City 3 Scunthorpe 1
The corresponding fixture last season ended in a comprehensive 4-0 win for City with Scunthorpe giving one of the worst performances I have ever seen from a Championship side. This match should have been the same as Scunthorpe, without a single player I had heard of, seemed to have learned nothing in the interim period; however City have clearly forgotten what little they knew so what should have been a rout became a ridiculously close contest settled only by a goal from substitute Moussa in the dying moments.
City should have gone ahead in the first minute when King, under pressure from Howard, headed over with a clear chance. This set the pattern of the first hour of the game. It seemed no harm was done when Waghorn slotted calmly into the corner of the net after 10 minutes to give City a deserved lead. The crowd relaxed and sat back to enjoy the one-sided contest.
Scunthorpe were abysmal in the first half and playing one up front they were lucky to cross the half-way line most of the time. City had all the possession but created nothing for long periods before a mix-up between a defender and the Scunny keeper gave Howard the chance to slide the ball into the empty net. Somehow he failed to do this and the ball was eventually cleared…..
The quality of play in the first half was worthy of a relegation battle and on this evidence the return fixture will be one. Only ribald comments about Sven – and Nancy – kept my group awake as City trundled from half-way line to the opposition penalty area and back again before endlessly repeating the manouevre. The crowd's applause at the interval was generous to say the least.
The first 15 minutes of the second half continued in the same pattern. Again the Scunny defence got into a muddle and Dyer had only to pass 3 yards to the unmarked Waghorn for him to tap into the empty net but this proved too much for him to accomplish. Dyer is the only player with pace and has a decent shot on him but he cannot pass or cross to save his life. It should have been 4-0 but instead it remained at 1-0!
Within less than a minute, after determined play by Berner, Dyer made amends by slamming the ball against the keeper from an angle, wrestling the ball from the ensuing melee and slamming it past the now prostrate goalie. Again the crowd relaxed and waited for more of the same.
They should have known better for this was the turning-point of the game. Scunthorpe raised their game from the dreadful to the mediocre and pushed City back. From looking as if they would struggle to get nought they suddenly found some inspiration from central midfield. City clearly conspired in this change of fortunes by sitting back on their lead, though Waghorn should have settled all fears when a long ball put him clear in on the goal but he rashly volleyed high into the crowd.
To sit back was a silly mistake as we are not good enough to defend for a long period. First the keeper, Ikeme, has such a languid style that he gives the impression of sleep-walking. I cannot believe that he is better than Logan nor that he was a sensible acquisition. Vitor at right back was a first for me. He is small and chunky and played at centre-half against Pompey! That alone should have been enough to get Sousa the sack!
Anyway Gallagher contributed less and less as the game progressed so that the right side of City's defence disintegrated. Powell's response was to replace Gallagher with Abi, a central midfielder played at wide right! The poor Japanese defender had obviously never played in this position and is unlikely to do so again! Inevitably Scunthorpe took advantage of city's tactical and positional errors and a diagonal shot from the left struck the angle of bar and post with Togwell's shot from the rebound deflecting past Ikeme off O'Connor.
In biblical times this would have been classified as a miracle! Scunny grew in confidence and passed the ball around a bit and threatened to get an equaliser. Given how poor they were initially this was incredible and bore out the truth of the old adage that if you keep missing them they won't.
By now the crowd were developing a collective tense, nervous headache as a second Scunthorpe goal beckoned. Wellens showed great bravery in heading a thunderbolt off the line but still they pressed. Disaster was averted in added time when in a rare City attack a cross from the left was deflected to the edge of the box for Moussa to drill low past the keeper's left hand for his first goal for the club.
So we gained a priceless three points and moved off the bottom but not out of the bottom three. Frankly we were lucky to be playing Scunthorpe today as few other teams in this division would have been so generous.
In my view Chris Powell had a very mixed day. His team selection benefited from leaving out Oakley but Neilson and Logan would have been in my defence. Tactically on the credit side he played 4-4-2 which the players understand but the decision to defend 2-0 was wrong and very nearly mis-fired. The substitutions were lacking in logic and we finished with nobody playing wide left (we only have one player for this role and he was subbed!) which added to the general sense of disorganisation which marked our play in the final twenty minutes.
I'm certain Sven would not have been impressed by the display and will now realise the task he faces at the Walkers. Far too many players are not up to the required standard, particularly but not exclusively those brought in by Sousa and the fitness levels are about League 2. The table does not lie!
City: Ikeme, Vitor, Morrison, Hobbs, Berner, King, Wellens, Gallagher (Abe 67), Dyer (Moussa 87), Howard, Waghorn Subs (unused) Logan, Neilson, Moreno, N'Guessan, Kennedy
Scunthorpe: Murphy, Byrne, Mirfin, Nolan, Canavan, Togwell (Collins 78), Woolford, Wright, Dagnall, Forte, Grant (O'Connor 56) Subs (unused) Slocombe, Raynes, McClenahan, Godden, Boyes
Referee: G Hegley Attendance: 20,652
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