Crewe 1 Preston 1

[GeraldHattrick]

Thought Stewart was very good and seems to read the game well and can see a pass but sometimes needed to take an easier option, slotted in well and built on a solid 30 odd mins from Boxing Day, think he'll be a decent player. Not sure whats up with Guthrie but looked well off it again today and can't remember him finding a red shirt in the first hour.

Overall got to be satisfied with 7/9 points, but when we scored with 9 mins to go thought we would hold on. As for Preston they'll be there or there abouts I reckon but again another team at the top without much firepower.

[jamesdad]

I thought Stewart had a reasonable game against a top team and if he continues like this then he will become established in the side. Thought we gave a lot of possession away by just kicking the ball into their half and should have tried to keep it on the floor. We put ourselves under a lot of pressure in the first half by the defenders heading the ball to no one when they had time to chest it down and look for a pass. All in all 7 out of 9 points over Christmas, would we have been saying this in October. Carry on Steve you are doing a fine job.

[gardsPNE]

You lot have certainly come to recently and doing BCFC last week put a smile on us Nobbers. Cotter ill is a miserable moaning git and seems to find it hard to pay any respect to the opposition.

I am just glad we got a point from Crewe to be honest as the last couple of seasons we haven't even managed that. Talking to a couple of North Enders that went they thought PNE shaded it and certainly didn't deserve to go behind but it was supposedly a hard fought game as your recent form suggested.

[Timmy58]

Looking at the Crewe team from back to front, I thought Ben was, again, outstanding as was Baillie at right wing back and Leigh is starting to look a good player who can get forward and defend as well. Davis, as ever, pretty steady and the new guy I thought had a good match overall. Got done a couple of times but made a match saving tackle very late in the game to stop Beckford and has probably earned himself a deal there. Guthrie, today, was very poor in giving the ball away almost with every pass until the last 10 minutes when he made a couple of good tackles and passes. In midfield, Grant was a slow starter but grew into the game and got through an awful lot of work and Turton was equally hard working, but his passing let him down a little today. Missed him when he got subbed though. Ness is a very good passer of the ball and was the guy who was most likely to create something for us. Haber worked hard but really never looked like doing anything and Ajose took up some good positions

[lukcour]

Once again Garret had an excellent game. On the whole the defence was steady. A few mistakes, but you have to expect that if you are under steady pressure all the time. Considering his lack of play thought Stewart had a good game. Got stuck in all the time.

Until the 2 subs we were going nowhere. Haber and Ajose simply did not work. Once again Turton was awful. Runs around a lot but in the end he achieves nothing. His passing and commitment is dire. Cannot understand why he is preferred over Cooper, Jones, or Nolan?

Come the subs, came the change in our team and from that point we fully deserved our point.

Extremely pleased with 7 points from three games. Hope this is the turning point.

[Timmy58]

Can't agree with your analysis about Turton. We missed him when he went off. He didn't pass the ball that well yesterday but his running around achieving nothing, in my view, tended to restrict Preston's progress in to our box. He is very much like Ashley Westwood in the role he plays and I suspect as he matures he will further improve. Him and Grant allow the likes of Ness to play and pass the ball around to create chances for us. I suspect fatigue played a part in the teams performance yesterday probably due in part to playing 40 minutes on Boxing Day with 10 men

[AlexLeicester]

Turton is getting better. Perhaps not every game, but there is improvement and he's well worth his starting place.
Cooper is 'on a roll'. Young as he is, he has the ability to change a game through his vision and skill.
I believe Timmy is right in that having Turton slightly further back encourages and gives confidence to Ness. Ness, if the rumour is true about Stoke, should be our next purchase.

Alan Tate, it has been said, will be let go by Swansea. Lovely as it might seem for us, there are other clubs who need him as much as we do - and they have fatter cheque books.

Haber? I actually still rate the guy, but when compared to Uche he is slower and less able to hold the ball. Uche, though, will be red-carded very soon.

[MikeSB]

Re Turton?

My take is that he was poor most of the game. His passing was dire and he didn't supply any decent pass to the strikers and was maybe watching him make mistake after mistake, thought SD would make the change at HT as we were going nowhere. We were poor overall until the subs were made. I think we missed the coolness of Tate a lot as the defence were kicking and heading the ball anywhere.

Re Uche?

He is an amazing footballer who seems to have the ball tied to his shoe laces and you must have seen him beat three men with a flick and on he went. Not many can take the ball off him and why we improved significantly when both came on. I don't think it was any injury at all and someone said he was left out because he threw a tantrum on the pen at Oldham. I don't know and don't care but he should be the first on the team sheet and we are lucky to have him. Whether we can keep him after next week remains to be seen.

Cooper must start ahead of Turton imo. How many sh

[jimmyboldon]

It WAS Mike SB. Carrying an injury that is. Only a last resort substitution, worried about losing him for longer if it went tits up.
Copper... No injury, but not to be used unless 0-0 or 0-1 after 70 mins.
Personal opinion, if Turton had not started, we would have been seriously swamped in mid field.

[Timmy58]

Cooper and Turton are different players. One is a holding midfielder and the other an attacking midfielder/striker/winger. How many shots did Turton have on goal, I don't know and don't believe that is what he is there for. If Cooper starts it is in place of one of the forward players and which of those are you suggesting omitting? Cooper has time on his side. He is, at the moment, a very good weapon for the last 20/30 minutes when defences are tiring.