Player Ratings - Salford at Home

You really need to be beating teams as poor as Salford were today, but when you miss a hat full of golden opportunities and give away two awful goals you end up with only yourselves to blame.

And despite our attacking flair and drive from midfield, it was all rendered meaningless in the first half with Webster having an absolute shocker. Iredale was initially AWOL for the first goal, but Webster was brushed aside like a five year old girl for the first and his foul for the second was like somebody being tripped by a pantomime horse.

Olomola made all the difference for us upfront and when the again abysmal Loft took the centre-forward position we looked half the team. It was a peach of a cross from Thomas for our first goal but it was expertly despatched by Olomola. And again, Olomola created our second with a stinging shot which the Salford keeper couldn’t hold and the alert and lively Scougall mopped up the rebound.

And the selection of the midfield three vindicated Pressley’s initial team selection. Scougall was everywhere, Jones again the heart-beat of the side and Bridge lucid and intelligent with the ball.

We were the team in the ascendency, creating (and fluffing it has to be said) chance after chance, but then came our substitutions. Sorenson got barely a couple of minutes upfront before Loft was brought on and he was farmed out to the left. Loft is as mobile as an arthritic brontosaurus and Sorenson (our alleged star striker) is not a left winger. The shape of our attacks predictably crumbled into chaos and two points drifted away. Once again, Pressley’s random ill-considered changes having a negative impact on our play.

Football’s not about the chances you create, it’s about the opportunities you take and tonight – Iredale, Scougall, Hope and Sorenson should be extremely disappointed with themselves. I’m struggling to think of which of these four misses was worst? Iredale’s pathetic powder-puff jump and completely taking his eye off the ball before skying his header over the bar? Hope scuffing Thomas’ slide rule cut-back into Olomola who was wide of the post? Scougall one on one with the Salford keeper with enough time to deep fry a Mars Bar and drink a gallon of Irn-Bru before screwing horribly wide? Sorenson from two yards out, with the goal at his mercy, changing into his gimp suit before bundling the ball wide of the post.

It’s the sign of a poor team when you create so much and still fail to win the game.

Collin – 5 – Flat-footed and ball watching, flapping at corners and kicked it long far too often. This said he made a crucial save towards the end at his far post otherwise a poor result may have been much worse.

Elliott – 6 – Good positioning and generally solid defensively. It’s got to be tough for a full-back playing alongside Webster at the minute.

Webster – 1 – Horrific afternoon. He has the “Beckham” ball in him it has to be said, but looks as effective as a giraffe on roller-skates defensively. Needs to be dropped on this form – a complete liability.

Knight-Percival – 6 – A decent job attempting to hold our back four together, strong in the air and uses the ball well. Got turned on a couple of occasions but his calmness in the face of the drooling chaos around him is impressive.

Iredale – 3 – Some nice passes but AWOL for the first goal, and I couldn’t tell the difference between concussed Iredale and non-concussed Iredale. In a world of his own for the first goal. I’d pick Mellish ahead of him easily in this performance.

Jones – 8* - Outstanding again in the engine room in our midfield. Waspish running, crisp simple passing, bringing the ball out of defence and holding our team together.

Bridge – 7 – Tireless running, insightful dribbling and excellent passing. Looked a threat in the final third (when we had a centre-forward who could hold the ball up at least).

Scougall – 7 – There’s not a chance I would’ve picked Scougall for this match but he was everywhere today. Full credit to him for his goal but he should be really ashamed of that miss in the second half.

Thomas – 7 – Ran out of steam a little but was a constant threat from the right wing. Also considerable defensive effort.

Olomola – 8 – Cool finish and rasping shot which created our second. Some lovely touches and excellent hold-up play.

Hope – 2 – Same old Hope, fluster and bluster but no end product – and a horrible miss to boot. Half hearted in so many ways, including not bothering to keep up with play in the first half when Bridge (I think) cut the ball gloriously back to the left hand side of the penalty area, only to find Hope thirty yards away standing watching the game. He clearly wants to leave – and I want him to go, the sooner the better. Where on Earth was McKirdy today?

Subs

Sorenson – Awful. Seems to need too much time on the ball, this is first team football – not the Under 23 reserve nonsense he’s used to. The open goal he missed was up there with the worst you’ll ever see. I have some sympathy with him he got barely a minute or two upfront before being shoved out on the left. Highly rated? – I’m not sure why.

Loft – As poor as it gets. Slow, plodding, with the touch of an elephant and the brain of a goldfish. Doesn’t look fit to lace Richie Bennett’s boots and doesn’t even look fit to clean Connor Simpson’s boots. A waste of a loan space, he should be on the first train back to Leicester.

Mellish – Improved the defence to have a left sided player who can actually defend at left-back.