This was Nicky Law’s first real game in charge. Graham Rodger didn’t pick the team for him and the Lawman, yeah I’d like a job with the Telegraph one day, rang the changes.
New ‘keeper Alan Fettis started in errrrr goal, odd that. Fellow new boys Paul Warhurst and John Thorrington started in defence and midfield respectively. Law stuck with 4-4-2 but no-one thought that was the case when seeing the team sheet. Mike Edwards, Craig Armstrong and Greg Young joined Warhurst in defence. Young partnered the veteran in the middle with Edwards and Armstrong at fullback. Darren Barnard started on the left wing for the first time in nearly a year. Thorrington occupied the other flank. Stuart Campbell and Stacy Coldicott were in the engine room. Up front Phil Jevons was paired with the returning Jonny Rowan. It was over two years since the pair were last strike partners.
Bournemouth included Steve Fletcher up front. That’s Steve ‘how dare anyone out jump me’ Fletcher. Legend. James Hayter, he of 3 goals in 8 seconds fame, also lined up in the Bournemouth team. One time Town trialist Danny Thomas wasn’t in the team.
Earlier in the week Law called for his team to defend from the front. With Rowan up front that’s always going to happen. Like him or not, Rowan chases everything down and is a general nuisance to defenders. He proved this in the earlier stages when Shaun Maher resorted to playacting and general moaning to get Rowan booked. Referee Trevor Parkes didn’t need much encouragement to book the big, nasty and aggressive Rowan though. So much so that Rowan was in real danger of getting sent off in the first half, nasty man that he is.
Rowan had the last laugh, of the first eleven minutes anyway. The play was played into the path of Rowan with his back to goal. Jonny battled with four defenders for possession before he fell over. On the floor he managed to prod the ball towards Jevvo. He in turn found Stuart Campbell out wide. The stand in skipper slung in a low cross across the goal mouth which Rowan, now back on his feet, threw himself at to stab into the vacant goal.
Law’s defensive selection would now be tested. With little to offer going forward, the pressure would be on the back four and the battling midfield to hold the lead. Rowan was chasing things down up front with help from Jevons. The DVD cover star was having a limited effect up front after his impressive spell on the wing. Playing far upfield as he was, Jevons was never going to as effective as he can be when playing deep or wide. He doesn’t have the time or the space that he would otherwise get. His first half performance was very workman like though and he showed no fear of Maher and co. despite their physical advantage.
The new lads were settling in well. Fettis was commanding his area well and with the help of Warhurst was organising the rather unorthodox back four well. Warhurst himself was helping Young through the game as well as stepping forward into midfield at times to tidy things up.
Thorrington was the least impressive of the three. He was clearly way off match fitness and sharpness, but he showed glimpses of what he can do. On one occasion he used his pace on the turn to beat one man before sprinting past another. His cross failed to find a Town player but he showed enough promise in his run to earn a few nodding heads.
The American international then got on the end of Barnard and Rowan’s work but failed to make full contact to convert past Moss. In fact Barnard’s cross was a shot, it was just a bad one.
Feeney and Fletcher, aka God, upfront were proving a handful. Flet...sorry again, God (and his elbows) is a physical match for anyone and Feeney’s very quick, very clever feet but also a diving bugger. Trevor the Ref waved away his 6.0 dive in the penalty area, so did he book him? Nooooo, instead he booked Campbell moments later for not tying his shoelace in a military fashion.
The game swayed about, it rained heavily and the wind was biting. It was one of those really odd moments where you think you can see where the rain’s stopped. Wet, dry, wet, dry, wet. Great fun. I wonder if any of the players noticed, or maybe the lines.....Errrr back to the game. A kerfuffle in the Bournemouth area saw the ball fall out to Stace the Ace 30 yards out with loads of time. He sets himself up, he checked, he set himself up again, he shoots, he scores.........No, wait. That’s not right. Oh yeah, I remember now. His shot was high, wide and poo poo. The ball landed on the Osmand roof and got stuck on the guttering thingy at the bottom. Ah well, Stace does enough for us without needing to score. Had Hamilton made such shot, even though he wasn’t on the pitch, I’d have fumed. Grrrrrr. Fear not though, Hamilton’s turn comes later on.
About 10 minutes before the break Bournemouth broke at pace, Feeney put the ball in the net but my mate Trevor had already blown for offside. Good boy.
Two minutes into the second half and the Cherries sucked Town in and attacked on the counter. Hayter, that’s him who scored them goals y’know, was fed the ball by Jorgensen but his shot was easily saved by Fettis.
Possibly under Law’s instructions, Jevons was dropping deeper and was ten times as effective. With more space and time to run at players, Jevvo began to create and dictate Town’s attacks. Considering their lack of recent matches together, Jevons and Rowan linked up fairly well. Rowan, whilst not blessed with blistering pace, read Jevons’ passing well and often gained an extra yard on the defender as a result. Sadly the final ball was always lacking and Town offered little threat directly to Moss.
Town replaced Stace with Disco Des Hamilton on 57 minutes. Dessie was jumping about on the touchline and getting himself ready. He looked set on making an impact......
Bournemouth held possession amongst their back line when Hamilton made his ‘impact’. Charging down Maher, Des powered on...and on and on and on. Waaaay beyond Maher, waaaay beyond the ball. He shuffled back into midfield.
Hamilton was truly awful. It was one of the worst, if not the, worst performance I’ve seen in a Town shirt. He missed tackles by a good 25 feet, he miskicked and he was just getting in the bloody way. His crowning moment was when he misplaced a ball to Mike Edwards which resulted in a Bournemouth throw-in. That’s OK but Edwards was stood five yards away and the ball ended up ten yards away from him.
The Disco fever was catching on, everyone was whispering how shit he was. After a while the whispers became shouts. On one occasion he cemented his place as a fan favourite. A half block brought a massive cheer from all three stands, no irony or anything.
Encouraged by this he made a tackle, yes a bleeding tackle. And it was actually a good one, not to mention crucial. He then ruined his good work by mis-kicking his clearance four yards in front of him and into the path of the dangerously placed Feeney. Luckily Warhurst came flying out to cover Disco’s shitness and cleared.
Enough of the Hamilton hating. It’s not his fault he’s fucking useless, is it?
Town were struggling to hold on but appeared to have weathered the storm when Bournemouth finally struck. Fletcher turned Young too easily on the edge of the area, his cross was heading for Hayter at the far post but Warhurst ended up diverting the ball past Fettis. It would have gone in anyway unless Hayter really messed up. I mean he scored 7 goals in 3 seconds the other week, he wouldn’t have missed. Oh, goal around the 70 minute mark.
Town responded with the introduction of Mansaram for Rowan. Groans were heard along with ‘give the lad a chance’. If you listened hard enough you could hear the reply of ‘why? He’s shit’.
Flash came on and put himself about, caused a few problems but had little effect. Town looked set to hang on for what they had, disappointingly so as well.
Feeney’s shot from the edge of the area was a bit crap, well very crap. So much so it passed as a great cross to Fletcher who reacted with godlike reflexes to head goal wards. Fettis pulled off a super one handed stop to deny the mighty one.
Graham Hockless began to get ready for action, much to the crowds delight. Sadly this was with less than ten minutes left. It always going to be the exhausted Thorrington who came off but Fletch the God made sure with a lunge that left Thorrington in a heap. Trev decided it was a fair tackle, well would you argue with God?
Hockless came on and had little impact, eight minutes and no impact. Bloody rubbish.
In the final minutes Town won a corner which Warhurst went up for in a bid to redeem his OG. The ball found it’s way to the path of Warhurst’s run, a powerful header was goal bound but a brave block with sometimes back denied.
Overall a boring game, really boring. Law selected the team not to lose and it did so. But it lacked genuine creativity and anything beyond hardworking. Barnard isn’t a winger and it told so. Replacing him with Hockless should be Law’s only change for Swindon. Away from home 10 grafters and 1 creative player may well work. At home he may need more changes.
Man of the Match - Alan Fettis. Commanding debut. Organised his defence and spread confidence through the team. Stunning one handed save from Fletcher’s header in the second half.