This game was one rollercoaster of emotions. In the first half I thought we were poor, didn't really offer much going forward and let them come on to us. There goal came from a cross and in my opinion that should not be happening. If someone had gone out to close down the cross then they wouldn't have been able to get the ball in to the box. I thought 1-0 was probably a fair reflection of the first half. I was pleased in the second half when Taylor made the two subs (taking Dickenson and Dack off and bringing on McGlashan and Cody) as I did think that McGlashan could be the player that could turn the game in our favour and although Cody has not been in the best of form he is probably one of our players with the most natural ability. This gave us more width as McGlashan went out to the right and Loft went to the left. Also if Dack had not been subbed off he probably would have been sent off. Then as soon as we go and make the subs we go and let in the second goal, from yet another cross. The goal has been awarded as a Legge own goal but from where I sit I thought it was going in anyway, therefore making it their players goal. The one positive from the game was the fight back that we produced after that. Two quick goals from Cody and Egan, both from Loft crosses brought us back level and then the game could have gone anywhere from there. I do not understand people's comments about Loft, as his crossing was excellent and he certainly was no worse than anybody else. Personally I think the biggest mistake was made when it went to 2-2. We should have pushed on, we were the team in the ascendency and could have kicked on and scored a 3rd or maybe even a 4th. Except then we went back to the slow way of playing, taking an age to take a throw in, and then the minute or two where we could have pushed on and attacked more had gone. This allowed Chesterfield into the game again, and there 3rd goal was taken excellently, although the only reason he got there was because of a catalogue of errors by Legge and Ehmer. Soon after there 3rd we brought on Kedwell although it didn't have the same effect as the earlier two substitutions and at the end we did huff and puff but never really got a chance until at the end when Cody fluffed it up. I have seen it said that the goalie got a hand to it but at the time it didn't look like that. In my opinion he perhaps wanted the glory of scoring a last gasp equaliser a little two quickly. It seemed as though he just wanted to stick the ball in to the back of the net and run away and celebrate. I think rather than shooting first time he should have taken a touch pushed the ball slightly to his right (the other way to which he hit it) and shot into the right corner of the goal (from his point of view) as there was no defender in that area of the pitch. The very frustrating thing at the end was when, we had a throw in and nobody actually went to receive the ball, they all just waited in the box for it to come in. My ratings: Stuart Nelson - 6 - Average game, didn't really have much to do apart from the goals and possibly at fault for either of the first 2 although hard to tell at the time. Will be easier to see on the highlights. Joe Martin - 6 - Again another average game, nothing spectacular, nothing awful. Leon Legge - 5 - At times was good, won a lot of headers against there giant number 9 (although for me he was one of the worst forwards I have seen at Priestfield, reminded me a lot of the Yeovil number 13 Kieffer Moore) but made so many mistakes. Lack of communication, just let there forward through on one occasion when in our box and let the ball go through his legs from a simple pass on another which led to their player being through on goal. The icing on the cake was the moment when he had a free header and completely missed the ball. Max Ehmer - 5.5 - Not quite as bad as Legge, but still made a few mistakes including one clear lack of communication with Nelson, although was solid in the first half. John Egan - 8.5 - Very good again although I still don't see why Taylor plays him at RB? Brought the ball forward well and put in a number of crosses. Scored again. Jake Hessenthaler - 6 - Didn't really see a lot of him today. Average, some good, some bad. Michael Doughty - 6 - At times he seems to be very good, especially when running with the ball and beating a player despite the fact he is not the quickest of player. However at other times he seems to want to play the spectacular ball which today never really came off, for example at the end rather than dinking it in, he tried to fire it in with pace which ended with it going straight to the keeper. Bradley Dack - 6.5 - Tried hard, although as the people behind me said, I think he wanted boxing day off. He kept fouling people and if the ref hadn't been so lenient then I think he definitely would have been booked and if he stayed on long enough sent off. Doug Loft - 7 - People have said that he didn't deserve man of the match, maybe that is true as I think Egan should have got it but I still don't think he was as bad as others have said. In the first half to be fair I hardly noticed him and he didn't really influence the game but on the Left of midfield in the second half I thought he was very good. Had the ability to beat a man and put in two excellent crosses for the two goals. Luke Norris - 6 - Another player who just had an average game. Brennan Dickenson - 6 - Again another player who didn't do anything awful but never really showed anything although he did try hard. Cleared the ball of the line in the first half to stop them from taking the lead in the first few minutes. SUBS: Cody McDonald - 7 - He took his header well and did work harder than usual but the miss at the end means that he can't get more than a 7 for me. Danny Kedwell - 6.5 - Didn't win everything but he seemed decent considering that it his first game since injury. Jermaine McGlashan - 6.5 - Worked well as an impact sub, used his pace to reasonable effect and lifted the team when he came on although the end product again was slightly lacking. My Top 3: 1) John Egan 2) Doug Loft 3) Cody McDonald
I felt the tactics and Team selection were wrong yesterday.Norris upfront on his own didn`t work,Egan playing at Right back was wrong as well seeing as we have a capable right back in Gavin Hoyte on the bench.I felt quite a few players were off their game,and we only started improving once we brought much needed energy on in McDonald,and McGlashan.Cody scored a good header after only being on for 5 minutes,and two minutes later Egan again popped up with the equaliser for us.We were back in the game,but it was disappointing that we didn`t go for the jugular as I felt we could have pushed on and got the winner.Saying that Chesterfield looked a decent side,they were physical but played really good Football.I would say Chesterfield did deserve their win as we never started playing until we were 2-0 down. How did Cody miss right at the end? I was up celebrating as I thought he had scored. Again we never seem to perform in front of a bigger crowd.We need to go to Colchester on Boxing Day and get some kind of result.
