Wilson 6
Two shots got passed him, one would have been a world class save if he has stopped it, the disallowed one was maybe reacted to a little late. What was notable was his giving the defence a rollicking when necessary. This is something that he has begun to do more and more now he feels that he is the No 1 keeper.
McNally 7
Steady enough, could have done better with the header over the bar, is it me or has he got the longest neck ever?
Fadz 6
Just ok. Slightly off it but no major issue.
Doyle 6
Was angry with himself for their goal - might have just got a bit tighter. Couple of good long plays.
Dabo 7
Good attacking play, looked strong and quick down the line. Won a few corners.
Bidwell 5
Bad game - he’s usually steady Eddie but looked cumbersome. One of the worst corners ever from the right. This begs the question: is it wise, against a team with pacy front players who look to break, to have your left sided defender on the right taking corners? Our left side cover, Doyle, you want in the box attacking the corner. This left Dabo having to chase back left etc. and exposed with a switch play. Daft.
Eccles 6
Young. One of our own, but I didn’t see him worthy of higher marks than Hamer. Some inexperienced play at times.
Hamer 8
Not his best game but and average game from Hamer is better than most players A game. Box to box and always inventive.
Howley 6
Copy - paste Eccles.
Godden 7
No one better in the club from 4 yards. Did his job there. Other than that, so so. Better than last week.
Vik 8
Not his best game but like Hamer, judge the game on the day. Still better than any other striker. Determined, mobile, strong.
Subs
McNally useless, the others so-so.
Walker 10 - for not throwing his toys out when he wasn’t picked after a decent cameo last time out.
Observation:
We get more corners than enough but haven’t mastered the art of utilising them.
We have a tall back 3 and now 6ft 2 Howley rather than Allen. I think we practice defending corners more than attacking them. (I.e., it looks as though in training our CBS are training to defend corners and we don’t have enough stand in CB to act as defenders when our CB attack. The downside of a small squad (in number) is that you can’t train for 8/9 to do the attack corner drill and another 9 to play as the defending team (unless you use young kids) ). Might be wrong. Anyway, attacking corners and throws need working on.