Winning/losing goals

I'll probably get the usual pointless replies from Sludge and NCB on this, but I thought I'd have a look at our wins and defeats since the 2-0 victory over Bristol City. Since then there's been a pretty consistent pattern.

I've made much of the fact our last 12 league wins have all been by a single goal, creating a club record for the same season. 3 of those 12 wins saw the winning goal scored in the first half; 5 of them saw winning goals scored in the last 5 minutes. Norwich City at home was the last time we entered the last 10 minutes of a game in a winning position but failed to get the points.

We've played 30 league games since the luxury of a 2-0 win (against the Wurzels). With 10 minutes to go:

9 times we've been ahead in the game, winning 8, losing 1.

5 times we've been level in the game, winning 2, drawing 3.

16 times we've been behind in the game, winning 2, losing 14.

Every time we've been 2+ goals behind going into the last 10 minutes we've lost the game. When we've been just one goal behind we've lost 5 (conceding again on 3 occasions) but won 2.

In those 30 games, if there's been just one goal in the game (either way), we've won 12, drawn 3 and lost 6. Nathan Blake mentioned on Saturday that teams won't like playing us late on in games if the score is close and he's right. We seem to close out games relatively easily and often have some fight to turn things around. The issue has been the 11 times we've been 2 or more goals down late on and it's been game over. Over the last 30 games the average time of our winning goal stands at 68 minutes. The average time of our losing goal (where further goals have made no difference) is 34 minutes. That's not great.

wHaTS yUr POinT?

Erol seems to believe that it’s easier to defend early doors but easier to nick goals late on.

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Originally Posted by Dave Blue

Erol seems to believe that it’s easier to defend early doors but easier to nick goals late on.

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A reasonably attacking bench selected, mostly attacking substitutions made, those players brought on at the right time when defenders are tired, and a good positive team spirit and confidence in the plan and playing for the team and the Manager.

Well done that's a positive post and showing what a good job Bulut does to win games near the end and not draw as many :thumbup:

Looks like he's gone but if he was here easy to adapt to start better next season with better-attacking players and a solid all-around quality Striker.

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Originally Posted by North Cardiff Blue

A reasonably attacking bench selected, mostly attacking substitutions made, those players brought on at the right time when defenders are tired, and a good positive team spirit and confidence in the plan and playing for the team and the Manager.

Well done that's a positive post and showing what a good job Bulut does to win games near the end and not draw as many :thumbup:

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That's the positive spin.

On the opposite side of the coin is that, too often in games this season, this defensive approach has resulted in us being too far behind late on to be able to do anything.

Another one to add to the mix:

Looking at how long we've led and been behind in games compared with the rest of the Championship. Soccerstats only provide percentages, so they've been converted to minutes.

In total, we've led in matches for 847 minutes this season. Southampton are out in front, having led for 1707 minutes in their games. We're ranked 7th in terms of wins this season but 15th in terms for minutes in the lead. Middlesbrough come next in terms of greatest disparity between number of wins and amount spent in front, ranked 8th and 14th respectively. At the opposite end of the spectrum come Plymouth, ranked 20th for wins but 13th for leading in matches, then Swansea, ranked 14th for wins but 8th for being in front in games. Teams like Plymouth and Swansea have enjoyed leads in games without converting enough to wins, while we and Boro have managed to win plenty without being in front that often.

We've been behind in games for 1204 minutes this season. Only Stoke, Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham have been behind for longer. Only 4 sides have lost more games than us. Ipswich have lost the fewest number of games this season but are ranked only 7th for being behind in games. With 18 equalisers scored this season (and many late winners), their resolve has been excellent. Birmingham City are ranked 14th for amount of time spend behind in games but have the 3rd worst number of defeats.

Basically we should not be where we are ... just check the stats , we let in soooooo many goals and lost ,ore games than above us