The first two goals came form poor decision making. A poor pass out of defence for the first, although what followed was a superb pass through 2 defenders that took out Cort and put Delaney in a position where if he touched Aliadiare, he was off. Good finish. We missed a penalty, shouldn't have been Green taking it after he missed his last one. We then equalised, good play from Noble, mistake in defence, volley from Leon. The second goal, we were stroking the ball around in midfield, Andrews passed to Thelwell when it wasn't the best option, Thelwell fell over and they ran through to score. After a lucky OG equaliser (Good deep cross from France), we fell asleep in the last minute and Cort got on the end of a superb cross. it wasn't deserved.
Boaz made one save from Miller at close range but had nothing else to do. Thelwell looked full of running, didn't give them an inch and got in good attacking positions. Rogers had a cracking game, intelligent in the tackle and again, full of running, despite still looking short of fitness. Cort and Delaney generally did very well, but were exposed by pace for the first goal and went missing at the end.
Francey did OK. The crossing was disappointing. We tried a lot more crosses then usual but whether it was France, Fagan, Thelwell, Duffy, Rogers or Elliott, all but one were poor. Elliott was generally quite, but showed trademark flashes of brilliance and supported Parkin. We went with the 451/433 formation that worked quite well. In the middle, all 3 worked hard and when they got going, passed beautifully. Green made some good runs and worked hard. The penalty miss will be what we remember but he had his best game in a long while. Andrews did what he does best, support and pass. He made a couple of poor decisions, but generally OK.
Noble was at the centre of everything, mostly excellent, but sometimes poor. He passed a few times into spaces where he expected someone, not where they actually where, which caused a problem. He was also very reluctant to hit anything long, preferring to try and play out of trouble. Once he adapts, he'll be a good signing.
Parkin was superb, he's an incredible threat and has a fantastic touch. Caused problems running in from the edge of the area, won the penalty and set up a couple of decent situations. He might have saw Edwards sent off late one too, but the ref adjudged that they'd fallen over each other when Edwards had fallen and then brought Parking down. Fagan was great when he came on, he looks hungry.
After the equaliser, there was only one team going to win, but they lost! We had a succession of corners and might have nicked it, maybe should have.
It's a gutting defeat but a very promising performance. The manager has been talking about the need for older heads and games like this show it. The bench looked very strong. We should stay up, we're more then good enough. It's not that great a division, there are plenty of beatable teams. It's nearly March and we've yet to be given a hiding, despite the reputation of some of our opponents. We really should have another 15-20 points on the board. This last 10 games will give us good experience and the aim is to get more experience, write this season off and get on with the next. Obviously settling at this level is an achievement, but it's not one that should be celebrated, we're a squad and a club that is capable of much more, so lets get one with making sure we're 7 or 8 places higher up at this point next season.
Ratings: Bo 6. Thelwell 7 (Duffy), Rogers 7, Cort 7, Delaney 7. France 7, Elliott 7 (Fagan), Andrews 6, Green 7, Noble 7. Parkin 8.