It was obvious from the kick off that Div 3 football is a lot slower than Div 2 (old money). Preston really came at us from the kick-off at high pace and with excellent controlled passing. Barnsley were slow to react and when they got the ball their passing was poor requiring greater control which was just not there, result, Preston retrieved possesion. For 30 mins we were on the back foot, only kept in it by Flinders excellent keeping, Prestons woeful shooting and some good last ditch blocking by the defence. Time and time again we were being exposed down our left flank by a good combination of Chris Sedgwick, an overlapping full back and one of their central midfields that were tearing Robbie and McPhail to bits. To be honest McPhail cannot play on the wing and Robbie looked like he was taking time re-adjusting to playing left back. In general we were poor for the first half hour, we were backing off them, scared to put in a tackle and overawed by their pace. All that seemed to change when Williams put in a great tackle on Sedgewick, the players realised that tackling was possible and worked. For the next 15 mins we had the upper hand, we adjusted to playing at a higher tempo and put in some good work. Second half we were back to our old ways, sluggish to respond and central midfield looked lost, poor old Anthony Kay was doing a headless chicken impression, he isn't the player of last season, probably because he's been shunted all over the pitch and he can't settle anywhere. The change came with the substitutions, putting Vaughan on allowed us to play 3 central defenders, shunt McPhail into the middle to partner his favourite Jakey Burns and play 2 wing backs as of old in Shukes and Robbie Williams, 2 players with excellent stamina and fight. To be honest, Shuker was playing so well in that role that for 10 mins I didn't realise he was covering the whole right side, i thought he was still playing right mid. Burns and McPhail in the middle made the difference for me, they play well together and have an understanding of what each should be doing. Burns was harrying and harrasing, breaking things up and McPhail was steady, using his brain (and left peg exclusively) and playing intelligent balls to keep the attack moving. When playing badly we don't get the ball moving forward quickly, we move it sideways, it ends up with the defence who either boot it or get caught in possesion, when we move the ball up the field quickly we make chances. Burns was playing his midfield role to perfection and making good runs into the box, he thoroughly deserved each goal and hopefully he'll score a lot more form now on. McPhail was putting himself about, winning headers (yes folks, I do not jest) and playing some sublime passes out to the wings. We were still awful in patches, defending badly at times and allowing Preston to come at us too much, but we had the heart and stamin to keep going and put them on the backfoot at times in the extra period. I wish McPhail had scored the sublimely worked set piece in the second half, an excellent bit of football just kept out by a diving Lucketti header. It should have been one of the goals of the season. Bazza tried hard and at times played some lovely neat passes, he was getting no help from the ref who didn't see the Preston defenders continually nudging him away when going for headers, but that will always happen and he needs to find a way negating this himself. Hayes has skill and determination as showed when he set up Burns for his second, he'll do well this season if he keeps it up. Flinders played a blinder while he was on, one or two times he didn't know whether to come or stay but he's learning. Colgan almost made a complete **** up with his first touch, but from then on he was a rock, the team owe him a lot for that penalty save. All our penalty takers had balls the size of coconuts, there didn't seem any nerves and each shot was perfectly struck. We now have a team that is looking more balanced with Devaney on the left, Robbie can move to left back, Burns and McPhail in the centre and Shuker and Tonge on the right side. Hayes plus Nardy or Baz up front. Not sure about centre backs, but Reid plus 1 other is okay and Colgan or Flinders to fight for the goalie shirt. Roll on Brentford.
