Not an enjoyable game to watch, a very defensive set up, a team of giants opposing us and barely a shot on goal from either side.
Was very impressed with the loanee goalkeeper, he can happily play on Saturday. Saw more composure and confidence than I've seen in Oxley most of the season. Caught comfortably, punched well and varied his distribution. He was always going to get done by a penalty having not had any chance to study - maybe one of the defenders should have and then tipped him the wink?
As others have said, Hobson and White have been an impressive pairing in the middle and I would much prefer to have seen Demetriou back in his old right back berth. However much slower he is now, he has to be a better choice to cover Elvis. Having said that, Cordner gave a good account of himself, and Clifford had another good game, including trying to get some overlapping with Holmes who largely ignored him.
We lost the game in midfield. Demetriou and Dieng do not work well together, throw in Halford (who I would much rather have seen tried up top, he'd at least have worked their defence), a totally stifled ANG and Holmes for whom nothing came off, and you have an over crowded midfield with no understanding of each other. Consequently, long ball after long ball out of defence for Acquah to ineffectively attempt to chase.
Acquah frustrates the hell out of me, he's a forward who can't jump and merely tries to rely on his height to win headers. He's not that quick either - another reason those long balls didn't work. Also didn't seem to try to get on Halford's long throws.
We looked so much better when the subs came on, Reeco might be one footed but he caused more fuss in their defence with that one foot than the rest of the team had all game. Similarly Kyle Taylor put some urgency into midfield that had been missing.
Simpson signing is a must, we are so blunt in attack.
Montgomery - 7, looked comforable
Hobson - 5, no complaints on the penalty, though the initial foul was outside the box
White - 7, solid
Cordner - 7, ditto
Clifford - 7.5, MOTM, lots of effort and did his defensive duties well too
Halford - 6, not utilised well
ANG - 5, kept running into blind alleys, needs to learn to release the ball better
Demetriou - 5, just no
Dieng - 6, should have done better with that header
Holmes - 6, thought he tried too hard to do things all by himself, wanting that "perfect" debut
Acquah - 6, jump man, jump!
Subs:
Akinola for Demetriou - 7, more energetic up top and tried
Hackett-Fairchild for Acquah - 7, stronger player and more effective
Ferguson for Holmes - 6, didn't really notice him to be fair
Taylor for Halford - 7, game came alive for us once he came on, has to start if fit
Goodship for ANG - 6, not really time to judge
Decent set of officials, on to Oldham and to see if Peter Clarke is going to have a customary mistake in him or if he's going to score against us - it's always one or the other!