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Blair facing a fight to win back York City shirt (From York Press)
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Matty Blair facing a fight to win back York City shirt
12:00pm Monday 3rd September 2012 in Sport
By Dave Flett, Sports reporter
Michael Coulson salutes the York City fans at Bootham Crescent after netting 16 seconds into Saturday’s npower League Two clash with Oxford
THE form of wing pair Ashley Chambers and Michael Coulson is making it difficult to recall last season’s leading marksman, Matty Blair , according to York City manager Gary Mills.
Chambers and Coulson both netted in an excellent 3-1 victory over an Oxford United side who went into Saturday’s match top of the League Two table and boasting a 100 per cent record.
The duo’s first-half efforts mean they have both netted three times already this season and, with Chambers’ goals all coming in the league, he is now the division’s joint-top scorer with six other players – Jamie Cureton, Shaun Harrad, Rene Howe, Danny Kedwell, Alex Nicholls and Ben Pringle.
Blair, who hit the target 20 times last term including twice at Wembley in the FA Trophy and Blue Square Bet Premier finals, has been restricted to substitute outings so far in 2012/13 and played through the middle after replacing Jason Walker against Oxford on 71 minutes.
While suggesting the former Kidderminster attacker is a great option to call upon from the bench, Mills was also quick to stress that he is unfortunate not to be in the starting XI after missing the latter stages of pre-season through injury.
The City boss said: “To bring on somebody like Matty when defenders’ legs might be tiring is ideal because he can run down the sides, frighten centre-halves and take a bit of pressure off. But, while Jamie Reed might be an impact player, Matty Blair isn’t – there’s no doubt about that.
“He will be disappointed not to be in the side and is unlucky not to be, but the other two are not making it easy for me. They are doing superbly well, laying on and scoring goals.
“I know there won’t be a problem with him though because he understands, doesn’t feel sorry for himself and he’s a fantastic lad. They are all good players and everybody’s trying to get everybody out of the team.”
Midfielder Paddy McLaughlin also got on the scoresheet for the first time this season, having earlier put through his own goal in an eventful opening 45 minutes, during which Michael Ingham saved a Deane Smalley penalty too.
A delighted Mills pointed out that the result, on the back of the previous weekend’s 3-1 win at Barnet, has issued a firm signal of intent in terms of his team’s potential this season.
He added: “We are here to entertain and to try to win football matches and I enjoyed Saturday’s match. We’ve taken seven points from nine and that’s a fantastic return for a team coming into the Football League after losing our first game.
“A lot of teams might not have done that. We scored all four goals on Saturday and still couldn’t get a clean sheet but a lot of people were talking about Oxford as the team to beat this season and we’ve shown we have got something. We are here to win things and want success badly.”
Mills also paid tribute to Ingham after another fine display in goal from the former Northern Ireland international.
“Inghy pulled off a couple of great saves in the first half, which enabled us to go on and win the game,” the City boss said. “We might not have done otherwise.”
The nature of Chambers’ and McLaughlin’s goals pleased Mills as well, coming at the end of swift, flowing moves involving several players.
He said: “For the second and third goals, we showed how you break at pace and score goals. That’s what we are about and I want players getting into the penalty box like that.”
Mills went on to praise new signings Clarke Carlisle and Charlie Taylor, who were both handed full debuts in City’s back four.
He said: “I thought Clarke got better and better. He needs the games – we know that – but I decided to bring him in and he was better in the second half than he was in the first.
“I thought he got a second wind and he, along with Smudger, was immense at the back, which we needed to be.
“Charlie also did very well. He’s comfortable on the ball and doesn’t panic.
“He’s brave enough to receive the ball in any area and, as a left-back, he will learn a lot playing at this level. There were a couple of times in the second half where he needed to be inside his man but, all in all, he was excellent and he’s my type of player.
“That position has been an area of concern for me so I decided to bring him in and he did not let me down.”
Comments(25)
MARTYN1982
says...
1:40pm Mon 3 Sep 12
ian923
says...
1:44pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Yorkieroy60
says...
2:00pm Mon 3 Sep 12
skilly
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3:29pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Dave 77 wrote:Don't agree he should start ahead of Walker. Jason is currently acting as a perfect foil for Coulson and Chambers and Walker runs intelligently to create opportunity for others. Matty runs fast but not always into the right areas. He is perfect at the moment coming off the bench. GM may give him a start at Rotherham to give players a rest
Give him a start ahead of Walker?
PositiveFootball
says...
3:53pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Dave 77 wrote:JWs off the ball work is impeccable. He pulls defenders out of position. On Saturday you could have driven a double decker bus through the Oxford defence due to the selfless work he did. When he did get the ball he had defenders all around and still managed to set up the third on Saturday. Don’t worry he’ll be in double figures by Christmas.
Give him a start ahead of Walker?
duffy
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4:05pm Mon 3 Sep 12
PositiveFootball wrote:I would agree with all of the above, Walker seems to be the new scapegoat taking over from Parslow.
Dave 77 wrote:JWs off the ball work is impeccable. He pulls defenders out of position. On Saturday you could have driven a double decker bus through the Oxford defence due to the selfless work he did. When he did get the ball he had defenders all around and still managed to set up the third on Saturday. Don’t worry he’ll be in double figures by Christmas.
Give him a start ahead of Walker?
Tug job
says...
4:18pm Mon 3 Sep 12
PositiveFootball wrote:At last a sensible post in relation to JW - at Barnet, and again on Saturday, he caused panic in the opponents defence, creating space for others to exploit. Against Oxford, JW had two defenders marking him for the first goal, he allowed Chambers to score the second goal, and his sublime reverse pass to Paddy created the third. He bought numerous free kicks to take the pressure off our defence and, all round, contributed fully to a superb team perofmance. It does not really matter who scores, merely that we win.
Dave 77 wrote: Give him a start ahead of Walker?JWs off the ball work is impeccable. He pulls defenders out of position. On Saturday you could have driven a double decker bus through the Oxford defence due to the selfless work he did. When he did get the ball he had defenders all around and still managed to set up the third on Saturday. Don’t worry he’ll be in double figures by Christmas.
nicko75
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4:41pm Mon 3 Sep 12
....................
... I also do not understand the criticism of Walker. The role he plays in our team is not an "Alan Shearer" type position - he is there to hold the ball up, drag defenders out of position, interchange with Chambers & Coulson to create angles and space - to not recognise his contribution to a forward line that has now scored 9 in 4 is to miss the point. God help the rest of the league if he also starts scoring a goal a game... And Matty Blair on the bench!... What an exciting forward line we have...”
spockboy2
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5:39pm Mon 3 Sep 12
It seems some of you just need to have at least 1 player to aim criticism at .
Nicko75 is spot on with his comment
Blair did not impress very much when he took that role lately.
His turn will come but its nice to see such healthy competition in the squad.
pip007
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6:01pm Mon 3 Sep 12
dazthecat
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6:36pm Mon 3 Sep 12
duffy wrote:Completely agree. The fact sections of the crowd booed the decision to make him Man of the match against Wycombe made me ashamed to be a city fan, too many people at BC desperate to get on someone's back
PositiveFootball wrote:I would agree with all of the above, Walker seems to be the new scapegoat taking over from Parslow.
Dave 77 wrote:JWs off the ball work is impeccable. He pulls defenders out of position. On Saturday you could have driven a double decker bus through the Oxford defence due to the selfless work he did. When he did get the ball he had defenders all around and still managed to set up the third on Saturday. Don’t worry he’ll be in double figures by Christmas.
Give him a start ahead of Walker?
yorkshirecalling
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8:15pm Mon 3 Sep 12
Dave 77
says...
8:16pm Mon 3 Sep 12
We're picking up points from scoring goals with last year's top scorer on the bench, manager's dream situation!
YorkCityLuke
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8:39pm Mon 3 Sep 12
yorkshirecalling wrote:Sky sports do free highlights of each match, I normally just google search (for example) York Oxford Sky Highlights or something, you should find it fairly easily. The BBC also put the Football League show on their iPlayer if you fancy watching all of the League goals!
Does anyone know where you can watch football league highlights online?
yorkshirecalling
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9:08pm Mon 3 Sep 12
YorkCityLuke wrote:Thanks Luke
yorkshirecalling wrote: Does anyone know where you can watch football league highlights online?Sky sports do free highlights of each match, I normally just google search (for example) York Oxford Sky Highlights or something, you should find it fairly easily. The BBC also put the Football League show on their iPlayer if you fancy watching all of the League goals!
YcfcKeepingTheFaith
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11:28pm Mon 3 Sep 12
ian923 wrote:IMO Blair does better on the wing than in a central striker position.
Walker does seem to be an automatic pick every game but is clearly not cutting it at present so give Blair a chance as striker because as he proved last season he knows where the goal is.Second and third goals v Oxford were absolute quality in a great all round performance.GM should try to get Taylor on a season long loan judging by his performance on Saturday .That would settle the left back position.Carlisle provided the height and experience we needed to steady the defence and Ingham was great. With performances like that DIV 2 teams will fear us. Now consistency has to be key.Nice to see Pottsy on the bench also.Come on City!
Also, Walker is an immense player and should be given credit for the shift he put in on Saturday.
Agree with everything else, e.g. that Taylor, Carlisle and Ingham (and more) all impressed and hopefully we can now secure some consistency.
Great, eventful and tense game. Proud of the team.
COYR
GreenshawGrinder
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12:00am Tue 4 Sep 12
Tug job
says...
8:14am Tue 4 Sep 12
GreenshawGrinder wrote:Whilst I respect your right to express your opinion, I challenge your assertion that Jason Walker is a bad player - read the posts above to gain an understanding of his role in the team; it's not all about scoring goals, I bet he'll get into double figures this season, but creating space and bringing others into play.
The season is a marathon not a sprint, Matty Blair will get his chance, but hey what a great player to have on the bench! Jason Walker has not become a bad player overnight, too often we play the high ball to him, for his height he is good in the air but against six foot plus defenders it's the wrong tactic, keep it on the deck!
duffy
says...
8:39am Tue 4 Sep 12
Tug job wrote:He is not saying Walker is a bad player, we do need to stop pumping high balls up to him though as its pointless. I think too many people are only looking at his lack of goals rather than all the positives he brings to the team, movement, awareness, passing ability, he made the third goal on Saturday.
GreenshawGrinder wrote:Whilst I respect your right to express your opinion, I challenge your assertion that Jason Walker is a bad player - read the posts above to gain an understanding of his role in the team; it's not all about scoring goals, I bet he'll get into double figures this season, but creating space and bringing others into play.
The season is a marathon not a sprint, Matty Blair will get his chance, but hey what a great player to have on the bench! Jason Walker has not become a bad player overnight, too often we play the high ball to him, for his height he is good in the air but against six foot plus defenders it's the wrong tactic, keep it on the deck!
RooBeck
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8:44am Tue 4 Sep 12
Tug job
says...
9:06am Tue 4 Sep 12
duffy wrote:He not only fed Chambers to create the third goal for Paddy on Saturday; he was niggling the two defenders who made the error that led to the first goal (and his position caused them not to pick up Chambers or Coulson), he could also have got to the ball before Chambers for the second, but unselfishly let AC score. I am challening the use of the phrase "Jason Walker has not become a bad player overnight", which implies he is now a bad player. He has scored one goal in four league games this season and, I agree, this is what people are focussing on rather than on his mroe mature contribution to the team. But I refute that he is a bad player; I certainly wouldn't swap him for Dean Smalley, as one poster has suggested.
Tug job wrote:He is not saying Walker is a bad player, we do need to stop pumping high balls up to him though as its pointless. I think too many people are only looking at his lack of goals rather than all the positives he brings to the team, movement, awareness, passing ability, he made the third goal on Saturday.GreenshawGrinder wrote: The season is a marathon not a sprint, Matty Blair will get his chance, but hey what a great player to have on the bench! Jason Walker has not become a bad player overnight, too often we play the high ball to him, for his height he is good in the air but against six foot plus defenders it's the wrong tactic, keep it on the deck!Whilst I respect your right to express your opinion, I challenge your assertion that Jason Walker is a bad player - read the posts above to gain an understanding of his role in the team; it's not all about scoring goals, I bet he'll get into double figures this season, but creating space and bringing others into play.
nomadic85
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11:14am Tue 4 Sep 12
One thing is for certain though, class is permanent. Walker has class, and will get better hopefully. Arguing that he has been just as good this season as he was at the beggining of last is daft though, he hasn't (though he set the bar very high).
Keith...lad
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5:56pm Tue 4 Sep 12
GreenshawGrinder
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11:53pm Tue 4 Sep 12
Dave 77 says...
12:18pm Mon 3 Sep 12