chances, chances, chances....but no goals

[Salopian 1]

The penalty, which will go down in history perhaps if we fail to achieve by one or two points, was arguably the worst miss yesterday.

There were howver ten other attempts on goal, and five that missed altogether . The fugures for Preston were 4 and 1 respectively.

The disappointing figure of one goal from sixteen attempts, worse than Preston''s one from five, of course, represented above average for us. We are averaging about 14 per game.

It is frustrating. Most of our players in the past two weeks have blazed a shot over the bar or wide of the post, but these go down as off goal, and are not among the 11 chances on goal we had yesterday.

It has to be said that we are not gaining many headed goals, as frequently we put the ball straight at the keeper. In selling Nelson we probably disposed of our best exponent of headed goals.

It has to said also, that we lack a striker who can score with firm and well placed shots from distance.

I doubt if much could be done to improve the distant goals, but I hope that we can improve the quality and consistency of crosses, both from open play ansd from dead ball and corner.

Given our likelihood to concede at least one goal each match, a conversion rate of one goal from eight or nine chances on goal is not going to gain us many "3-pointers"

I very much doubt that we shall find a loan striker of quality, and have done since the end of January, and even amonth before. So we have to make do with what we have. I think that neither Wilbraham nor Jackson will make any major contribution.

1) We have to play to Holt''s stregnths, and he has to stay well upfield where he is a threat.

2) The formations 4-4-1-1 or 4-3-2-1, etc., can be made to work, but we need someone at his shoulder to use his lay-offs. So far we have tried Hooly, but does it have to be him? Why not Lansbury, who seems wasted playing wide right? Are there any youngsters who could play there - Werndly, Dawkin?

3) Professionals at this level should not need it, but perhaps there is a case for revising the art of striking - mental, physical, positioning, technique.

4) If we can''t improve the striking rate, what about improving the defence, say using Korey on the right? We might have to sacrifice some of our chances and be more boring (but 1-0 is better than 1-1!)

We may be unbeaten in so many games, but I would guess that we are not accumulating so many points recently even if we are unbeaten. a 2 game sequence with W and L bings more points than D and D.