Blue
Square Premier - 29th December 2007
At KitKat Crescent - Att 2,546 (34 Weymouth)
Report
The games really are coming thick and fast at the moment, so
it was something of a luxury that Colin
Walker could name an unchanged side for the visit of Weymouth.
After a stuttering start, City eventually asserted an uneasy
authority and dug in for a good win despite not being at their
best. Weymouth set off apace, but an early setback saw them
go on the defensive and provide little real threat to City's
unbeaten record under the new manager.
The lively James Coutts was one Weymouth player that caused
a problem all afternoon and his early, curling effort gave a
few City hearts a bit of a flutter, but the loss of former Arsenal
man Paolo Vernazza after just eight minutes stymied them somewhat.
A key player for the Terras, he took a heavy challenge and,
after some attention from the doctor, was led straight to the
dressing rooms and was replaced by Danny Phillips. Obviously,
the loss of a key player so early was a major disruption and
from there on out, Weymouth seemed keen to sit in for a 0-0
with a bank of four at the back and a bank of five in midfield
not too far in front of that. The trouble was that City seemed
all too happy to indulge them in a first half that never got
going. As the rain fell, everyone seemed a bit leggy as though
the over-busy festive fixture calendar perhaps began to catch
up with everyone.
The best of the City chances in that first stanza fell to Craig
Farrell. A tame header was easy meat for Jason Matthews
in the Weymouth goal while a long range shot was closer to the
room on the third floor of the houses on Grosvenor Road than
it was the back of the net. He turned a Woolford
corner back across goal around the half hour mark and all it
needed was a touch, but it evaded a number of outstretched limbs
before being cleared. Even when City aren't scoring, they are
creating plenty of chances at the moment. Onome
Sodje had the ball nicked off his toe-end in the act of
shooting while Martyn Woolford's shot from a half-cleared corner
was well blocked and Stuart
Elliott's 30-yarder brought the best out of Matthews with
a full-length diving stop. Tom
Evans only had one save to make and that was in the dying
seconds of the half as Sido Jombarti scuffed a tame daisy-cutter
goalwards.
It felt like it was going to be one of those days we've seen
so often with an away side nullifying everything City do, but
the opening moments of the second half dispelled any worries.
Woolford again forced Matthews to save well after Sodje's neat
lay-off and Manny
Panther headed just over from the resultant corner. With
only five minutes on the watch, Farrell chased down a lost cause
in the right channel, looked up and centred for Woolford who
slipped it beneath Matthews from point-blank range for 1-0.
The relief was palpable and Weymouth seemed unable to shed the
defensive mindset, allowing City to dominate possession and
territory. The long ball was their only outlet and it took a
good recovery tackle from Danny
Parslow to keep out Gavin McCallum after his initial slip
had let the Weymouth striker in round the back, but the threat
was minimal.
Nicky Wroe was introduced
in place of Anthony
Lloyd and City switched things around with Woolford dropping
in at left-back. It scarcely mattered. Ben
Purkiss had another fine game on the right hand side and
almost conjured a goal when his early cross was narrowly missed
by both Sodje and Farrell. It was Farrell who had the better
chances again with a flying volley over the top and he got under
a Wroe free-kick, but it was when he turned provider that City
made the game safe. From his corner, Parslow missed it but it
broke to David McGurk
who was about a yard from goal and he couldn't fail to double
the lead. As the game headed into stoppage time, a quick breakaway
almost brought a third with Wroe and Richard
Brodie combining to release Farrell whose shot beat Matthews,
but struck the outside of the post to deny Farrell a deserved
goal.
"The biggest things were the determination and
persistence" said Walker post-game, "and we had to
grind that one out. Credit to Weymouth; they played some nice
football, kept the ball well, and we had to work hard for it".
The second half was much better entertainment than the first
as a direct result of playing further upfield after the break
- "that was a definite tactic and something we spoke about
at half time" said the boss. The glut of games at this
time of year is an issue and there's not long before the trip
to Drolysden and, after that, the visit of Kidderminster. "We've
got to be worried about fatigue" admitted Walker, but with
an almost full squad to pick from and some versatility shown
among the players on duty today - "we had Martyn Woolford
at left back and it could have been Paolo Maldini, but sometimes
you have to do that sort of thing for the team" - the team
look well able to cope with the demands of the season. Upwardly
mobile City are now into 10th on the table, 8 points off the
play-offs and, all of a sudden, look like a team nobody will
fancy taking on right now.
All
information on this website is copyrighted by: Cybernic
Internet Services - Site design, layout and some graphics, York
City Football Club - Text and other graphics, Dave
Potter - Some photos. And any use requires consent from the appropriate
party.
