[Gary B]

Vale gain a point in the most dire of games.

Vale had Goodlad in goal, McGregor, Pilkington, Fortune and James as the back four with Cummins, Sonner and Togwell as midfield, Birchall and Smith on the flanks and Constantine up front.

Incidents from this game could be comfortably fitted onto a postage stamp with room to spare.

Togwell did plenty of running around and on 23 minutes brought about a roar from elements in the crowd who thought he had scored. He ran onto a pass from Sonner and hit the ball just past the goal.

On 31 minutes Constantine headed the ball from a Cummins cross past the keepr but Young cleared off the line.

Right on half-time Constantine seemed to be brought down by Cooper in the area when well-placed to shoot. Looked a possible pen and he complained lengthily to the ref as the players left the field at the interval.

The first half was devoid of quality and incidents and the second half no better. There were efforts from Constantine and ones from Hayter and Fletcher for Bournemouth but nothing to worry the keepers.

Vale had 5 on-target efforts to their 2, 4 off-target to their 8 and there was a massive discrepancy in the corner-count with Vale managing 1 and Bournemouth 9. The attendance was a mere 4006 with an alleged 237 from Bournemouth. Ref Trevor Parkes may have given us a pen but he did OK and he was not to blame for the poor show we witnessed.

Hard to say who did well as there was mediocrity everywhere. It was a totally passionless end-of-season encounter. Neither set of players could summon up the energy to go for the win, though the visitors did raise their game slightly in the later stages.

I watched the game from the Directors' Box. The view is excellent from there. Behind me were sitting Tony Mowbray, Billy Dearden and Ian Bowyer, names known to some of you. After half-time it took some people 4 minutes to return to their seats and another party, which included Andy Jones, were nine minutes late. I know what Roy Keane would have called these people but it was probably oatcakes rather than prawn cocktail which delayed them.

Not much else to say about this one. It really was as bad as the papers say. I still don't have much of a voice but I would have had no cause to use it yesterday anyway.

Eddie

[TheSage]

Thanks Eddie - much appreciated.
I'd forgotten about the penalty incident in the first half. I must say from what I could see of it I thought that Leon had his leg taken away from him just as he was about to shoot. It looked a clear penalty to me but maybe the defender played the ball. From his reaction, as you say, he seemed to think it was a foul.
But we're clutching at straws a bit. It was a poor advertisement for a game - very poor when you consider that most of the team were playing for contracts.
I am concerned that 2-3 of our better players will leave and that will mean back to square one in rebuilding a new team.
I believe that we have about a dozen decent players but we need 16-18 to have any chance of the play-offs.
Defensively we are ok(bar James), but the midfield isn't threatening enough and the attack (bar Leon's goals) is toothless. We don't seem to have got the best out of our wingers this year either. For me, Birchall has been disappointing and both Smith & Doherty have flattered to deceive. I would not offer Smith another year. He does get more involved in the game now and he does put in a lot of effort, but his finishing is wayward and, like James, he seems hesitant and easily brushed off the ball. He will never score 6-8 goals in a season and that's what we need from our wingers.
If I was in Foyle's boots, I'd be looking to find a good striker, a winger and a left back - at the very least.
A lot depends on who signs and who leaves. If Birchall has a good world cup, maybe we can sell him for "big" money! I'd like both Togwell and Fortune to stay although I am not completely won over by them and I don't see them as anything other than reasonable players at this level.
Sam and Hulbert I suppose both deserve another chance.
I'd still offer Matthews and Walsh pay as you play deals on top of a basic wage. Walsh is absolute class even after a year out and was probably MOTM against both Swansea and Walsall. Matthews, when fit, is light years ahead of our other strikers.
Mr Foyle has some hard thinking to do and it makes for a very interesting close season. Next year the likes of Carlisle, Northampton, Crewe and Millwall will want to go straight up and have the spending power to do so. I hope we can have a team in place to match them but I'm not holding my breath.

[Jacko]

TheSage, on Apr 19 2006, 11:44 AM, said:

Sam and Hulbert I suppose both deserve another chance.
I'd still offer Matthews and Walsh pay as you play deals on top of a basic wage. Walsh is absolute class even after a year out and was probably MOTM against both Swansea and Walsall. Matthews, when fit, is light years ahead of our other strikers.

I agree with you about Sam but I wouldn't offer a contract to Hulbert. I don't think he is good enough to "carry" in the way that you suggest Matthews and Walsh are - although I admit to having my doubts about both of them as well.

Sam, Hulbert, Matthews and Walsh have, between them, completed one 90 minutes this season. Sam's previous record suggest this was a one off in his case. The other three have had injury prone careers and we simply cannot afford to carry players like this on the assumption that we will get 10 or 15 decent games out of them if we're lucky. You wouldn't take these sort of risks with your own money so I don't expect the club to. I mean, what have those four players cost us in wages per minute on the pitch this season? It's frightening to think about it.

[kirsty]

You can always tell how interesting a game has been judging by the length of Eddie's report. :D

[TheSage]

Some interesting and thoughful comments here - and I don't mean by me!
I wonder what will happen to injured players like Sam, Walsh, Matthews & Hulbert - and also what Foyle will do with squad players like Innes & Rowland. Is Doherty worth keeping above Smith? Are both not good enough?
I am not aware of Hulbert's injury record although I can fully accept the reasons why Matthews will probably depart. Yet, clearly, he is the best striker on our books - by some distance I'd say - and it is galling when someone who can be so good is so physically weak for professional football. Compared to our other strikers he is light years better in my opinion, but of course if he isn't out on the pitch he isn't doing us any good, I accept that.
Sam I would say we must keep - morally if for no other reason. He is entitled to another year.
Walsh I would try and keep for the same reasons as I've already mentioned. He is our best defender and as good as anyone in this division. He is injury prone - no question - but he has been here a while and always gives 100% effort every time he plays. I suspect he likes it here and it would be nice for him to prove himself if possible.
If we have any spare money (and I doubt it) I would let most of the squad players go but only if we can do better.
Of the above, on balance, I'd probably keep Sam and maybe Walsh but the others....????

[Dr_Emmett_Brown]

I would've been happy to be eating oatcakes instead of watching that ;) congrats Eddie on finding something to write about :D haha