The first time I tried to post this blogger.com seemed to be down. I haven't had a chance to get round to it again before now. Hey, at least it's marginally before the next game!
Much like the first half of the previous league game at Charlton, for much of this match there was an air of wondering if we were actually going to make the breakthrough merited by our possession and dominance. We didn't help ourselves in the first half with some woeful passing leading to a complete inability to maintain possession long enough to make it count. Admittedly this wasn't helped by a poor pitch and a referee determined to show off his whistle but that isn't really an excuse.
Interestingly Robert was given an opportunity away from home (presumably the opposition weren't rated high enough to be expected to pose too much of a threat). Strangely he seemed to produce more good defensive work than attacking. The midfield pairing dominated, though at one point Bowyer briefly lost his head (I'm not convinced this was quite as bad as some have made out. He did swing at the ball remember, not the player). Ameobi did his best to stake a claim for a place at some point. He did offer something different when he came on, with the drive and dynamic determination that Shearer is now too old to offer and which simply isn't part of Bellamy's game. It was Ameobi who won the penalty (having had a possibly equally justifiable claim just turned down). Shearer of course was never missing. So job done in Greece. And we can forget about Panionios now. In the strange little half league we're joint top. WIth the top three going through that's not bad. A home win and away draw would probably be almost certain to carry us through. But we are aiming to win the group (whether that would actually carry some advantage I'm not clear on). So far, so good.
(@13:10)
