PLAYER WATCH v Bristol City (H)

[tonyoz]

PLAYER WATCH v Bristol City (H)

Each incident in the match was rated on the following scale: 

+5 GOAL 

+4 Excellent play 

+3 Very good play 

+2 Pleasing/good play 

+1 Decent play 

  0 Routine stuff 

-1 Sloppy play 

 -2 Disappointing/poor play  

 -3 Very poor play 

 -4 Terrible play 

 -5 Own goal 

The ratings for each player were then combined to produce a measure of the players overall contribution to the match. 

 
Ratings       

Key incidents per player = coloured stars              Overall contribution = numbers

Kaminski                         **  ****     -2                               

R-Costello (60)               ****    *   4

Lenihan                           *********************  ***********    18     

van Hecke                       ***********************  ****      29

Wharton                         ******************  ***********     14

Pickering                        *********  *****    4 

Travis                              **********  *******  5

Buckley (69)                   ******  ******    -1      

Rothwell                         ********  *********     1    

Khadra                            ********* ******     5

Gallagher                        ************ ******    9 

 

Dolan(60)                       ***  ***    1

Dack (69)                        **  ***    -6

 

 

Highlights and Lowlights 

(A justification for the main ratings given above)

Bristol City, sitting 19th, haven’t kept a clean sheet away from home all season! We haven’t scored forever and Dack is back! 

01 Semenyo turns van Hecke inside out and enters the box but he drags his shot across the face of goal and it’s well wide.

04 A Bristol man breezes straight past Lenihan too easily and passes to Semenyo but this time van Hecke dispossesses beautifully.

06 The dangerous Semenyo is attacking the box again but Lenihan tackles him perfectly in the box, gets the ball, beats a man and launches a nice long ball for Khadra to chase but the defender just beats him to it. 

Bristol are already looking a better team than Millwall last time out!

08 Van Hecke wins the ball again and passes long to Khadra on the wing. He turns inside and tries a shot but it’s deflected and runs to the goalie.

12 Travis wins a corner on the right. Rothwell takes and Lenihan has a free header, central and 8 yards out. It’s powerful, low but straight at the goalie who makes a good save. It should have been 1-0.

14 A great long pass from van Hecke on to Gallagher’s chest on the edge of the box. Sam brings it down well but his shot is blocked.

16 Yawn! Another sideways ball from Rothwell.

22 Buckley tries a fancy flick on the wing and loses the ball, now Travis is messing around with the ball and is dispossessed. Semenyo is away. His cross is dangerous and Lenihan puts it behind for a corner.

24 I think that’s the 3rd poor downfield pass so far from Wharton.

26 Kaminski’s free kick goes all the way to Bentley. Now he puts a clearance straight into touch! It’s poor stuff right now.

27 Buckley goes down just outside the box…..I think the defender breathed on him! Free kick anyway. Khadra’s shot hits the wall.

29 Highlight of the game so far…..a standing ovation as Dack goes into his warm-up.

31 Buckley, 28 yards out just left of central, whips a nice curler into the box but the defender does well to block off JRC’s run. I think that’s Buckley’s first serious contribution to the game!

32 Travis again running into trouble 30 yards out!

34 City attack from their own half. Martin heads the cross down to Semenyo’s feet near the penalty spot. Fortunately Semenyo is not as good as I thought he was as he completely scuffs the shot right into Kaminski’s arms! Wharton and Pickering failed to cover Martin between them. That was a great chance.

34 I think that’s the first forward pass from Rothwell but it’s a good one, crossfield to Khadra on the left. Offside! Khadra is blasting Buckley who failed to spot Khadra unmarked a minute earlier!

38 Lots of poor passing. We’re having trouble getting into the final third of the pitch. As the commentators point out, we are no longer playing the ball behind the defence (where there’s lots of space). It’s all to feet and it’s not working.

42 A lovely long ball by Lenihan finds JRC in lots of room 35 yards out and fairly central. He takes it on but seems to lose his nerve and instead of going for goal, he squares the ball to Pickering. He takes a touch, the defence arrives and his attempted shot is blocked…. JRC gets the ball again 16 yards out. He controls with his back to goal, spins and shoots but the keeper saves comfortably. Why are JRC and Pickering the only players venturing into midfield in an attacking sense?

Half Time. A much poorer display than we produced against Millwall. Lenihan and van Hecke the only players to come out of it with any real credit.

 

48 Khadra booked for simulation.

49 Gallagher wins the long ball and does an outrageous backflip to the feet of the on-rushing Rothwell but his attempted square ball in the box is blocked. Eventually it comes to Travis, 30 yards out but his rising drive is over the bar. 74 games since his last goal apparently.

52 Slow, boring stuff from Rovers. We are creating nothing from the back. I like it when van Hecke brings it into the opposition’s half - he has a good pass on him. At least it’s something a bit different. Where’s the long raking, defence splitting passes from Buckley? It’s hard to tell that he’s on the pitch today.

53 Oh! That’s what I’m on about. Van Hecke wanders into midfield and does some nice interplay with Rothwell which results in van Hecke receiving near the left of the 6 yard box. The keeper goes down at his near post to save the shot and the ball bounces towards the penalty spot where a City man boots clear. Again it’s a defender showing the midfield and attack how it should be done.

54 A long clearance by City and it’s 2 against 1 but Lenihan sorts it out with a neat interception. Then he puts a long crossfield ball right to the feet of Khadra. Good stuff but it’s deja vu as the keeper saves Khadra’s shot at the near post and the ball again bounces towards the penalty spot with no Rover hovering. I wonder where Gallagher was?

57 Travis tries a shot from the edge of the D but it’s deflected wide for a corner. Rothwell puts it straight into the keeper’s arms.

65 A good challenge by Wharton in our box and Rothwell picks up and storms downfield before releasing a lovely ball down the wing for Khadra to chase. He takes it to the corner of the box and turns the defender one way, then the other before shooting with his left foot. It’s a narrow angle and it hits the keeper and yet again bounces forward. Travis collects just outside the box but his attempt at a shot is blocked.

66 Blimey Khadra gets it again near the left corner of the box and this time his shot is deflected to the keeper.

67 Buckley dawdling in the City half is dispossessed.

City attack and the cross comes in from City’s left. Pickering is beaten in the air and it falls to Wells. Van Hecke is close enough to prevent a shot. Wells flicks it sideways and Pickering is there to make amends, booting it clear.

69 Well, the Rovers fans erupt as Dack appears. Buckley makes way. Rovers fans are wondering if we are in for a fairytale ending or the cruellest of suckerpunches. I’m shaking my head as I type that!

70 The whole stadium has lifted as a Gallagher flick on just beats Dack to the byline.

71 It’s loud. Khadra receives from a throw, 17 yards out on the left wing. From nowhere, he whips in another of those wicked curlers and it hits the top of the bar! The keeper was beaten.

72 Rothwell through to Dack who backflicks the ball into the box for Rothwell, who kept running. Between them Rothwell and Dolan lose the ball.

75 Lenihan is drawn out of position and City move forward. Van Hecke is drawn over to cover and the cross flies past him. It’s headed down to James in the D and Kaminski has to make the save. That was close. End to end stuff now!

78 A Rothwell drive downfield ends up in a blind alley and he concedes the foul.

80 Lenihan, 25 yards out and just left of central lofts a ball into the box. Van Hecke has his shirt pulled, he goes down near the spot and it’s a penalty!! Dack has the ball! Hearts are fluttering! Oh no! He stutters his run…..and right-footed he strokes the ball low and straight at the keeper who holds on to it. Poor, poor penalty. Fairytales don’t come true.

83 Dolan flicks a nice ball out to Khadra on the wing. He squares the ball beautifully to where we always knew Dack would be, 8 yards out. But, unbelievably, his touch is poor and he pushes the ball right across the face of goal and out of play. This wasn’t in the script!

85 Gallagher and Khadra both go down in the box claiming penalties.

87 City wasting time. Van Hecke is the sponsor’s man of the match.

Dack mis-kicks the ball to City midway in our half. Williams goes past Dolan and Lenihan to the edge of our box and rolls it to Martin 8 yards out but Wharton robs him.

88 Travis gives the ball away in our half. Now he chases and fouls the City man!

90 4 minutes of extra time. An unmarked Williams fires a right footed shot over the bar. It was a chance, stemming from Lenihan failing to win his header from a City throw and being left out of position thereafter.

91 Van Hecke fouls the City man 10 yards inside our half. It’s lofted into their left channel to an unmarked man and our centre halves are all claiming offside. He’s not and he lays it back to Williams who, I think, slices his kick across the box to a totally unmarked Weimann who volleys the ball past Kaminski. The cruellest of suckerpunches but surely there should be someone marking City’s top scorer? In truth, we don’t deserve to be in the top 6.

Final whistle. Bristol’s first away win since October.

Why do I do this? Is anybody brave enough to read it?

 

Edited March 14, 2022 by tonyoz

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 hours ago, tonyoz said:

PLAYER WATCH v Bristol City (H)

Each incident in the match was rated on the following scale: 

+5 GOAL 

+4 Excellent play 

+3 Very good play 

+2 Pleasing/good play 

+1 Decent play 

  0 Routine stuff 

-1 Sloppy play 

 -2 Disappointing/poor play  

 -3 Very poor play 

 -4 Terrible play 

 -5 Own goal 

The ratings for each player were then combined to produce a measure of the players overall contribution to the match. 

 
Ratings       

Key incidents per player = coloured stars              Overall contribution = numbers

Kaminski                         **  ****     -2                               

R-Costello (60)               ****    *   4

Lenihan                           *********************  ***********    18     

van Hecke                       ***********************  ****      29

Wharton                         ******************  ***********     14

Pickering                        *********  *****    4 

Travis                              **********  *******  5

Buckley (69)                   ******  ******    -1      

Rothwell                         ********  *********     1    

Khadra                            ********* ******     5

Gallagher                        ************ ******    9 

 

Dolan(60)                       ***  ***    1

Dack (69)                        **  ***    -6

 

 

Highlights and Lowlights 

(A justification for the main ratings given above)

Bristol City, sitting 19th, haven’t kept a clean sheet away from home all season! We haven’t scored forever and Dack is back! 

01 Semenyo turns van Hecke inside out and enters the box but he drags his shot across the face of goal and it’s well wide.

04 A Bristol man breezes straight past Lenihan too easily and passes to Semenyo but this time van Hecke dispossesses beautifully.

06 The dangerous Semenyo is attacking the box again but Lenihan tackles him perfectly in the box, gets the ball, beats a man and launches a nice long ball for Khadra to chase but the defender just beats him to it. 

Bristol are already looking a better team than Millwall last time out!

08 Van Hecke wins the ball again and passes long to Khadra on the wing. He turns inside and tries a shot but it’s deflected and runs to the goalie.

12 Travis wins a corner on the right. Rothwell takes and Lenihan has a free header, central and 8 yards out. It’s powerful, low but straight at the goalie who makes a good save. It should have been 1-0.

14 A great long pass from van Hecke on to Gallagher’s chest on the edge of the box. Sam brings it down well but his shot is blocked.

16 Yawn! Another sideways ball from Rothwell.

22 Buckley tries a fancy flick on the wing and loses the ball, now Travis is messing around with the ball and is dispossessed. Semenyo is away. His cross is dangerous and Lenihan puts it behind for a corner.

24 I think that’s the 3rd poor downfield pass so far from Wharton.

26 Kaminski’s free kick goes all the way to Bentley. Now he puts a clearance straight into touch! It’s poor stuff right now.

27 Buckley goes down just outside the box…..I think the defender breathed on him! Free kick anyway. Khadra’s shot hits the wall.

29 Highlight of the game so far…..a standing ovation as Dack goes into his warm-up.

31 Buckley, 28 yards out just left of central, whips a nice curler into the box but the defender does well to block off JRC’s run. I think that’s Buckley’s first serious contribution to the game!

32 Travis again running into trouble 30 yards out!

34 City attack from their own half. Martin heads the cross down to Semenyo’s feet near the penalty spot. Fortunately Semenyo is not as good as I thought he was as he completely scuffs the shot right into Kaminski’s arms! Wharton and Pickering failed to cover Martin between them. That was a great chance.

34 I think that’s the first forward pass from Rothwell but it’s a good one, crossfield to Khadra on the left. Offside! Khadra is blasting Buckley who failed to spot Khadra unmarked a minute earlier!

38 Lots of poor passing. We’re having trouble getting into the final third of the pitch. As the commentators point out, we are no longer playing the ball behind the defence (where there’s lots of space). It’s all to feet and it’s not working.

42 A lovely long ball by Lenihan finds JRC in lots of room 35 yards out and fairly central. He takes it on but seems to lose his nerve and instead of going for goal, he squares the ball to Pickering. He takes a touch, the defence arrives and his attempted shot is blocked…. JRC gets the ball again 16 yards out. He controls with his back to goal, spins and shoots but the keeper saves comfortably. Why are JRC and Pickering the only players venturing into midfield in an attacking sense?

Half Time. A much poorer display than we produced against Millwall. Lenihan and van Hecke the only players to come out of it with any real credit.

 

48 Khadra booked for simulation.

49 Gallagher wins the long ball and does an outrageous backflip to the feet of the on-rushing Rothwell but his attempted square ball in the box is blocked. Eventually it comes to Travis, 30 yards out but his rising drive is over the bar. 74 games since his last goal apparently.

52 Slow, boring stuff from Rovers. We are creating nothing from the back. I like it when van Hecke brings it into the opposition’s half - he has a good pass on him. At least it’s something a bit different. Where’s the long raking, defence splitting passes from Buckley? It’s hard to tell that he’s on the pitch today.

53 Oh! That’s what I’m on about. Van Hecke wanders into midfield and does some nice interplay with Rothwell which results in van Hecke receiving near the left of the 6 yard box. The keeper goes down at his near post to save the shot and the ball bounces towards the penalty spot where a City man boots clear. Again it’s a defender showing the midfield and attack how it should be done.

54 A long clearance by City and it’s 2 against 1 but Lenihan sorts it out with a neat interception. Then he puts a long crossfield ball right to the feet of Khadra. Good stuff but it’s deja vu as the keeper saves Khadra’s shot at the near post and the ball again bounces towards the penalty spot with no Rover hovering. I wonder where Gallagher was?

57 Travis tries a shot from the edge of the D but it’s deflected wide for a corner. Rothwell puts it straight into the keeper’s arms.

65 A good challenge by Wharton in our box and Rothwell picks up and storms downfield before releasing a lovely ball down the wing for Khadra to chase. He takes it to the corner of the box and turns the defender one way, then the other before shooting with his left foot. It’s a narrow angle and it hits the keeper and yet again bounces forward. Travis collects just outside the box but his attempt at a shot is blocked.

66 Blimey Khadra gets it again near the left corner of the box and this time his shot is deflected to the keeper.

67 Buckley dawdling in the City half is dispossessed.

City attack and the cross comes in from City’s left. Pickering is beaten in the air and it falls to Wells. Van Hecke is close enough to prevent a shot. Wells flicks it sideways and Pickering is there to make amends, booting it clear.

69 Well, the Rovers fans erupt as Dack appears. Buckley makes way. Rovers fans are wondering if we are in for a fairytale ending or the cruellest of suckerpunches. I’m shaking my head as I type that!

70 The whole stadium has lifted as a Gallagher flick on just beats Dack to the byline.

71 It’s loud. Khadra receives from a throw, 17 yards out on the left wing. From nowhere, he whips in another of those wicked curlers and it hits the top of the bar! The keeper was beaten.

72 Rothwell through to Dack who backflicks the ball into the box for Rothwell, who kept running. Between them Rothwell and Dolan lose the ball.

75 Lenihan is drawn out of position and City move forward. Van Hecke is drawn over to cover and the cross flies past him. It’s headed down to James in the D and Kaminski has to make the save. That was close. End to end stuff now!

78 A Rothwell drive downfield ends up in a blind alley and he concedes the foul.

80 Lenihan, 25 yards out and just left of central lofts a ball into the box. Van Hecke has his shirt pulled, he goes down near the spot and it’s a penalty!! Dack has the ball! Hearts are fluttering! Oh no! He stutters his run…..and right-footed he strokes the ball low and straight at the keeper who holds on to it. Poor, poor penalty. Fairytales don’t come true.

83 Dolan flicks a nice ball out to Khadra on the wing. He squares the ball beautifully to where we always knew Dack would be, 8 yards out. But, unbelievably, his touch is poor and he pushes the ball right across the face of goal and out of play. This wasn’t in the script!

85 Gallagher and Khadra both go down in the box claiming penalties.

87 City wasting time. Van Hecke is the sponsor’s man of the match.

Dack mis-kicks the ball to City midway in our half. Williams goes past Dolan and Lenihan to the edge of our box and rolls it to Martin 8 yards out but Wharton robs him.

88 Travis gives the ball away in our half. Now he chases and fouls the City man!

90 4 minutes of extra time. An unmarked Williams fires a right footed shot over the bar. It was a chance, stemming from Lenihan failing to win his header from a City throw and being left out of position thereafter.

91 Van Hecke fouls the City man 10 yards inside our half. It’s lofted into their left channel to an unmarked man and our centre halves are all claiming offside. He’s not and he lays it back to Williams who, I think, slices his kick across the box to a totally unmarked Weimann who volleys the ball past Kaminski. The cruellest of suckerpunches but surely there should be someone marking City’s top scorer? In truth, we don’t deserve to be in the top 6.

Final whistle. Bristol’s first away win since October.

Why do I do this? Is anybody brave enough to read it?

 

I’m brave enough but it’s not easy ! Just look at those scores in front of the back three. They’re horrendous. Thanks for sticking at it Tony.

[bazza]

Thanks, Tony. Keep them coming.