded to knock the ball around well, but Vindheim's overconfidence (he
beat his man, then back flicked the ball to said beaten man's feet) led to them racing
down the other end and forcing a corner, from which Pearce got in front of Heywood, fired
it near Ward whose glove again failed to parry the ball.
Cue everyone behind the ball.
Confidence wobbled a lot and Vindheim looked
sheepish and didn't want to take a man on after that. The gap between the midfield and
forwards widened, County's midfield pushed forward and gave less time for our defence. Far
too often, the ball fell to Matty Heywood to push forward: the poor guy is still learning
how to be a defender.
Meanwhile Paul Smith got his fair share of
abuse. Maybe my handshake at the Sponsorship Party had drained him of his strength, but
his confidence is shot, the role Stan is asking him to play doesn't suit him (the Longside
scream at him to get forward, but he's obviously playing under orders to stay back) and he
has lost a yard on the turn.
County gained in confidence and pushed the ball
out to the wings so the rest of the first was uninspiring. We only really looked dangerous
from forced corners: a few ricochets in the box, Reid put a rebound narrowly wide (the man
never seems to panic).
Half time changed little; in fact, County grew
in confidence. Again we caused havoc from a couple of corners, Payton looked to have
blasted the ball home after an hour but it hit a defender on the line: clearly this wasn't
our day. The footballing equivalent of Hermann Munster and the bully from The Simpsons,
Garry Strodder, started to look classy so things had obviously degenerated. Cooke was
booked for being run into by the goalkeeper. Video evidence should get that one revoked.
With minutes left Swan was thrown forward, then
back, then forward again as we reverted to lumping the ball forward. Then County had
several chances to knock in another as Reid and Heywood looked a bit lost without
direction.
With four minutes of injury time played (we
could have had fifteen; County were expert at running down the clock, to the extent that
Sam Allardyce deliberately got himself sent to the stand at one point), a lumped ball
bounced off Swan's receding pate, found Vindheim who had ghosted in and who proceeded to
loop the ball over the keeper with the aid of his kneecap. One all. Ruuuu-ne. (Etc.)
Three more kicks. Final Whistle. A point
rescued!
On the whole a below-par performance but a point
was ultimately pleasing; for a change we fought back which certainly would not have
happened last season. Stan's glowing praise ("they were excellent today") was
slightly exaggerating the display but I think he's more pleased at their attitude and
commitment than the footballing display. County looked well drilled, a bit of speed up
front and the ability to get boot behind ball near the goal.... usually.
There were about 2,000/3,000 (delete as
applicable) fans at the protest; a good job we did not run a sweep on the number of
protesters. Various songs were heard by the players, who warmed down on the pitch as the
sit-in took place. Stan also stopped one of them from being arrested. What a nice chap.
Team: Ward, Swan,
Armstrong, Vindheim, Heywood, Reid, Little, Robertson, Cooke, Payton, P Smith (Carr-Lawton
73) SNU: C Smith, Maylett.
The away game
