The Sky's the limit

Last updated : 28 October 2006 By Steve Berry
James O'Connor - wonderful performance
Who was going to provide the goal threat? For us I thought Gray may well get some joy out of the rookie defenders of Chilvers and St. Ledger, whilst if we were going to stop PNE, I figured we would need to negate the threat of Whaley and the dead ball prowess of Alexander.

From the off the atmosphere was superb, our crowd were up for this one and the packed JH lower next to the away fans turned up the volume and helped make it the intimidating place we need it to be for the opposition. The first half was nip and tuck, with Jones keeping Alexander busy with his pacy bursts, whilst Dichio showed an excellent touch. There was a really good ebb and flow to the game with Jones and O'Connor having good shooting opportunities blocked and Sedgwick hitting a crisp volley just wide of Beast's left post.

It was looking like stalemate at half time until Harley caught Alexander dithering, got to the line, crossed to Gifton, who's attempted shot broke for Ginge to crash home and send us into the break in good heart and confident of a positive outcome.

After the giant pie tomfoolery, the teams emerged with no changes from either side. The first 20-25 minutes saw us playing some really progressive stuff and controlling the game with James O'Connor playing out of his skin and feeding our wide players who were both causing problems.

Gray nearly scored twice in this spell with a great turn and shot which was blocked for a corner and then he headed wide of a gaping goal after fantastic skill from Elliott. This spell more than anything told me we are able to compete with anything we've seen in the Championship so far this season.

Simpson had to do something, so off came Agyemang, a peripheral figure and a little later Dichio. This proved to be a good move as Whaley started to influence the game by playing in the hole and creating space. The equaliser soon followed after Ormerod headed back to the onrushing Whaley who hit a good left footer past the Beast. Shortly afterwards Thomas went down injured, this was pivotal, as PNE scored from a corner, whilst he was out of action, otherwise we may not have conceded.

I for one thought there was no way back, as we were no longer controlling the game. How wrong was I? Our second came in comical fashion, as Frank put in a storming cross into their box only for St. Ledger to display some clapstick defending and head past his own keeper, right in front of his happy clappy supporters. Game on!

Both sets of fans would probably have settled for a point at this stage, but it was not to be as with 90 seconds left Jones hared past Alexander again, clipped the ball into the box for Gray to glance a pearler of a header past the hapless Nash. Cue absolute pandemonium in the Bob Lord with tartan flasks heading skywards. Make no mistake this was a massive wobbler, we'd done it and beaten a good side. Added time was played out in relative comfort and the final whistle simply indicated we were all in for a marvellous weekend.

To conclude, this was tremendous entertainment and coming away from the ground, my thoughts were with the watching Clarets in Milwaukee and Cairns, who were feeling exactly the same as me. Surely we all now know, we have a chance, a real chance. I think this game will also provide the catalyst for attracting back some of our stay away supporters. We made a big statement and the belief that the players will get from this, should not be understated.

Man of the match? Without doubt James O'Connor, a wonderful performance. There were also top displays from Thomas, Duff, Jones and Elliott.

Finally, what I'd like to know is, when are we on Sky again?