The COCup match thread

Tgwu wrote:

Nobody mention the wind that was blowing from the Devonport end, so the team who had the wind played the better game, first half and the first half of extra time it was LO. Mellor played better then Sam marked him.

I hope so We may aswell made more of an effort to keep Berry in that case   

Sam's report reads about right to me.

My comments are limited by what I could see: I need new glasses and was wearing old ones last night meaning I couldn't read the players' names on the back of their shirts, I didn't get a programme and so the numbers meant nothing, I've never seen many of them before and so it was the ones I recognised that attracted most of my attention and lots of new haircuts...

I thought Superluke looked a bit dodgy at times. Their first goal was a corker but I felt that he could have done better against a shot from so far out and he uncharacteristically fumbled a few times.

Our #2 was woeful on the ball - especially in the first half. In the end his teammates quite blatantly stopped passing to him and our whole performance picked up thereafter. That said both of their headed goals came from crosses from the other wing so maybe he's a defender first and foremost (only).

The other FB, obviously McHugh from what I have read since, didn't seem anything like as bad but the crosses came from his wing...

Which brings into question the "wide" men in front of both: Alessandra/Banton and Cox/Norbury. Neither Cox nor Norbury really played wide and were very narrow; Alessandra scampered about a lot but lost possession rather more often than is preferable (often due to a series of the worst passes imaginable from Mellor) and Banton was a spectator for much of the game.

O'Connor sat very deep in the holding midfielder role so Argyle lined up 4-1-2-3.

To start with Orient looked superb and were obviously a good, confident side from a higher division setting about a potentially tricky away game with gusto. They were well worth their 2 goal lead and Argyle had troubled their goal hardly at all - so much so, in fact, that when the injury time was announced I went out to get a beer and missed Rooooooben's (who is almost a one man team) first goal...

Argyle improved as the game went on mostly by employing the tactic of starving Mellor, who had nobody to mark on his wing, of possession. Reid then went and snatched a goal out of nowhere by muscling a defender off the ball and slotting past the advancing goalie cool-as-you-like.

If I was to make excuses for Orient I would observe that they lost a player early on due to injury, had another half-nobbled who played on and suffered another walking wounded towards the end when their subs were all used up which makes it sound like we clogged 'em a bit but we didn't; there was barely a tackle in the entire game and the ref didn't card anybody.

Late on Alessandra hit the bar and Banton hit the post.

It was a funny ol' game - we could have lost 5-0 and we could have won it 5-2 and both scorelines would have been fair.

There was one cameo moment to savour. The sub boards went up and River Allen came on just as we were about to take a corner. He sprinted across the pitch to the Zoo Corner to take it with great purpose. He was then almost Wottonesque as he proceded to carefully place the ball slightly outside the quadrant. He looked up, swung his right peg and scuffed it into the near-post where it was easily dealt with. Fantastic body language but no end result.

And so to pens which were all well taken. Banton had a chance to win it but the goalie got a hand to his well-struck shot, the ball cannoned up onto the crossbar, came down near the goalline and bounced out.

So in the end we lost a game we could have won and would have won but for a series of good saves by their 'keeper. This is worrying because good teams, like Orient, win games they could have lost.

People will take from this game what they want to because there was a host of positives to be had to keep the Avivas on-message but also a host of negatives to keep the Brownies singing.

I think we're on the cusp and it could fall either way for us this season but one thing is certain: we need to get a win under our belts and to get it soon and there's no better time to do it than against Exeter on Saturday.

Thanks for the reports chaps.

Iggy wrote:

Am I happy with losing, of course I'm not, am I happy that we actually turned up for a game (admittedly an hour too late but there you go) yes I am. Say what you like but decent teams get beaten as well, it's the manner of the defeat and how you react that make the difference between a decent squad and a crap one, I've not seen any Argyle fight back or passion in three years or more. When was the last time we came back from a two goal deficit? Remember in a league game we would have come away with a point against a decent league 1 side. If you can't see any positives in last nights game then you just plain don't want to.
FOASU. Foreshore.

Funny you should ask that. Not saying it was the last time coming back from a 2 goal deficit but reading the thread here I was reminded of Argyle 3 Cardiff 3 when Ollie was manager. We were pants for an hour, 3-0 down when Ollie made a double substitution bringing on Akos and Nalis. Almost immediately we scored and it was game on. One of those nights where a draw felt like a win, a cracking atmosphere with players and fans most definitely reading from the same sheet.

Fair play to those who attended last night. It seems like we just might have a team after all.

2 Darren Purse own-goals that night...

You're probably right there Sir. I just remember running them ragged for the last 20-30 minutes and thinking we have a decent team here.

Cheers for some good reports guys. Seems weird considering nobody from this place goes to games though.

Who is it that says that nobody from this place goes to games?

I was not at the game but listened to the 2nd half and extra time on the Radio London like that was given earlier in the thread.

Colin Lee was the expert summariser who seemed to think we improved second half when Alesendra moved from wide to up top with Reuben. If that is so, surely Sheridan must realise that our best spell last season also saw us with those 2 up front and he has a reasonable partnership there that should be persevered with.

Keep those links coming we ex pats need them.

Going purely from reports, aren't Lewis & Rueben our one and only 'up top' pairing that is known to work?  I can't see why Sheridan wouldn't have them alongside each other week after week.  Lewis was sorely missed when he got injured...

He was very poor first half

Sorry SFD, it wasn't a slight on the people here, more aimed at those that claim that this is the so called cesspit of bile etc, filled with freaks and weirdos who dont attend. The more important point I was making that the match reports were much appreciated.

This is the cesspit of bile.. Love it

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

Who is it that says that nobody from this place goes to games?

Probably someone who likes the sound of their own keyboard and likes to make sure everyone else can hear it. Very frequently!!!

I went to the Dags vs Brentford game, 6 all, a penalty shoot out and a couple of pints of Cornish Coaster with change out of a score, now that's what I call value.

alannotivvy wrote:

This is the cesspit of bile.. Love it

Nobody likes us................ but we don't care.

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i called pasoti the cease pit of bile once years ago and they took it and ran lol

blimey we could have had villa away ! that would have brought a load of cash in, club needs to prioritise these games. Woulkd i be right in saying we've 'missed out' on spurs & man utd due to due losiong 1st round games since admin the balloon payment would have been a distant memory!