Such a frustrating afternoon, one of which you always kind of knew that we wouldn't be scoring in. Vernon missed 3 guilt edge opportunities, which cost us big time. The two strikers, after looking so good against Charlton had an absolute mare, and quite why we left it until the 80th minute to bring on Spencer, well, I don't think anyone other than Tilly knows. We were crying out for a bit of pace up top and it was quite simply criminal that we left it so late. Spencer touched the ball ONCE after coming on.
3 points were a must yesterday and I can't help but think that, that's that for our chances of survival.
Ratings:
Mildenhall 7: His kicking, as it has been since his hip injury, wasn't great, but he claimed 2 very difficult crosses and made several stops.
Francis 7.5: A very decent performance from him. Did well at the back, despite getting sod all help from Laurent in the first half.
Baldwin 7: You know what you're going to get with him. His brave header towards the end was vital.
Barrett 7: One of his better displays, although he still was far too gung ho for my liking. Won more against Haber than I thought he would so credit where it's due. Why is EVERY set piece aimed at his head? Ridiculous.
Malone 4: Tilly's love child was quite frankly dreadful. He wasn't tested defensively very often, but that's because Exeter tried to exploit the space that Laurent was affording Golbourne. His distribution was atrocious. When he did get forward, he didn't even break sweat to get back, often leaving Scannell to bust a gut and help out. The poorest and most pointless loanee of recent memory.
Laurent 4.5: He gets an extra half a mark for the shot just after half time. He beat his man once and I can only think of 2 crosses that he made. Otherwise he trotted around and played far too narrow, which allowed yards and yards of space for Golbourne. The fact that he was given instruction after instruction from the bench kind of summed up just how poor he was.
Grant 7.5: Generally he was fantastic, especially as it was his first game back. He covered acres and boy have we missed him. Proved even more that he's a class above Christophe and McCormack.
Moussa 6.5: Got stuck in and drove forward when he could, but on more than one occasion he got caught in possession because he paused for thought when he was looking to play a ball over the top, only to realise that the strike force were not making the run and nor had the pace to get on to anything. Grant and Moussa is definitely the partnership that I'd give some time and thought to though.
Scannell 7: The only attacking player to cause any kind of consistent problems to Exeter. His work ethic was fantastic, he beat his man time after time, put crosses into good areas and most impressively, he was always tracking back when Malone was caught up field. IF we do go down then it's very important we give him a new deal IMHO.
Vernon 5.5: Huffed and puffed, although not as much as recent weeks, but fluffed 3 chances that a professional footballer shouldn't, especially in our situation.
Paterson 5.5: The other half of our slowest strike force in recent times struggled also. He's young and learning though and he's another one that I'm sure would be very important in the League below. And no, I'm not enjoying thinking about these things.
Sub:
Spencer /: Touched the ball once and basically didn't really have a chance to get into the game. Should've been on 20 minutes sooner.