City 1-1 Shams

Well that was more like it.
City were majorly up for it and played Shams off the park in the first half.
I reckon the Shams goal was there only attack in the first half hour.
Apart from a brief period, the crowd didn't get on the team's back either, and applauded them off after a draw.
Defo two points lost though...


(1) Ref was brutal. Left Shams away with alot of small fouls that can change the flow of a game, disallowed a perfectly good goal - Mooney dropped that of his own accord. Gave us nothing so fair play to the team for keeping going.

(2) Only one weak link tonight, unfortunately it has to be said - Lordan. Grant ran rings around him and was way too strong. It cost us a goal and could have cost us the match. Greg should have come on at some stage.
Lordan is not yet physical enough.

(3) George. The man

(4) Flynny - nice to have him back, pity he went for glory a few times when he could have laid it off, but I guess when he's fit those one's will go in.

(5) Mooney. When was the last time Devine made a double save eh?


(6) The ******. Defo up there with best moments at the 'Cross. Ever.

Great game.. but it always is between City and Rovers. Lordan played poor and I was ****ed off that Dolan never brought on Greg. Georgie played great.. samev can be said about Woodsie, Doyler(get fit soon), Murphy and Nwankwo. We were very lucky with our goal but it was nothing we didnt deserve!

city played well, lordan was targeted by rovers as the "weak" link and attacked down his wing all night, greg should have been brought on, fenn again earnrd an easy wage packet his work rate is incredible !!!!!!!, half -time was the business, well worth the admission, go way ya la#g#er

They showed tonight what they are.Picked fights with "youngfelleas".The stewards watched and were afraid.A few lads got stuck in em and fair bows to em. They are a small club full of scum and that's the way they have always been.******s, they are ******s.

I actually thought Lordan did quite well. :confused:
Yeah he got roasted early on and positionally was a bit dodgy at times, but he gave as good as he got on a lot of the counter attacks.

Much improved performance tonight though. I thought George, Woods and Nwanko were superb. Some of Nwankos touches were superb.
And the song :D . Keep it on ice for the away day in Waterford.

Hopefully there was no serious damage done to Doyler though...and i'm with xtreme rebel on the crowd situation. Anyone from the home support who were busy chucking bottles instead of supporting the team should go elsewhere for their entertainment.

Also, what biy,i saw Murphy trying to get both refs assistants attention to something that happened between him and Grant on the halfway. Murphy looked like he aimed a kick as well mind ;) . Don't know what started it, and the assistants were Dumb and Dumber on the night..

Ref was rather dodgy but I reckon we deserved more from that game. Lordan was roasted tonight. I expected Billy to be droped back there alll night. O'Brien was amazing. As was O'Callaghan and Nwankwo.

****** song ws the best moment ever. I have it on CD but those backing singers are nothing compared to the shed!!!

SuperKev ( the guy with the cum in his hair) was possibly the worst "hit the bar" contestant EVER!!!

PS. Whay is LANG€R blanked out? If it's allowed on national radio then surely we're old enough? :p

Two points thrown away..... :(
Still a lot of positives out of the game, only down points for me were Fenns total lack of effort, and I felt that Dolan should not have taken Lordan off, but some sort of a switch after about 10 minutes was needed. Rovers had one game plan only, attack Lordan and I felt that Dolan should have given the lad a lot more help.
Great atmosphere though and some proper support for the team tonight as well.

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Originally Posted by SSS

Only one weak link tonight, unfortunately it has to be said - Lordan.

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Originally Posted by Xtreme Rebel

Grant played well for them and he gave Lordan a roasting imo. He got a good goal in fairness but should never have been allowed to get a shot in. It was obvious Lordan was getting a roasting after 20mins. Greg back soooon, please.

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Originally Posted by AdamCarr

Lordan played poor and I was ****ed off that Dolan never brought on Greg.

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Lads, ye were looking at a different game to me. Either that or ye are typical moaning morons looking desperately for a fault. Why bring Greg back? What did Lordan do wrong? Grants goal was a group effort of bad defending, other than that, what did he do wrong? How many good balls did Grant get in? How many times was Cillian skinned?

I thnk you will find the answer to both is NONE.

Greg is a good player, but has no divine right to be in the starting XI, he knows that himself, and he (and Hoggy) both know that they aint walking straight back in, as Lordan is quickly cementing his place. Remember, last night was only his 4 eL game as a right back.

Aside from that, I felt City were outstanding last night. We really should have won, but with performances like that, we will win a lot of games.

Im just very anxious about Doyler. It looked like a hamstring last night. The guy is playing great ball at the mo, and would be a bigger loss than Flynn is he is out for a prolonged period. If he had stayed on, City wold have won last night as he terrorosed the Shams defence.

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Originally Posted by Xtreme Rebel

One word for the scum who were fighting...ye are scum. Blacken the name of CCFC. Before ye all start giving out **** to Rovers fans, a group of fans were looking for a fight off Rovers fans in the second half. Well if ye did do it lads, ye are scum as well and an embarrassement to CCFC, and I much rather City didn't have yer support if thats the support ye give.

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From what I heard, it was started by City 'fans'. Scum the lot of them. And to the fellas who ran up to the St Annes End from the Shed? What did ye hope to achieve??? Morons.

GWA i dont really want to start knocking cillian lordan as he has a good future with city but grant did give him a run around on occassions,the goal may have come about from poor defending from the whole team but the simple fact is that lordan left him get in goal side of him to allow grant have a shot on goal a schoolboy error,i should know allowed it happen so many times when i played football.In the second half lordan was unsure of his position he gave grant too much space(if he was marking someone like ollie for instance we would have been destroyed)he was ball watching.Rovers best attacking play came from down lordans side in the second half

Overall a great night at the Cross. Good game, City played well, L@nger **** was an alltime classic, and he hit the bar as well. What a night, best for a long time.

Thought the team played well, including Lordan, despite the mistake that lead to the goal. The rest were all pretty even and Georgie was class (again)

Roll on Longford.

brendan

ps anyone else think Fenn has a fatarse??

b

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Originally Posted by BOF

ps anyone else think Fenn has a fatarse??

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Soory! We dont look at mens ass'

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Originally Posted by GWA

Lads, ye were looking at a different game to me. Either that or ye are typical moaning morons looking desperately for a fault. Why bring Greg back? What did Lordan do wrong? Grants goal was a group effort of bad defending, other than that, what did he do wrong? How many good balls did Grant get in? How many times was Cillian skinned?

I thnk you will find the answer to both is NONE.

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What did he do wrong..lets see.
He was roasted for the goal, was repeatedly muscled out of it and every cross Shams got came from his side - including Molloy's late header that could have lost us the game.
I think I have found the answer is a bit more than NONE.

Compare how influential grant was last night compared to last season when Hoggie destroyed him.

I know Lordan is new and that he has played well in the last three games, but he was outclassed by Grant last night. The real issue here is that Dolan should have subbed him - God know's he subbed Hoggie a few times for "not winning headers" :confused:

Horses for courses, and we needed more muscle at right back last night.

No moaning morons on this one - just amazed that Dolan wouldn't take Lordan off when he been willing to take Hoggie off for a lot less.

looks like we have our scapegoat for the season

take a bow cillian lordan

would you lot give the lad a break

same last season with kevin murray

these lads are young and are gonna take time to get used to first team football

at least there is a chance at city for them to break through

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Originally Posted by xtreme rebel

Greg is better but i'm sure you'll disagree biy! :D

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didnt even mention gregs name :rolleyes:

give lordan his chance

a couple of games under his belt and who knows

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Originally Posted by thecorner

looks like we have our scapegoat for the season

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..Love that kind of coment - no arguable points in there, just a general swipe at anyone who doesn't share your opinion.

Actually, the only thing we have is a query as to why Dolan didn't sub a player who wasn't coping well on the night against a strong attacking player.
It was obvious even to Rovers where they should attack last night.
No one is suggesting that Lordan should be banished from the squad.
There's no shame in being up against a better player, but a player having a 'mare should be taken off, that's all I'm saying.

Would Greg have marked Grant better last night if he had come on?
I believe he would. Even if it wasn't Greg, Woods or Colin T could have gone back to RB. They are more experienced than Lordan.

I think Lordan's done well so far, except for last night when Shams targeted him and it could have cost us a draw.

Ah come on SSS, he certainly didnt have a 'mare.

As for Greg Vs Lordan for the RB position, I reckon give Lordan a shot. He is doing very well. people seem to forget that was his 4th game in a new position, and Grant is a genuine "flair player" who burns defences week in week out.

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Originally Posted by SSS

, just a general swipe at anyone who doesn't share your opinion.

.

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never have a swipe over difference of opinion

thats what this board is all about

what kind of a board would it be everyone agreed all the time :rolleyes:

just stated my opinion,NO SWIPE

I think Fenn played crap. He didnt even attempt 2 go 4 da ball and should have been taken off earlier. Behan only got a run on of 5 min. Also i dont think he has a fat ass but i do think he is full of himself and manicured. Does he wear fake tan or what?? And hews doesnt like 2 mess his hair. Poof!!

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Originally Posted by cheekyais

I think Fenn played crap. He didnt even attempt 2 go 4 da ball and should have been taken off earlier. Behan only got a run on of 5 min. Also i dont think he has a fat ass but i do think he is full of himself and manicured. Does he wear fake tan or what?? And hews doesnt like 2 mess his hair. Poof!!

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I don't see how his appearance has anything to do with how he plays. :rolleyes:

He's not as bad as people are making out. Just because he doesn't get physically stuck in people automatically assume that he contributes nothing. To be honest I think he's done well, he had a good few shots last night and if you pay close attention you'll see that some of his touches are brilliant and are so vital to the team.

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Originally Posted by SSS

I think Lordan's done well so far, except for last night when Shams targeted him and it could have cost us a draw.

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I agree.He was picked out as the weak link and Grant rang rings around him.He has done ok so far but I don't see the point of having a better player on the bench (i.e.Greg).Lordan is young and has potential but City are aiming to win the league and its time that the best 11 players were started!

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Originally Posted by jof fan

City are aiming to win the league and its time that the best 11 players were started!

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thought we werent aiming to win it til next season
:)

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Originally Posted by GWA

and Grant is a genuine "flair player" who burns defences week in week out.

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He certainly didn't burn Hoggie last season and his burning of Lordan was more to do with superior physical presence than flair - something Greg would have had a better chance of dealing with on the night.
(BTW I've no prob with Lordan having started, just that he should have been subbed when it wasn't working out )

A great performance by City last night. We deserved more than a draw but if we keep getting those sort of performances week in week out we'll be up there at the end of the season.

I think Lordan gave it his all Friday night and thought he kept the pace with grant. Although Grant kept the ball from him well and was more physical than a weaker Lordan. Nwankwo was excellent and it was a pity the ball did not come his way more often. Georgie as usual was class. And I think the turning point of the game was Doyler going off injured. He was a menace to the rovers defence. Neale Fenn, I thought, did not have a good game and I thought his touches were poor. In particular the one he chested over the sideline. :rolleyes:

I think the ref had a poor game and a lot of the small fouls went the way of rovers. Although Lordan was lucky to get away with just a yellow that time. He drew an all merciful kick at Grant right in front of me, and although I found it funny, he was lucky to stay on the park.

All in all, good performance City.

Stephen Grant burned Hoggie last year too & IMO Lordan handled him better although he was at fault for the goal.

City played very well & seem to have brought some of their away fporm to the cross. George is starting to grow inot the midfield role. Billy was my MOTM & best game in years - some superb runs & passes to O'Flynn in the 2nd half. Doyler is a massive loss too as he really playing well up front.

I'm going to go against the flow a bit here.

While I agree that Greg may have been a better option on Grant (especially when Rovers started to go long into that corner), Lordan didn't do much wrong. He was left exposed by both Billy and Bennett, who were slow to cover across. While Billy played well when he cut inside on his left, he's not a right winger and was slow to get back at times.

On the whole though it was a brilliant performance and I'm glad to see the crowd appreciated it (and Mooney for that matter). We did everything bar score, and we know that's not an area that will cause us trouble long term.

Bennett, Murphy, O'Brien, Woods, George and Fenn were all outstanding, as was Doyler prior to coming off. I hope his injury is not serious, although it looked a hamstring. O'Flynn looked rusty, but time will heal that.

the ****** song was brilliant too, shame a few idiots had to put a (slight) dampner on what was an otherwise great night. If we play like that again friday, three points should be a formality against longford.

[QUOTE=tiktok. If we play like that again friday, three points should be a formality against longford.[/QUOTE]


now you ve gone and done it !!!!!!!.
we will give you a fright on fri night ;)

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Originally Posted by the 12 th man

now you ve gone and done it !!!!!!!.
we will give you a fright on fri night ;)

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I said IF and should 12th man. No chicken counting here ;) :D

players a lot more experienced than cillian lordan have been given the runaround by grant, he's an excellent player, and IMO billy didn't exactly track back that much to help him. dunno why we're looking for negatives though- that was a superb performance, the crowd was behind the team and we passed the ball. I think we turned a corner on friday night- if we keep that level of performance up we'll have a very good season. cracking game. Georgie and Colin T were supreme IMO

Thought we were excellent on the night, deserved to be ahead at the break but Rovers got an excellent goal.
The game seemend to die a bit of a death in the second half and then the tempo was raised again in the last 5 minutes or so.

Our goal was a bit of a fluke, Billy closed his eyes but hey we'll take it.
Thought George was outstanding in the 1st half but wasn't as influential in the 2nd when he was required to be.
Didn't think Colin T was great, did ok in the 1st half but was poor after that.
Doyle was absolutely brilliant caused no end of problems, if only he hadn't gone to the J Caulfield school for going down in the box.
Lordan looked shaky but the boy needed help and Billy wasn't tracking back very well.
I fully believe that the one Mooney dropped early on was done on purpose as a kind of thank you to the Shed, pity the ref was such a spoil sport.
It was great to see the players put in the effort that was sadly lacking in previous home displays, and I gladly applauded them.
Well done lads and keep up the workrate.