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Sam Ricketts (7) - Sound.
Andy Dawson (7) - Played well and took no risks.
Danny Mills (7) - Was innocent in the penalty decision given against him. Got better as the game went on, but struggled with balls in the air, losing out on a number of headers, but battled well. Spoke a lot and offered words of encouragement to his teammates.
Michael Turner (7) - Was much more reliable going up for defensive headers than Mills.
Craig Fagan (7) - Worked hard and was the only attacker able to keep chasing the ball late in the match, even running onto his own clearance to win a throw in. Tended to cut inside to cross with his left foot - would it be better for him to start on the left so he can cut in and hit it with his right? Not that his left-footed crosses were bad - one even provided the first goal.
Ryan France (7) - Tried hard but numerous attempts to go down the line on the outside of the right-back were unsuccessful for getting past to cross - either losing the ball or having to tussle to win a throw in.
Ian Ashbee (8) - Picked up where he left off a year ago. Battled well and played the ball simply and effectively.
David Livermore (8) - Best he's played here, and looks much more settled with Ashbee next to him to help pick up the pieces and keep the ball in the middle. A good partnership, and allows our attacks to build out wide or with the forwards through the middle, especially with Bridges, and occasionally Parkin, dropping back.
Michael Bridges (8) - Showed some glimpse of real class in the first half, especially one occasion on the edge of the box, keeping the ball under pressure from defenders before curling a shot just off target. Drops deep to help build up play in the middle. Anonymous in the second half when we had less emphasis on building attacks.
Jon Parkin (9) - Fantastic. Took his header for the first goal as you'd hope he would, and his volley on the turn for the second goal will be among our goals of the season - he even had to have a second glance to check it had actually gone in! (Or was he checking he was not offside - only just!) Looked like he could be lacking fitness when he was unable to chase down long clearances in the second half, but proved much more useful when joining our defence late on to make a valuable contribution.
Sub
Nick Barmby (6) - Would have scored late on if Mills had been able to provide a better cut back. Was warming up for about 15 minutes and taking extensive instructions from Phil Parkinson before coming on. Maybe this exhausted him as for every sprint he made on the pitch he took 2 minutes walking back to where the play was. Not helpful when the other ten players are fighting to defend and then having a forward up the pitch unavailable to join in.