Pool Panel - Barnsley Away

Monday 26th December - Barnsley (a) Win 3-1

Time and time again we have gone to Oakwell, played them off the park then fallen for a sucker punch and lost the game.  History appeared to be repeating itself as we dominated possession but then lost the ball in midfield, failed to cut out a ball across and conceded to a tap in.  However, this side doesn’t roll over and we continued to dominate the game, on occasion overplaying, but nevertheless in control.

When Matt Phillips cut in from the wing and shot into the bottom corner, the 1,628 travelling fans had belief again that we could go on and win.  That duly arrived as we continued to run the game from midfield, neat passing football keeping possession and taking us right into the heart of their defence.  On occasion, we then got to the edge of the area and were guilty of trying one pass too many, but eventually the pressure told and in the end we were worthy winners.

When it was announced that matt Gilks was not playing, I did worry, but Mark Howard came in and looked very comfortable in the role, ensuring that when they did break away, he had kept his concentration and pulled off a couple of very good saves, one tipover in the second half a real beauty.

A win on the road now gives us a great start to the festive period.  Let’s hope we can follow it up with another good result at St Andrews.

STAR MAN: Matt Phillips 

Pool Panel - Watford at home

After all the rising sense of excitement over the FA Cup draw, it was back to the League on Saturday, in a game overshadowed in its build up by all the talk of Fleetwood.  Another frustrating draw, this time through a combination of bad luck and some poor finishing.  On another day we could have won by a hatful; I suppose there is some consolation in that we finished the day slightly closer to the playoffs than we started.

The second consoling thought is that we are playing well.  I think we are not very far off being a very good team, with maybe the addition of a centre half as cover, and a big centre forward as a Plan B, could see us being a real force in the second half of the season.

We go into Christmas just outside the playoffs, and somewhat under the media’s radar, not being talked about as one of the teams who will go up, yet week in and week out, managers see us as being a difficult opponent.  The lack of interest from the national media might just play in our favour as it has in the past.  Two away games coming up pose a real challenge to us, but if we can get a few points from the games then we can start the New Year with some hope of going back to the Premier League.

I hope all Seasiders have a really good Christmas.

UP THE POOL

Star man:  Craig Cathcart

Pool Panel - Southampton Away

Sunday 11 December - Southampton Away

On the way down to Southampton, we were confident that we’d get something from the match.  Records like their’s with 21 straight wins are there to be shot at, and I always think that we are the type of team to cause an upset when labelled underdogs.

So it proved, with Blackpool more than matching Southampton, aided and abetting by a shocking goalkeeping performance from Bielkowski.  It always seems to me that we have to work hard for all our goals, so to actually score through a comedy moment was a very rare sight, but nonetheless deserved for us taking the game to them and giving it a real go.  

There is an argument to be made that we were only behind in the first place through our own mistake, Eardley caught on the ball ultimately leading to Cathcart deflecting it into his own net past Gilks who would probably have saved the initial effort from Lambert.  Gilks did make a couple of great saves, but equally, McManaman and in particular, Matt Philips were causing their defence major problems every time we went forward, with Philips very unlucky not to score after a great run in the first half.

All in all, a good point, but frustrating not to come away with all three as a consequence of a very late equaliser.  Another positive is that we’ve now played all bar Cardiff from the top ten away from home.  In the second half of the season, that could work in our favour.

STAR MAN: Matt Phillips 

2011/2012 Yorkshire Seasiders Committee

Following our AGM in York on Sunday, the committee for the 2011/2012 has been elected as follows:

Chairman - Phil Corbett

Vice Chairman - Charlie Markillie

We wish them the best of luck in the future and hope that it is another successful year for the Yorkshire Seasiders.