Travel - Millwall (a) - August 30th

We will be travelling by train for the away game at Millwall on 30th August.  For those travelling from Leeds, on the East Coast Mainline, 4 or 5 of us have booked on to the 08:40 which arrives into London at approximately 11am. Coming back, there are a number of options but the bulk of us are travelling on the 20:30 train out of Kings Cross.

Up the Pool.

Blackpool Supporters Trust - BST

Whilst Yorkshire Seasiders aims to maintains its independence from all other supporters, whether officially recognised by the club or not, we would encourage all our members to sign up to join the Blackpool Supporters Trust.

The website for the Trust is available here:
http://www.blackpoolsupporterstrust.org/

Up the Pool!

First Game of the Season - Notts Forest (away) - Transport

We're running a minibus if there's demand.  Cost will be around a tenner, a bit less if we get close to filling up.

Leaving Leeds around 10.15, picking up at the usual points down the M1.

Please let Phil know if you want to join the YS Express.

Rail Ale Pub Trail

We will be holding our now 4th annual, and now legendary, Rail Ale Pub Trail on Saturday 21st June.  This is the first saturday after the publication of the fixture list and should give us a good opportunity to discuss plans for mini buses, trains and away trips fro the first few months of the season.

We will also take the opportunity to hold a brief AGM and vote for formal positions i.e. Chairman, Vice Chairman, Website Editor etc.  As well as discuss ideas for funding, merchandise, player sponsorship, buying out the Oyston's etc.

We will aim to leave leeds on the 11am train and will be calling at each stop along the route: Bately, Dewsbury, Mirfield, Huddersfield etc.  We have never made it past Huddersfield - but there is always a first for everything!

Hope to see as many of you there as possible.

UP THE POOL!

Yorkshire Seasiders' Player of the Season 2013-2014

Thank you to everyone who voted, it was a close run thing but we are delighted to announce that Ricardo Fuller has been crowned this year's Yorkshire Seasiders Player for the Season.

Well done, Ricardo.  Thank you for your goals! If only you'd been fit all season!

Pool Panel - QPR and Bolton

Two away games on the spin saw us only gain one point, but there were plenty of positives to be gained from the games.  At Bolton on Tuesday they did to us, what we’d done to Huddersfield in that they gained an early lead then frustrated us by dropping deep and repelling all attacks.  While we had plenty of possession, we struggled to create clear chances and consequently lost the game.

By contrast, at QPR we took an early lead then set up to hold that, relying on occasional breakaways to add to that lead.  A goal from Goodwillie gave us a real platform, and with MacMahon marshalling the back three superbly, we looked fairly comfortable as QPR tried to mount a recovery.  Despite plenty of possession, they didn’t really look like a side with multi-millions spent on them as they huffed and puffed in front of us.  The one time we didn’t close down as tenaciously, they managed to score with a shot from the edge of the area.  Even then, I never thought they were going to go on and win the game, and indeed, Barkhuizen had the best chance, outrunning the labouring Dunne to bear down on goal only to blaze wide.

I don’t know if it’s the influence of Eric Black, or whether we are just more comfortable with a back three, but the side is suddenly looking compact and with a decent shape throughout.  As such, I have no doubt we’ll stay up this season.  A win against Yeovil next Saturday will go a long way to confirm that.  At that point, I’d like to see Ferguson confirmed in the job, and an immediate start to rebuilding put into place.  This season has been dogged by bad decisions; we must learn from it.

STARMAN: Tony MacMahon

Huddersfield (h) Win 1-0

A very important win against Huddersfield that goes a long way to securing our place in the Division.  The fans’ anger that we should be in this position at all, was reflected in the demonstration before kick off organised by SISA, against the dearth of investment in the club.

The game started off with the team set up differently (Eric Black’s input?), with a 3-5-2 formation.  That gained immediate dividends as Perkins made a surging run from midfield and set Fuller away; he accelerated from Gerrard and crashed an unstoppable shot into the net.  We then had a spell when we really should have finished off the game with golden chances close in missed.

The injury to Broadfoot then disrupted us and allowed Huddersfield to get a foothold in the game, but in truth, neither side really threatened the goal.  It took until well inside the second half before they created a real chance, but the linesman’s flag intervened correctly.  As the half wore on, probably because of nerves, we dropped deeper and deeper, resorting to hurried clearances which only resulted in additional pressure coming in.  McMahon and Cathcart defended well though, and I thought we saw out the game relatively comfortably.

As I see it, another win or two and we’ll definitely be safe for next season, when lessons must be learned about how we got into this position and a strategy put into place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.  For that to happen, we must make the right managerial team appointment and back them with a settled squad who are good enough, rather than gamble on ‘names’ and jacks of all trade who can fill in but really aren’t good enough to command a place.

 STARMAN: Ricardo Fuller