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For the second Saturday in a row, the Bulls headed north and Harwood Bull was on hand to watch the action.
October 27th, the sun is shining in a clear blue sky, it’s crisp and cold, and the genteel seaside town of Southport beckons. The good lady wife and I headed there, she went to scour Southport’s many charity shops (22 I’m reliably informed) for bargains, whereas I made tracks to Haig Avenue to see the Sandgrounders take on the Bulls.
What’s in a name? The origins of Sandgrounders aren’t too hard to work out. I did Google it but just found a lot of boring debate about how many generations of your family had to live there before you were a true Sandgrounder, so I’ll spare you that. As for the Merseyrail Community Stadium, as Haig Avenue is now known, you can’t blame Southport for taking the name on, I’m sure they need the sponsorship as much as any club at this level. The use of the word ‘community’ in the title I’m fairly sceptical about, I’m sure it’s used just to give the sponsor some credibility as having some commitment to the local populace. Maybe I’ve just been watching ‘The Thick of It’ too much.
As for the game, Ex Landlord has already provided a detailed report, so I won’t attempt to match that, just give a few thoughts. First of all is what a silly prat James McQuilkin was to get booked. After resisting the ref’s attempts to move the free kick back, he finally retreated to where the ref thought the correct spot was, and then promptly threw it forward again back to where he’d started. Not surprisingly the ref didn’t like him taking the piss and he got the yellow card. Not very clever.
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| McQuilken takes a Corner |
Given that we don’t carve out too many clear cut scoring chances in open play, I think we need to work on the set pieces a bit more. It amazes me how poor the delivery is from free kicks and corners. Even at this level a professional footballer ought to be able to put the ball close to where he wants it when kicking a dead ball with no one challenging him. How hard can it be? Come to think of it I can’t remember a Bulls player who could consistently deliver a good ball from dead since Terry Paine, and that’s a long time.
Sam Clucas did a pretty good job on the left wing. Took his goal well and showed lots of determination and some skill in battling past defenders to get a cross in. The final ball wasn’t always right, but he always looked capable of making a chance for the strikers. One of the most dangerous crosses of the afternoon was produced from the right by Bowman but, probably because he was out on the wing, there was no one in the middle to knock it in as it flashed across the six yard line.
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| Ryan Bowman |
Bowman does look pretty isolated up front, 4-5-1 is all very well, but midfield need to get up more quickly in support. And then when we change to 4-4-2 it needs someone a bit more athletic and mobile than Perry.
I chipped in my £50 to the fighting find, but I won’t be doing it again. As long as the money goes directly to pay the debts I will be satisfied but I’d hate to think I’m just securing Gary Peters’ job. At some point reality has to take over. However, a lot of clubs have survived a lot longer with bigger debts than us. Let’s hope next week generates enough cash to keep HMRC at bay for a while.
Come on you Bulls.
