Doncaster & Notts County thrive with past-masters, Morecambe don't pass muster, Wrexham catch fire, plus George Elek on "What are Swindon Town?"...
Doncaster & Notts County thrive with past-masters, Morecambe don't pass muster, Wrexham catch fire, plus George Elek on "What are Swindon Town?"...
09 September 2024 | Weekend Notes brings you the biggest stories, stats and insights from the EFL weekend.
● BIG STORIES ● CHEAT SHEET ● 5IVELIGHTS ● THE VIEW FROM ● FANTASY FOOTBALL ● WATCHING BRIEF ●
With Championship teams AWOL and most of League One abandoning their post, we are spotlighting League Two this week, providing analysis, insight and a heap of stats.
Well… we’ve done a bit of that. But sometimes the energy of the protagonists overtakes the small details — we planned for the documentary genre and ended up with action. What a league. A place where past masters thrive in the present and where right-backs strive to keep clean sheets, all of it filmed against a backdrop painted red. But first, a doffed cap towards a Wrexham side catching fire…
🚨 Big Stories
A selection of decisive moments from across the EFL.
🏴 Dragons catching fire — An auspicious start to life in League One has seen Wrexham wrangle an opening-day win, secure a solid draw away at Bolton, then follow that with three wins to nil. Phil Parkinson’s side are not one-dimensional. It’s not kick and rush. They dismantled Shrewsbury 3-0 in a now-typical flurry of excellent finishing, making their aggregate score in the third tier 11-2. It’s a bit early for table talk, but Wrexham are hungry and first up to the buffet.
🎹 Play it again, Didzy — It would be wrong to suggest that David McGoldrick’s form is the only thing propelling Notts County’s form line, but when a 36-year-old – and this particular 36-year-old – scores 4 in 2 and notches his 150th career league goal, you have to give him the headline. In this game, Didzy registered 8 shots, 5 on target and 2 goals: his ability to convert chances from the edge of the area is magical, if not sustainable (surely). It took five saves from Michael Kelly in the Accrington net to keep it down to 2-0. That’s three on the spin for County, and Didzy looks majestic.
⚔️ Still Sharp — Not to be outdone by his former Sheffield United strike partner, if Didzy is doing Didzy things, then Billy Sharp… you know the rest. One is summoning superpowers to fashion chances for himself; the other has the superpower to sniff out those provided by others. Doncaster started the brighter, deserved their lead from Sharp’s hooked-in effort, and could and should have extended it in the first period, with manager Grant McCann visibly frustrated at half-time. Gillingham didn’t fashion much in the second half: Teddy Sharman-Lowe in the Donny goal was untested, meaning Rovers took it 1-0. They’re the early pace-setters in League Two.
❌ Morecambe, Mo Problems — It’s five games, five losses, and five goals against for Morecambe, meaning a single goal in any game would’ve been enough to secure Derek Adams’ side a point. In their fifth consecutive 1-0 defeat to start the season, they conceded to Crewe through a Kane Hemmings penalty and, after building momentum in the second half, were denied a late equaliser by good goalkeeping. Half of League Two has conceded more goals than the Shrimps; the trouble is, all of League Two has scored more. It’s all gloom, but let’s not talk doom just yet, because Adams isn’t: “This team are a good side. We can play. The tide will turn, and when it does, we’ll go on a really good run, there’s no doubt about that.”
🔜 MK are ok, mkay? — Mike Williamson’s MK Dons looked more like Mike Williamson’s MK Dons in a dominant performance. No, 1-0 doesn’t read like dominance. But MK crafted 3 big chances, took 8 shots, forced 4 saves, and made 621 passes against a Walsall side on the up. The goal that won it was not just a beauty but a signal to those at panic stations to start making the climb down.
📊 Monday Morning Cheat Sheet
From the WhatsApp group to the watercooler: stats to keep you ahead of the game.
🟥 Seeing red — League Two might have to charge itself for failing to control its teams after referees dished out more red cards (6) in a single weekend than all previous game weeks combined. We’ve not seen six in League Two on a single day in the competition for three years… and with a reduced slate as well!
👀 Bottom to top — League Two’s first-placed team, Doncaster Rovers, have conceded more goals (6) than League Two’s last-placed team (Morecambe, 5).
🕒 Early risers — Four of Bradford’s goals this season have come within the opening 10 minutes of games, the most of any EFL club in this campaign.
⚽ Goals unvaled — The four goals scored by Port Vale against Newport this weekend was more than they’ve scored in their previous 10 away games combined.
🧤 Getting a feel for it — Rory Feely’s trio of saves for Barrow was the most for six years by an outfield player in one game across English football’s top four divisions… there was still time to let one in on 98 minutes, though.
🍲 Stocking up — Since Jayden Stockley scored his first EFL goal in 2011, no player has scored for more different clubs – his first for Port Vale was his 11th.
📈 ChesterYIELD — Grimsby’s Charles Vernam has now scored 4 goals in his last 3 away games against the Spireites: two in the National League, one in the FA Cup, and a beauty at the weekend.
🔁 Chuk on the sub — Chuks Aneke’s leveller for Charlton was his 23rd league goal as a substitute since 2018/19 and nobody, across all four leagues, can beat that.
🚨 Big Red Homing Beacon — Wrexham have won their last seven league home games, losing just three at the Racecourse since their return to the Football League (W19 D3 L3).
😮💨 A sigh of Rothlief — Rotherham hadn’t scored in eight league away matches, dating back to February, until Liam Kelly smashed one home from 20 yards on Saturday. And breathe…
🎦 5ivelights
In no particular order, a collection of our favourite goals or clips from across the 72.
Didzy does it again, but this time the whole package is his.
Shucks, Chuks, what a banger!
Take the shot, do the improbable, Garner the attention.
Keane to play out from the back — MK mk it lk ez.
Walker. Blooper. It didn’t matter for Bradford.
The View From…
What are Swindon Town?
This was meant to be a short piece attempting to answer the question, “What are Swindon Town?” – but that feels like a futile exercise now. It would be like writing a restaurant review when the oven is broken and no chefs turn up.
I was on BBC Radio 5Live ahead of the 3pm kick-offs and therefore missed the first 10 minutes of Barrow v Swindon, a game that screamed 0-0 at anyone who dared think of it. Off the airwaves and onto the sofa, when I turned on the TV and heard, “This game has hit a little bit of a lull now after a bright start”, I feared the worst.
Swindon went 1-0 down to a goal which was the very definition of ‘audacious.’
Ged Garner got on the ball in a wholly undangerous area in the left channel, with his whole body facing away from goal, but somehow found a way to loft the ball over the keeper and into the far corner.
After an early flurry of chances (apparently) for Swindon, it had all been Barrow up to that point. Swindon’s attempts to play through the thirds into wide areas, in order to deliver early balls into the box aimed at Harry Smith, had been stopped at source by the energetic Barrow press. That’s about as much tactical analysis as you’re going to get. What happened next triggered mayhem at every turn.
Barrow keeper Paul Farman gave the ball away when miles out of his goal, and then used his arm to divert the goal-bound effort. What won’t be spoken about is that, illegality notwithstanding, this was an incredible point-blank save that somehow diverted a ball to bounce over the bar from the best part of 50 yards.
Defender Rory Feely was called upon to play in goal, which is understandable given his formative years playing Gaelic Football. Surely Feely’s goal would now be peppered with shots as Swindon made their advantage tell?
Erm, no. He didn’t make a save for the remainder of the first half and wasn’t tested until the 64th minute, expertly tipping a Jeff King free-kick behind.
I don’t think it is unfair to say it’s scandalous that Swindon, against 10 men with a defender in goal, were unable to find a way to have a shot on target for the best part of half an hour, until a set-piece allowed it. Maybe now the war of attrition would begin? In some ways – the war bit – I suppose that’s true. Before the resulting corner, Harry Smith decided the best course of action was to throw his massive elbow into Theo Vassell’s face. Suddenly it was 10v10 and Swindon’s numerical advantage was lost.
Now, before we get into what came next, there is a serious point on Swindon here: a fundamental failing from Mark Kennedy and his side. This isn’t a failing just in terms of scoring a goal, but of even being capable of fashioning a goalscoring opportunity. Swindon had scored two goals in their four league matches going into this game. Alarm bells were ringing. But here, thankfully for them, the sprinklers came on.
We can fast-forward past some Feely heroics right to the end of eight minutes of added time, when Dan Butterworth just decided to have a go. He was miles out, way too far for a shot to ever be a good idea in a normal situation.
But this was no normal situation, and his tame shot squirmed under Feely and into the back of the net. Parity restored at the death, but a goal that only highlighted how absurd it was that Swindon Town didn’t give the ball more opportunities to squirm under him; more opportunities to beat a goalkeeper who isn’t a goalkeeper.
This game told us very little about what Swindon Town are beyond a pretty blunt attacking force with an annoying knack for conceding worldies. That they were still a blunt attacking force when all they really needed to do was HIT THE TARGET and hope for the best is a bit of a warning sign. Their late equaliser only brought that into even sharper focus.
🏆 Fantasy Football
Go head-to-head against team NTT20 in our EFL Fantasy Football league
Finally, a decent showing from Team NTT20 in the Fantasy Football stakes, with Ali Maxwell raising the bar from 39 points to 56. With a couple of decent striker picks, would it have challenged the highest score in GW5?
…erm, no. Well done to Biancorossi for a huge 107 haul this weekend, bringing them within 20 points of table-topping Red Bull Molivia on 335. We go again next weekend.
📺 Watching Brief
Upcoming live EFL games
Friday 13 September 2024
20:00 Hull vs Sheffield United
Sat 14 September 2024
12:30 Millwall vs Luton
12:30 Leeds vs Burnley
12:30 Oxford vs Stoke
12:30 Mansfield vs Cambridge
12:30 Northampton vs Wycombe
12:30 Swindon vs Newport
12:30 AFC Wimbledon vs MK Dons
Sun 15 September 2024
15:00 Portsmouth vs West Brom
Mon 16 September 2024
20:00 Birmingham vs Wrexham