Saturday, March 06, 2010
A Tribute To Tenacious D – Teamwork
Blackpool... 2
BGSOB.......2
Fidler
Matthews
For the second time this season, Blackpool failed to take advantage of a weakened Bury team, as The Old Boys showed their steel and determination on Saturday.
When these teams first met this season, Bury were missing the talismanic Fidler, but still gained a one all draw, limiting Blackpool to a goal from a penalty stroke. For this second meeting, it seemed a lot worse for The Old Boys. Midfield dynamo McManus was still absent, with Larmett, having played well at Bolton last week, also unavailable. Added to this was the absence of the injured Stoneman and the still Poland based Todd, as well as the versatile Daley. Finally, with the late, but not unexpected, withdrawal of Baxter, the Bury team was looking short on midfield and defensive cover – the four subs they did bring were all attack minded players. With Foster not one hundred per cent, the only bright spot was the welcome return of Roebuck, after a year away.
The first half was an even affair with both teams attacking whenever possible. In terms of clear cut chances Bury edged it, as they tested the Blackpool keeper more often. Fidler, Matthews and Cooke were linking well and Hillary and Roebuck provided support to both attack and defence from midfield.
It was top scorer Fidler who, almost inevitably, opened the scoring. Blackpool’s tactic of marking him with three players only seemed to spur the Bury man on as he ploughed his way through stick tackles and body checks. As another attack was mounted Roebuck brought a fine double save from the Blackpool keeper, but Fidler was there to pounce on the rebound and smash it home.
Then, hero turned to villain with a somewhat over-zealous tackle on a Blackpool forward. Whilst the tackle probably merited the yellow card it received, the aggressive reaction of Blackpool player Mortimer, who threw two Bury players to the floor was dangerously close to earning him a red card. As it was both players went off, until a minute before half time.
Bury went in to half time one goal up, and were looking to consolidate their lead. However, an enforced change saw Roebuck on the sideline at the start of the second half. With attacking players now sharing defensive midfield duties, Blackpool were able to gain the upper hand in terms of possession and chances. An inspired Heaton produced two quality saves, before Blackpool took advantage of an overstretched defence to supply Blakemore with an open net. Having fired his previous efforts off -target the Blackpool front man was able to bring his team level.
Ten minutes later, Blackpool pounced on a wayward pass to engineer another opening, which was slotted home with a well-directed shot into the corner. With fifteen minutes remaining the Blackpool celebrations were a sight to behold. Unfortunately, for the home side, Roebuck’s return to the fray and Tariq Sheikh’s inspirational words during a stoppage, led to renewed Bury pressure. The Blackpool keeper now pulled of two top class saves from Matthews and Fidler, denied Cooke on the goal line and saw Ainscow millimetres away from converting a Fidler cross-shot at the far post. Bury also had a goal disallowed. Following Blackpool appeals, the umpires converged and rightfully disallowed the goal for a foot earlier in the build up. When Matthews fired a short corner inches over the bar, it looked as if the equaliser would not come.
Finally, The Old Boys got their deserved reward for the effort and work rate. A short corner was miss-trapped at the top of the ’D’. However, Mortimer followed through with his defensive run and floored Hillary. Another good piece of joint umpiring saw Mortimer threatened with the possibility of a second yellow card, and Bury awarded another short corner.
This time The Old Boys made it count. Matthews took responsibility, beautifully dummied the defensive runner and lashed yet another screaming short corner into the bottom corner of the net. Stunning.
There was still time for another Blackpool player to see yellow, as Blakemore went off following one tirade too many at the umpires, as his frustration boiled over following another immaculately timed interception from Hillary.
All in all, this was two good teams playing some excellent hockey with a fair result, showing why they are both at the top end of the table. Finally, a word to the umpires, who showed great communication skills to ensure that all the major decisions were called correctly.
BGSOB.......2
Fidler
Matthews
For the second time this season, Blackpool failed to take advantage of a weakened Bury team, as The Old Boys showed their steel and determination on Saturday.
When these teams first met this season, Bury were missing the talismanic Fidler, but still gained a one all draw, limiting Blackpool to a goal from a penalty stroke. For this second meeting, it seemed a lot worse for The Old Boys. Midfield dynamo McManus was still absent, with Larmett, having played well at Bolton last week, also unavailable. Added to this was the absence of the injured Stoneman and the still Poland based Todd, as well as the versatile Daley. Finally, with the late, but not unexpected, withdrawal of Baxter, the Bury team was looking short on midfield and defensive cover – the four subs they did bring were all attack minded players. With Foster not one hundred per cent, the only bright spot was the welcome return of Roebuck, after a year away.
The first half was an even affair with both teams attacking whenever possible. In terms of clear cut chances Bury edged it, as they tested the Blackpool keeper more often. Fidler, Matthews and Cooke were linking well and Hillary and Roebuck provided support to both attack and defence from midfield.
It was top scorer Fidler who, almost inevitably, opened the scoring. Blackpool’s tactic of marking him with three players only seemed to spur the Bury man on as he ploughed his way through stick tackles and body checks. As another attack was mounted Roebuck brought a fine double save from the Blackpool keeper, but Fidler was there to pounce on the rebound and smash it home.
Then, hero turned to villain with a somewhat over-zealous tackle on a Blackpool forward. Whilst the tackle probably merited the yellow card it received, the aggressive reaction of Blackpool player Mortimer, who threw two Bury players to the floor was dangerously close to earning him a red card. As it was both players went off, until a minute before half time.
Bury went in to half time one goal up, and were looking to consolidate their lead. However, an enforced change saw Roebuck on the sideline at the start of the second half. With attacking players now sharing defensive midfield duties, Blackpool were able to gain the upper hand in terms of possession and chances. An inspired Heaton produced two quality saves, before Blackpool took advantage of an overstretched defence to supply Blakemore with an open net. Having fired his previous efforts off -target the Blackpool front man was able to bring his team level.
Ten minutes later, Blackpool pounced on a wayward pass to engineer another opening, which was slotted home with a well-directed shot into the corner. With fifteen minutes remaining the Blackpool celebrations were a sight to behold. Unfortunately, for the home side, Roebuck’s return to the fray and Tariq Sheikh’s inspirational words during a stoppage, led to renewed Bury pressure. The Blackpool keeper now pulled of two top class saves from Matthews and Fidler, denied Cooke on the goal line and saw Ainscow millimetres away from converting a Fidler cross-shot at the far post. Bury also had a goal disallowed. Following Blackpool appeals, the umpires converged and rightfully disallowed the goal for a foot earlier in the build up. When Matthews fired a short corner inches over the bar, it looked as if the equaliser would not come.
Finally, The Old Boys got their deserved reward for the effort and work rate. A short corner was miss-trapped at the top of the ’D’. However, Mortimer followed through with his defensive run and floored Hillary. Another good piece of joint umpiring saw Mortimer threatened with the possibility of a second yellow card, and Bury awarded another short corner.
This time The Old Boys made it count. Matthews took responsibility, beautifully dummied the defensive runner and lashed yet another screaming short corner into the bottom corner of the net. Stunning.
There was still time for another Blackpool player to see yellow, as Blakemore went off following one tirade too many at the umpires, as his frustration boiled over following another immaculately timed interception from Hillary.
All in all, this was two good teams playing some excellent hockey with a fair result, showing why they are both at the top end of the table. Finally, a word to the umpires, who showed great communication skills to ensure that all the major decisions were called correctly.
