Sun Nov 30, 2008 11:57 am
What a difference a week makes!!
Thought we played a lot better than last week against MK but as said, it wasn't going to be hard was it.
The first half I thought we played some nice stuff. Having 2 'proper' full-backs, made a huge difference, especially Boertien, who linked up really well with Reich. Having a 'proper' winger on the left, in the 1st half,playing with Boertien, who are both good footballers, made a huge difference aswell. Their link up play was good to watch. Zigor and Pedro would have been proud! Reich may not be the quickest of players but he looks to be on a level with the other footballers we have in Ricketts and Hughes. His ability to do something different with free-kicks would get him a few goals at this level i reckon and if given a run in the team he could be a very good player for us.
On a couple of occasions, in the 1st half, I thought Nicholls and Deeney also linked up well. Ricketts was producing some nice through balls, linking the midfield with attack by dropping deeper to receive the ball and looking to see what was going on. Players at a higher level, or on the same level as Ricketts would have had a field day with some of the stuff he was playing. Really good to watch. Other mentions for Bradley and Hughes who also looked good together in the middle of the park. Surely Bradley has done enough to warrant a run in the team now? He gets the ball down well and looks to play football how it should be... on the floor.
Gerrard and Roberts played ok and didn't look to be too troubled by their centre-forwards. Even though Swindon played some nice stuff at times they very rarely looked like getting in behind them. The marking for the point-blank save from Gilmartin, who made three very good saves, was poor though.
Can't say a lot about the 2nd half. Too much hoof-ball and a very scrappy game with no real flow to it apart from the 2nd goal. Nicholls did really well early in the move and to show the energy still at that time in the match to get on the end of a good ball from Taundry was excellent work. Thought Gilmartin flapped a bit at their goal and maybe should have done better but he had already kept us ahead before that so probably just warranted the man of the match ahead of Nicholls in my opinion. We missed Ricketts badly in the 2nd half and the substitutions by Mullen were puzzling but don't want to moan too much as we've managed a win at home!!
So... Mullen lives to fight another day! Roll on Huddersfield!