It is with great sadness that I announce that former player Lee “Vitz” McVicker has passed away.
Lee was possibly the most gifted player ever to pull on the Famous “Out of Town/Wheatsheaf shirt and was certainly the scorer of the best goal I have ever seen in amatuer football.
On behalf of the club and players past and present I send our condolensces.
Smithfield rue missed opportunities in the first half to collapse to a 5-0 defeat in the second.
Had one save to make first half, dropped the ball for the crucial second goal in the second, not at his best today (but was ill if I do say so myself -Ian).
7/10
Was at fault for the first goal, but battled well after that, linked up well with Craig down the right.
8/10
Sound performance again from the left back, was felled by an atrocious tackle in the second half, but dusted himself down and carried on.
8/10
Strange for him to play on a Sunday since he’s discovered God. Took 15 minutes to settle back in but performed well after that.
8/10
Not a lot he could do about the first 2 goals, showed how easy it was when moved to midfield the last half hour.
8/10
Gave the ball away too cheaply at times, should have had at least one goal, never gave up when all seemed lost.
8/10
Outstanding commitment in the middle of the park, could have had a goal, never let the opposition rest.
9/10
Struggled with the pace of the game first half, was more of a threat in the closing stages.
7/10
Managed to hit the post twice in the same move in the first half, needed to have the ball played simply in the second, made the runs, needs the ball.
7/10
Turned up after a late call, should have had 3 goals but was denied by an inspired keeper, passenger in the second half.
7/10
Should have had at least 2 goals, showed his lack of match fitness in the second half, still on the way to recovery.
7/10
None
Tudor – Working in Germany
Bagnall – Trip to Bristol via Gothenburg
Out for revenge against Beverly after an 8-1 humiliation away from home at the beginning of the season, Smithfield were without Central Defender Chopper Harris and midfielder Rob Evans. Due to this a change around in positions of some key players tipped the game in Beverly’s favour, and they ran out 2-0 winners.
Made some important saves in th first half hour, rarely troubled after that, couldn’t do much with either goal.
8/10
Scored his first goal of the season, unfortunately it was past our keeper, handled his opponent well and mad a remarkable goal line clearance.
8/10
Slotted in at full back for about an hour and did well, pushed up last 30 minutes to help in attack, good energy levels.
7/10
Controlled the back line well, made good interceptions and always delivered the right ball forward, opponenets man of the match.
8/10
Battled well in the heart of the defence, and became more comfortable as the game went on, always quick to get a tackle in.
8/10
game back after a knee injury, started cautiously but got better as the game went on, good to see him back.
7/10
Lead by example to take control of the midfield in the second half, ran himself into the ground.
8/10
Fantastic work rate up and down the pitch, never let the opposition get control and gradually forced them back into their own half.
8/10
Struggled to make an impression in the first half hour, but put in a great last hour to pressure the defence from wide.
7/10
Baffled doctors by playing a full game so soon after his operation and lasted the full 90 minutes oustanding effort.
9/10
Thrown in at the deep end but kept a talented defence on their toes for a good hour.
7/10
Came on for last 20 minutes to add energy up front did well when he came on.
7/10
Cobby- work
Evans – illness
Chopper – some poor excuse, no commitment
Baggaley – Playing for Britannia
Smithfield, yet to win in 2010, put in an excellent performance to stay in cup! A 2-0 win against Dision 1 outfit John Marston sees a 2-0 win, and first clean sheet of the season.
Clean sheet, distribution good and pulled off a self proclaimed “wonder save”. Good all round performance.
8/10
Steady performance. Good in the air and strong in challenge. Helped with very pleasing defensive performance.
8/10
Strong performance from the centre half, strikers never had a sniff. Distribution good as well.
9/10
Relationship with Chopper blooming, solid performance.
8/10
Closed the wing down to release Ford to support attack. Never looked troubled all game.
8/10
Positioning and runs were excellent, scored, robbed of goal and assist through poor decisions from ref and linesman. Finishing should have been better, should have had at least a hat trick.
8/10
Worked tirelessly throughout the game, distribution showed much improvement. Should have scored one-on-one.
8/10
Enjoying his midfield role, worked well defensively and distribution was excellent.
9/10
Worked hard all game, supported defence and attack equally. Some good runs with bal first half.
8/10
Didn’t give the centre half time at any stage in the game. Worked hard and tracked back when required. Robbed by ref for a legitimate goal.
8/10
Playing up front and held the ball up well. Seemed to suite the deeper (behind the forward role more) won everything in the air and created numberous chances. Scored an excellent goal by rounding the keeper.
8/10
Came on last 10 minutes, held the ball up well to keep pressure off defence.
7/10
Baggo – Who knows
Latham – Who knows
Craig (T) – Mid-season break
Former player of the season Kevin “Giggsy” jones has suffered a sickening blow to his recovery from Achilles heel surgery.
The talanted winger well know for his gracefulness and balance stumbled on a “piece of rough ground” and tore the his Achilles. To make matters worse he has also broken his ankle in the freak accident. His leg is back in plaster and his come back target of March 2012 now seems beyond him.
Best wishes go out to Kevin and his family.
Blurton have got the most random results I have ever seen this season:
* Indicates cup fixture
This looks to be a tricky fixture for the Smithfield as Blurton Club have cleary got goals in them scoring an impressive 34 goals in 10 games. This is similar to the Smithfields record who themselves scored 30 goals in 8 games.
Both sides have got suspect defensive records with the Smithfield conceding 26 goals in 8 games and Blurton conceding 27 goals out of their 10.
The big difference between these sides is the difference in opposition. The Smithfield comfortably beat the Duke of York ealier in the season and should have beat them by a bigger margin, whereas Blurton just sneaked a victory in a 4-3 thriller.
The Smithfield are also on excellent form not losing over 90 minutes in 4 games and getting the 2 best results of the season within these fixtures. Although the defensive record is not good on paper, the Smithfield seem to be settling down defensively with the central partnership of Tudor and Harris becoming pivotal in the side. The full backs have been producing much better performances recently and the implementation of a holding midfielder seems to be giving the Smithfield a defensive edge.
This mixed with the goal scoring ability the Smithfield with Ford, Jones, Askey, Maskery, Smith, Bagnall and Craig all netting goals for the side, it is no wonder the Smithfield are on favourites with BET365 offering 4/11 for the win. Jones will be missed after netting himself 7 goals so far but has been placed as doubtful due to injury.
Currently 2nd in the Premier League the Smithfield will be hoping to continue their cup run and pick up a win this weekend.
This pundits prediction: Blurton Club 2 v 4 The Smithfield.
Lets see more predictions:
In the knowledge that there wouldn’t be any sponsorship money this year the club were on the lookout for a new pub for next season, when a phone call from none other than Harry Potter turned the clubs future on its head. The Smithfield is under new management and the manager in to run the place is one-time Smithfield midfielder Chris ‘Harry Potter’, who waved his magic sausage wand on Sunday and provided the lads with the best spread in a long time. There was the usual chips and bread & butter, but new on the menu were sausages and curly fries.
In talks with the Smithfield ownership, Harry promises to do his best to secure the club some much-needed sponsorship money, arrange for some quiz nights again, and even put his feelers out for a race night next year.
Our hats off to Wayne Maxted, philanthropic Smithfield owner, for allowing all of this to happen.
Injured but played to his credit. Excellent first half performance, kept the Smithfield in the game with some crucial saves. Second half performance generally good but a couple of mistakes crept in, should have done better on 1 of the goals.
8/10
Steady game from the full back, some good tackles and battled in the air. Needed to communicate more with new left wingers.
7/10
Defended well throughout the game but lost the ball a number of times in the second half in opposition half which caused problems for the defence.
7/10
Best game for the Smithfield so far. Clear Man of the Match performance. Some amazing last-ditch tackles, improved performance in the air. Only negative in the entire game was clearly hand balled in his own box and fortunate not to concede penalty.
9/10
Gave the armband and captained well. Improving performances by the game, very solid throughout. Talked well to the side.
9/10
Debut for the Smithfield summer signing. Worked hard but fitness let him down. Sick on the pitch after a sprint.
6/10
Played in a holding role, supported the defence very well and distribution was generally good. Solid performance.
8/10
Worked hard and tracked man throughout. Distribution wasn’t up to usual standard.
6/10
Supported the defence when required, covered a lot of ground up the line. Needed to show a little more when ball being held by other players.
7/10
Frustrating game for the striker, didn’t create enough space to receive the ball and squandered a couple of good chances. Excellent work to assist the second goal though.
6/10
Scored and assisted, created chances with good distribution. Performance let down by a miss control from a bobbled clearance that gifted oppositions first goal.
7/10
Came on at half time and made an instant impact. Ran at defenders and caused numerous problems. Scored first goal which was taken well. Excellent debut.
8/10
Injured and given management responsibility. First manager to gain a result from AFC007. Excellent collection of subs.
Both no shows, Latham didn’t answer phone and Baggeley turned up half way through first half to watch Britannia on next pitch. completely let team mates down. Both need to show more commitment.
Didn’t think to tell players he was going on holiday. Probably one of his “mad” motivational tactics.
Spending time with Ace from film Casino, looking how the Hacienda casino in Vegas could benefit from possible 1 hour shift rotation system.
The Smithfield were without managers Craig & Plant in arguably the toughest game of the season so far.
Ratings are as follows:-
Superb from crosses and throw-ins, distribution much better than any other game this season. Some excellent saves. Man of the match performance.
9/10
Another brilliant performance, showed excellent form recently and hopefully will continue. Kicked lumps out of everything in his path and didn’t give forwards a chance to produce.
8/10
Steady as a rock, won everything in the air, tracked their pacey winger throughout and dealt with him over and over.
8/10
Marked their talented, skillful striker who had about a foot on Tudor. Didn’t give the striker any time or space, challenged everything the air and made some crucial challenges. Building an excellent partnership with Chopper.
8/10
Took responsibility for the defence, constantly talking, some massive tackles. Confident performance.
9/10
Like a dynamo up and down the wing: back to defend and for short corners, and providing the attack with balls going forward. Took his goal well to break the deadlock.
9/10
Back to last years player of the season form. New role really suited him and showed excellent discipline not going forward to far. Won everything in the air and constantly supported both defence and midfield, captained the side well with talking throughout.
9/10
Excellent work rate, didn’t give the midfield a second to settle, unlucky not to score.
8/10
Playing more defensively than usual and constantly supported Ben on the right hand side. Strong in the tackle and got forward when possible.
8/10
Work rate improved massively, scored twice, one of which will be goal of the season. Showing 25 goals a season form.
9/10
Playing in the position he classes as his best and showed. Best performance of his season by far. Defended from the front, held the ball up really well, distribution was excellent. Set up 2 goals.
9/10
Defended very well last 15 minutes, good distribution too. Did the biggest header I have ever seen, must have gone 45 yards,
8/10
Helped to steady the ship. Defended well and battled hard.
8/10
Unfotunately did not get on but did a good job with the flag. Showed excellent attitude and drank the 2 quickest beers I have ever seen, didn’t even let the ale settle.
10/10
Spent the weekend with Basil Fawlty.
Working a 1 hour shift.
After much hard work and many hours the shoutbox is finally integrated into both the blog and the forum. To post you need to be logged in, and the same data is displayed wherever you are on the site.
I know you guys love it, so please make good use of it when we start playing some games and the site gets a bit more traffic (it’s like a ghost town at the moment).
I made a €10 donation to Pierre, the author of the shoutbox, because as well as the shoutbox being a cool and useful addition to the site anyway, he helped my fix a couple of issues that I was having that stopped me integrating the shoutbox into the forum. I hope the club funds can cover it!
Signalman – The Smithfield
0 - 0
20. Match Day
| Pos | Team | Pld | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | • | Beverly | 8 | 19 |
| 2 | ↑ | AFC007 | 7 | 15 |
| 3 | ↓ | Grapes | 8 | 14 |
| 4 | • | Signalman | 8 | 13 |
| 5 | ↓ | Grange Park Rangers | 7 | 11 |
| 6 | ↓ | The Smithfield | 8 | 10 |
| 7 | • | George & Dragon | 10 | 3 |
| 8 | • | Shamblers | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | • | Sneyd Arms | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | • | Dresden Park Inn | 3 | 0 |
[ bbPress synchronization by bobrik ]
