We'll, I'd have taken this before the start but it seems like points lost. We dominated the first half but then lost our way much of the time in the second. Poor penalty by Teemu but he did score both our goals. Good debut for Hayden and good to have Dimi back, but both tired in the second half. It stops the rot anyway and should give the players some confidence for Burnley who came back from 2 goals down to win at Sunderland.
Positive first half with crisp passing and good running off the ball. Gift of a first goal, but going into second half we seem to disintegrate into our usual headless chicken form. Cantwell put in a good shift and Hayden seemed well adapted to the team.
As a Smith-outer, I thought I might have to recant, or at least backtrack a little, after that first half. The two goals were hoofball, but I've got nothing against hooftball as an occasional change of tactic to keep the opposition on their toes. And apart from the goals, I thought we played some good slick stuff. Perhaps at last, I thought, we have turned that proverbial corner. But dear oh dear, the second half. Where was the game management? There are moments when sh*thousery might be a good tactic, but you don't turn a game into a war when you are 2-0 up away from home and the atmosphere among the home fans is like a morgue. You bore the opposition to death by hanging on to the ball and keeping most of the play in midfield, which is what we did so well in 20/21 to grind out all those narrow victories.
I didn't watch the game as I didn't want my door kicked in by the illegal stream police , but more than happy with that result I saw on teletext
One difference I notice with Gunn in goal, the defence do not pass it back to him unless they need to. No faffing about at the back inviting catastrophe. But we should have won that match comfortably. SU were very limited attack wise and should never have been allowed to get back into the match. And the commentators on tv were hilarious, the assault on Cantwell in the area, he was barely touched according to them. It was a full body check that took Todd off his feet ffs. And Teemus' penalty attempt was really poor.
I was never a " Smith Outer" more a " Farke Inner". Don't really approve of unnecessary manager changes.