3-1 A good result and a hat-trick from Trotter. I would say that Waddock got what he wanted from Santa today! It's good to be out of the relegation zone. A tuff game up next against a Stevenage side that will be confident after their demolition of Colchester. The write ups say it seems to have been a good game to watch with Bull saving a penalty. Your thoughts and player ratings please.
Yes it was a good game. For once the defence managed to cope against a team that played 5 in midfield and had lots of possession, especially in the second half. It was a good team performance, with no weak links, and Nikki Bull's penalty save was crucial, although it wasn't the best penalty. I would say the difference between the sides was Rodney Trotter. He's got that touch of class that means he never looks rushed. The third goal made the 6 minutes of stoppage time more comfortable. I'm not sure if the way he worked the ball on to his left foot shows arrogance (which can be a good thing in strikers) or lack of confidence in his right foot. Not that I'm looking to criticise someone who has scored 6 goals in 4 starts for a struggling team.
nikki bulls penalty save was a fantastic moment (even if it was a terrible pen!!!), thought trotta was excellent and beaver and blooms both deserve mentions. ratings (dont slate too much - its my first go at these!!!) bull 7 mccoy 7 johnson 6 winfield 6 foster 6 grant 6 bloomfield 8 lewis 7 mcnamee 8 beavon 8 trotta 9 my MOTM subs rowlands 6 ainsworth N/A harris N/A delighted with the 3 points, would say they were throughly deserved, thought im sure greciens out there will disagree with me!!!
i think trying to get rowlands back would be the way forward, not sure if this is possible. otherwise harding, halls (please no!) or maybe even put ainsworth through the middle, he could be useful against a physical stevenage side been on the exeter forum, apparently thier manager came over and had a go at oone indervidual fan after the game for abusing his players! ive never known anything like it
my ratings: bull 7- good match and pen save foster 5- looked very uncomfortable on his weaker side and unbalanced the back row. Grant Basey looks a lot better. johnson 6- ok, but lost too many aerial battles winfield 7- much stronger performance to many of his of late mccoy 8- sound defensively and a real threat going forward lewis 7- decent shift but a rash booking bloomfield 8- put in a strong defensive display and also supplemented the attack mcnamee 7 - excellent start but faded grant 5 - far too quiet, should have been replaced earlier beavon 7- lively and unlucky not to score trotta 10 - a complete striker's performance, everything he touches turns to gold subs: ainsworth 6 - only contribution was to give away a needless free kick, strange to bring him on instead of kadeem rowlands 7- brief cameo but has a calm head and took some good touches harris n/a - on far too little to make any impact
Yesterday was an almost identical performance to the Chesterfield game. We were excellent at times going forward but awful at the back. We earned that win with the way we always attacked with confidence and looked a threat throughout. We got lucky at the back on a lot if occasions. Once again, a better team will beat us comfortably as we give away too many chances. We won't always score more. Nevertheless, it was a brilliant win and some of the football we played was sublime. McNamee's wingplay for the first goal was as good as you'll see all season and Trotta was a star of course. Bloomfield may have lacked quality but more than made up for it with his endless work at both ends of the pitch. Stevenage will be tough, we will need to be up for a scrap and it won't be pretty.
theblues I would say very harsh undue criticism on Foster. I for one generally find the guy a pretty poor full back whose positional play is usually poor. However, yesterday I thought he played very well and in fact think he is better at left back than right back. Against better sides I don't think we can afford to have both Grant and McNamee starting as both drift out of games and particularly in the case of grant offer no assistance defensively. The Bull penalty save was pivotal yesterday. However, isn't it nice to see us scoring and actually having the confidence we will score. I would much rather be a team that ships a few goals but you always think we might score rather than a team that doesn't concede many but doesn't concede too many either. At least it looks like we are competing now!
3 points and well deserved trotta took his goals very well, a perfect xmas present and the col u result rounded off the weekend perfectly
