Without doubt one of the best teams to visit CCS this season.Ref absolutely useless,but that goes for both teams.We should have had a penalty and their keeper should have walked, which would have forced them into a completely different set up.Equally they should have had a pen in the second half which would have put the game to bed. In short Their no.17 reffed or influenced the majority of decisions. Following our non penalty we fell asleep and they score a lucky deflected goal within minutes.1 - 0 to the referee. Their second was a brilliant goal when they cut through us like butter. Their third was down to poor marking from Turner. Surprised how little our subs influenced the game especially young Guested. (spelling) We should have tried a different shape yesterday Miller was isolated and smoothered everytime he received the ball.Anyone notice how they used the full width of the pitch often running the lines. Fresh legs are needed. Oh! And how predictable was Conway's runs cutting inside.Why couldn't he run the ball down the line? Was is a confidence or fitness problem?
The Pen was cast iron but there was no reason for Steele to walk. Kev had knocked the ball into touch, it was in no way a definate goal scoring chance. Goals change games and who knows how it would have worked out if we'd been awarded and scored the pen. Their first goal was obviously down to a huge slice of luck with the deflection. Sometimes thats just how it goes. Taylor suffered a lack of cover against one of the best (and quickest) attacking full backs in the division. Hoytes pace is also the reason it would have been totally pointless Conway trying to run around the outside of him. I didn't think we played poorly at all. It was tight game, Boro got the luck with the deflection and the non penalty. I'm not saying they didn't deserve the 3 pts just that there wasn't much in the game overall. Pity we lost ground this week but I'm sure none of us thought we weren't going to lose again this season!
Stevo - it was defo a penalty, but I didn't think the touchline came around behind the goal. Steele should have been red-carded for his cynical take-out of Kev never mind where the ball went. The ref bottled it big time through not even awarding a foul which would have been yellowed at the very least. As far as Conway not taking on a very quick full back on the outside, that's a fair point, but if Hoyte had been on crutches and wearing a truss, I doubt he'd have tried to do him on the outside. Craig simply has no pace and he knows it. He inevitably comes inside and we lose the route to goal down the left that pulled back crosses can provide. If Taylor was fast enough, he could exploit Conway's inside runs by overlapping, but he hasn't got the legs to get up and back at any speed. Taylor's major limitation is that he's one-paced.
'Brough are the only team to have lost fewer gamers than us. We've lost 4, they've lost 3. We also scored two goals against the meanest defense in the league (how they've got that accolade with their keeper is beyond me). No disgrace in the defeat and it may serve a purpose in getting us some much needed cover. 5th at Christmas is better than most of us predicted at the start of the season. Southampton's bubble hasn't burst, but there is a definite hiss of escaping air!
It's obvious - we need someone with legs that work. Taylor is slow. Cowie is slow. Conway is a decent player, crosses the ball well from angles, but is never going to beat a man on the outside and has become too predictable. The reason Taylor was exposed was that Boro had nothing to fear, nobody to pin them back. A decent fast wide player makes other teams play from deeper (as they did last year) so that our full backs are not under such pressure.
With a different ref on another day eh! [video=youtube;dEVlW3g7gW0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEVlW3g7gW0[/video] Rumour is the ref told Malky because the lino didn't get involved he didn't give the pen.
Their No 17 is Barry Robson. Brilliant Scottish player but can't stop moaning! Every single decision!
No probs Stevo ....but if an outfield player had bodychecked Nuggets like that, he'd have had a yellow minimum. We've all seen lesser challenges red carded.
Bit different for a keeper though as he's got a reason to come in high to challenge for the ball. An outfield player is blatently taking the player out with that challenge where as a keeper is trying to catch the ball and collides if he is late. Definate pen, definate yellow, Red would have been really harsh IMO.
