‘Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them’

Christmas has come a bit early this year. It’s not often you have an afternoon away from home when so many of your players find splendid form and you dominate so easily. Swindon is a tough place for us to travel to traditionally and I should give credit to the coaching staff and the manager for their work to set this win up. Three at the back worked perfectly today, our midfield five closed the space all over the park with ruthless efficiency all afternoon and Swindon looked toothless. On top of a top quality display without the ball we had the technical excellence to score four dazzling goals. It’s a bit of weird feeling, as a Carlisle United supporter after the last few seasons to be able to kick back – relax and have nice cup of tea with the points in the bag with half an hour to play. If you can’t enjoy afternoons and performances like this you shouldn’t be watching football – and it’s great to see players who’ve been working extremely hard all season finally hit performance levels this high.

Collin – 7 – Not seriously tested until the ninety-second minute, claimed everything he had to confidently and looked solid. Opted to kick the ball long too many times when he had options to play the ball short to, without Bennett on the pitch this is highly futile.

Liddle – 7 – On balance Liddle’s best position is on the right side of a back three. He has cover on both sides of him and in front of him and looked comfortable and confident today. Looks a far better player passing the ball a lot shorter rather than resorting to Curle’s long ball approach from last term.

Gerrard – 7 – Extremely ugly and on occasion the brutality of it all is painful to see, let alone try to attack against. At tier four level a touch of monstrosity can work well in your defence. Having Gerrard in the centre of your defence is like watching an old nightclub bouncer grinding his teeth and singlehandedly keeping a pack of chavs out of an 80s retro bar.

Gilesphey – 7 – Needs to be reminded he can take more than a second on the ball and he is allowed to pass it, however he was defensively excellent today and part of a solid unit.

Sowerby – 8 – Not only played his part in a solid defensive display but also our most intelligent offensive player for the first sixty minutes. Should have opened the scoring after Yates played him in following an impressive run from deep in the first half. However, for our first goal, his cut back to Nadesan after another lung busting drive forward showed composure and technical excellence. In recent weeks he’s been wasted playing wide on the right but his performance today was excellent forward and back.

Yates – 7 – Worked really hard but wasted possession on too many occasions in advanced positions. Defensively however, he definitely played his part and to have a player with a good engine and decent tackle in the left wing-back position was very valuable for the team today.

Devitt – 8 - A very disciplined performance holding his position in a midfield three today and a peach of a pass into the channel to send Sowerby into space to create the first goal. I’m not sure about how well Devitt works in a midfield two, but in a midfield three today he was dominant on the ball and helped turn possession over countless times. Add his splendidly taken free-kick into the mix and you have another excellent performance

Jones – 9* – Jones at his best today the fulcrum of our side. Pulling all the strings in midfield and protecting our back four with dogged resilience. It wasn’t until very late in the afternoon Jones looked anything other than dominant in our holding midfield position and the lack of space he afforded Swindon’s midfield when they had possession, combined with his tackling and determined ball winning, set the tone for our side and gave us the platform from which to go forward and win the game.

Slater – 8 – I’ve been very critical of Slater this season and in truth he’s looked way off the pace. However today, on the left side of midfield three and in combination with Yates especially, he looked like a proper footballer. He did a great job alongside Jones tackling and fighting for the ball and his passing was excellent all afternoon. David Platt made a career of timing “late runs” into the box and fastening on to the end of knock downs – and Slater managed to time his run excellently to calmly smash Nadesan’s knock down into the Swindon net. He topped this piece of quality with his second goal showing composure and technical brilliance to render the entire Swindon defence and goalkeeper irrelevant with some sparkling footwork and an unstoppable finish. Playing at this level every week Slater will walk into our team.

Hope - 6 – Tireless work rate but some really poor use of the football. In fairness, combined well with Nadesan to get the ball to Slater for Slater’s second goal, but even this pass lacked finesse. As a forward he has nuisance value but poses very little threat. When the team plays well defensively it does help when you defend from the front, and Hope does this. However, with a forward who can keep the ball, win a header and not waste possession 75% of the time we could’ve won 8-0 today (call me greedy).

Nadesan – 8 – Lovely deft finish for the first goal. Sometimes you don’t have to blast the skin off the ball and letting the ball slide deliciously off your instep leaving the keeper grasping at fresh air shows the hallmark of a natural goalscorer. Also his knockdown for Slater for our second goal against a player probably a foot taller than him should be commended. Spent most of his afternoon fighting against players twice his side but it was a task he never shied away from. Eight goals and however many assists by mid-November tells its own story. Putting our hands in our pockets and signing Nadesan permanently is essential in January.

Subs

McCarron – Frustratingly, Sheridan brought him on as centre-forward. Silly me, I thought McCarron was a winger and we had a centre-forward on the bench clicking his heels. I’m not sure what his experience will have taught him in homesty.

Campbell – Helped run the clock down, didn’t look any threat – but was trying to fill a hole upfront.

Miller – Passed the ball back to Collin a few times.