Plymouth came for 0-0, the first half was awful. We couldn't break them down, there were hardly chances created after the first minute and the ball was in the air for most of the half. No complaints on the team selection. Going 2 up front seemed sensible, Wiseman instead of Lynch was a good decision and Noble can't have any complaints after last week.
The second half was much better, if nail biting. We played some football at times, the 2 substitutes had a positive effect and we pushed onto them more. First half, Andrews and Welsh had been on top of the defence, but second half we were higher up the pitch, typified by Andrews nicking the ball, feeding Parkin, who in turn played Fagan in to run through and finish well from about 12 yards.
Bo had a poor first half, looking very shaky and coming out poorly to present a chance to Nalis that led to an outstanding goal line clearance from Leon. He was much better after the break and produced a typically brilliant save when Pericard deflected a shot from only around 2 feet in front of him.
The defence were VERY noticeably tougher. Every time Leon went up with Pericard, he was all over him, every time DD went up with him, he had his shirt. It was effective. DD also took a yellow card in the second half by chopping down Pericard near half way to stop him running at our defence. They were supported by Rogers, who was excellent, save for his awful first touch and Wiseman who grew into the game. First half he supported well going forward but looked uncertain, however after the break, he was very strong and handled the quick Capaldi and Djordic with ease.
That Keith Andrews came out for the second half was a miracle. He'd been abysmal, never tackled, never passed and couldn't even head straight. Credit to the manager though, he left him on and credit to Keith, he was superb in the second half. Nicking the ball, putting himself about and passing better. He was ably assisted by Noble, who worked hard and cut out the fancy stuff. He's going to be a great leader, he's constantly cheering on his team mates and talking. He ran 20 yards to high-five Wiseman for a good piece of defending against Djordic. First half, Welsh wasn't at the races.
Stuart green continued his recent improvement with another excellent outing. He was the one who always looked like creating, opening up the defence in the first half but Parkin wasted, hitting shots when he could and putting his foot in. Considering the level we're at, it was arguably his best ever City performance. On the flip side, Elliott was awful. It took him 70 minutes to find a team mate, some of his short passing was pub league stuff. He didn't do a lot when running or heading either. However, it says a lot about his play that he had a good shot saved in the first minute and had a header cleared off the line too. He also performed a brave tackle in the box in injury time to force a poor shot. Technically, he's terrible, but he still pops up every now and then. Is he worth a place on that sort of performance?
Up front, Parkin chased everything again, put himself about and assisted another goal. There wasn't a lot to feed off really though, and he didn't get anything played up to him that he could flick on for Duffy either. Fagan looked lively when he came on and probably did a bit better with the poor service then Duffy made. green also got into the game more in the second half, giving them much needed support.
The ref, Howard Webb, got the big decisions right, but was typically fussy, like all Premiership refs. He gave plenty against Parkin too, some of it very poor. Just because he's big, doesn't make every challenge a foul.
Not our best performance. Hard going against tough, boring opponents. In the end, one moment of magic was enough, and one more next week will be enough to see us playing at this level next season.
Ratings: Bo 6, Wiseman 7, Cort 7, DD 7, Rogers 7, Green 8, Elliott 5, Andrews 6, Welsh 5 (Noble), Parkin 7, Duffy 5 (Fagan).