Throw-ins can be a useful tactic

4:18pm Thursday 25th September 2008

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Paul Heckingbottom column:

I wish I could do a throw-in like Rory Delap.

Although I do the long throws for us, it’s not in the same league as Delap at Stoke.

Watching him reminds me of Tranmere’s Dave Challinor or Andy Legg, who both used to send the ball in the box like that.

For Stoke, a throw-in anywhere within 30 or 40 yards of the goal is a set-piece. It’s like winning a corner as they get the big men forward.

I’m sure they play for throws on purpose because it works and you can bet they work on them in training.

They would get turned over trying to play pure football against the likes of Liverpool or Arsenal, so Stoke play to their strengths. As you saw at Anfield last week, they kept it tight, defended strong and when they got a set-piece, looked to make it count.

I’ve always been able to throw the ball a long way and we always did it in schoolboy football because it stood out. If anything, I threw it further when I was about 13 or 14 than I can now.

I went to Man United as a kid and never really had the chance so I got out of practice. It was only trying it the odd time at Sheffield Wednesday that I started again.

We’ve got one goal from a throw-in move this season and at the minute Spike has been getting some good flick-ons and causing a bit of panic.

You need to be warmed up first, otherwise I’d just put myself out and it gets harder towards the end of a game as tiredness kicks in. But it’s a good way of breaking things up and keeps defenders guessing.

We had a couple last week in the space of five minutes which Spike got on to. After the second one, I noticed that nobody was picking up Omar because they were expecting another long throw, so the next time I threw it short to him.

He was able to get the cross in and the big men were still in the box to aim at. So it can catch the defence off guard.

It’s not something we go over and over beforehand although we do speak about it. I suppose it might be if I had a throw like Delap’s.