That's the name of the game !

The silky football played in the early part of the season was fantastic to watch but at times equally frustrating that it didn't bring the results along with it. At times it was hard to see where a first league win was going to come from but the fateful day eventually came at home to Yeovil. A couple of decent individual goals from Mozika helped the boys bring in the first three points but the performance was not the sparkling performance many were expecting. Follow that up with a win away at Stevenage, the home team had only lost there a handful of time in the previous few years, it looked like the tide was turning for the Iron. Had Alan Knill finally realised that results are the name of the game, everyone would love free flowing attacking football to bring success, it seems in League One a different approach will be needed to escape. The only problem now is how to blend the good football with the winning,  but that is the million pound question that managers up and down the country are trying to answer.
If i'm honest the season started much better, performance wise, than i was expecting. The team looked full of confidence in the early games it was just the old problem of silly mistakes in defence that were threatening to ruin the early season hopes. Looking at the team now, the mistakes are still there but the performances are slowly getting worse. Take the most recent game against Leyton Orient. They came to Glanford Park having picked up four points from a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield and a 2-1 win at home to Preston, even though they were in te bottom three they were in a decent bit of form. I think many people thought it would be an easy game after two wins. The opposite proved to be true. A dour first half performance was made to look better by a deflected Andy barcham goal that sent us in 1-0 up at half time. Three goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half put the visitors in control. Barchams second was merely a consolation as the Orient back line easily soaked up any pressure the Iron could muster (not much). The most disappointing part of the game was the fact that most of the team seemed to struggle. Even Shane Duffy, who has performed well since signing on loan from Everton, was caught out on a couple of occasions. The loan signing of Nicky Ajose from Peterborough, a player who Knill had chased for much of the summer, has so far been a let down. He must undoubtedly have talent but i don't think we'll see the best of it at Glanford Park. Maybe Peterborough have been a bit savvy and realised he needs to build up his match fitness before returning to them and showing his best form. At the moment he is struggling to prove he is a 300k player, i hope for everyone'sake he proves me wrong ! One player who caused constant trouble for the back line was the veteran Kevin Lisbie. Rolling back the years to put in a man of the match performance. He showed good skill to control a defence splitting ball between Nelson and Duffy to slot the ball coolly under Sam Johnstone in the Iron goal, before converting a free header for his second. Lisbie seems just the kind of player the Iron are crying out for, much like fellow veteran Shefki Kuqi who the Iron struggled to contain at times in the JP Trophy only a few nights previously !

I'm not sure many people thought we would be lying in 16th place with 12 points from 12 games. The one thing many fans expected was a season of transition, but i'm sure many would have expected to be doing a little better than we currently are ! A couple of wins could push us up the table but a couple of losses could equally push us into the relegation fight. One thing for sure is the strikers need to start scoring a few more goals and the defence need to stop letting the mistakes ruin games. The last time a striker scored was Chris Dagnalls effort against Sheff United on September 10th. How long do we wait till we panic ? Hopefully Ajose will prove me wrong at Brentford on saturday and bang in a goal or two !

One thing is for certain it could be a long old winter down at Glanford Park if were stuck in the lower reaches of the league !

Up the Iron !