man of the match

[London Irish]

Well, you know what us bandwagonners are like. Especially when we've been at the trough stuffing down all those prawn cocktails and swimming in that lake of alcohol Mr Glover is convinced lies within the bowels of the hospitality suite!

Actually, it was quite difficult to reach a concensus because no single player stood out as an obvious man of the match. Piercey was a front runner for some time and the vote between Reid and Roberts was pretty close. Chippy had a good game unlike Chris who seemed off form and somewhat distracted at times.

There were others who found the award something of a surprise too....!

Great pic, Roz - but why is John Piercy trying so hard not to make eye contact with anyone?

So we're all agreed then, Reid, an excellent choice for man of the match.......positive discrimination for the newbie

 

[Lady Bracknell]

"Positive discrimination"?
Shurely not, London Irish! It was because he's soooo toothsome. Ooops! Dropped knitting for a minute there...

 

[the full harris]

My vote actually went to Piercey but only one other person agreed with me.

 

[bhaexpress]

I was surprised that Jones was dropped as I thought he had a good game on Monday. Ried looked okay after a while but I would go with Butters, Cullip or Carpenter as MotM. I am moer than a little surprised that some people though that Big Chris played badly, I thought he was good yesterday.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Roz

I am sure it was a table of moderation and abstention all afternoon !.

Also why is the guy from American Idol in the photo with you ?.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The people who think Reid was MOTM will be the same people who vote for Butters as man of the season. Bandwagons, doncha love 'em?

Yeah, well, yada yada. Bandwagons is one theory. Another is that people go to matches and vote on the evidence of their own eyes based on the football set out in front of them. Not your strong point admittedly. But for those fans who express a preference, I'd guess they probably note that Butters has been solid as a rock all season, and yesterday Reid actually played like he had that rarest of commodities, a footballing brain. He played smart simple passes in midfield and went forward on goal, made things happen, gave us options. I sort of understand your bitterness at missing out on the Butters/Reid bandwagon, but if you're quick, I believe there's still one or two places left on the Adam El-Abd for Albion Young Player Of The Year award bandwagon. Tally-ho!

 

[coach03]

I thought Reid di some good work yesterday, though he did dive in a bit and over commit at inappropriate times when defending.
For my money though, I thought Chippy was MoM. Consistent, footballing brain, strong in the tackle and understands what he's doing all the time.

 

[fatboy]

The midfield looked better today; it definitely needed changing. Piercy is the most talented player that we have although I can count the number of times he has played 90 minutes on one hand.

Roberts had a solid game and did nothing wrong. But he didn't make any particularly good saves(you could argue he didn't need to.) Any keeper at that level should have dealt with all Broro's shots comfortably.

 

[the full harris]

Piercy is the most talented player that we have

you sure?

 

[fatboy]

Yes. But if he is not careful he will end up playing for Eastbourne Borough.

 

[Trigger]

I agree Piercy has so much talent, if only he could use it properly we'd be laughing.

 

[London Irish]

Yeah, well, yada yada. Bandwagons is one theory. Another is that people go to matches and vote on the evidence of their own eyes based on the football set out in front of them. Not your strong point admittedly. But for those fans who express a preference, I'd guess they probably note that Butters has been solid as a rock all season, and yesterday Reid actually played like he had that rarest of commodities, a footballing brain. He played smart simple passes in midfield and went forward on goal, made things happen, gave us options. I sort of understand your bitterness at missing out on the Butters/Reid bandwagon, but if you're quick, I believe there's still one or two places left on the Adam El-Abd for Albion Young Player Of The Year award bandwagon. Tally-ho!

Tom, Old bean, profuse apologies from me for these character flaws. I've never been quite the same since being injured in a multiple pile-up involving the Mark Yeates bandwagon and the Zesh Rehman bandwagon.

That said, I really felt I had no option but to place an anonymous phone-call this morning to the Electoral Reform Society about alll these "irregularities" in the sponsors' poll. We already have allegations of excessive drinking influencing the solemn process, as well as excessive knitting. Roz's photos clearly show Waltzing Reidy offering assorted bribes like cheeky grins and writing "Vote Reid" on everyone's replicas.

 

[Seagulltonian]

Sorry to disagree with the Noisy Northstand NSC'ers, I thought Roberts had an outstanding game, and kept us ahead many times during the match, and there were times when we were under the "posh cosh".

Roberts was also very effective with his kicking, before he got stuffed whilst winning the ball from the foward. Several times the defenders were forced to knock it out 3/4 of the way up the pitch from one of his long kicks. Not pretty prehaps, but effective.

Reid showed some nice touches, with Iwelumo as well controlling the ball when he was reciving it from the aforementioned kicks from Roberts. There seemed to be times when Piercey and Reid were in the same area of the park during the first half, and ended up getting in each other's way. Reid doesn't seem to be a tackling-back midfielder, but he seems to be able to find our own players more often than some of the other midfield players.

I think we have a good chance to get to the play-off final, if the team that started Saturday can gel in the remaining three league matches.

P.S. I haven't seen every home game this season!

 

[Hungry Joe.]

I thought Reid gave us a dimension we'd been missing of late with his pace through the middle and down the flanks. Judging by the reception he got from the section of the South Stand where I sit during his warm-down most of the crowd appreciated his performance. I'm a huge fan of Charlie and Chippy but having a bit more pace and creativity from Piercy and/or Reid gives a lot more for the front two to feed off of. I think Leon's improved performance was partly down to that (and hopefully a general 'pulling up of the socks') and Chris looked sharp too. His defense-splitting pass for Reid was fantastic. All in all we just looked like we had more options than of late. I was glad to see Jones come on and do well again. The idiots who sit behind me who slate him before he's even got his track suit off really should open their eyes (and their minds) and start to appreciate what a good player he is.

 

[Rougvie]

Its quite tricky judging this from The North Stand, you do also tend to miss quite a bit of action because invariably you spend a fair bit of time chatting to people you dont often get the chance to, or havent met previously, and you are watching the game from a completely different perspective.

I gave it to Reid, and sorry to disapoint, but as regular readers of my now limited NSC posts will know that I am no lover of a bandwagon at all, but really did think he justified it with a performance that at least showed he has vision and the ability to create things, I have to say so did the Peterborough directors behind me and the Albion guys in front of us who were very impressed with him.

It is amusing the reaction of some, I can empathise now with Harty when you make a statement regarding the Albion in a public domain, and instantly howls of derision come from those who were not in the position to make the statement, get over it, we all had a good day, and the hint of controversy over our man of the match selection just makes me laugh.

As far as beeing a 'geek up' well if you want to discuss that on a personal level I would be more than happy to, for me it was so much of a 'geek up' that I met friends and family in hospitality that I had not seen for a while, was invited to a free jolly on Friday at the cricket from a business aqauntance, who I had lost touch with, and had a thoroughly interesting conversation with Martin Perry and Dick Knight, in fact most of the people who were there were not part of any clique, just decent Albion fans doing their bit to boost the club coffers, sharing some excellent stories about our love of the Albion in a very relaxed atmosphere over a few glasses of (dreadfull) wine, not sad little Keyboard warriors with very little asperations in life.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

I don't think Reid had pace, but he did look like he wanted to get the ball under control and pass. And he was prepared to get forward into the box and have a shot.

I thought it was a good choice on an afternoon where no-one stood out.

 

[Easy 10]

you do also tend to miss quite a bit of action because invariably you spend a fair bit of time chatting to people you dont often get the chance

That'd be me then Rougvie - I think I prattled on throughout the whole match. A few beers and a couple of glasses of wine and there's just no shutting me up