Preston v Scunthorpe United

Saturday, January 5, 2008

FA Cup

Preston :
Lonergan, Davidson, Mawene, Chilvers, Hill, Whaley, Carter, McKenna, Lewis Neal, Mellor (Ormerod 87), Hawley
Subs not used:
Chris Neal, Nicholls, Anyinsah, Sedgwick

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy (Lillis 72), Byrne, Crosby, Martis, Williams (Forte 66), Sparrow, Cork, Morris, Hurst, Hayes (Ameobi 86), Paterson
Subs not used:
Seck, Taylor

SULSESC REPORT

by Bob Dook at Deepdale

MUCH has been said about the FA Cup and its effect on football fans.

"The World's Greatest Cup Competition", "The Magic of the FA Cup", "The Third Round" are all well worn expressions or clichés that are supposed to evoke some kind of latent passion in the average season enduring supporter.

For me, the FA destroyed any Cup "magic" by allowing Man Utd to mess around with the third round some seasons back. By accommodating the Red Devils’ request to change the timing of the third round, so they could play in some sanctioned tournament overseas, brought down the curtains on what had been a long love affair I had had with this great competition since my childhood. Long memories of extra tall hats, rosettes, giantkilling acts, the wonders of a big draw, wooden rattles, etc., are now only distant.

Today, I see the Cup as a money making exercise to keep my beloved Iron in business. No longer do I dream of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, a wonderful competition destroyed by the money-makers of football's bureaucracy. Now I just hope for the Chelsea away, Man City away type draws, if we make it to the third round.

Preston away was hardly the draw I wanted and there was an uneasy feeling about entering the competition at the third round stage. It had been a long time since I had experienced that. Barnsley had been the last and we lost that one. So I was hoping for a change in fortune. Ultimately, it was not to be though

It was a bright morning in Burton as I loaded up the car and said goodbye to Mum. I was going onto London after the match to catch a flight to Doha and then onto Singapore. Not wanting a stressful day, I left early enough to take an alternate route across the Pennines, one I had used years ago as an alternate to and from Scotland. A gentle run through Wetherby, Harrogate, Skipton and then Clitheroe down to Preston saved a lot on the often hassled M62. Plenty of time to get to the ground and arriving early meant I had a choice of seats. Not that it mattered in the end.

The weather had turned coming over ‘the top’ and it was bitterly cold in Deepdale. Hot coffee didn't work, nor did the travelling gear I was wearing en route to the equator! Fortunately, I was wearing my natural animal skin loafers, which meant my feet were wonderfully warm throughout the game. They were the only the things to warm me though, as the Iron produced a dismal performance.

I had said at the Stoke match that if we continue to play like we did against them, we would go down. It was naive to think we were going to get away with playing football and taking the game to the opposition. We were obviously not good enough to do that and it would spell disaster in the long run. Unfortunately, Nigel Adkins believes in his football ‘principle’, so much that he has been unwilling to lump it, play ugly and pick up the odd sneaky win and plenty of hard fought draws.

The Championship is a tough league to compete in, maybe the toughest of all four. To stay in it needs a touch of class, some ability, but most of all grafting, ugly football. By the way we were going, it would be a quick return to League One. Such a shame that Adkins has not been able to see this. Many of the readers will know of my feelings about Wharton, but this is not the time to criticise a man who many see as a success and a solid helmsman for the Iron ship. Hey, this was the Cup, this was different, we could play free of league pressures and show what a wonderful side we are to the masses. The attendance for this match was 4,000 plus and while we are not the greatest draw and many PNE fans stayed away in protest of their chairman and the FA, it was still a disappointing mass that turned out.

It should have been all over at half-time. We missed several good chances, the biggest culprit of all being Morris. I think this lad has a great future and has shown how good he is playing behind the main striker in a central role. I prefer the Italian set-up of having two central midfield stoppers and two wide attackers, leaving the front man on his own supported by the link striker, the position Morris played in this game. It nearly worked as Preston double marked Paterson after his winner in the Boxing Day league match, leaving space for Morris to exploit. However, he let everyone down with very poor finishing of two gilt-edged chances in this first period.

Sparrow was guilty of dithering again, failing to get off a proper shot, when the chance came. What a let down Matty has proved this term.

The half finished and I was worried that we were not going to be able to get anything out of this.

Solace was found in the shelter under the stand queuing for coffee. The cold had numbed me to the extent that I couldn't even respond to a jerk who had queue-jumped in front of me, just as I had made it to the counter. My only response was to prop myself against him as I waited for service. He thought it was an opportunity to flex his single brain cell in confrontation, only to find the tree that had landed on him was close to being frozen solid and in desperate need of hot liquid. My icy stare was far from deliberate, I was just looking right though him to the hot urn behind the counter.

I missed the opening of the second-half, as I still couldn't get warm and stayed under shelter for as long as I could. After coming out and settling in my seat, I witnessed yet another pathetic piece of defending from Williams. Unable to clear the ball, even when he could have, was the undoing of the Iron, as Preston came inside and struck the net with a fine shot under the body of Murphy. Williams has been found out at this level, with his basic lack of defensive skills. He gets away with it in the lower leagues, but that’s where he belongs. Rubbish.

The defensive flanks will prove our undoing every game unless Adkins strengthens at fullback. The added problem with Williams is that he offers little or no support to the wide midfielder in front of him. Hurst is a fine player, but needs some quality behind him. Youga is much better in this left-back position and it is no coincidence that Hurst has had his best games for the Iron this season with Youga behind him.

Preston were so bad that even they couldn't muster much more. Restricted to medium to long range shots, they were pathetically off target, mostly shooting too high. We offered no threat at the other end, although Sparrow lifted a shot over the bar, when he should have done much better. This was a really dismal performance by the Iron. FA Cup third round and we couldn't raise our game after going one down. It was really, really awful. No excuses this time Nigel. Total rubbish.

Well, the cup run is over. Back to the league and unless we change defensive personnel, we'll be down by Easter. Easter comes early this year too. It was a long depressing drive down to London, but I had time to reflect on what was in store back in Asia.

Yes, proper Champions and Cup-Winners trophies to be contested. For some reason, it eased the pain of the sorry defeat at Preston. Still, I'm sure many of you will have used the tried and tested cliché of "at least we can concentrate on the league". However, I fear it's too late in that competition as well.

Normally, I'm an optimist - mathematically certain, fat lady has to start singing, etc., etc but with Wharton at the helm, Adkins' style of play and lack of a quality defence, I think by the time I return at the end of March, we'll be down. For those of you who like your four seasons, enjoy the winter, try and keep warm and give the lads a shout for me. They'll need all the support they can get, as it's going to be a long hard road ahead.