by Boston Royal »
19 Aug 2006 15:59
19 Aug 2006 15:59
OK, here's what I've seen in the first half.
Started quite nervously: just a few individual mistakes, such as kicking the ball out of play; once Shorey dallied on the ball and a player came up behind him and tackled. But we nearly scored with a great free-kick from Seol as Schwarzer expected a cross but made a great save. The Boro opener came after Yakubu wasn't challenged and put in a fantastic cross that Downing volleyed but the Hahnemann of last season would have saved it.
Harper then gave away a free kick, Hahnemann spilled what should have been a routine save and Yakubu tapped in.
After that, we were awesome - even before we pulled one back. Hahnemann hasn't made a save all game, but Schwarzer has made plenty. We were really using the width well, and started to cross better (at the start we couldn't get it past the first defender, or hit them too deep). Kitson nodded a Shorey free kick straight at Schwarzer; then Sidwell was 2-on-1 and shot straight at Schwarzer when he should have passed to Kitson. Shorey had an excellent free kick that Sch brillaintly tipped wide.
Seol embarrassed Arca and crossed for Kitson to bundle in; minutes after, Ingimarsson made a really nice run down the left wing (!!) and pulled it back for Sidwell to drill home. Murty then put a cross just in front of Doyle as we could have gone in 3-2.
This is really encouraging. Anything could happen in the second half, but at the moment we are really dominant. Even at 0-2 it wasn't so bad as they'd scored with every shot and Sch had had to make a few saves. We were just making a few mistakes (crossing to the defender or giving the ball away cheaply) because of the occasion.