Was at the game last night, very very happy ! First half, I'd say we were certainly the better side. Passed the ball around nice and calmly, and really had a go at dictating the game. A very good half away from home, certainly deserved to be 1-0 up at half time. Another day Chopra would have scored his chance, and Bowyer hitting the INSIDE of the post you were sure the net would bulge ! At half time, I was rather nervous. For as well as we'd played, I was sure West Ham would have another gear, and could we play that well for another half? With our team having players that currently aren't in prime shape ( Bowyer + Bullard ) two examples, I thought the Hammers would go on and gain the 3 points....... Second half started, and the first 15 minutes the Hammers certainly came out with more purpose. That said, they weren't creating a great deal, but were playing the ball on the deck a lot more than the first half typical big Sam HOOF to the striker. It suited them more so...... That isn't to say we were playing badly in this spell, just it was more of an even match! As the half wore on, we came back into it..... but the game looked set to end an entertaining 0-0. I was enjoying the game, both sides were playing some decent stuff second half and I was impressed at how far we'd come since the Peterborough game.... Then in the 89th minute, corner ! Someone ( I need to see a replay ) smacked the post, for the second time in the game with me thinking ( FOR GOODNESS SAKE GO IN!!! ), then Bowyer tucked the ball away ! GET IN ! etc haha Jewell thought we deserved the win, I thought we edged it and Big Sam also had gracious comments for us. We were very very hard to break down and we kept the ball rather well...... if we're the fittest team in the league on opta stats at the present due to having so little of the ball, that really will stand us in good stead...! Stockdale - Solid game, didn't have a worldy save to make, but did everything everything expected. Decent distribution too...! Cresswell - Excellent again. Adding a great threat from full back with this diamond midfield, solid defending, very good performance. Edwards - I'm quite a fan of him at Rb at times due to the attacking threat, however not his best game. Lost the ball a couple of times when well forwards which could have spelt disaster. That said never gave up always got back, tried to add a threat from RB. Sonko - VERY solid. Looks rather good ! Very committed to every challenge, great attitude good in the tackle, makes good blocks, just what we needed on a free. Please stay fit ! Collins - Another good display. Sometimes has the Stoke mindset with distribution sadly, but defensively solid ! Bullard - Not great sadly. A couple of very poor first touches left West Ham with 2 v 2 situations sadly they didn't make the most of ! Not his best game, but glad he's through another game fit and still tried to dictate play. Never shied away from anything and kept going. Andrews - I thought he had a cracking game. Bar the goals he's scored, I'm not convinced from what I've seen ( Pboro + Cov ) how good he's been for us. However, his work rate was terrific, made some good blocks and rarely gave the ball away. Solid! Bowyer - Much better from Lee in general. Good passing, work-rate, good performance. Leadbitter - Playing much better in this system. I really wish he could get rid of this " sideways backwards " mentality with passing, it would add another dimension to his game. Three times he had a great chance of releasing Scotland or Edwards with balls that 2/3 times percentage wise most people would make. I suppose better to keep the ball than lose it, but it could have set up very promising attacks. That said didn't do a great deal fundamentally wrong ! Chopra - Ran all day, tried his heart out. The goals will clearly come. Whats impressed me so much with Chop's is his work-rate since joining ! I didn't realise just how high it is, and just how good he is off the ball. A snip at £1.5 mill. As a striker your clearly judged by goals, however he adds so much to this side. Scotland - FANTASTIC ! Again ran his ass off, this definitely isn't the Jason from last season ! He actually wants to be here, running lost causes, great passing doesn't give the ball away. Looks interested, very happy from how he played ! My summary of us, is this. We now, for the first time in YEARS have such a strong spine to the side. 2 solid cb's / a solid central mid / and a good strikeforce. That makes such a difference ! We look rather difficult to break down. We didn't create too many OUTSTANDING chances, which will need work. However, it was a rather good away performance. I said earlier in the season I thought we may do better away from home. Lets see how the Brighton game goes. Can we dictate a game at home against a side that will be top half for sure at the end of the season? We'll see saturday I guess, but I'm very happy with the direction the clubs going in ! Still have players to get 100% fit !!! JET / Martin / Carson will all play some role this season too, so we have attacking options ! UP THE TOWN !
thanks what did you make of the game ? I thought when you knocked the ball around you played better. Surely you'd be better with 2 uptop !?!? Why was Collison sub !?
Well, we started with 2 up front for the 1st time this season and look what happens! If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The positive thing from our point of view, is that we are still 2pts off top and we haven't got out of 2nd gear yet,so we should get better as the season wears on. Collison is still regaining his fitness after a year out with injury. You played much better than we did, so fair play.
Westy, this a 1st class summary, as many of us cant make too many games these days, so BIG thanks mate. I can feel your heartbeat and sheer joy at the winning goal! Must have been great to walk away from amongst all those Town fans. I am up Suffolk this sat tho and should be a cracker, with Palace denting their morale.
I was listening to Radio Suffolk and i must admit it sounded as though we deserved the win, But even if West Sham would have grab a winner at the depth i would still have been happy because the performance was there. Speaking about Radio Suffolk, I thought Darren Currie was great last night i hope they get him on there more often because he really sounded as though he had a real passion for the club and came across really well.
Very good summary Westlake. Its great that things seem to be coming off. I know Jewell seemed to be a bit slow in getting in 2 decent CB's which seem to have made a massive difference but IMO I think he deserves credit in getting a team with the quality we have together as quickly as he has especially as there wasn't really any decent players here in the first place to persuade some of these players here. I hope now we have a good base of a team and something to build upon we can find a few more gems like Cresswell from the lower leagues and integrate players like JET and Carson into the team.
