I didn't get to Ninian Park until about quarter past two this afternoon so I missed the opening stages of the game. Having been told that there had been no scoring, I next tried to take in who was in the City side - the figure of Gleen Loovens was immeadiately apparent as were Chris Gunter and Matt Green with Mark Howard and Aaron Ramsey making up the players in the side with first team experience.
I was soon distracted from trying to figure out who was playing by a strange looking Plymouth goal which seemed to stem from a mishit free kick about ten yards outside the penalty area which found it's way through to one of their strikers (think it was the number 10 Davis) who fired past the helpless Howard.
In the twenty minutes or so after that goal the visitors had chances to put the game beyond the City as they dominated play - a good run and shot by Smith saw Howard turn the ball around the post and, from the resultant corner, Moult headed narrowly over. Following this, errors by both centrebacks within the space of a minute presented Plymouth with great scoring opportunities. Firstly, a ring rusty looking Loovens made an error far worse than anything seen from him in the first team this year when he took a complete air shot at an innocuous looking through ball and left Davis clean through on goal only for him to fire his shot across goal and wide. Within seconds captain Anthony Acheampong's misplaced header looked to have given given the visitors an even better chance, but Loovens redeemed himself with a timely interception.
All City could offer in reply during this time was a shot by Green following a good run and pass by Gunter that keeper Clapham turned aside, but, in the last five minutes of the first half, there were signs that they were getting back into the game as Jon Brown shot wide when in on goal and Upcott tested the keeper with a volley.
At the break City found themselves a goal down despite having the "benefit" of a strong wind blowing straight down the pitch from the Canton Stand. However, the second half was to show that, far from being an advantage, the wind was a hindrance. Plymouth just could not adapt to it as numbers 1 to 11 persistently overhit passes which ran out for goalkicks with the result that the only anxious moment I can remember for City was when Howard bailed himself out with a brave save at a visiting striker's feet after he had miskicked a clearance.
City got right on top during the second forty five minutes and ended up winning the game more convincingly than the scoreline indicates. The central midfield pairing of Ramsey and James Simmonds were completely dominant in the opening stages of the half and it was fitting that they played prominent parts in a very well worked equaliser around ten minutes after the break. Ramsey started things off with a lovely burst past a couple of opponents before playing a good ball through to Simmonds whose low cross was turned in from about six yards by Green who, at this level anyway, has the welcome habit of finding himself in the right place at the right time when goalscoring chances come along.
By now Gunter had made way for substitute Paul Gallagher who was a new name to me and shortly after that Loovens was replaced by striker Sam Wade before Ramsey, who I thought was very impressive today, left the field to be replaced by Jack Carlile. To their credit all three subs played a full part in City maintaining the upper hand and Clapham was constantly in action with Green, Upcott (twice), Wade and Middleton, with a spectacular long range drive, all forcing him into saves.
Just as it was begining to look as if Plymouth might hang on for a draw, City got the winner with about a quarter of an hour left.
Again it ws a well worked goal with Howard finding Brown who played Green into space with a good ball down the line. Teams at this level find Green's pace very hard to cope with and he utilised it here to burst past his marker and make his to the bye line where he did very well to spot the unmarked Sam Wade with a pass that the tiny striker knocked in from around the penalty spot.
Within a minute or so, Green almost added to his tally as a great cross by Brown just eluded him and, with a bit more precision and composure City would have had more goals, but with victories being such rare commodities in recent weeks, any sort of win was welcome.
There were quite a few good displays today, but I'll mention Brad Middleton who gave the best performance I have seen from him so far and the two wide players Brown and Anthony Cook who certainly proved their adaptability as they alternated between wide left and wide right midfield before Brown did very well at right back after being switched there because of the Loovens substitution. However Cook (who has great close control) outdid that by firstly filling in at right back when Gunter went off and then switching to left back when Middleton moved into central defence.
So another reserve season ends - this one has not been as good as recent seasons in terms of results and performances, but with the players that make up the team seemingly becoming younger and younger, that shouldn't be too much of a surprise. The rapid turnover of players (only Howard and, possibly, Gunter and Brown of today's team would have been likely to have played if this game had taken place at the start of the season) makes it almost impossible to nominate a player of the season for us at this level, but, if I was forced to, I think I might go for Matt Green who has scored goals on a consistent basis and shown evidence that he is benefitting from full time training since playing his first game a couple of months ago.