City Reserves 1 v Donny Reserves 1

[Tim Wills]

Score 1:1

Chris Black (Donny) - 4 mins
Matthew Coad - 8 mins

Donny kicked off in front of sparse crowd this afternoon with City lining up in a 4-4-2 formation. First surprise was to see the usless Brackstone back in a City shirt and what's more, some loon had made him captain too. Yet another incomprehensible reserve team decision considering he's on his way out at the end of the season.

Anyhow the action packed first half ignited as early as the 2nd minute with a strong run down the right flank by Downes but from the clearance came the opening goal. City leftback Steven Baynes failed to deal with the ball effectively and was robbed by Donny's No.7 Chris Black. Baynes got back and narrowed the angle but Black's shot somehow got past Ovendale and City are 0-1 down within 4 minutes. Ovendale should have done much better and seem to go down far too early instead of making himself as big as possible. Soft goal

However within 3 minutes, doom turned to ecstasy as Matthew Coad arrived late in the box to put away a Stephen Downes cross. It was perfect timing as the Donny defenders did not have time to react to his run.

I could have been hallucinating from mind expanding drugs but Adam Arthur was playing well today partnering Lev Yalcin upfront. In fact the prozac really kicked in when I saw His Royal Haughtiness win two headers in a first half arial battle with Ronnie Corbett who although 64, is apparently with Doncaster until the end of the season after doing so well in Panto.

On 25 minutes, another ball this time from HRH (similar to the cross from Downes which lead to City's goal) landed at the feet of an incoming Brackstone. Never had anyone had a better chance to make me eat my words but I needn't have worried as he blasted over from well within the 6 yard box. Normally I would shout out something sarcastic like "taxi for Mr Brackstone" but it would have been too cruel.

The last 15 minutes of the first half produced chances at either end with Sean Davies meeting a Bryan Stewart freekick with his head. Yes the only time Brackstone didn't get involved with a deadball situation, a City player gets to it first and for the want of a better contact, could have scored. Donny's No.10 had even better chance to put them back in front when his shot beat the 'keeper but then hit the inside of the post, flashed across the centre of the goal before being hacked to safety.

The second half was a bit of a anti-climax with Donny looking the better side and especially their No.8 striking powerful shots from long range. Again the post came to City's rescue and we were fortunate on a couple of goal mouth scrambles too. Ovendale doesn't look the same keeper he did earlier in the season but Donny's tactic at aiming straight at him didn't prove so fruitful again.

Ref did well, no bookings in a reasonably competitive match (the reverse of this match saw Matthew Coad and City legend Paul Barnes get their marching orders). Mr S Gate was accompanied by the almost ever present Mr S Milner who seems to have run the line at most reserves games at BC this season.

Ovendale 6½ - Quite how Donny's No.7 managed to score is a mystery as the keeper seemed to dive out of the way of the ball. However worked hard to redeem himself and had an incredible amount of luck.
Law 7½ - Seemed content to let Downes do the attacking first half but looked much more like himself in the second.
Baynes 6 - Poor match today but "he's young and will have to learn."
Coad 8½ - Excellent display and was the boss in midfield despite being up against players with vastly more experience. Man of the match.
Staley 8 - Just pipped by Coad for MotM but for me this lad came of age today. It's difficult to comprehend this lad is just a 1st Year YT given how composed he looked at times.
Davies 7 - Played a decent game though on todays showing, you would think Staley is the one with first team experience.
Downes 6½ - 100% effort but regularly seemed to take the wrong option and not pass to the player in space. In the 2nd half especially, Law made 3-4 overlaps and then took up great position for a cutback and each time he took a more difficult option.
Brackstone 3 - Why are we wasting time with this bloke? His miss from 3½ yards (possibly 4 if I was generous but I ain't) would have been embarrassing had it come from Oakland's on a Friday night. His corners/free kicks were utter crap and game just passed him by.
Yalcin 7 - Bit like Downes in that his effort was superb but never really got a sniff in 90 minutes.
Arthur 8 - As much as it pains me, I have to give him an 8 as his all round game was excellent. His link up play was good, he won headers but what pleased me the most was he was willing to shoot on his weaker foot (left) and this just shaved the outside of the post.
Stewart 6 - Very quiet game today and was substituted by Kane Ashcroft with around 3 minutes to go.

Verdict. Again nothing from the City bench in the way of coaching or encouragement but that's nothing new. Lucky to get a draw but these things tend to balance themselves out over a season.
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