PSF: Yeovil Town 1 Bristol City 3

Many apologies but having just written approximately 800 words on last night's 3-1 loss to Bristol City and then losing the lot just because blogspot.com had automatically signed me out of my blogging account WITHOUT BLOODY TELLING ME, I really don't feel inclined to re-write the whole thing again; so seeing as it was only a friendly I'll make do with a few pithy observations instead:

As with the Manchester United reserves game, we looked good going forward. The front four of Williams (Andy), Freeman, Bowditch and Williams (Sam) once again worked well together in the first half and we could and should have scored more than the penalty we did score from. In the second half Freeman replaced Bowditch in the centre and Welsh came onto the left wing for Freeman and we were less effective generally, though perhaps that was more because we were by then winning less of the ball in midfield than we were in the first half. But in general our attacking play is looking a cut above what it was this time last year.

In midfield we are currently relying very heavily on one player, Kalala. When he went off yesterday we gradually lost control of the centre of midfield. Ayling and Upson are two very promising players but it's asking a lot to expect them to replace the likes of Shaun MacDonald and to a lesser extent, Ryan Mason. They may well prove very adequate replacements eventually, but to expect them to slot right in and play straightaway means we're risking a lot of short-term pain while we're waiting for them to adjust to League One.

Defensively, I'm concerned by our lack of pace at centre-back. Both Paul Huntington and Adam Virgo were caught out by City's pace up front yesterday and we looked particularly vulnerable when playing a high line in defence. We could get away with it last season because our central defenders Terrell Forbes and Steven Caulker had the speed to recover if the line was breached, but neither Huntington, Virgo or Stefan Stam have that same raw pace and we were exposed relatively easily at times, both yesterday and in last Saturday's United reserves game. It may be that the new loan signing Rob Kiernan can give us that cover, but again, it's asking a lot of a young and untested player. Players of the calibre of Steven Caulker don't grow on trees.

As for the goalkeeping situation I have to admit I'm somewhat underwhelmed with current first choice John Sullivan and even more underwhelmed to hear today's news that Skivo is considering re-employing last year's model Richard Martin. Two months ago Martin wasn't considered good enough and was released. He must have made great strides in a very short space of time since then. Sullivan himself didn't have the best of games yesterday. He made several good saves but his kicking was poor and the command of his box wasn't what it was against United's kids. I'm not condemning him on the basis of one iffy game, but I am comparing him to last season's custodian Alex McCarthy. And I'm afraid that so far, it seems that we've downgraded.

Regardless of anything else I admit I was disappointed by the result of last night's game. TBCUTR have had a poor pre-season up until now, losing to the likes of Aldershot and Exeter and I trundled along to Huish Park last night fully expecting us to add to their woes. Alas, it wasn't to be. That's it I'm afraid, I'm all written out. You should have seen the stuff I wrote that blogspot wiped out, sheer poetry it was, honest. Sigh.