Derby Home Won 2 – 1, We Keep Winning
Charles, Matsuki and Larin had all played well at Wrexham, but a rotation policy placed them on the bench against Derby, with Scienza for Edozie the fourth starting change. The Rams are in decent form and even without regular forwards Brereton-Diaz (he’s still ours!) and Agyemang (injured) they looked more accomplished than they had been in the match at Pride Park – of course you could say the same for Saints!. The visitors were confident enough to rely on centre backs Sanderson and Clarke to deal with whatever our wide players could throw at them, and that looked a reasonable strategy as Azaz failed with just the couple of opportunities that the passing game created in the first half. Then a horrible wayward pass from Azaz gifted the visitors a corner that came off a defender and fell for aggressive centre forward Morris to score, and the long unbeaten run was under threat. After the restart we should have grabbed an early equaliser but Fellows headed Manning’s cross over, so we had to thank a familiar figure from the other flank to restore parity – Scienza finishing off a swift move out of defence with a characteristic curling shot. On came Larin to give Clarke something more physical to cope with, and maybe that contributed to the second, and winning, goal on 69 minutes when Harwood-Bellis was hardly challenged as he planted Manning’s free kick past O’Donnell. There’s an air of optimism around the club at the moment, but that didn’t stop every failed Derby possession being loudly cheered. Saints should have ended the game even further ahead but collectively they rather made a mess of a late 4 v. 2 situation; in the end it didn’t really matter anyway.
Three LSSC Man of the Match candidates to choose from:
3. Ryan Manning, his assist edging him ahead of several other worthy candidates.
6. Taylor Harwood-Bellis. Coped with the tough time given him by Morris in the first half, plus a vital goal.
13. Léo Scienza. It’s that man again.
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