Walked out before the end. Not something I do very often at all, but Powell definitely got it wrong last night. Going on about it being his first "Essex Derby", did no-one explain to him just how we feel about this no matter what competition it's in?
This was as bad a performance as the Cambridge one was good.
Midfield was totally powder puff, if he thinks Klass is anywhere near ready then I'm a monkey's uncle. There was literally no spark in midfield which is why both Robinson and McCoulsky were so isolated. The odd time they did get the ball to them to their feet, both did at least try to run with it but to little effect. The hoofball tactics also didn't work and were never going to - Prosser always was miles better with his head than with his feet, and his defensive colleagues were similarly tall.
Defence was interesting, individually, I thought they all did ok. Collectively, letting that first goal in was a total embarrassment. Ted Smith will have watched that, after doing shooting practice warm up, and thought he might get a game in the remaining fixture in this group stage.
Substitutions were all odd. With midfield struggling, the sensible thing to do would have been to put Turner on and allow Dieng to move up, and take either Batlokwa or Klass off, both of whom were absolutely dreadful. What happened? No, we take off Hutchinson who'd at least managed to tackle and pass a bit and put Kightly on. I appreciate he probably didn't want to risk Dru much but midfield was where we were being totally over-run - putting Turner on would have protected Dru for a bit longer. Or, alternatively Cox could have come on and played as a attacking CM. But no, after Kightly, we had Yearwood then Gard - and yes, of course I do feel sorry for the lad, but he really wasn't the answer.
Bishop - 6, felt he should have done better with the goals, and didn't command things
Bwonomo - 8, best player for us on the night overall
Moore - 7, didn't do much wrong and it says something when your CB is the one bringing the ball out of defence because there's no pass available
Dieng - 7, did ok but nowhere near as assured as he is in midfield
Hendrie - 7, thought he did well 1st half in particular, especially dealing with the tricky #2
McLaughlin - 6, played a wing back role for the 1st half and did an awful lot of defensive work...not terribly well
Klass - 5, just awful, had several chances for shots in the 1st half and only tried once
Batlowka - 5, ditto, kept giving the ball away and making short passes or trying killer balls which were easily intercepted
Hutchinson - 6, slightly better pass rate and made a few tackles
McCoulsky - 5, showed absolutely nothing to suggest he should be playing 1st team football
Robinson - 6, felt sorry for Theo, with little service and being closely marked, he couldn't use his trademark turn of pace to try and get behind them -on the few occasions he did there was no-one in the middle. He and McCoulsky weren't ever on the same page.
Subs:
Kightly - 5, wrong sub at the wrong time
Yearwood - 8, brought things to life but, by this time with no Robinson or McCoulsky on the pitch, there was no-one to try to feed
Gard - n/a
Was hacked off last night with this result, still hacked off this morning. Good officials though, for once. And, dare I say it, I do quite like their ground - not as soul less as one our first visit, and I thought their stewards were great too. That walk from the car park though - you wouldn't want to do that on your own if you were female!