Wednesday – They got a point and battled hard. They were garbage and very negative though. Barely kept the ball for more than 2 passes all game and just had 11 behind the ball. Suppose it worked but it was awful to watch. They play like that the rest of the season and they might do down as there was no attempt to try and even win the game.
They can celebrate wildly their point but in 3 or 4 games they will lose a few more on that type of approach and want the manager ousted still. In the long term the result might not be the best for them as the manager will remain before inevitably being sacked.
Shows how the mighty have fallen when they are defending desperately against us and delighted to get a point Football wise there is no comparison between the two side. They may mock and saw that got us the same result as them but over the course of a longer period; our play will yield greater rewards.
Opponent man of the match – Dawson was man of the match with the crucial save and some other decent saves. The defence played ok but everyone was more workmanlike than playing well. Not sure one of their players touched the ball more than 4 or 5 times each half to even merit a mention. They just kept their shape and positions without needed to.
Weak link – Not sure anyone was bad. Fletcher barely had a kick and the wing backs got pulled apart. Fox gave a penalty away and missed their only decent chance so maybe he wins this award.
Henderson 7/10 – Nothing to do. What he did he dealt with fairly comfortably.
Freeman 6.5/10 – Did not get forward as much and felt he was slow to react to a few things and a bit sloppy.
Stevens 7.5/10 – Played well. Felt he was our best defender and really bombed on and gave us an outlet. Few cracking balls in that no one got on the end of.
Egan 7/10 – Steady enough under no real pressure. An easy game defensively.
O’Connell 6/10 – Thought he was our poorest player. Seemed to be slow to react to things. Slice a few out and mistimes his headers defensively and attacking. He had no idea how to time a leap and missed two decent corner chances.
Basham 7/10 – Good to have him back. Defended completely and got forward when he could but so hard to find gaps against so many men back.
Fleck 7/10 – Better performance than he has shown recently and at least showed flashes of driving at defenders etc. Had one good shot. Felt he faded 2nd half.
Norwood 7/10 – Steady game and pinged a few passes about but not sure he hurt them enough where it mattered and most of his play was too deep to hurt them.
Duffy 7/10 – Got man of the match but not sure he did enough for that award. First half he was good and got on the ball and showed his quality but 2nd half not sure we saw enough. Like with others hard to make a difference with so little space. He could have moved it on a bit quicker I felt at times but that is nit-picking.
Sharp 7/10 – Worked hard; held it up and tried to bring others into play. Had one chance – the header flash wide and would be annoyed not to see more balls come into the box. Desperate to score the winner I am sure but needs better service. Everything was too slow to come into the strikers.
McGoldrick 6.5/10 – His general play was decent and had some good runs and intelligent lay offs and interchange but missed the big chance from the spot. Did not go under and kept going but 2nd half nothing came clear to him other than one half chance he made himself.
Subs –
Clarke – Did ok actually and won 2 free kicks in decent positions with his strong running and hold off play.
Wilder 7/10 – Performance is decent to good but we did not win. Team was the team most would pick and sub was fine when we were chasing the win. Be annoyed we have not beaten twice now in two games at the Lane when we have been better in both but not created enough clear chances.
Referee – Madley was ok. The pen seemed obvious as did all the bookings. I felt that he gave them a few 50-50 first half but maybe that is just me with my home blinkers on. The advantage rule he used well. He will be complimented on a decent performance I am sure.
Crowd – Like last year; at times it was very noisy and the atmosphere crackled but with little genuine goalmouth action; it meant it was hard for the home side to turn up the volume. Sometimes you feel in games like this; the nerves are that much it is hard to make a constant noise.