We should be happy. I mean, the sun shone. Over six thousand turned up. We had a massive scarf. We drew with fellow strugglers Barnet at home. Hmmmm..
The truth is we could easily have been three down in the first 20 minutes and throughout the game Barnet had the more clear cut chances. What was it with the Railway End? The low November sunshine? Each time a cross pinged in it looked like Barnet could score. After half time with the Barnet defence facing the sun, County’s crosses also caused consternation for the defence but the visitor didn’t seem quite as wobbly.
Midfield too Barnet seemed just a little bit more effective. It was a good job the Barnet forwards had an off day otherwise it could have been null points for the Hatters.
Turner had wanted County to produce the form which saw them dump League One side Swansea City out of FA Cup first round last week. However, the match never quite lived up to expectations.
Nevertheless the game turned out to be a lively clash between two sides looking climb away from the wrong end of the table.
County took the lead after a quarter-of-an-hour when skipper Matt Hamshaw gave County the lead. Jermaine Easter crossed from the left, winger Harpal Singh sent the ball across the box, missing County players boots by a whisker but Hamshaw fired a right foot shot home from close range. It looked easier to use his left peg but game on! Or at least that’s what we thought for a whole two minutes.
Louis Soares’ cross was met by Jason Norville, right shin and in the ball flew beyond County keeper James Spencer. To be honest it was deserved because by the visitors could well have been three up by then.
Spencer kept County level with a few excellent saves (he is beginning to look the part) as the visitors pressed for a winner in the second half and his best save came in injury-time when he tipped a Dean Sinclair over the crossbar.
Earlier, Hamshaw and Danny Boshell both had good chances to restore County’s lead.
Hamshaw, who was excellent for the County side, saw a dipping shot fly inches over the crossbar, while fellow midfielder Boshell fired over from distance.
Easter was also clean through on goal in the 68th minute but, after collecting Mark Robinson’s excellent pass, the striker fired wide of the target.
Barnet saw Ben Stevens head against the woodwork after Liam Hatch had headed into his path, while Ismail Yakubu saw a fierce drive well stopped by the on-song Spencer.
Hatch missed the target with a powerful shot from the edge of the box and Soares had a left-footed cross deflected over the crossbar by County midfielder Keith Briggs.
But in the end both sides had to settle for a point after a frustrating Sunday afternoon.
My feeling is that Barnet are a better team than their position might suggest and County deserved that little bit of luck. The defence continues to look the weak link but if Turner is worth his salt, he will sort that out before Christmas and County will rise up the table to finish in 15th place at the end of the season. Top goal scorer will be Easter with 12 goals. Matt Hamshaw will be man of the season. Five of the floodlight light bulbs will need replacing in January. Vernon bear will MC the newly opened Tom Thumbs lap dancing bar.
You heard it all here first.
[If you fancy running this site please go to http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/joinus.asp as old Arthur may be leaving soon to take up his role as Santa in Merseyway.]
Player Ratings
Spencer 7
Clare 6
Dje 6
Raynes 6
Robinson 6
Briggs 6
Hamshaw 8
Boshell 6
Singh 6
Greewood 6
Easter 7
Wolski
On for Briggs after 83 mins
Malcolm
On for Robinson 79 mins
On for Dje after 46 – why didnt Tes start?
