Player Ratings v Oxford City

[the_anticlough]

Fitzsimons 6 - poor fella, nowt to do apart from pick the ball out the net from deflected shots
Tootle 7 - Good, solid in defence and pushed on more in the second half
Brisley 5 - Went to ground too easily for their first. don't think he played well in general
Duffy 7 - Good. In the right place at the right time for his goal.
Dickinson 7 - Our best player in the first 20. Whoever telling him he's got a sweet left foot for set pieces should stop.
Hawkridge 9 - Loved what I saw. We've been needing players like him for years.
Yates 6 - Doesn't put a foot wrong, but could get on the ball more
Hewitt 6 - Tried hard, but he's still not convincing as a CMid. Might have done better cutting out the cross for their 2nd
Grant 7 - Came into the game finally and won the tie. Don't think LMid in a 4-4-2 gets the best out of him
Stead 6 - Usual Stead performance - countless lost possessions, occasional striking class. But always involved.
Allesandra 5 - Didn't enjoy seeing him play up front, looks lost most of the time

Sub Forte 7: Did well and put himself about in his short time on

[irish_pie]

Sorry dude was writing them at the same time ha ha

[the_anticlough]

OK, but I'm bumping mine cos you can't give Hawkridge 6!

[irish_pie]

Ha ha no problem Sir.. just didn't see what other's did today that's all

[Woodsetts_Pie]

What a strange game today. Difficult to give marks for individual players, but here's my thoughts:-
- If average is 6, defence as a whole should have a 5 as they were all below par today.
- For a non league side they seemed to be able to run at us when they felt like it, although having seen the footage again their first goal was a deflection which cant be compensated for.
- Defence were below par because the midfield didnt hold a line in front of them. The space in front of our back four was inviting them to run into
- Stead MOTM, - I couldnt argue with this only because i couldnt think ofanyone who had performed to 7 or 8
- Jonathan Forte - When you head the ball on to no-one and then stand with your arms folded a-la Usain Bolt thinking everyone else is the problem... 2 mins later you play a pass into no mans land and then stand with hands on hips again as if its everyone else's fault. Sometimes I wonder why people on here give him stick, but that says it all. Contrast that with.....
- Jorge Grant - When he makes a balls-up he jumps up and down at HIMSELF! and seems to beat himself up.

All in all the match I saw today appeared very even. Oxford City were superb in terms of applying themselves above the level they play at. Notts performed below the level required. Persistence and fitness won the day, thankfully. Then I read the stats on the BBC site which says 54 to 46% possession, 25 to 5 in shots, 9 to 2 in shots on target. It's hard to believe I was at the same game.

Having said all that... I'm looking forward to Monday night's draw, and I'm with Soccerman... Forest at home please. lets give Alan Hardy his FULL HOUSE.

[Elite_Pie]

All in all the match I saw today appeared very even.

Really? Sadly I was reduced to watching it on BT Sport due to being on holiday, but if you ignore the difference in stature and simply view it as Team A v Team B we definitely deserved the win. We had more possession, more shots and more chances. That's not to say that Oxford City weren't superb and gave a brilliant account of themselves, but they were without doubt second best over the 90 minutes. I expected a real battle and we were certainly given one, so I'm just happy that the ball bearing our name on Monday will say Notts County rather than Notts County or Oxford City.

[Woodsetts_Pie]

Ha. Once again Elite, I dont think our opinions differ. "The stats on the BBC site which says 54 to 46% possession, 25 to 5 in shots, 9 to 2 in shots on target", somehow differed from the experience I had whilst actually there. It seemed that Notts struggled to achieve the 9-0 I predicted beforehand (tongue in cheek there). When I got home and looked at the stats on BBC it showed quite a different picture. Apparently we WERE much better.

With 5 minutes to go I had the same thought.. Ball xx "Notts County OR Oxford City", will play West Bridgford Athletic

Now it's much more to my liking...

[freemuzzy]

Had to come in as I thought the complete opposite on Dickinson, who I felt was our weakest player, closely followed by Stead. Opinions, eh.

Fitzsimons - 6 - Could do nothing with either goal. Distribution on either foot is classy; probably a little too cool at times!

Tootle - 6.5 - Could’ve done more to close down on the first goal but great going forward in the second half.

Duffy - 7 - Went down a little too easily for their first but thought he stepped up and really led things second half, particularly at 2-2 when things looked to be getting a bit nervy. For his obvious faults, it’s not hard to see why managers rate him - his commitment levels are outstanding.
Brisley - 6 - Usual mix of aerial dominance in both boxes and poor distribution. Collectovely, things weren’t right defensively today at all but I don’t think that can be attributed to him, or indeed any individual.

Dickinson - 5 - One fantastic cross for Stead aside, distribution was horrendous throughout; constantly shanking the ball out of play and taking the easy option of going direct every time first half, regularly giving it away in the process. Performances have warranted keeping his place but has been more like last season’s version the past two weeks.

Hawkridge- 7 - Got better as it went on and ends the game with two assists. Wish he’d be more confident in attacking the full back more.

Yates - 6 - Usual commitment and enthusiasm but overall impact wasn’t there today.
Hewitt - 6 - As above. This pairing isn’t suited to games where teams are happy to sit deep and let us have the ball. Got into good positions late on but didn’t seem to know what to do when he got there.

Grant - 6.5 - A little over elaborate at times but always classy on the ball and stepped up when it matters. Has already now scored as many as our top scorer in each of the past two seasons’.

Alessandra- 5.5 - Just doesn’t fit our style when used upfront so is never going to have a major impact. Should’ve scored with a header at 2-1 which would’ve killed the game much earlier.
Stead - 5 - Not sure how he won the sponsors MOTM. A cool penalty aside, barely won a header all game and produced a couple of frankly embarrassing dives. Just isn’t a targetman; we have to tailor our approach when Shola is out.

Forte - 6 - Not always the most refined on the ball but his pace and presence caused problems and his header set-up the winner. Not sure quite how or why he’s slipped behind Alessandra in the pecking order.

It’s not been great individually the past two weeks but the fact we’ve still come away with two wins shows just how far we’ve come and how much spirit there is in the camp. I can’t remember us regularly scoring as many late goals before, nor as many from set pieces.

Next week is massive. I assume Ameobi will come back in alongside Stead, but I’d also like to see Dan Jones come back in, long term at left back but given next week should be our toughest league game of the season, at left wing with Grant switching to the right.

[navypie]

Due to a last minute change of plans I ended up watching it on my laptop in a pub in Durham ( Chelsea v Newcastle on the tele so didn't rate my chances if I had asked ) . Headphones on and forgetting myself at times I let out a few fl00k sakes ( mainly directed at Stead , his diving and reluctance to play other people in ,always looking to do all himself ) , got some strange looks so ended up having to explain myself and got some even stranger looks ! Couldn't pick a Notts MOM , thought Duffy had a decent game . We definitely deserved to win but I don't know how the BBC compile their stats, 25 shots ! Thought they had a couple of decent players but nothing much else. Also thought they might have had a penalty but who knows , our name might be on the cup !!

[DelroyFacey22]

Allessandra is weird, there's definitely a good player in there and we've seen it in glimpses over the past two games, he's useless when played as an out an out striker trying to chase loose balls and flick ons but when he comes deep for the ball and it goes to his feet first so he can dictate the play he can really look dangerous imo, second half against Colchester he was a completely different player to the first and I thought he improved a lot second half against Oxford too before he was taken off.

Edit: @ Navypie Their penalty shout being the one on Sinclair? Our defender stook his leg out then pulled it back before any contact was made and Sinclair actually apologised for going down, looked dodgy in real time though.