After three long, depressing weeks without football, we were back at the MKM Stadium for the final furlong of the season; what a galling way to welcome us back. We faced Stoke City, a team sinking into the mire, and we were rightfully beaten 0-2, which was self-inflicted and there are no excuses for the performance. C’est dommage, really, especially after playing some exquisite football before the break against one of the best teams in the league, Leicester. There was also some great momentum and energy from the manager in the week leading up to the game; asking the fans to get behind the team, however, there was little to chant about and yet again, the atmosphere was flat.
Something was not right in this match: there was no motivation; energy; eagerness; threat or anything that presents us as a promotion chasing team. The most egregious aspect of the game was that we manged zero shots on target. We were the antithesis of our opponent and if we play like that against Leeds on Monday, which I am going to, and who are second, we are going to be humiliated. But it will be typical if we go and win, which is not likely as they have not been beaten at home all season.
The gaffer made two changes to the starting eleven which drew to The Foxes in our last outing, replacing the suspended Jacob Greaves and Omur for Noah Ohio and Sean McLoughlin. That meant we lined up as follows, in a 4-2-3-1 formation: Ryan Allsop betwixt the sticks; Ryan Giles, the skipper Lewie Coyle, Sean McLoughlin and Alfie Jones holding the fort; Seri and Slater in the middle; Philogene and Zaroury manning the flanks: Ohio leading the pack and Carvalho just behind him.
The visitors came out of the stops much quicker than us, wining a couple of corners early and pressing high, which we were not expecting. In the sixth minute, they had the first chance after Haksabanovic put a low ball into the box, which was steered wide of goal by Rose.
Early warning signs, but we responded well, and the next 25-30 minutes was our only good spell of the game: McLoughlin headed wide a couple of times after two consecutive corners; Allsop booted the ball up-field towards Zaroury after a quick break-away (yes, you heard that right!), but he tried to show off by volleying it first time and the ball ended up in the North Stand and then our best chance of the game was when Philogene crossed the ball along the floor, which found Ohio, however, in lieu of tapping it in, he tries to flick it on and completely misses the ball. Then, we just gave up trying to score and Stoke nearly punished us at the other end of the pitch, but Haksabanovic shot wide after we struggled to clear the ball.
The half ended square, and the game desperately needed a spark as both sides looked lacklustre. That changed in the next half, but not in our favour.
It was us who started the half the brighter side, after Ryan Gile’s great cross found an unmarked Ohio, who headed wide of the post. I do not think he knew how much time and space he actually had. I have mixed feeling about Ohio at the moment, he just doesn’t seem to do much. Until Stoke got their first, the rest of the half was just us receiving the ball, panicking, spending too much time making decisions and pointless passes. This was unusual from us too as we are normally good at this and it eventually helps us win games like this.
The Potters were knocking on our door much more and I even turned to my brother and said: ‘I can feel a goal coming here’ and my instinct was true, they scored in the 70th minute. From a corner, Mmaee headed towards the left post where an unmarked Laurent side-footed the ball into the net. Nothing Allsop could do, but the away section behind him was pandemonium and the epitome of away limbs. I have to say, they were the best fans to come to our house.
If anything was going to wake us up, this had to be it. But no. We had other options: continue to go backwards and stick to playing out from the back. Rosenior did make attacking options, bringing on Sharp, Connolly, Morton and Omur, but it was only going to work if we went into the attacking mode. However, Rosenior stuck to his defensive tactic, which has not been working all game.
Thus, Stoke were able nick another goal just two minutes before the final whistle; in the 93rd minute, Hoever received the ball on the edge of the box and he was able to wallop it towards goal, which took a deflection and made the net bulge.
It was not a good Friday, and our ship has now sunk to 9th place, six points away from sixth place. Although, we do have a game in hand, against Coventry, and if we win that, there is a flicker of hope, however, I think our playoff star is fading.
I was at the match and agree with your assessment completely. First one I've been to for a while and I was surprised at how quiet our fans were, no attempt to drown out those amazing Stoke fans really. Though I guess they may have just been fed up!