City strike out for goals

Last updated : 12 May 2003 By Paddy Davitt

Goals – or rather the lack of – explain City’s alarming slide towards the relegation trap door as the season drew towards a close.

The campaign marked McAllister’s managerial bow. Although sufficiently experienced to identify the problem finding the answer proved somewhat more troublesome.

A total of 21 different strike partnerships were tried in a vain attempt to unearth that potent combination - the difference between play-off contenders and relegation cannon-fodder.

Variety may be the spice of life but only Jay Bothroyd threatened to reach double figures for the 46-game league campaign.

McAllister pointed to the financial constraints imposed upon him as a major contributory factor for such a poor goal return.

“Of the squad that I inherited I had to lose David Thompson and Lee Hughes who scored 27 goals last season,” he explained.

“We’ve only mustered 46 in total this time round so obviously losing those 27 goals proved crucial.”

To bridge the gap he dived into a merry-go-round of loan signings with a fair degree of relish. There were notable successes.

Richie Partridge, borrowed through McAllister’s Anfield connection, proved himself a class act and Craig Hignett looked to be the vital piece in the jigsaw until a broken leg forced him back to Ewood Park.

But neither were likely to guarantee the goals haul of a David Johnson, Marlon Harewood or David Connelly.

But inevitably putting such store by loanees also brought some major let downs.

At the time of Matt Jansen’s capture McAllister said: “As with all the people we bring in short-term, there is a certain amount of luck involved.

“We need him to come here and hit it off straight away because we don’t have time to bed him in.”

No-one could have doubted the potential in such a move but a return of only two goals hardly constituted success either for the club or the player himself.

“Jamie McMaster could have been a star within five or ten minutes of his introduction to the team. He might still be here with ten goals under his belt if that initial game at Ipswich - when he was clean through but fluffed a couple of one-on-ones - had sparked us into a run,” said McAllister.

Perhaps it’s too easy to blame the misfiring hit men. Constant chopping and changing will have done little to establish an understanding between players tasked with hunting in packs to terrorize opposition defences.

Particularly when those strikers are young and inexperienced. A point made by hometown lad Gary McSheffrey reflecting on a spell on the sidelines while McAllister searched for that elusive formula.

“If you are out of the side your confidence does get knocked a bit but you just have to bite your lip and get on with it, and try to get through it,” he said.

McAllister will gladly consign his debut season to the history books. The team survived by the skin of their teeth and the financial chaos that has engulfed the club appears to be finally under control.

His immediate task now is to demonstrate over the close season that he has learnt the biggest lesson of that first campaign – a solution to his striking conundrum.