Patience is a virtue and Nigel Pearson’s side have had to show plenty of it in their two games this week, against two of the divisions bottom three sides.
On Tuesday night against Neil Warnock’s Huddersfield Town, City had 66 per cent possession with nine shots but just couldn’t find that all important goal. On Saturday, against another experienced warhorse of a manager in Mick McCarthy and his Blackpool side, we had 64 per cent possession with 18 shots but crucially got the goals that our dominance warranted, and we were able to get the win.
Like the game at the John Smith's Stadium, we played some decent football and created plenty of opportunities but kept getting that final pass or shot wrong. We were strong defensively and eventually wore Blackpool down, but it did take a moment of magic from Andi Weimann to prise them open and, from then on, there only looked likely to be one winner.
With Matty James failing a late fitness test, manager Nigel Pearson was forced to make at least one change with captain Weimann coming in and playing in the No10 or more advanced midfield role with Alex Scott dropping deeper to play alongside Andy King.
Anis Mehmeti was also recalled to the starting XI in place of Sam Bell. Joining fellow academy graduate Bell on the bench were Omar Taylor-Clarke, Marlee Francois and Callum Wood, who made the matchday squad for the first time.
Cam Pring was once again alongside Zak Vyner in the middle of the back four and again didn’t look out of place. Pring has developed into such a key player for this side. I was also impressed with Jay Dasilva in the left-back position, and he was actually my man of the match.
I’ve been critical of Jay at times this season but he was tigerish in the tackle, read the game superbly, got forward on a number of occasions and also delivered a number of good dead balls.
King and Scott played in the middle together and while clearly the former doesn’t have the legs that he used to have, he did show his experience and kept things very simple. I was a bit frustrated in the first half and felt that King should have looked to go forward more, but to his credit he looked after the ball and kept possession when others may have given it away. I needed to show a little more patience myself.
I’m running out of superlatives to describe Scott. I have seen a post on social media asking Brian Tinnion when the side had a better player and Tinman’s response was an unequivocal one word answer of “never”, and I’ll be honest to say that I’m not going to argue with him.
The Blackpool game was live on Sky Sports and while I haven’t watched it back yet, the pundits were impressed enough to give Alex man of the match. After the game, Nigel Pearson said of any potential summer transfer for Scott that “it’s got to be more than £25 million, he shouldn’t go for less than that”… “He’ll go on to really big things, I’m sure about that”.
We now have attacking intent out wide and although we didn’t quite get it right on either flank, both Mark Sykes and Anis Mehmeti worked hard creating numerous opportunities. The final ball just let them down a little, but it will come. I’m a huge fan of Mehmeti already, he is unpredictable, and I think when he gets his first goal, we will see the confidence in him grow even more.
Talking of first goals, Weimann scored his first since November, but wow was it worth the wait. It was a fabulous left-footed curling effort from outside of the box, the first goal that we have scored outside of the box since his own against Hull City in the final game of last season.
You’re never really secure at 1-0 and we needed the second to calm the nerves and it was a fine driven finish from Scott, after some good work from substitute Harry Cornick. He's finding his feet at his new club and I though his brief 20+ minutes was his best display for us. He looks more comfortable in the wider position down the middle.
Scott’s finish was unnerving with the keeper rooted to the spot. Sam Bell nearly made it three late on with a fine run and shot which sailed just over the bar. I was secretly glad that he didn’t as I had a cheeky £1 on Weimann to score first in a 2-0 win.
All in all, in the end it was a comfortable win and put’s us on 48 points with a record that reads 12 wins, 12 draws and 12 defeats.
Our 3 Peaps In A Podcast Bonus show ratings were: Max O’Leary 6, George Tanner 6, Zak Vyner 6, Cameron Pring 7, Jay Dasilva 7 *MotM, Alex Scott 7, Andy King 6, Mark Sykes 7, Andi Weimann 7, Nahki Wells 6 and Anis Mehmeti 6 (subs have to have come onto the field before the 60th minute). A game average of 6.45, and a season average of 6.35.
For Nigel it was a 7. While he doesn’t have a lot to choose from, I think the gaffer got his substitutions right and stayed patient and in the end his side got a deserved win.
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