Wonder what Olly would have said about that game? Think it might have been the 'feel like I fell in a barrel of boobs and came out sucking my thumb', :-( Felt marginally better after seeing that Helgs was offside for the header that caused a double save from Hart. Too easy to criticise Ferdinand for not attacking the headed cross but he clearly was not expecting it and only had milliseconds to get going and failed. I wonder if NW will have a word with Mackie and ask why on earth he did not go down when Slavic clearly clipped his foot in the area? Full credit to Mackie's legendary perseverance but the ref might have considered that a penalty. Jay had more time than he thought for his header that clipped the post. Helgs was unlucky with his chancer's header at the end. None of us expected anything from this game. I did not expect us to score one, let alone two. Feel a bit flat this morning because it was sooooo very close. We expected a beating and nearly got a draw and, frankly, the win was not out of reach. Warnock must produce that effort from the lads when we play West Brom, Blackburn (again) etc etc. Warnock is talking freely about January. He clearly has a war chest. I hope he can find the players that will turn 'so very nearly' into victory celebrations. Finally, well done the 12th man. We must keep the atmosphere going. It absolutely makes a difference.
No point in any criticism, the players will be lifted by the fact they outplayed the best team in the country, that's borne out by the match stats. But for the width of the woodwork it could've been 4-4 and they had to score three quality goals to win it.
Thanks Hoop. Definitely not critical. Outstanding performance. Just feeling a little deflated after the celebrations at 2 all. The MOTD team were well impressed and felt we were unlucky not to get the draw. All good progress.
So near and so far, I know exactly how you feel. Look at it this way, if they'd offered us 2-3 at the start I think most fans would have taken it, I was really dreading us shipping seven or eight without reply. There are just so many positives to take from this and the best is the form of HH and Bothroyd, a partnership that could really develop...
We have stumbled across our best team. Great effort. No room for Derry or Taarabt when fit. Bothroyd and Helguson looks like a good partnership. Someone will have to play themselves off the team now for my favourite Taarabt to return.
It is dissapointing we didn't get a point or 3, but it felt like a victory anyway... MOTD at least showed how close we were and the team must be feeling confident.
Does anyone understand what I mean when I say, in some ways I would have preferred to have been well beaten than to have gotten so agonisingly close? Feels a little flat after getting so close, but that was a fantastic display, with Betty playing well and scoring and HH continuing to be a bit of a revelation! I agree that we have found our best starting formation, with Adel so out of sorts.
Hi Col, I almost put that in the OP but, on reflection, I agree with Ciarrai. Great for confidence and better than being pasted.
We were so close - I'm not celebrating a defeat, but the manner of our loss to the best team in the league was good enough to give us all hope for the rest of the season. If they can re-create that level of performance against the teams that are going to be in our mini league at the lower end of the table, then we should have nothing to fear for the rest of the season - especially if NW brings in a couple of new faces in January to bolster the squad, and provide the firepower we need.
