Saturday 30 October 2010

Rumours of Parky's Demise are Premature

I have always veered on the side of caution on Parky's credentials. He has done well with a generally indifferent squad and little money and his efforts to get replacements in at reasonable prices have not been bad.
I said he needed to get the team to perform in the last 2 games and that a good performance at Carlisle (preferably at least a point or a great fighting performance even if no result) and a spirited win against Sheffield Wednesday would go a long way to answer critics.
Well the team did it, so though he has not won the battle he has certainly improved his position.
It was not all hunky dory today.
I felt he should have selected Fortune but am prepared to say that Doherty turned in a good performance.
A great performance in the first half was thwarted by some plain bad luck and some inspiring goalkeeping from Nicky Weaver in keeping out a couple of blistering shots and more.
However, it seemed that either we dropped into the trap of taking our foot of the gas in the second half to let Sheffield Wednesday threaten and almost steal a point (or more) or we were just plain knackered?
As usual, we laid back too far and worse of all we did not keep tight on their forwards giving them the opportunity to run at us, and with Clinton Morrison they had someone who can do that quite effectively.
Parks had previously admonished the team for doing just this so I can only hope it was a combination of us being knackered and the opposition stepping up the pace. If Park's instructed the team to lay off in the second half then in my view he would lose a lot of kudos. However, I am prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.
In view of my celebratory drink in Greenwich and meal at London Bridge I am late to the post and have therefore had the opportunity to view other Blog posts.
"Blackheath Addicted" doesn't say much I can disagree with in his excellent player assessment.
The only points I have to add are:
Elliot: good game, but still feel uneasy when high crosses are put in;
Francis: Best game for the club to date;
Doherty: I was hoping that Fortune would play, but after some iffy performances Doherty had a good game;
Fry: good game; got stuck in. I'm still not sure what his best position is; he lacks authority in the middle of the back four, but seems to lack a turn of speed at left back;
Dailly: Can’t fault him; a players’ player, and a great captain;
Jackson: toiled away and held onto the ball well, unlucky to catch Weaver at his best;
Semedo: Good strong tackling holding game; if only he had more confidence to go forward or get something out of threatening positions he finds himself in. He has the skills, but does not have the bottle at the moment;
Racon: Seemed transformed to his best of last season; as Blackheath said, he as even tackling well. Is it fatherhood?! Good news as I thought he was at the beginning of an unstoppable decline in form;
Wagstaff: All enthusiasm and a good goal, but he still does not do enough otherwise and makes some bad errors when we are threatening, as noted by “Blackheath Addicted”;
Anyinsah: we may have found the man to play alongside Benson and bring out the best in him;
Benson:  excellent with his distribution, heading and effort today. Looks a better player alongside Anyinsah. He certainly didn't miss the chance which opened up following Martin's wizardry at the end; it was a great effort just getting there and coming so close;
It really annoyed me how some entries on the web had him written off before he had had time to make an impact, and before the rest of the team had provided him with a reasonable number of opportunities to test his credentials.
Like the elements who want to hang draw and quarter Parks, I hope they too have to eat their words.
Martin: Made a positive impact with his skills almost setti9ng up a goal to seal it for us;
Good job we got these points; Swindon will be difficult but maybe not as difficult as last year. Peterborough will be a stern test.
I'm setting aside the two cup games for now; both could be real banana skins.
After our pre-season fixture, Barnet have little respect for us and with that slope a real potential banana skin.
Let’s get behind the team and give Parks some praise (and lay off him for the time being).

1 comment:

Hungry Ted said...

I stopped off at Tesco's on the way home from the game yesterday to get a few Belgian beers and a bag of Cashew nuts!

Not quite the celebratory night out you had but the missus cooked me a lovely curry and I thoroughly enjoyed my Saturday night in without that deep-routed disappointed feeling!

Long may it continue!!!