Dreadful. Ok, it started off fine, first half an hour we looked like we should take the points, but then it all went wrong.
Richard Naylor sat this one out, red-card appeal pending he still wasn't used. This paved the way for a start for the towering youngster Aidan Collins. Apart from that, it was the side from the Millwall win.
So the game started pretty positively, despite the one-man-up-front-and-that-mans-Parkin formation. The passing was there, and we had chances right from the off. Darren Currie was the most creative, turning his man inside out at times and getting a shot or two of his own in.
The biggest talking point of the game happened after 20 minutes or so, deep into the Preston half. Sito had made a run on the right and was shaping up to cross when David Nugent lunged in with a very heavy and mistimed tackle, leaving Sito sprawled on the floor. As the ref reached for his book, the Preston forward showed that he was certainly no gent (see what I did there?) by storming up to the poleaxed Sito and hauling him fully off the grass by his shirt. The referee bared his weakness at this crucial point of the game and simply booked him for the challenge. This was the first of several times the official failed to show his authority.
Town continued to push but with no score. Perhaps the best of the Town chances came from Jim Magilton, who picked up a ball on the edge of the area and fired in a stinging shot at the near post. Unfortunately Preston 'keeper Nash pulled off an outstanding diving save to deny Town the opener.
Then after at least two warning shots across the bows of the Tractor Boy's ship, Preston went ahead. Town found themselves all at sea after a corner in the Preston half, and they broke forward, with none other than Nugent slotting home. The unlikeable forward celebrated provocatively in front of the North Stand fans, with no yellow card for incitement, over-celebration or anything else I can think of forthcoming.
The bitter taste caused by a player who the home fans thought should not even have still been on the pitch scoring, was compounded just a few minutes later when the same player doubled their lead. Nugent was given acres of space to get in his shot after skinning Matt Richards with ease.
With Town now looking dishevelled, Joe Royle attempted to freshen the attack by introducing Dean McDonald for Kevin Horlock to partner an ineffectual Sam Parkin up front. But the damage had already been done, Preston sniffed the win and weren't going to let us back in the game easily.
In fact before the half time whistle it got worse, with Preston going three clear at the break after some absolutely pathetic defending, during which for once I can honestly say, I could've done better. Oh yes, we were bad.
The game was effectively over, it would've taken a poor side to throw a 3 goal lead, and Preston were proving to be anything but poor up front.
Just into the second half, Joe pulled Jim and Owen Garvan from the game and threw on Jaime Peters and Jimmy Juan. It didn't really work. Peters was lively down the right as you'd expect, but few goal attempts resulted from any of our forages forward. The all too familiar ["we don't play": JR] long ball was seen 'in force' a few times, a bizarre tactic with a) probably the shortest forward in the division and b) a forward who can only jump an inch off the floor.
We thought we might get at least a consolation goal, no one thought we looked like getting any points out of the game after all, but we couldn't even do that, and in fact let Preston score another before the end. A good goal though, from the bustling centre forward Agyemang who had only just entered play.
I'm having trouble deciding which area of the side was weakest, defence was poor, attack toothless, and midfield slow. The sooner we get De Vos and Naylor back the better. Up front? Parkin needs to chase a bit and get creative if he's to be first choice.
A sad day for Town fans was only mildly improved by Norwich slipping to a third consecutive defeat and into the bottom two in the evening.
Come on, be honest, deep down inside, you're disappointed aren't you? All this "wanting to get knocked out anyway" and the like is just rubbish. It's like saying that you like seeing Town lose, and well you don't, do you?.
But that said, unlike a loss in the league, or even the FA Cup, i'll have forgotten about it by the weekend. As a club in need of any extra revenue it can get, snubbing the competition would be daft, but as a club with a bag full of injuries already we can't afford to let it get in the way.
There, you see there's a positive side to everything.
There were more changes in the starting line up tonight, and the average age had tumbled again to around (erm) 22 or so. It was good to see Lewis Price back to fitness (see, another positive) and keen to take the reins back from Shane Supple, I wonder if Joe was playing his second 'keeper in the game or his first choice? We'll see come Saturday. Aidan Collins was another fresh face, and starting a game for the first time, Jimmy Juan.
Town did start reasonably brightly, but did little to indicate which side was the higher of the two in terms of league status. Both sides had chances, but neither really tested their opposite goalie too much in the first half bar one or two efforts.
A half time stale mate looked inevitable, but just before the half time whistle Yeovil took the lead from a corner, with Way jumping to head the ball home.
Joe Royle made 3 changes for the restart, bringing off Darren Currie, Jimmy Juan and Jaime Peters, replacing them with Ian Westlake, Owen Garvan and Fabian Wilnis.
Although the team now resembled something more akin to what we might expect for a league tie, the performance did not improve greatly. There were perhaps more chances for the Tractor Boys in the second half, the best from Richard Naylor who's shot was cleared off the line. Westy got in a few efforts but could not get them on target.
Yeovil finally put us out of our misery late on when Gall raced forward and tucked the ball away to put the game beyond doubt.
An early cup exit isn't that upsetting, but the performance tonight was certainly a little disappointing. At least the Yeovil fans who made the trip all the way up from the West Country will have an easier journey home, yet another positive.
It's seems that our luck just isn't going with us at the moment with regard to injuries. Two shiny new strikers arrive at the club, and within three games both are crocked. One upside of that was of course, that Joe Royle simply had to start the game with the younger understudies, the Dean Brothers. We're all familiar with the flair and excitement Bowditch can bring to our game, but Dean McDonald was a new face for most who were more than impressed with his league debut. Another youngster back into the starting line-up was Owen Garvan, hoping to have another performance similar to that at the previous home match. And of course Shane Supple, hero at Leicester the week before as stand-in for injured Lewis Price. Thankfully a few oldies in the team like Jim Magilton and Fabian Wilnis meant that the average age was a little above 15 years. It was obvious from the start that the fresh faces had given Town an exciting boost. The game was fast, we played some breath-taking football, passing quickly to-and-fro between defence and at the front men, and yes, through, not over the midfield. The possession we enjoyed was edging on the embarrassing for Wednesday at times. Richard Naylor's opener was early in the game, and via a corner which came in from Darren Currie. It was initially cleared to beyond the box but Jim met the ball and sent it straight back in. Naylor advanced at the far post and rose above his marker to head back across the keeper into the net. Is he a striker? Is he a defender? He's here, he's there... At the back, Naylor and Wilnis aside, Matt Richards was having a great game on the left putting in several really solid challenges, a couple of them as last man. That's exactly the sort of performance we'll be needing more of from him this season. Sito merits a mention too on the opposite side of the park. It was him who crossed the ball for Ian Westlake's goal in the second half. After all the pressure we'd put the visitors under, the goal was a long time in coming but was worth the wait. Westy met the ball and struck it first time into the top corner. First class. So, back to the Dean twins. These two were fantastically creative. McDonald played some tricky little passes and could leave his man for dead at times, the result was very exciting to watch. Then it got better, with the introduction of Jaime Peters, already established as pretty difficult to handle himself, he now added another headache for the Wednesday back line. Although the crowd had plenty of opportunity to get out of their seats, Town were unable to make all this possession pay and after Magic and Currie went off during the changes, the game for Town lost shape a little and the visitors got more of a sniff of the ball. As the game wore on, Sheffield Wednesday threw caution to the wind and got a goal back, very similar to the first Town goal, a good header from in the box. They'd pressed Shane Supple at times and you couldn't begrudge them their consolation. There was too much time after that to make it a comfortable end to the match, and it made it clear how we ought to have killed off the game with at least one extra goal earlier on. It was maybe an indication too that meddling with the side can be a dangerous thing. Thankfully Supple was equal to anything further that came his way, and the three points were in the bag. Plenty of smiles around leaving Portman Road, and much talk of young McDonald on the farm, ee-eye ee-eye oh. Sorry. Inevitable at some point.
The prospects for this match were pretty good, and had the weather been better we might have seen 2 good sides play some nice stuff this afternoon. But as it was the weather was absolutely dreadful and spoiled the chances of pretty football. Leicester started frantically and the Town defence was under pressure and just hanging on at times in the first 15 minutes. The back four had their work cut out, with most of the home side's forward play coming down the right side where Matt Richards was struggling to keep them at bay. Richards seemed below par in these opening stages start but got stronger during the game. Town had their chances in the first half, but it was mainly Leicester playing the neater football. Connolly had 2 clear cut chance before the break, the first being expertly cut out by Richard Naylor, solid throughout the game at the back. The second Connolly seemed to squander himself, the striker choosing to turn inside the defender instead of shooting as he crossed goal. The defining moment of the game came when Lewis Price was substituted through injury after half an hour after a collision during a save. This meant 18 year old Shane Supple made his senior debut, playing the remaining hour of the game. Supple was more than an adequate stand-in for Price, some suggesting he may retain the position for some time. In very tricky conditions he made several important saves, a couple spectacular, and his catching was perfect, but for a late fumble (although I thought at the time he'd had the ball kicked from his hands). Soon after his introduction he had to defend 3 or 4 corners in close succession, but the rest of the team were obviously aware of the situation and provided strong cover. Supple was Man of the match for me. He played an important part in the second clean sheet of the season, perhaps surprising given the problems Joe Royle is faced with at the back. Naylor was solid, and Fabian Wilnis was absolutely superb today and covered Richards well early on in the game when Leicester pressed most. Sito, still perhaps finding his feet in this league completed the line in good fashion, with maybe one or two lapses, but an overall encouraging display. It was a nervous moment though, when Fabian went to ground just before half time clutching his leg. Thankfully he soon got going and emerged for the second half. After half time Town were far more composed, and began to dominate periods of the match and create more chances than they had in the first half. Leicester were never out of the match at any point though, and broke forward and always threatened. The introduction of Darren Currie at half time was an important factor in Town's improved appearance in the second half. He replaced Jaime Peters who was pretty anonymous bar a few forays down the right, most coming to nothing. Currie was ay his creative best, and the source of many good crosses. Ian Westlake had drifted in and out of the game for the first half but grew into the game, and went close with a cocky flicked effort from a Currie cross, which the keeper saved. Midway through the second half Joe introduced fit-again Dean Bowditch into the game. He rather surprisingly replaced Nicky Forster who had been a thorn in Leicester's side all match. Many were unhappy that Sam Parkin was not the player to give way, with his performance perhaps not the best we shall see of him. Parkin had sometimes appeared of the pace, although he did battle well at times and provide some good balls for others. His control was poor at times but it was pretty difficult in the conditions. Bowditch was, as we'd expect, lively and tenacious, being in the thick of it whenever there was any action up front. Maybe we'll see a Bowditch-Forster partnership at sometime as Joe experiments. Both sides pressured late in the game, Leicester perhaps finishing stronger, but Supple and his defence stood strong and Town earned a good away point. We gave the ball away very cheaply at times, and lacked creativity later on in the match, perhaps with holding onto a point in mind. The style wasn't there on a dreadful day for a game of football, but no one can complain at that.
After the ups-and-downs of preseason, the new campaign finally kicked off on a warm August afternoon against a Cardiff side with almost as many new faces in the first team as Town. The Tractor Boys lined up with new boys Sam Parkin and Nicky Forster up front, the injury to Dean Bowditch making Joe Royle's descision on who to play in the front line for him. Also starting for the first time was Owen Garvan, making the step up from the reserves. Lewis Price was the new man in goal, although not his first team debut he was new to being the first choice shot-stopper for the Blues. With all the departures, Benty et al, and the number of young faces amongst the replacements they prompted, I must admit, I was a little pesimistic about the dawn of '05-06'. There was quite a bright start to the match, with Town enjoying most of the posession and getting the first real chance of the match. After Ian Westlake earned a free kick just outside the box, Jim Magilton spotted the 'keeper creeping over to his left, so flicked a slow kick towards the top right of the goal. Unfortunately he placed it just wide although the goalie was beaten. Cardiff were not offering much in the way of attack but were breaking occassionally, with Jerome being their target man up front. He was agressive but not pretty, he put himself about and got tangled a few times where he shouldn't. A thorn in the the side but not getting many attempts on goal. Before the break, Forster had one or two chances without really testing the 'keeper but was creating plenty for others, Sam Parkin included, with the ex-Swindon striker going close a couple of times. Darren Currie had been inventive for the first half and continued in the same vein after the break. He was impressive with his control and looked a difficult player to contain. When he was felled out wide his free kick was not the first good ball he'd put into the box for Forster, who met the ball and lashed it home from close range. This turned out to be the winner, but not after a late scare from Cardiff's Alan Lee who belted a quick shot from all of 6 yards. Fortunately Lewis Price woke up from having little to do all afternoon and served up a fantastic reaction save, Richard Naylor clearing the loose ball. Phew. Some good performances from new and old players alike, but I think the best mention has to go to young Owen Garvan who strutted around the midfield like a player with another 10 years experience on his shoulders. He hardly put a foot wrong for the whole match, his distribution was excellent and seemed committed to every ball. This lad looks like a great prospect, and played as if he'd been in that team for more just than pre-season. Another bright moment was the very much anticipated introduction on Canadian Jaime Peters with a quarter of an hour to go. He injected some pace into a slowing match, probing deep down the right, turning a few players inside out at times. Another one to watch. Jimmy Juan was a very late sub, but hardly had enough time to get started. So all in all I think I left the match in a better frame of mind than when it started, win aside of course. The many debutants made good account of themselves, and left me in positive mood, at least for another couple of days.