Norwich match report part 1

NORWICH MATCH REPORT – SATURDAY 26TH AUGUST 2006

A serious tactical error took place before this game had even started. I agreed to bring my wife and daughter the four miles to the ground to see the game. What is it about times you bring your family to see what progress the Super Reds have made! My son’s previous record was watched fifteen and won one – and that was the second leg of a cup tie at Wimbledon, which we lost on aggregate!

Anyway – to the match.

Barnsley team formation: Ritchie returned to the trusted 4-4-2 which has made such a storming start to the new campaign in the Championship. So no surprises there, in spite of some of the midweek heroics. Williams continuing at left back in place of Heckingbottom – must be some serious rib injury (I thought it happened in the war-up last week) as he has now missed two games. Do we know everything about this injury? Seems odd to me. Rob Atkinson on the bench as Neil Austin was not fit. Also Vito Mannone after his heroics at Blackpool.

Norwich team formation: 4-5-1 was the basic formation with Earnshaw as sole striker, but with two wide men in Lee Crofts (ex Oldham loanee) and Darren Huckerby. This was how it looked:

Gallagher
Colin Doherty Shackell Drury
Croft Safri Etuhu Robinson Huckerby
Earnshaw

Just a single striker looks like a not very attacking formation, but it was pretty lethal in the event with Earnshaw’s running off the ball being outstanding and with the two wide players basically running the show. The other Norwich players were pretty average, truth be told and the victory was down to these three match-winners.

First half:

We got an early warning when Huckerby’s pass but Earnshaw clean through against Colgan in a wide-left position within the first ten seconds. He should have scored, but put the shot straight at Colgan. Warning alarms ringing already. We then dominated, playing with the confidence and panache of a team which knows that, even if it goes behind, it has the ability to be able to football its way back again. We played the delightful one-touch football which has been the hall-mark of the season so far and had Norwich frequently chasing shadows. Players who particularly caught the eye in this phase were Howard, whose skill level seems above average even at this level, Togwell, McIndoe and Devaney. There was a cross by Howard and header by Richards which was symptomatic of our dominance. Norwich frequently lost possession as we hassled them and we kept the ball much better than them, taking the attack to them with swift assaults towards their goal. At this stage I thought we looked set for an outstanding game, which we could win and should not do less than draw. Huckerby looked old and unfit and Hassell had the beating of him at this stage.

Then came the penalty and sending off which changed everything. Earnshaw was through on goal and would have had a goalscoring opportunity had he not been brought down. You need close-up action replay to be able to decide on the justice of these things. From the stands at the end it happened, it looked a penalty and, having given it, with Kay being the last defender, the referee had no choice but to red card Kay. I know that there is another side to this story and I can’t shed any more light on it. If you saw Sonko’s sending off at Villa in midweek, you will know how difficult it is to decide. When all is said and done, I would rather we had gone 1-0 down and kept eleven players than risked their missing the penalty and having to survive almost eighty minutes with ten men. I would rather Kay had made no contact at all, presuming that is what happened and kept eleven men.