Managers and head coaches love 1-0 wins apparently and, as the saying goes, derive more satisfaction from them than, say, a thumping 4-0 victory. I understand the logic 100 percent but as a fan with a dicky ticker, I beg to differ.
Give me the minimum of a two-goal cushion anyday 🙂
But, as Chris Goreham rightly pointed out in the final moments of yesterday’s Canary Call, narrow, bum-squeaking one-goal wins are the bedrock upon which promotion challenges are built.
So best we all buckle up.
And it wasn’t all chewed fingernails and twitching sphincters. For the opening 45, this was the version of City that we’re growing to love. The one that can swash and buckle with the best of them and which plays with an intensity and tempo that opponents struggle to contain.
And that rhythm.
The samba rhythm to which Gabriel Sara plays his football is matched beat for beat by the City Elite drum, and at times it’s irresistible. And yesterday all of it played out with the Lower Barclay bathed in beautiful early autumn sunshine.
A snarly Alex Neil claimed afterwards, with some justification, that his team was worth at least a point but failed to mention they’d been played off the park for most of the first half and were lucky not to be dead and buried even before Jack Stacey slammed the rebound from Jonny Rowe’s header into the turf and over Mark Travers.
If there was any downside to that eye-catching first half it was that for all of the beauty on show, City didn’t work Travers anything like hard enough. As our James noted in his match report, the Barnes/Idah dynamic is yet to flourish in quite the same way as the Barnes/Sargent version but it’s certainly not for the want of trying. For both, the effort and work-rate are everything and more that David Wagner asks.
That City left it so late to grab their reward was frustrating but given what followed it was priceless.
Alex Neil clearly made some tactical tweaks at half-time – the sort that are imperceptible to us laymen but which are manna from heaven for the analysts – that enabled the Potters to gain more than a foothold in the game. Equally, it was always going to be impossible for City to maintain that level of intensity.
But let’s not pretend otherwise – it was a tough old watch. The ebb and flow of the first half was nowhere to be seen. Idah and Barnes, and for the final 30 minutes Hwang Ui-jo, were left mainly to feed off scraps.
The flicks and tricks were no more. Other qualities were needed – those more readily associated with your average Championship afternoon. And were delivered.
It was the type of examination under which they would have crumbled last season but not so this. The ugly stuff was the order of the day and no one shirked it.
Aside from a couple of horrendous pieces of decision-making late on when opportunities to run the ball into the corner were spurned at the expense of weak efforts on goal, the game management was executed to perfection and at the heart of it was one Shane Duffy, who was made for such a scenario.
Together with Ben Gibson, he embraced the physical challenge and for all Stoke’s pressure, Angus was well-protected and rarely called upon.
And in a tense, nail-biter of a second half I have to thank Master Duffy for producing a much-needed moment of mirth (for me anyway).
It must have been around the 70-minute mark when a bobbling ball on the edge of our box was met by the Irishman’s right boot and launched into the outer atmosphere. The response from the River End was magical. The moment they had been waiting for for years had finally arrived.
Someone had finally “PUT HIS FOOT THROUGH IT!”
The decibel level was waaaay in excess of that induced by Jack Stacey’s goal; the whole stand on its feet; complete strangers hugging; the chinking of thermos flaskes; the “BOOT IT!” bloke smiling for the first time since 2017; fists pumping; veins bulging; old boys rekindling their glory days of the Barclay.
Shane Duffy – crowd pleaser extraordinaire.
Beautiful in its own very River End-ey way, and for a few minutes the City Elite drum was silenced.
When order from the mayhem had been restored there was still a job to be done. Those breathless last few seconds did nothing for said ticker and the biggest shock of the day was that that bobbling ball in our six-yard box wasn’t swept home by Dwight Gayle.
But on this occasion, not even Dwight Gayle could ruin it.
The sight of Stoke players lying prostrate on the turf upon referee Oliver Langford’s final whistle told the story. They clearly concurred with their manager and felt their efforts deserved more but not on this day.
Obviously still buoyed by Duffy’s heroics, the River End noise at the end was thunderous – and it’s not often I write that.
The sponsors’ man of the was, typically, Stacey who did nothing wrong and scored the winning goal – so fair enough – but in the real world it was Kenny McLean, who was simply magnificent both with and without the ball.
He wears the captain’s armband well and is the orchestrator, As well as being the one to drop off and split Duffy and Gibson when Angus has the ball, he’s also the one to lead the second phase of the high-press – just as his head coach demands.
The Mayor may not have always been everyone’s cup of tea, but right now, with Adam Forshaw breathing down his neck, he’s found a level hitherto unseen.
So, to Wednesday and to the high-flying Foxes. Interesting.
Wednesday will be VERY interesting. Southampton’s defending was exposed as being as bad as people thought on Friday. Our goal threat needs to be discovered quickly if we are to cause them any problems, one suspects.
I was bored Friday so I watched the saints foxes game, and yep, saints defended like lemmings. Leicester also coughed up defending howlers but saints only took advantage of one of the three offered. Ask you say we need sharpness up front.
Good sum up Mr G. Some fans say that was the worst home display, forgive me if wrong, stop us playing and only the third on home soil.
Unless you are Man city, etc, a team cannot keep up the intensity and press which we achieved in the first-half. Any team will have their time during a game, whatever Neil changed worked. How we counteract that is what makes a team a challenger.
Looking at the bench, Wagner did try and change things around with the introduction of Placheta and Hernandez – a shame Onel hasn’t added some finishing to his locker. Hwang was the next change, but in truth was ploughing a lone furrow for much of the time on the pitch.
On to Idah – yes, his workrate and play is good – his finishing is where he needs to improve. A very weak effort into the keeper’s arms was very poor, he had time to shoot, so had the time for more power.
Listening to the radio, I got tired of hearing how he scored from the spot and gave Van Dyke the round around – not taking anything away from the goal, but most players can do that. Stacy showed him how to hit the round thing and where to put it. No doubt it will come about – Hwang will get the chance to drop in with Barnes, I feel Idah is too similar in some ways to Barnes.
As you rightly point out, the defensive duo had an outstanding game ably assisted by the Mayor. If correct, Gunn had nothing to really get concerned about in the way of saves.
Three points is what matters first and foremost, keeping the opposition out and scoring is what wins matches, not the crazy world of stats.
The team did that yesterday, and as has already been said, that would not have been the case last season. Top marks from me.
Gary, you must have the River End paragraph drafted for a few years. I can only imagine the sheer joy as the realisation that today is the day dawned upon you. Literary genius I salute you.
The game itself was excellent, the first half high tempo and flair deserved so much more than a single goal advantage. The second half a different kettle of fish. Bully boys Stoke huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the house down.
Not a peep of Delilah as the Potters faithful realised they simply didn’t have the wherewithal to hurt this resilient robust talented band of brothers bedecked in the Green and Yellow.
Haha, honestly Delfy, it was probably only funny to me, but the reaction to Duffy’s hoof was absolutely priceless. 😀 Comedy gold.
Some in there have waited years for a hoof of that ilk after having to endure all of that “tippy-tappy crap” of recent seasons.
Am still chuckling about it this morning. 😀
HI Gary
I spent many a match in the REU in the 89-91 series with uncle Wally and it was a bit like that even then!
I can well understand the humour of it all anyway 😆
Hi Gary
Well another 3 points and sitting comfortably in the top 6 – maybe waiting for those above to faulter before we make a last ditch entrance to a top 2 finish.
We seem to have closed the backgate and stopping silly giveaway errors at the moment but I just don’t see Idah/Barnes as a force striking terror in many teams.
Can Idah get his shooting boots back from Ireland or has Barnes got to tee him up for tap ins? Idah has effort but no guile he has missed out on possibly going out on loan to learn his trade against bully boys in League One and Two and it’s too late now.
We must persevere with what we have and hope that our front two can dent the Leicester defence better than the Southampton pair did and that our defence can stop Vardy who seems to be back on song.
Chalk and Cheese in the next game or is it Norfolk Dumplings V Red Leicester – who knows both tasty morsels in their own way.
Would a draw hurt either sides promotion push and with PNE leading the early charge, as Greavies would say, it’s a funny old game.
I wasn’t all that impressed by yesterdays performance. Stoke were very poor and they seemed to drag us down to their level.
The absence of Sargent has removed a great deal of energy and threat from our attack. I’ve hope Idah would step up to the plate but yesterday he was in the main anonymous.
Thank heavens for The Mayor as his enthusiasm and competitiveness was probably the difference between a win and a draw.
We took far too long to move the ball out from the back which slowed the momentum out of the game. In previous home games we moved the ball far quicker which put teams on the back foot.
Still, if we can get three points from a game like yesterdays we should be there or thereabouts at the end of the season when, hopefully, Sargent will be back for the run in.
Very scrappy welcome win not a fan of McLean but best game for ages for me well done . As for idah being next ibrahimovic more like next Mike Sheron plenty of effort no end product . Might scrape 22 draw Wednesday not expecting a win but you never now fingers crossed and everything else .
With the oscillating standard of our teams/performances over the last several years, one reassuringly consistent piece of quality is your match reports Gary.
Again I must agree with Mr Delf’s assessment.
Thank you.
Hi Trev you may call me Andy
I was in the Riverend years ago Gary and a rather loud home supporter shouted “Boot it” after precisely 35 seconds.
Never forgot that.
So hopefully he is still there, dreaming of a Wimbledon or John Beck era coming to Carrow Road, ecstatic over Duffy’s wonder tribute to Alan Black.
It was a great win, especially when you consider we only had Ben Gibson and the injured guys in the building for the two weeks of the international break.
Wednesday will really be interesting 🤔
The team are all pulling together and working hard so much more passion and desire which was seriously lacking last season 1-0 win yesterday was not pretty but they dug in well.
Would take a draw against Leicester as they will probably be top come end of season.
Also hopefully when Sargent back will give us a decent run in towards end of season.
I only managed to catch the first half and thoroughly enjoyed it. It would have been nice to bury a couple of other chances, but one was enough.
Sounds like I did myself a favour by missing the second half.
After 3 and a half decades in the River End, I was bubbling over with excitement at my first chance of being with my growing children in the Barclay yesterday.. My eldest has only had to wait 15 years for her first experience and loves it. One of the things I most enjoyed was the reaction to that RE shout ‘(laughter), you could even the River End then’. A new perspective!
We are right behind the goal so I’m
already panicking about the sight of Vardy racing clean through on Wednesday, That said, I liked what I saw of Hwang, given we are missing the fight and energy Sargent had been showing so positively. Get anything from Wednesday and, I know it’s only September, but I might just start to believe.
Nicely put Gary, the grit in the second half defence show was to behold, a strength we have not had on ages.
Kenny…….. he was the first over to the touch line to welcome Hwang onto the pitch, a big hug, it was fantastic to see.
PP