City reserves looked comfortable against a very young and (I guess) inexperienced set of kids from Boro. Pick of the Boro team was left back, Adam Reach. Also Bruno Palito (Boro right back) was the luckiest player I ve ever seen on a football pitch following squaring up and seemingly head butting the ref. Throughout the game he was a card waiting to happen. Anyway for City, apart from one glaring miskick in front of goal, Pusic looked very sharp as an out and out centre forward and was probably the pick until he got injured in the first half to be replaced by Fran Macaffery. Emerton continues to impress and Sonny Bradley would appear to be not far from first team material for me. Woods and Frenandez did 'enough', although on that showing, I d want to see alot more before shelling out the wages and I believe a £100k fee for the latter. No way is he worth that. The numbers below are representative of starting position only: 1) Rob Peet - injured with what looked like a pulled calf when missing a cross and did nothing wrong. If we are to run with four keepers, those being Basso, AN Other, Oxley and Cracknell, then I cant see a place in the squad for him. 1a) Joe Cracknell - I like this young kid and he made a great save and looked confident in drilling thoise in front of him throughout the 20 odd minutes he was on the field. 2) Danny East - Huffs and puffs but still plenty to learn. Rosenior and Macca are safe for the time being 3) Townend - Another with promise. Hardly first team material yet but he will be there before East. Defended well and was up-and-down alot to support the attackers. 4) Tom Bennett - Don't know his age but he has kinda crept up on the first team I think. Never really noticed him till this season but again he should continue to progress and looked a good pairing with Bradley, Did nowt wrong 5) Sonny Bradley - Aside from a ludicrous header across his his own area (well about 30 yards from goal anyway) which landed nicely at the feet of the boro attacker, he looks to be almost ready for the jump to the first team. Nice header at the near post header from an Emerton corner from his goal and he worked well with Tom Bennett throughout. Against a young Boro attack he was the pick of the defenders. 6) Michael Woods - Did ok. Tired as the game went on but I suppose without any pre-season to fall back on, that was always going to be the case. He needs another opportunity to shine for me. 7) Gavan Holahan - I see lots of the younger Tom Cairney in this kid, but his distribution sometimes lets him down badly, as it did on occasions tonight. However a good workmanlike performance tonight against lesser opposition. 8) Marc de Val Fernandez - Seemed very frustrated at the 'British style' and wanted far more time on the ball than our game allows. Never worth 100k and I am sure that we already have better options in the 2nd or 3rd string. 9) Martin Pusic - Was a livewire whilst he was on the pitch without really looking that threatening on goal. Obviously very keen to impress his only real clear shot on goal ended up as a comical finish wide of the target from about 15 yards. Still I d say if he regains his sharpness in front of goal, he could well be more than a bench warmer. 10) Danny Emerton - Always a threat with his running and energy. My MoM tonight and took his goal very powerfully to finally beat a keeper who had previously made several great stops 11) Jamie Devitt - Sorry but I arent a fan. He is Division 4 at best. His forte seems to be shaping to beat a man, then immediately trying to repeat the exercise. Others will disagree, but I d put at least 3 of those who played tonight ahead of him for first team duty. His penalty miss was possibly forgivable but it was at a nice height for the keeper to guess the right way and stretch for the save. To be fair his goal was a well placed free kick, but it doesnt excuse the rest of his game. 12) Francis McCaffrey - Another young un who when I have seen him play in the past has always looked a great Centre Forward with the potential of a Keith Edwards. Seemed to drop into midfield when he came on tonight, but still did alot of work and looked a threat going forward on a few occasions. 14) Douglas Wilson - Who? Well to be fair to him, he looked a young lad taking his chance well for the last 20 mins in midfield. Wasnt flustered and did nowt wrong. All-in-all a good win but to be honest, the ref didnt help a very young Boro team. I hope that the reserves get stiffer tests in this heath robinson league they appear to be left in.
CORRECT. As a precaution thats all and a sensible move by the bench. Hamstrings can be nasty. The fact that Middlesboro had a Carling Cup game @ Peterboro on the same night will also have been a factor as many of the squad players were involved down there. Though Woods and Fernandez looked tidy and calm in possession But would like to see them against better opposition. Woods looks more than able to replace James Harper.
