Magic Man Fan wrote:Right, finally got to the match thread.
Clayton, one of those shaky halves he has when he gets affected when he knows he's made a mistake. For some unknown reason he never came the ball which led to their goal. Defending was poor for it but it was clearly a ball for a keeper to claim.
The defence was shaky at times, it just shows how much we rely on the young but organised and mature Dann and Roper at the same time. I don't think anyone had a particular poor game, they all just seemed unfamiliar or unsure about playing alongside each other, I'm not sure why.
I thought Dobson and Keates were brilliant. Dobson especially in the first half. I had to laugh at Metfan's comments about Dobson above. If he played like that every week he wouldn't have had any criticism from me all season. That's why I have been critical because he played like that in his first few games and set the standard for the season which on the whole he hasn't lived up to. His passing was superb, including some clever reverse passes. I hope he's read my criticism over the last week and made an effort to improve because it worked.
Harper had his best game since Barnet and was a handful throughout. His goal was brilliantly taken. If we look like we're struggling to score in the next few games I'd put him through the middle because something always seems likely to happen when he's there. Cooper was awful but I've gone on about that enough. All the people who wanted Wright out of the team when we were 9 points clear have got yet another attempted replacement to remind them he isn't that bad after all.
Up front, Benjamin wasn't as effective as last week but the partnership with Butler doesn't work for me as some of us did say when he signed. We said we needed something different, something pacy to run onto flick ons from Butler. Unfortunately Benjamin is now winning the flick ons but Butler is a yard off the pace to get anywhere near them. His first touch was awful and to be honest of all the performances he's put in this season Saturday's didn't deserve a goal but it was one of the most welcome of the season.
Fortunately Sam made a big difference when he came on. If it took the signing of Benjamin to leave Sam fresh for the second half then he was worth signing.
All in all, not a brilliant performance but we scored three goals and got three points. It doesn't matter how they come now, just finish the job off. The defence will need to improve if we want to do it sooner rather than later though.
Agree with everything Mark, except the idea that you seem to think Butler had his worst game of the season ??
One opportunist goal to win the game and a crucial 3 points, a fantastic perfectly weighted and measured through-ball that gave Harper a virtually unmissable opportunity, typical Butler-esque persistence chasing the ball that led to the (quite correctly awarded) penalty, and loads of work pressing defenders and making himself a right handful for the whole 90 minutes.
I really do wonder what the bloke has to do to win the praise that should be heaped on him for a fine game and, more importantly, a fine and highly influential season.
He's well up in the race for player of the season, and for sure no-one in that team works harder week in week out than Martin Butler does for us.
I really do wonder how and why people miss so much of his work! :?
