CITY 0 BLACKPOOL 1
As we all know by now no City manager since Dave Halliday 55 years ago has managed to win his first game in charge. Martin Allen must have realised long before the end of this match that he was not going to be the first to defy the jinx that has defeated so many others since 1962.
The first major indication came as early as the 22nd minute when de Vries did a smart turn and shot from the edge of the box with the ball soaring beyond Rachubka only to strike the angle of bar and post to fall harmlessly away from the goal. Seconds later a good low cross from Chambers was only cleared after a panic of Dads' Army proportions in the Blackpool defence. Thus the tone was set.
It had all started so differently. The crowd, a decent 26,650 were both expectant and nervous, passionately hoping for this game to be the start of a new era on the pitch to match that which had taken place off it. Strangely the starting eleven contained no fewer than 7 players on City's books last season, a much higher total than any of my group had expected. Admittedly there were 3 more newcomers on the bench but that still left 5 unaccounted for!
Henderson got the nod over Nielson, McAuley played at left centre back to accommodate N'Gotty on his right and Wesolowski was given a wide midfield role, initially on the left but soon switched to the right. Up front de Vries was included as Hume's strike partner. I had problems with Wesolowski as a wide player and prefer Fryatt to de Vries but vowed to be objective.
Not surprisingly City hardly got over the half-way line in the first 10 minutes as Blackpool carried on where they left off at the end of last season whereas we were still trying to remember each others' names. Things were not helped by Allen realising that the wide midfielders were malfunctioning and getting them to swap wings causing the fullbacks, Chambers and Mattock, to have to get used to a change of partner. Wide left was a big problem for City for most of the match though the late introduction of Hayes brought an immediate significant improvement….
Once City players started to recognise some of the players on their own side we began to dominate the game, a pattern which was maintained till the end. Hume was particularly lively for the rest of the half with one shot and a header just wide and another shot tipped over the bar. de Vries also showed well in patches even managing one or two headed lay-offs! However the best chances came from set-pieces with N'Gotty completely failing to make contact at the far post and Wesolowski glancing wide from the same position a little later. Ian Marshall was introduced to the crowd at half-time and I am certain he would still have scored both with at least one eye closed!
The consensus at half-time was that we were the better side and the most likely winners, especially if we could get the all-important first goal.
Clemence fails to lead side to victory (Picture courtesy of Raymonds/lcfc.com)
After the interval the play continued in the same vein as earlier. Allen made a commendable substitution after 55 minutes, taking off Kishishev who had been largely anonymous and replacing him with Campbell. I was disappointed to hear the crowd chanting 'DJ, DJ' hoping instead for 'Dudley, Dudley' in mock broad Brummie.
Allen played Campbell virtually as a third striker reducing us to 3 in midfield with Wesolowski playing more centrally where he seemed much more comfortable. This opened the game up more and left space for Pool to exploit but I commend Allen for his attacking intent, especially at home against opposition we should beat.
After 63 minutes came the defining moment of the game, Pool counter-attacked and we were short of numbers at the back. A cross from the right might have been dangerous but the nearest Blackpool player slipped over long before the ball arrived. Chambers was ball-watching and decided, totally unnecessarily, to fling himself in the direction of the ball and only succeeded in taking out another City defender, injuring himself in the process.
He lay on the deck in the penalty area for at least 30 seconds as Pool ping-ponged the ball back and forth across our box. We all knew what was coming as eventually the ball rebounded straight to Southern who smashed it home off the underside of the bar. Cue Chambers carted off to play no further part in the match. This no doubt upset Allen's plans to bring on Fryatt, as Stearman had to be pressed into service at right back.
The rest of the game followed the pattern of near miss after near miss at Blackpool's end with occasional panic stations at our end as defenders pressed forward. Unlike last season we did threaten to score though we never completely opened them up in open play. On another day Dudley would have scored a hat-trick.
He is sharp around the box and came close on several occasions, most notably when Rachubka blocked his shot on to the post. You can see what sort of day it was when we hit the woodwork 3 times (de Vries again), had several shots well blocked by their keeper and the ball always ran off to a safe place and they got a goal off the bar after a loose ball sat up very nicely. In truth they had the sort of luck that India have had in the current test series and you just cannot beat it.
Even five minutes of added time was not enough to get us on level terms and the whistle eventually blew to herald a sickening defeat of the type we have had over and over again in the last few seasons.So has anything really changed?
Well we have half a new team, not a completely new team and we do look capable of scoring goals, though not in the air where we are still the Arsenal of the Championship. We have a manager who will not persist with a cautious approach when we are behind at home. Most of the new players we saw today will strengthen the side but we are not flushed with wide midfielders and Allen made constant changes in this game to try to improve this vital area.
Milan says he still wants 2 or 3 more players and a wide left midfielder must be one of them. All in all I think we will be significantly stronger than last year but it may take several games before that becomes evident. Blackpool used up a third of a season's luck today and we never had a sniff. However I am convinced we will finish well above them in the final reckoning. Let the long slog commence!
City: Henderson, Chambers (Stearman 65) , N'Gotty, McAuley, Mattock (Hayes 69) , Wesolowski, Clemence, Kishishev (Campbell 55) , Newton, Hume, de Vries
Blackpool: Rachubka, Barker, Jackson, Evatt, Crainey, Taylor-Fletcher (Jorgensen 69), Southern, Fox, Hoolahan (Hills 81), Parker, Morrell
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation