McSheffrey Moment Of Magic Sees Off Watford

By CCFC Sid
December 19 2004

The majority opinion seems to be that this was dire stuff (I'm not disagreeing either) - though on the plus side, I did sleep well last night! And both sides will be hoping for a striker that can finish off from Santa this Christmas after chances galore were wasted....

Isaac Osbourne replaced the suspended Michael Doyle, and did more than enough to justify starting in the next CCFC game - so will probably be "rested" (Though with Giddings rightfully taking his place back in the side over Steve Staunton, maybe Peter Reid will use some common sense when the secision has to be made....).

The first 25 minutes saw at least six minutes given over to stoppages (Which possibly didn't help the flow of the game), and a couple of worse than Sunday football moments from Watford (Including one player falling over the ball, and a candidate for "Worst Corner Of The Season" too). CCFC weren't without their moments, with one Laville blast towards his own keeper requiring a save from Steele!

Six minutes into the game, a decent ball to Adebola saw a debatable offside flag raised, denying CCFC a possible chance to open the scoring, and five minutes later a fine Giddings cross saw a Morrell header saved comfortably by Lee.

The games first long stoppage came about after the referee requested repairs to the pitch, and the second came following a fine save from Watford keeper Richard Lee, which saw him clatter into his own defender and resulted in him being stretchered from the pitch after fracturing his cheekbone.

The incident came after an Osbourne pass to Stern John saw him link up well with Adebola, who jinked past Watford defenders before unleashing a shot which was well saved by Lee.

In-between stoppages, a CCFC move on their right saw three CCFC players against one Watford defender, but a terrible pass from Stern John wasted any thoughts of a goal chance.

A fine save from Steele on 31 minutes kept the scores at 0-0, and the player whose loan spell at CCFC has been extended for the full season, also made a good few more top class stops throughout the game.

Minutes after Lee's departure, replacement Alec Chamberlain made a fine save to deny Gary McSheffrey the chance to open the scoring (After a flowing CCFC move), and minutes later proved he was a more than adequate replacement after an Osbourne header reached Adebola, whose clever backward header was saved well on the line.

With four minutes and 50 seconds of the five minutes injury time gone, CCFC scored what turned out to be the games only goal. With the first half having been fairly poor, a large percentage of the 14,493 crowd had already disappeared for their half-time pint/pie/both, and missed not only the extra five minutes of play, but a class finish from Gary McSheffrey (After a fine cross from Giddings, and good work from Adebola).

After eight minutes of the second half, a fine free-kick from Stephen Hughes (Please open contract talks with this player, CCFC) was put over the bar from no more than a couple of yards out by McSheffrey - though with the possibility that he was unsighted and never expected the ball to reach him, it might be unfair to class this as a "Kanu job"....

With 56 minutes gone CCFC's attempt at playing the offside trap failed dismally, and Steele managed to make a superb save from Helguson, with Watford's Dyer thankfully blasting the rebound way over the bar.

With myself and my brother having changed ends at half-time, switching from the Main Stand to the Family Stand, it was our mistake to sit next to the equivalent of Jasper Carrott's "loony on the bus", which meant we had to put up with a barrage of useless comments from somebody who really did seem to think the players were looking up at him for further instructions....

Said person frequently complained that CCFC would not give the ball to Akinbiyi (Hughes has a great range of passing, but not that good!), and also complained that CCFC were "sitting on their morals" - I think he meant "resting on their laurels". He also criticised Isaac Osbourne (A good few peoples choice for "Man Of The Match") for strolling through the game (I thought this was the mark of a quality player?), and moaned about Watford winning a corner, while the other 14,000+ CCFC fans were moaning about the "assault" on Richard Shaw's face seconds before! We had to move seats, before we ended up on an assault charge....

Back to the match itself(!) ....

Somewhere around this time, Stern John had managed to leave the pitch, to be replaced by Neil Wood (Possibly as I was changing seats). With Eric Delomeaux supposedly fit, and saying he will have to leave if he's not given a chance, Osbourne and Wood coming in ahead of him might just see another Eric Black signing leaving Highfield Road....

Wood went wide left, with McSheffrey moving up front - and the "Coventry Kid" missed a good few chances to add to the scoreline.

Great work from Adebola after 66 minutes saw the ball passed to Gary McSheffrey, whose neat turn saw a poor shot blasted way over. Soon after, a fine pass from Osbourne set up McSheffrey again, but his shot went wide of the far post, and despite McSheffrey being pole-axed in the penalty area minutes later, no penalty was awarded.

With 82 minutes gone, McSheffrey found himself past the last Watford defender and onside, but somehow managed to pick the 'keeper out (Who must have been having a "brown shorts moment") rather than the net....

A minute later, a far more difficult chance saw a sublime lob from 30 yards by McSheffrey bounce off the Watford crossbar, with Chamberlain well beaten. With McSheffrey proving a constant threat to the Watford defence, Reid withdrew him - explanation please?

CCFC held out for the three points, though the reality is if Watford's strikers hadn't been so wasteful, it could have been a very different story.

The irony of this result was that upon signing for CCFC, the absent Adie Williams promised to get CCFC "clean sheets", and without him we managed one - which is as many as we have managed in the seven games he has played for CCFC!

* An interesting conversation between a CCFC player and a couple of supporters seems to have the unnamed player suggesting that .... better not!! You never know who might be tuning in, and I can't prove it....