A game of two halves!

[MiKA]

It happened once again, we go in at the break 1 goal up and in complete control of the game, then come the second half we come out and play like clowns.  The draw was ok I guess but itd dissapointing when we let ourselves down like that, we gifted the blades a point.

Why does this keep happening? is it down to SOD's half time team talk?  There were a couple of guys behind me that made the comment  \"You can see why we have a problem filling the ground week in and week out when our team doesn't play for a full 90 minutes in most games\".

2 points lost today, thats a shame      

[Thinwhiteduke]

Absolute dogshit in the second half. Dont know the reasoning behind it at home of late.

[mushRTID]

As soon as Hayter went and pushed their lad in the back when it was going out for a throw, I knew we were going to get punished. Stupid thing to do.

Thought Copps disappeared 2nd half again like last week and Martis shits me up too much.

O'Connor was good and deserved MOM. Billy would have had a hatrick in the first half.

[DonnyNoel]

Its sad to say we dont seem to be learning from the Palace game (and to some extent the Derby game) with regards to the change in the second half display/mentality. We can't expect to beat teams by playing for 45/60 minutes.

Bit of a chicken and egg question I guess though - for me our biggest sin was giving away cheap possession in front of the back 4. But was that the cause of us being penned back or did it happen as we were already on the back foot? Too many silly free kicks as well.

[RoversAlias]

Yes it was, we were well on top in the first half (that first 10-15 mins was as good as we've played all season) but we let them take over the play in the second half and they got a deserved equaliser. It's a decent result but obviously would've been much better to win.

For me Martis was one of our best players, he only made one or two mistakes in the way of miskicks but he won it in the air all the time and was solid.

[phil o sophical]

We should have been out of sight after 20 minutes. We beat Peterboro on Tuesday because of their inability to take their chances and we were pegged back today because we didn't take ours. They pulled us all over in the second half and we seemed to loose our shape and composure and as hard as Hayter works he was to isolated at times today and the ball just came straight back at us far to often in the second half

[ptaylor-red]

I am still stunned and gutted. What a chance to cement our place in the top half and push on to the play offs. In that first half there was only 1 side showed up and it crtainly wasnt sheff utd. Hayetr coppinger and oster were fantastic first half. Then in the second half it was like 2 new team coming out. And what annoys me even more is that sheff utd still only had 1 shot on target all game and that was the goal.

JET was poor and his lack of work rate and commitment to a challenge worries me.Were the Blackpool fans who said he had 1 good game and the rest poor for them correct?

Hayter my MOM for his work and good play although should have scored at the death. With Cardiff not playing, teams around us losing and the fact we were playing the team just ahead it is a massive 2 points dropped.

Oh well back at it Tuesday and hopefully we will keep going 100% for 90 minutes.

[MiKA]

It was the same at Newcastle too, in complete control going into the break and then we just go to pieces in the second half.

Once the Blades equalised we started playing attacking football once again, while we are doing that we can beat anyone, try defending a lead and we are poor.

[donnyspur]

It totally baffles me in the substitutions  
We are in total control of the game in a 4-4-2 so he decides to take JET off and go 4-5-1 then he takes woods off and goes 5-4-1          We never got hold of the ball the last 30 minutes as we was booting it forward and Hayter had no chance of winning the ball against the 3 defenders, but we did when 2 played up
I'm a bit dissapointed as we had a real chance of a massive 3 points as well as beating the Blunts.
I was actually thinking the play-offs could happen for us at half-time
Never mind, lets get stuck into the Geordies tuesday
UP THE ROVERS        

[ptaylor-red]

I think he was right to take JET off because he wasnt with it.Decent with the ball but lazy and doesnt work like hayetr or sharp. However taking woods off didnt work and hasnt for a long time. Not just taking woods off but every time we carry a lead into the last 20 minutes we go 5 at the back or bring a defensive player on. We invite teams to have a go at us and while we have been in the championship it has come back to bite us time and time again.

Just curious, how many points have we dropped in the last 15 minutes of this season anyone?

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Certainly frustrating that we let 2 points go begging but I wouldn't go as far to say we played like clowns in second half, or we took the foot of the gas, or we played too deep.

Sometimes you have to credit the opposition for forcing us back. I excpected Sheff U to give it a good go in the second half and we would need to ride out 15 to 20 mins and then get our foot back on the ball. However, they kept coming and although they didn't create any clear cut chances I thought we would still get the 3 points.

You always hope that you don't get punished for not taking your chances and today we did. I say chances, they weren't chances they were stitched on goals that we managed to miss.

I don't think we did anything wrong tactically in the second half although Woods was struggling and JET wasn't involved as much because we didn't get a grip as much as we should have.

Regrets ? I'm sure the players will be as defalted as we are beacause they will know we are a class above the Blades and we should have buried them.

This could be the game we look back and say what if, unless we give Newcastle and Barnsley a good sorting of course !!

[Wellred]

We all knew what was going to happen in the second half. At half time we said that the easy chances we missed in the first half would come back to haunt us in the second half and how right we were.
Give credit to The Blades though, Little was superb and ran the game after he came on.
What I was surprised at however was why SOD didn't try and do anything to get a grip of the midfield in the second 45 minutes. (No correct that I wasn't surprised at all as he never changes anything before the 70th minute)
We were being overrun but yet again he waits to make a sub.
Why didn't he bring Sam Hird on earlier to strengthen where we was losing it?

[SkellowRover]

The last 3 home matches we have gone in at half time and should have been out of sight in them all, then in the 2nd half we have been crap, sat deeper and tried to hit them on the break only to end up almost throwing all of them away. It's a good job Derby can't finish otherwise we would have drawn that too.

[Goldthorpe Rover]

Totally agree, they came out for a fight the second half,we lost the plot. Very dissapointing second half.

[Thinwhiteduke]

Rigoglioso wrote:

Rather than indifferent performances in the two halves though, I'd be equally concerned as to how we didn't bloody lead more than 1-0 at half-time. Hayter could have had a hat-trick and we should have scored more, no excuses.

It's like the Crystal Palace game all over again!

Aye Rigo.

Just imagine where we'd be now but for those 4 points dropped in those two games eh??

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

We've thrown it away again by not taking chances.  Frustrating, but it happens doesn't it?

Their goal was harsh and unlucky but that happens.

We were hard done by, but the thing that we should focus on is the poor passing second half.  That was the most frustrating thing.  Not at all like us.  We looked shattered (both teams were after the final whistle, moreso than normal).  The pitch looked heavy and hard work.

We still lack a physical outball when we're struggling later on.  One change we need next season is a target man who can do a job in situations like today.

[Barmby Rover]

The presence of Billy up front would have made a massive difference. his ability to latch onto that ball out of a defence under pressure and hold it up was missed today. Hayter and JET don't do that. It will be better against Newcastle.