Just back, hardly anything on the roads, wish it was always so.
Not sure if I can put this under "brief synopsis" as I didn't take notes or anything, feel free to move it though.
Compact ground lacking somewhat in atmosphere on the edge of town, with a large free car park and a restaurant and a Macdonalds built into the stadium. I partook of the latter and warded off a Maastricht fan trying to swap his manky jersey for my excellent Argyle one.
For the away end imagine one quarter of the Barn Park End to the far right of the goal as you look at it. A bit odd but the view was fine. About 60-70 greens in attendance. Probably only 500 home fans and we didn't hear much from them.
MVV took the initiative and we were struggling to keep possession for the first 10 minutes or so. They looked pretty sharp and were coming down both wings. Just as we were getting into it a bit, they scored an odd goal. The ball was out to their left. A long high cross was met side footed by one of their players on I would say the angle of the 6 yard box. I think he was just trying to put it back in the mix but it looped in just under the angle of the far post. Luke was back-pedalling and didn't get near it; I thought it was going high and wide.
We got more and more into the game with Threlkeld, Fox and Carey all impressing with simple passing and taking on their man. Goodwillie and Fox were linking well on the left though I thought gw was a bit too wide at times, kept having the cut in. Spencer wasn't so obvious. On the right Jervis got to the line a couple of times. On the one occasion he decided to cut inside, a low cross found gw who powered the ball in off the underside of the bar, 1-1. I'd like to see it again as it seemed to go through or over the keeper, like a Wotton penalty.
MVV were playing neat stuff too and nearly retook the lead when Luke had to get down sharpish to a one-on-one cutting in from his right He did well to push it away, but the striker would/should have been disappointed.
MVV made a couple of subs at half time but nothing for Argyle which was fair enough as none of the 11 had had a bad game and Adams clearly thinks this is something near his first team.
For spells in the second half I felt we were totally in control. We pieced together some very neat and lengthy moves, one of which nearly put Carey in, and nobody was afraid to work a shooting position. Eg Bradley who had a solid game at the back, with sensible distribution. There was another spell when every ball came to Jervis marauding down Argyle's right. Perhaps a few more clear-cut chances could have been carved out as a result, but that's a trifle harsh.
The winner came from a spell of pressure in the middle. I'm not quite sure how the ball came back in to Song'o who was in a lot of space, perhaps being played onside on the far side. He showed great awareness to see that the bicycle kick was on perfectly executed. Luke had to be sharp to snatch a header at the other end.
To sum up, a deserved victory against a decent team. The Dutch second tier is probably, on average, equivalent to our League One and MVV would be one of the better teams in it, although it's been a few years since they were in the top flight. They were no mugs, passed well and broke well. They used more subs than we did.
Early on I felt our defence was getting turned too easily and we were hesitant, but it got better, then much better. Nobody had a bad game. Ii don't remember much of Miller but that just means he did his job, and Spencer put one good chance over the bar when he should have done better. For the subs, I believe the agreement was 7 each, but we only used four I think. They all had roles to play and nobody messed up in the short time they had. I was surprised to see how far upfield Donaldson played, and Slew could perhaps put himself about a bit more for a big man, but that's said on scant evidence.
MOTM for me, Fox. Did some great things but also played some simple balls and rarely misplaced a pass. He and Carey and Threlkeld and Goodwillie and Jervis all seemed to have a good understanding.
Odd to leave the ground under police escort. Apparently some Argyle fans had been jumped before the game and the stewards arranged two escorted groups out, one into town and one to the car park. No trouble that I saw. Big up to their steward who came and told everyone personally during the second what the plans were. And the final anecdote: I heard one Argyle fan ask if he could drink beer in the stands and the surprised steward said "yes, of course." And another who asked if he could smoke, and the surprised steward said "yes, of course".
(Sorry for any typos, I'm not going to reread this now.)
Not sure if I can put this under "brief synopsis" as I didn't take notes or anything, feel free to move it though.
Compact ground lacking somewhat in atmosphere on the edge of town, with a large free car park and a restaurant and a Macdonalds built into the stadium. I partook of the latter and warded off a Maastricht fan trying to swap his manky jersey for my excellent Argyle one.
For the away end imagine one quarter of the Barn Park End to the far right of the goal as you look at it. A bit odd but the view was fine. About 60-70 greens in attendance. Probably only 500 home fans and we didn't hear much from them.
MVV took the initiative and we were struggling to keep possession for the first 10 minutes or so. They looked pretty sharp and were coming down both wings. Just as we were getting into it a bit, they scored an odd goal. The ball was out to their left. A long high cross was met side footed by one of their players on I would say the angle of the 6 yard box. I think he was just trying to put it back in the mix but it looped in just under the angle of the far post. Luke was back-pedalling and didn't get near it; I thought it was going high and wide.
We got more and more into the game with Threlkeld, Fox and Carey all impressing with simple passing and taking on their man. Goodwillie and Fox were linking well on the left though I thought gw was a bit too wide at times, kept having the cut in. Spencer wasn't so obvious. On the right Jervis got to the line a couple of times. On the one occasion he decided to cut inside, a low cross found gw who powered the ball in off the underside of the bar, 1-1. I'd like to see it again as it seemed to go through or over the keeper, like a Wotton penalty.
MVV were playing neat stuff too and nearly retook the lead when Luke had to get down sharpish to a one-on-one cutting in from his right He did well to push it away, but the striker would/should have been disappointed.
MVV made a couple of subs at half time but nothing for Argyle which was fair enough as none of the 11 had had a bad game and Adams clearly thinks this is something near his first team.
For spells in the second half I felt we were totally in control. We pieced together some very neat and lengthy moves, one of which nearly put Carey in, and nobody was afraid to work a shooting position. Eg Bradley who had a solid game at the back, with sensible distribution. There was another spell when every ball came to Jervis marauding down Argyle's right. Perhaps a few more clear-cut chances could have been carved out as a result, but that's a trifle harsh.
The winner came from a spell of pressure in the middle. I'm not quite sure how the ball came back in to Song'o who was in a lot of space, perhaps being played onside on the far side. He showed great awareness to see that the bicycle kick was on perfectly executed. Luke had to be sharp to snatch a header at the other end.
To sum up, a deserved victory against a decent team. The Dutch second tier is probably, on average, equivalent to our League One and MVV would be one of the better teams in it, although it's been a few years since they were in the top flight. They were no mugs, passed well and broke well. They used more subs than we did.
Early on I felt our defence was getting turned too easily and we were hesitant, but it got better, then much better. Nobody had a bad game. Ii don't remember much of Miller but that just means he did his job, and Spencer put one good chance over the bar when he should have done better. For the subs, I believe the agreement was 7 each, but we only used four I think. They all had roles to play and nobody messed up in the short time they had. I was surprised to see how far upfield Donaldson played, and Slew could perhaps put himself about a bit more for a big man, but that's said on scant evidence.
MOTM for me, Fox. Did some great things but also played some simple balls and rarely misplaced a pass. He and Carey and Threlkeld and Goodwillie and Jervis all seemed to have a good understanding.
Odd to leave the ground under police escort. Apparently some Argyle fans had been jumped before the game and the stewards arranged two escorted groups out, one into town and one to the car park. No trouble that I saw. Big up to their steward who came and told everyone personally during the second what the plans were. And the final anecdote: I heard one Argyle fan ask if he could drink beer in the stands and the surprised steward said "yes, of course." And another who asked if he could smoke, and the surprised steward said "yes, of course".
(Sorry for any typos, I'm not going to reread this now.)
