Same old same old

Andy Munro witnesses Blues’ defeat at home to Yeovil and asks a few questions.

Can it really get any worse than this? And just when many thought that Blues could at least quietly see out the season from mid-table.

The line-up was not particularly surprising given the amount of injuries, apart from Reece Brown earning a place alongside Ollie Lee with new man Brian Howard coming in to provide some experience and hopefully some guile

However, it soon went pear-shaped with the gangly Yeovil centre forward and his striking partner, James Hayter, causing mayhem against an uncertain central defence. The first goal was the result of a dreadfully under-hit backpass from Mullins (not the last one he did, either), whose performance at the back brought back memories of his less than halcyon days in midfield. Even Robbo was affected by the malaise as he showed his age when beaten to a header for the second goal. Generally the lack of height in the Blues’ defence was a real problem so why 6’3″ Packwood was called back from his loan at Rovers and not even given a run out is, quite frankly, mystifying.

Blues played some very good football at times but it was too little,  too late and we showed as much penetration in the final third as a   eunuch in a harem. Certainly Ziggy, who is normally ‘given the benefit’ by the patient St Andrews faithful, turned in the most dismal performance I have ever seen by a centre forward in a Blues shirt – and I’ve seen plenty ranging from Mark Sale and Trevor Aylott to some bloke we signed from Bournemouth whose name I’ve thankfully forgotten. Ziggy was clueless in the air and loitered most of the time outside the penalty area instead of getting in where it hurts.

On that subject, it was noticeable that when Yeovil got forward they did so in numbers but Blues seem to attack at best in twos or threes. To me, Lee Clark should tell them that when they attack all the midfield, bar one anchor man, and all the forwards should be flooding the box.

If there were bright spots, it was the usual battling performance by Hancox, some great keeping by Randolph, some promising and classy touches from the new man Howard and a superlative performance from Reece Brown who was inexplicably subbed to the loud boos of the crowd.

Where do we go from here? I suppose the answer lies somewhere in Hong Kong heights.