Wow.
After that I’m sure $ky will be showing more of our games, because they’re guaranteed to be all action, aren’t they?
So while my immediate reaction is euphoria, so if you read through my inter-game comments on the previous thread, you’ll see that this was by no means straightforward.
I have to give massive credit to Brighton here, who even though they were a man down after Mooy went through Grealish from behind, kept attacking us all the way. And if it wasn’t for the fact that they don’t score many, it would have been to good effect.
I don’t know what it is, but as soon as the opposition go down to 10 men, it seems we don’t know what to do and the plan goes out of the window.
I just don’t understand how 10 men can find more space, look the more attacking threat and even pen us in our own half when they’re playing 11.
I wouldn’t mind if it was a one-off, but that’s three times running, which concerns me.
Never mind, the fact is we won this game and I am happy, although I’d have been fuming if we’d have drawn.
Onto the positives.
Well, the first one is that Gareth Southgate was there for the game and you have to think he’d wanted to take a look at Grealish, amongst others.
Quite simply, he couldn’t have failed to be impressed as Jack had a great game today.
He was the one who got scythed for the sending-off, he got our first goal and was the stand out player, showing good vision, spraying the ball all over the place, making decent runs with the ball and even getting back for the odd bit of effective defending at times.
And then we got a goal in the fourth minute of extra time, after I’d been thinking for the previous twenty that it wasn’t going to happen. I wasn’t alone either, as you could hear the frustration amongst the crowd.
This, for me, is probably more important, because it demonstrates that like any successful team, the lads don’t give up until the final whistle. Smith will have been happy about that, although I’m sure that game gave him much to think about.
I have concerns about the way our defence seems massively panicky at times, even when we’re a man up, but it’s hard to be too critical when we’ve got what it’s all about, which is the result.
Although in fairness, we should be beating teams at home, in a similar position to us.
The fact is we did, even if we left it to literally the last minute.
And that’ll do for me.
UTV!
