Paul Groves proved his total incompetence from the start. Man of the Match from the Peterborough game, Greg Young was dropped. In his place came the returning club captain John McDermott. Yes that’s John ‘suffering from a hernia problem, but lets play him anyway, McDermott......at left back! When the hell as Macca played left back before? Well the official site says it was last before 1990. Great move Groves, bloody great.
|
Otherwise Town remained the same. The best was yet to come though.... Joining Young on the subs bench were Simon Ford, Groves himself, Iain Anderson and Darren Mansaram. 3 Centre backs on the bench! Are you having a laugh? Crying out loud. Where’s Graham Hockless, where’s David Soames? Surely the whole point of a subs bench is to cover as many positions as possible?
Onto the game, god I really am dreading this.......Please just hold out on this one with me. To be quite honest I can’t remember much of the game other than the key incidents. But what you are about to read is me possibly going through the biggest shower of shit I’ve seen. I wasn’t at Hartlepool so I can’t compare. Others have made the comparison for me though, on their accounts - this was worse!
Five minutes of nothing play passed before Pouton lost Bulman released Nathan Tyson on the right wing. Macca was out of position, understandably, allowing Tyson all the time he needed to cross for Luke Moore who scrambled the ball past Aidan Davison and into the net. Davison and defence appealed for handball but it was impossible to tell.
|
Town responded within 3 minutes, just to get our hopes up no doubt. Boulding made progress in the box, from Iffy Onuora’s flick on, before he was surrounded. A neat lay off to Jevons saw a fine cross met by Onuora’s diving header which went under Williams body.
For the first and only time in the game, Town had their tails up - it lasted all of 3, maybe 4 minutes though.
This 3-4 minute spell, you didn’t actually think Town did anything did you? Tsk, don’t be silly. We just didn’t make any mistakes, that’s all.
Whilst the game was poor, the referee was determined to make it even more of a farce than it already was.
Jevons picked up the ball on the flank and neatly dinked the ball over Taylor. The Newcastle loanee mistimed his lunge and took Jevons out. Referee Mark ‘peep peep peep, this game’s all about me’ Cooper waved play on. By the way Jevons fell, it was either a dive or a free-kick to Town....no, play on.
A minute later Taylor barged Jevons off the ball. Cooper called the defender over and booked him, pointing to the area where the earlier ‘foul’ took place. So it was a foul then but you decided not to give it. Good stuff.
On 28 minutes Wycombe scored a truly wonderful goal. Regardless of how poor Town was, nothing can alter the quality of it.
Darren Currie bombed down the left hand side, which by now was totally void of any Town input, before slinging his cross goalwards. Unmarked in the box was Jermaine McSporran who stretched to reach the ball, making inch perfect contact to lift the ball over Davison and into the corner of the goal.
For the rest of the half Town did nothing. Macca got kicked a few times, Iffy a few times more. Campbell also found himself victim of rough tactics. Yes, Wycombe were dirty. And no this isn’t sour grapes. Dirty or not, we still got what we deserved!
Town started the second half in a brighter fashion. Onuora’s nod-down early on found Hamilton who fired straight at the ‘keeper.
A minute later and the game was more or less over. Tyson was given space down the wing, although he did look offside. The Reading man was allowed to run towards the goal before a lay back to Moore who finished with ease for his second.
Groves roared into life and made the mind-blowing change of Greg Young for Stuart Campbell. Cas moved onto the right wing, Macca across to right back with Young slotting in at left back. Hey, why not start with that? Natural balance and all that. Never know, it might just work.
Crane soon afterwards proved his immaturity when he was booked, yet again for dissent. Nine bookings so far this season. Surely now is the time to start having words with Crane about keeping his mouth shut? Saying he’s an aggressive player and will always get booked is not good enough. He’s not getting booked for aggressive play, he’s getting booked because of his big gob!
Cas, now in his natural wing position, was causing some problems with his pace. On one occasion he got away before delivering a fine cross for Boulding. The top scorer amazingly headed wide when only 2 yards out. Luckily for him, the linesman had already flagged Cas offside.
Groves then replaced Iffy Onuora, who in fairness was Town’s best player and without a doubt the hardest working, with Darren Mansaram. The impact was non-existent as Town had conceded defeat the moment McSporran scored.
In injury time Moore picked up the ball on the left wing. Pouton and Jevons closed on but both attempts at a block tackle were feeble allowing the youngster to move past. With the defence either backing off or not bothering, Moore moved goalwards before firing past Davison to complete his hat-trick.
Outplayed all the way, out muscled all the way, out of our league? On that showing, yes we are. Absolute disgrace. Passionless performance from the majority. A good Town following of 400+ deserved much better than that. I’m afraid time has run out for Paul Groves. Plymouth hit seven goals against Chesterfield. How many will they get against Town?
Man of the Match. Iffy Onuora. Never thought I’d say it but he really was the man of the match. He battled harder than anyone else. On a day when passion was at an all time low in the Black and White shirts, he proved he had more heart than the rest put together.
Pictures by Ryan Collins