Not enough superlatives for the performance last night, brought that lovely warm, winning feeling back to the fans that were there - and not just because of the way we were crammed into that awful East stand which was every bit as bad as I remembered. This was made even worse by seeing some allowed into South upper, my dad being refused the chance to move, as at 6'3" he couldn't get his legs in behind the seat, and having specificially asked for a seat with leg room after a recent knee op (we were mid row) he and my mum left at half time. I think there may be a stroppy letter winging its way to the club this morning.
Now, back to the performance. Had seen Coughlan during preseason and been impressed but he was absolutely phenomenal last night until his legs went, and I honestly don't think he expected to be playing a full 90 let alone extra time! The guys sitting behind us were writing Morris off before the match even started which had us simmering in indignation, and I think he had a good enough game to make them change their opinions - certainly sounded that way! Sturrock played brilliantly and Corr was brilliant both in attack AND defence when he came on, Paterson has to learn to feed off both of them though, standing behind Corr is hardly going to get him the knock downs which Corr is so good at providing. Prosser and Barker were awesome, bloody ref not stopping play when Barker got his eye cut open and yet being taken in (unlike his team mates) when one of the Brizzle players went down. Anthony Grant. Just amazing last night, left Easton to do the dirty work and concentrated on what he's good at - where did he learn to shoot from distance like that?!
Morris - 7, good enough performance against strong opposition, goals were a disappointment but not really much he could do against the power of the first
Simpson - 8, reminded me a lot of Juppy, might have been a stand in in that position, but perfectly acceptable replacement for Clohessy
Coughlan - 9, commanded and commanding, the old war horse had a stonking game, won 100% of the headers, even when stumbling!
Prosser - 9, also played quite fantastically. Took over Coughlan's role when his legs were too tired, got in some very important tackles and challenges, a very welcome addition and how wonderful it is to have such a choice of centre backs!
Barker - 8.5, another strong performance from the short term loanee, sign him up! Best left back I've seen in our colours at the Hall for years
Zabooub - 6, weakest player on the night, but probably down to fitness and still getting to know each other
Easton - 8, very Maheresque but with the ability to play a much more forward pass. Some cracking challenges and tackles
Grant - 10, not often I give a 10 but he was just amazing. Fantastic shooting, fantastic "narcolepsy", fantastic passing and fantastic energy
Soares - 7, still got some work to do, and didn't like the way both him and Zabooub often ended up on the same wing, forcing Easton wide
Sturrock - 8.5, took inspiration from his performance on Saturday, held the ball up well and wasn't at all intimidated by taking on 2 or 3 at the same time
Paterson - 8, was out on his feet at the end, did well, just needs to develop some understanding
Subs:
Corr for Zabooub - 8.5, awesome at both ends of the field. He blocked at least 4 attempts on goal in our box, such an intelligent player too
Hall for Sturrock - 7.5, I really liked Hall and Soares operating down both wings against Derby and he showed when he came on that he has the ability to work the ball and cross it from the wing
Spencer for Soares - 8, love him! Practically his first touch was the sublime cross (very similar to Sturrock's against West Ham) for Corr's goal, such energy and playing up top with Corr and Paterson made our front line a real threat!
Ref - 7, on the whole didn't get too much wrong, few dodgy moments (mainly hand balls being missed, but Sturrock did quite a few that were also missed!) and a tendency to award throw ins to Brizzle if there was any doubt, but on the whole pretty decent.
Crowd - 9, really hard to get any atmosphere going, but eventually got behind the lads, think it was a majorly wrong decision to restrict us to the East. Wouldn't have been too difficult to open the South would it?
Now, back to the performance. Had seen Coughlan during preseason and been impressed but he was absolutely phenomenal last night until his legs went, and I honestly don't think he expected to be playing a full 90 let alone extra time! The guys sitting behind us were writing Morris off before the match even started which had us simmering in indignation, and I think he had a good enough game to make them change their opinions - certainly sounded that way! Sturrock played brilliantly and Corr was brilliant both in attack AND defence when he came on, Paterson has to learn to feed off both of them though, standing behind Corr is hardly going to get him the knock downs which Corr is so good at providing. Prosser and Barker were awesome, bloody ref not stopping play when Barker got his eye cut open and yet being taken in (unlike his team mates) when one of the Brizzle players went down. Anthony Grant. Just amazing last night, left Easton to do the dirty work and concentrated on what he's good at - where did he learn to shoot from distance like that?!
Morris - 7, good enough performance against strong opposition, goals were a disappointment but not really much he could do against the power of the first
Simpson - 8, reminded me a lot of Juppy, might have been a stand in in that position, but perfectly acceptable replacement for Clohessy
Coughlan - 9, commanded and commanding, the old war horse had a stonking game, won 100% of the headers, even when stumbling!
Prosser - 9, also played quite fantastically. Took over Coughlan's role when his legs were too tired, got in some very important tackles and challenges, a very welcome addition and how wonderful it is to have such a choice of centre backs!
Barker - 8.5, another strong performance from the short term loanee, sign him up! Best left back I've seen in our colours at the Hall for years
Zabooub - 6, weakest player on the night, but probably down to fitness and still getting to know each other
Easton - 8, very Maheresque but with the ability to play a much more forward pass. Some cracking challenges and tackles
Grant - 10, not often I give a 10 but he was just amazing. Fantastic shooting, fantastic "narcolepsy", fantastic passing and fantastic energy
Soares - 7, still got some work to do, and didn't like the way both him and Zabooub often ended up on the same wing, forcing Easton wide
Sturrock - 8.5, took inspiration from his performance on Saturday, held the ball up well and wasn't at all intimidated by taking on 2 or 3 at the same time
Paterson - 8, was out on his feet at the end, did well, just needs to develop some understanding
Subs:
Corr for Zabooub - 8.5, awesome at both ends of the field. He blocked at least 4 attempts on goal in our box, such an intelligent player too
Hall for Sturrock - 7.5, I really liked Hall and Soares operating down both wings against Derby and he showed when he came on that he has the ability to work the ball and cross it from the wing
Spencer for Soares - 8, love him! Practically his first touch was the sublime cross (very similar to Sturrock's against West Ham) for Corr's goal, such energy and playing up top with Corr and Paterson made our front line a real threat!
Ref - 7, on the whole didn't get too much wrong, few dodgy moments (mainly hand balls being missed, but Sturrock did quite a few that were also missed!) and a tendency to award throw ins to Brizzle if there was any doubt, but on the whole pretty decent.
Crowd - 9, really hard to get any atmosphere going, but eventually got behind the lads, think it was a majorly wrong decision to restrict us to the East. Wouldn't have been too difficult to open the South would it?
