just back

Grandins first half performance was the best I have seen since Scott Parker bossed the job for Newcastle against us years ago.
He was flagging a bit in the second half but MOM by a mile and that's saying something considering some of the great performances today UTM

The fact that there are 3 or 4 nominees on here for MOM tonight shows how well Town played in difficult conditions. Well done to both sides for trying to make a game of it.  

Despite them doing a really good job on us in the 1st half once we’d got our heads around stuck it back on them by stretching the game, keeping the ball much better and getting them to do a lot of running without possession.

We where able to take control as IH has brought in the likes of Clarke (my MOM), Benson, Glennon and on the basis of today Grandin who all can not only keep the ball but they can pass it too, something we’ve not done well since we came back to the EFL.

As well as the new lads the lads IH inherited are clearly enjoying it and this was underlined today by the likes of Hanson, Hendrie, Whitehouse, Chas and both CB’s all of whom have just been given licence to play.

So away from a good Town performance today 3 things struck me ....

1. Despite the fact that they could mathematically drop out of the league I thought the Morecambe lads made a game of it and unlike fellow strugglers Stevenage where pretty honest, no stealing free kicks or blatant time wasting from what I remember. It would have been easy for them to come to BP to “get a point”.

2. All our players wanted the ball today especially the mid field 3 who looked hungry for work and brimming with confidence & belief in what they could do.

3 Lots of talk about Man City in the last 24 hours but though the events since NYD hasn’t pumped millions into the club the feel good factor and return to entertaining IH has brought feels really good.

Overall good win, played well and I’m 100% sure there is more to come.

UTM!!

There are a few things that have changed in the last six or so weeks that people have asked for over a long period on this forum and other mediums:

-Dominance in home performances
-Classy, experienced players from higher divisions joining the team
-Entertainment
-Interesting post match interviews

Yes, it is early days but the signs are good.

Seeing some of the passing and movement on the highlights from recent games shows the remarkable difference in a short period of time. Enjoyable football returns. Great stuff. Well done Olly and the whole squad and staff.

Well for me...
Morecambe had the better of the first 20 mins, aided by the wind and our own insistance that Monkhouse had reincarnated himself and was playing  left wing again...it seemed like our only plan was to hit a long diagonal to the left...once we gave up on that and realised that wasnt working then we started to keep the ball and grew into the game.
Finished the half on the front foot and looked the more likely by half time. Credit to Morecambe though as they were playing some nice football.
Second half we completely dominated, Vernam again almost unplayable, although a little greedy/ predictable , Clarke sublime, Grandin i dont think wasted a pass in his 70 odd minutes, very classy player.
I was thinking it might not happen but luckily for us their keeper had a hesitant moment or two and by the time Hanson was favourite for the ball he decided to go for it but James tucked it over him very neatly to open the scoring, the next 10 - 15 mins we were fantastic, players only thinking about scoring more, Vernam in overdrive, Benson, Glennon livened up and it was really a case of how many we would win by.

Bensons free kick came at a time when it looked we had petered out slightly, lucky deflection but in reality no more than we deserved.

Their goal, came from p1ss1ng about with it when we didnt need to, Waterfall's dodgy backpass was a collective mistake of not getting it forward when we could of...Macca's decision not to head it/chest it/knee it just compounded the previous collective "lets just fck about with it"mistake.

Comfortable win in the end, some great attacking football on display.

Vernam lively, Glennon decent, Hendrie lively, Benson quieter than of late but ok, Clarke sublime...his movement and touch absolutely a class above, Grandin...i dont recall a wasted pass in his whole game, never looked under pressure, never looked flustered, always in control, class act.

Full value for 3 points. On we go.

UTM

Oh and overall a very good game, played by two honest teams and a sensible ref who seemed happy to let play flow.

Quoted from chipsandgravy

Ruddy Benson I meant!! It's my age!!

He's classy on the ball. Great control/

Good comments all round.  Just to add Macca's distribution is much better.

Quoted from Mayaman

Good comments all round.  Just to add Macca's distribution is much better.

Yes it was v much improved.

We still fannyed about at the back for no reason too much for my liking. We were lucky that when it did come to bite us, as it inevitably would do, it was too late to matter. Our CBs are not comfortable enough on the ball for the amount of unnecessary passing we r doing across the defence in my opinion. That's the reason our po ssesion stats are so high.

As has been said grandin is such a tidy player. Thought the decision to bring him off for Clifton was just the right time tho. They had just changed to go for it more and we needed to be able to break up their play more.

Whitehouse is unrecognisanle from the player earlier this season. Benson played well. Thought Hanson was poor tbh but then he scored a very well taken goal. Green came on and was better than dreadful for a change, probably because he was played in his proper position of a front 2. Vernam played well but his final shot was off.

Some lovely entertaining touches from Clarke and grandin. Entertaining positive football at home, i' d forgotten what that was like under limbrick/jolley/slade - thankyou ollie!

Listening to Holloways comments over the period I suspect that a pacey ball playing centre half might be one of his prime targets in the summer.
Just a word on the gate ,pretty decent I'd say given the lack of away support, the conditions and not as many free tickets being distributed,.up on the last home game and 1000 more than we were getting under Limbrick, that's a decent 30% increase.
Swindon next week will be v interesting, not expecting anything just fascinated to see how we get on against a top team

Quoted from forza ivano

Listening to Holloways comments over the period I suspect that a pacey ball playing centre half might be one of his prime targets in the summer.
Just a word on the gate ,pretty decent I'd say given the lack of away support, the conditions and not as many free tickets being distributed,.up on the last home game and 1000 more than we were getting under Limbrick, that's a decent 30% increase.
Swindon next week will be v interesting, not expecting anything just fascinated to see how we get on against a top team

Remember Exeter!!