We’re now at the stage where the senior team have started playing warm up games. The first of them was last Saturday when newly promoted National League North team Merthyr Town faced City in a behind closed doors game.
As for what the score was, I don’t think I’ve seen it confirmed on things like the club website, but it was claimed on Twitter that City had won 13-1. Maybe it was that reported scoreline which led to some arguing on social media that there there had been no match, but there clearly had been and City’s website posted about a minute’s worth of action in which City were shown scoring three times.
It’s clear City had a big win with striker Luke Pearce, apparently, scoring a hat trick, while Joel Colwell scored twice. What’s not clear is how strong a side Merthyr fielded, while City’s team definitely included some first teamers with Ryan Wintle, Alex Robertson, Rubin Colwill and Yousef Salech among those seen in that brief video on the club website.
From there, it was off to Spain for the first team squad for their training week. On Wednesday, City played one of those warm up games where two different teams play for a half. The opponents were Malaysian Champions Johor Darul TaZim who have won everything worth winning in Vincent Tan’s country over the past three years including their domestic league last season by winning twenty three and drawing one of their twenty four games.
I’m sure I read somewhere that Johor had not lost a league fixture in the past three years, but how good all of that makes them is hard to tell – City really should have won the game, but their opponents were able to cause our backline enough problems to persuade most watching City fans into thinking that our defensive issues will not just disappear because we’re playing at a lower level.
City’s first half team played out a tight 0-0 with physical opponents who had a player sent off by a fussy referee who allowed no latitude for the low pressure occasion. The red card occurred very late in the half, or maybe after it had ended, and it was agreed that it would continue as eleven v eleven for the second half with the player who was dismissed playing no further part.
Johor had a shot into the side netting within the first minute and Ethan Horvarth was forced into a blocking save with his feet as their only real opportunities in the first forty five minutes, yet that was better than we managed as Chris Willock forced the keeper into a diving save and Kion Etete shot wide.
The second half was far more watchable. Within a minute, there was a goal as Rubin Colwill, the best player on the pitch through the ninety minutes for me, showed both strength and commitment to stay on his feet despite repeated attempts to bring him down by opponents who were pretty cynical throughout, to feed Tanatswa Nyakhuwa who found David Turnbull who shot high into the net from around the penalty spot. I thought Nyakhuwa and Cian Ashford on the wings were an improvement on Willock and Ollie Tanner from the first half and the youngest of the quartet was involved again soon after as Colwill had an air shot from eight yards out before the ball found its way to Salech who blazed over from ten yards when he really should have scored.
City were clearly on top, but revealed last season’s defensive glass jaw when a header by Dylan Lawlor, who did well in the unaccustomed position of right back, flew into the sort of area where you would think a number six should be patrolling, but there was no one to be seen. Johor did well to score mind as a fairly awkward lobbed pass was well controlled and then volleyed home to level things up.
Within a few minutes, City were ahead again as Colwill’s free kick from just outside the penalty area surprised his manager with its quality as the keeper was left with no chance.
The chances were there for us to make the game safe after that, but there’s been failures to capitalise on such positions with City for years thanks to a combination of poor executions and choices plus substandard finishing.
Two things happened in the last ten minutes to help ensure City did not inflict a very rare defeat on Johor. First, goalkeeper Matthew Turner had to leave the pitch with an injury to be replaced by Jake Dennis and Salech was sent off for a poor challenge when he came back to help the defence – interestingly, whereas Johor were allowed to replace their red carded player, City weren’t (or they opted not to do so).
Unfortunately, Dennis was heavily involved in the farcical equaliser City conceded in added time when he, Lawlor and Will Fish seemed to have a pass through the middle covered, but, instead of staying where he was and gathering the ball, like I thought he could have done, the young keeper opted to try and hack clear, only for the ball to hit Fish and drop into the path of the sole Johor attacker who was left free to score the easiest goal of his life.
So, the game finished 2-2. Perhaps I’m being hard on Dennis because others have said Fish could have done better as well. Whatever the truth, it’s possible to smile at the outcome when it happens in a pre season friendly, whereas I dread to think what the reaction would be if such a joke goal denied us three points very late in a league game.
Tonight it was a similar format for the game with Southend who had the heartbreak of losing the National League Play Off Final early last month to an Oldham team that were 2-1 down in the second period of extra time before scoring twice in two minutes.
Although there were a few changes here and there, the two City teams were very similar to the ones that played on Wednesday except the halves they played were swapped. Therefore, Wednesday’s second half team became tonight’s first half side and vice versa.
In midweek, the second half team proved to be much the more fluent and enjoyable one to watch and it was much the same here with most of the good attacking play coming in the first forty five minutes. In saying that, the second half team tonight had the disadvantage of playing into a strong wind which looked to be blowing straight down the pitch.
After a quiet first fifteen minutes or so when Southend forced Ethan Horvarth into the first save of the game, City gradually took control despite a carelessness at times with their finishing and passing – again the conditions may have played a part in this.
Despite the frustrating mistakes, there was also some crisp attacking play which should have led to goals. Ryan Wintle fed Yousef Salech first with a cross that he headed wide when it looked easier to score and then with a through ball after a strong run from deep which saw the Southend keeper dive to keep out the striker’s effort. Rubin Colwill fired over when he should have at least tested the keeper and there were times when a better final ball would surely have paid dividends.
Nevertheless, Salech still managed to find the net twice, first when Colwill and Cian Ashford combined for a high press that saw the former gain possession and slip the Danish striker in to score easily, then when a fluent move down City;s right enabled Colwill to cross low to where Salech swept the ball in from six yards.
Horvarth is tipped by many to leave the club in the coming weeks, but he got to play the whole game tonight and made a really fine save to preserve City’s lead as Southend pressed us back, but he could do nothing about a shot that hit the inside of the post and bounced out as we rode our luck in the fifteen minutes after half time.
City came through that stiff examination though and, without playing that well, kept their opponents in check.
Youngsters Will Spiers and Morgan Wigley joined the squad as the likes of Tsunoda, Daland, Etete and Willock missed out tonight for whatever reason. Spiers especially impressed and I liked Eli King’s ability to burst clear of opponents with a little injection of pace (something that I couldn’t recall seeing from him before his loan to Stevenage last season).
Southend deserved parity at least in the second half, but they were denied even that as City scored from their first real attack after the break when Ollie Tanner picked out Joel Colwill who made it 3-0 from eight yards.
City finished the game in control and 3-0 against a team I would expect to be near the top of their league this season represented a promising outcome, even if I was still not that convinced by the defending.
On the takeover front, Gareth Bale has been appearing on television again talking about his home town club. This time, Bale spoke of an improved, second bid from his consortium, but whether it will be good enough for Vincent Tan seems doubtful.
The view that City will not be doing any incoming transfer business while the ownership situation is in something approaching a state of flux still cannot be dismissed because another week has passed with little or nothing of note happening on the recruitment front.
I say that, but there was a Tweet from a site with a record that can generously be described as patchy that we’d had a bid accepted for Cheltenham winger Ethan Archer
