League Two: York City FC v. AFC Wimbledon
After our horrific performance against Rochdale, Chairman Erik Samuelson approved an overnight hotel stay. The compromise is we took the bus to York. So we drove up Friday evening. No big deal. So we can't have the excuse of staying on the bus like against Rochdale.
View attachment 410323So after sleeping in, I wandered York. I checked out the Cathedral and York Castle. Gorgeous day, too.
I don't know about my players, but I was rested and relaxed as we boarded the bus at the hotel to head over to Bootham Crescent. The stadium isn't the newest or in the best condition, but the showers and toilets work. This is
always a good thing.
Reuben Hazell makes me so nervous when he plays in the middle that I'm pairing teenager Ben Harrison with Thacks.
View attachment 410322And this line-up is a curveball that I'm sure nobody expected:
Subs: Daniel Lincoln (GK), Simon Johnson (M), Steven Gregory (M), Drissa Dabre (M), Harry Pell (M), Jack Midson (F), Jack Redshaw (F)
"Alright," I said getting everyone's attention. "We have an opportunity here today. We know York are really short-handed because of injury. We all know how poorly we played last Saturday against Rochdale. Let's set things right today."
"Matteo, I want you to attack from the middle today," I said in Italian then repeated in English.
"Loveridge," I continued. "You have full liberty to roam where you want. When you can get forward and into the left channel, take it."
"Let's keep the ball and play short passes," I said. "I have faith in you defenders to shut them down. I have faith that there's plenty of offense coming today out of the midfield. And Smith, do your thang, baby."
Despite taking the bus up on Friday to avoid a horror start again, my face met my palm in the 3rd minute.
Their left fullback played a Hollywood ball at the halfline out toward their right midfielder Craig Westcarr. Westcarr out-jumped Fenlon and headed the ball to their right-sided forward Paul Hayes. Hayes muscled over Harrison took a couple of steps and smashed a shot past Dunn.
1-0
"YOU LIKED THAT HOTEL STAY?" I hollered at my players as they walked forward for the restart. "YOU LIKE YOUR CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST? YOU LIKE YOUR LAZY DAY SPENT IN YOUR HOTELS ROOMS? EVER WANT TO DO THAT AGAIN?"
I think they got the message. We brought the ball up the field and Smith got hauled down 20 yards out in the middle.
Francomb teed up the ball just how he liked it and surveyed the wall and the keeper. The ref blew his whistle and his shot got over the wall and hit the place where the crossbar and post meet and out for a goal kick.
York brought the ball up and Westcarr beat Fenlon on the dribble and hammers a shot that beat Dunn. It hit the post and bounced straight up the middle. Thacks cleared it over the half line and onto the roof of the stadium. He then turned and screamed at Fenlon to pull his head out.
We kept the ball for a moment or two and Smith got fouled 20 yards out and right. Francomb hoofe the free kick high.
In the 9th minute, Fenlon got beat by Westcarr again. He whipped in a back post special that their right midfielder headed off the crossbar. Once again, Thacks cleared it and yelled at Fenlon.
"KEEP HIM IN FRONT OF YOU," I yelled at Fenlon. "HE'S NOT FASTER THAN YOU. KEEP HIM IN FRONT OF YOU."
His teammates gave Fenlon a break and kept possession of the ball for a while. We also kept the ball in the York end.
In the 16th minute, York finally broke out of their half, but they tried a through ball that went straight to Dunn. He threw the ball to Pepper who shifted it over to Nole who took off across the half line and as defender's converge snuck a pass to Smith.
Smith received the ball and spun. And he waited. Then he flicked a little pass between the center back and ball-watching left back. George Francomb smashed a shot that York's keeper got a hand to but couldn't keep out.
1-1
Now that was the kind of response I was looking for.
And we kept the pressure up. Loverboy forced a nice save and hit the post on another. Smith shot twice as well: once high; once right at the keeper. Nole waffled two weak shots right at the keeper as well.
We were finally rewarded for wave after wave of attacks in the 41st minute.
Their center back rolled a lazy pass toward his midfielder in the center circle. Nole raced in, intercepted the pass and sprinted at the static defense. Smith drifted into the channel and Nole got him the ball, Smith spun and hammered a low shot into the side netting.
1-2
"WELL DONE! WELL DONE!" I applauded my players.
I nearly had a brain aneurism seconds later as Haz nicely intercepted a pass destined for their left midfielder but then rolled a lazy pass toward Tomlinson in the middle. This was the exact same thing that the Minstermen had just done to gift us our goal.
Their midfielder intercepted the ball and fed their forward Hayes. He played a ball behind the ball-watching Fenlon and Westcarr was in alone. Westcarr shot weakly right at Dunn.
Haz apologized to his teammates for his pass.
The football Gods were smiling on us today.
"I'm pleased with how we're playing, keep it up," I said once everyone was in the dressing room. "They can't handle Smith, Lovers and Matteo running at them. Keep it up."
"Listen," I continued. "We had some shaky moments out there defensively, but I have faith that you guys know what to do. No more ball-watching, stay tight, stay compact, work for each other. Clear?"
My defenders nodded.
From the kickoff, Loveridge broke down the left flank, cut the ball back to get on his preferred right foot and lasered a cross in for Smith. Smith one-timed the shot, but a desperate defender lunged in and blocked the shot.
And we didn't give the Minstermen much during the first fifteen minutes of the second half.
Tomlinson got carded in the 49th minute. He'll miss our next match. Thankfully, our next opposition is Cambridge and maybe I can convince Steven Gregory to tackle someone between now and then.
Unfortunately, our offense always ended with Nole taking a weak long range shot.
"NO MORE SHOOTING, MATTEO," I yelled in Italian after he'd taken his third shot. "FEED THE FORWARD AND WINGERS INSTEAD."
He waved an acknowledgement.
Dunn made outstanding save after outstanding save to preserve our lead.
First in the 63rd when Hayes broke down the left flank and had time to assess his options. He chose the trailer. Midfielder Emmitt Delfouneso hit a low shot destined for just inside the post but Dunn got a fingertip to it and redirected it onto the post.
Smith took a little pressure off of Dunn by increasing our lead in the 71st.
In the 70th minute, I replaced Francomb with Simon Johnson. Fresh legs and all that.
Johnson's first touch was a sprint down the right wing culminating in a inch perfect cross to Smith who side-footed
his 8th league goal past their forlorn keeper.
In the 78th, Haz got caught ball-watching and the York left midfielder Michael Doughty was in alone with a chance to equal things up for the Minstermen. Once again, Dunn was up to the task and blocked his shot out for a corner.
The footballing Gods were surely smiling down upon us, but how many more times would we need Dunn to bail us out? Well, one time more.
View attachment 410312In the 84th minute, Fenlon stripped the ball off Westcarr. It hopped up and Fenlon decided to hoof it forward. The problem was he hoofed high and towards the middle and not particularly far up the pitch.
A York player won the header and a York player gathered up the ball. In a panic my players collapsed inward and toward the top of the box. This was the correct response. Unfortunately, Fenlon compounded his initial poor choice by not noticing the York replacement striker Ryan Bowman drift behind him.
Delfouneso played a ball behind Fenlon and Bowman was in alone on Dunn. Dunn raced out and blocked the shot out for a corner.
I replaced Nole and Pepper with Harry Pell and Drissa Dabre in the 85th. Both Matteo and Adam were gassed and I figured the fresh legs in midfield would stop York from playing.
I was right.
"Well done, well done!" I said after we were all in the changing room. "Great response to last Saturday. Great response from going down to an early goal. You showed real character today. Let's get showered and out of here."
I checked the other scores once we were on the bus.
View attachment 410311
