First of all, before I make any comments about what the game was like, can I just say that was the worst refereeing performance from any referee I think I've ever seen. Missed blatant handballs, gave handballs that never were, pulled up nothing challenges and ignored the harder, tougher tackles that warranted fouls. Ignored head injuries, failed to spot the things he needed to see. An awful performance, and not just biased, it was either way. How Mellor wasn't sent off I'll never know. Hope both clubs complain and the man is never allowed to referee a football match.
Now, onto the game, it was exactly what I expected. A tough, nitty, gritty game where we were made to battle for everything. It was a stereotypical Westley side. You get them in the lower leagues and they aren't pleasant, but hoofing it to Reid was never going to work. Especially as Harvey was mostly anonymous and Alessandra couldn't get into the game. Banton was exceptionally poor, should be dropped before anyone else. But as mentioned, the main problem for me was missing Norburn. Nobody in that team who can play that defence splitting pass, or find those little pockets of space. With Hourihane we didn't need a playmaker but what is the point in having two ball winning midfielders in there? Simply, there isn't. It's sheer bad luck that Norburn was injured, which makes you wonder if we need a new central midfielder.
It will take time for Harvey to develop, but today I thought he wasn't good. Partly through fault of his own, partly for the fact our defence tended to hoof the ball as hard as they could to Reid. If it wasn't Reid, it was Alessandra. I mean, what is the point in using someone of his stature as a target man? Absolutely zilch. If we kept the ball on the floor a bit more then we would have got Harvey and Alessandra more into the game, which then would have helped Reid.
Specifically today there was nobody making runs. Last season Reid worked best alongside Alessandra, so why not put the two together and try again? You could see when Reid won the ball he was looking to release it early or find a pass and there was nobody. Banton and Alessandra were stuck out on the wing and Harvey was too far back. If he's going to play with Cox and O'Connor then he HAS to get further up the pitch and play more behind the striker. Otherwise there's no point him being there. Stevenage are a well drilled side but there were evident gaps at times and those are the ones that you really want Harvey to be filling. Even if a man markes him it then creates space elsewhere. We were far too easy to defend against, the ball was flung to Reid or Alessandra and then when we got the ball on the ground we were penalised for an absolutely nothing handball. Same with Morgan, who was punished too harshly and then when he would win the ball in the air there was no one in support to pick up the ball or make runs after being headed on. You get the idea, a very one dimensional attack.
In terms of being one dimensional, a special shout-out must go to Jason Banton. A couple of good little turns in the first half which resulted in crosses that were cleared, but credit he had the good sense to do well. Has to be the most infuriating player I've ever seen however. Why does any player feel the need to beat a man, turn around let him catch up, and then try and beat him again? It doesn't make any sense to me. I think he should be dropped, make him fight for his place. Lost count of how much he lost the ball, and we must have better, more hard-working options in the squad? Perhaps not, a new winger is an absolute must.
Defensively we weren't bad, Mellor impressed me as he's absolutely sound defensively and McHugh in my opinion doesn't look that bad at left back, especially bearing in mind he was up against one of the league's top wingers. It was arguably his fault for the goal but why there was a man unmarked with two centre backs free I'm not sure. Never in a million years should the forward be allowed to win that. Nelson did well and defends excellently, but Hartley didn't look good at all. I did wonder if he was trying too hard to impress, to try and prove to his old manager that he made a mistake releasing him. Whatever the reason, he didn't play well, and it wasn't pretty to watch. On an extensive note, why did the Stevenage fans boo him? Thought he left peacefully, seemed a bit random to me.
McCormick was alright, not a huge amount to do but dealt with whatever came his way well. Couple of good saves and several very important catches. He did well, we really do have a top keeper. Nothing he could do about the goal as it was what I thought poor defending. Will look again, only thing I wondered is if he could have come out and claimed the ball. That's not to say he should or could have even, a mere 'I'll need to check and watch it back to see'. I don't think he could have done.
As for the subs, didn't see Smalley do much, decent penalty though. That first goal is very important, would be tempted to start him on Saturday regardless. Morgan battled and worked hard but he's the sort that will do much better with a partner, not Reid, but somebody. He didn't have that, meaning when he won the ball there was little he could do. Worked hard, and he's definitely growing on me but he needs the support, as does Reid really. Allen is a feisty one, not sure how far he'll go professionally but it's great to see him getting stuck in and fighting for everything, not overwhelmed by anything. That tackle on the guy through on goal at the end was absolutely first class, especially seeing as the guy threw him to the floor before. Good to see, I'm happy for him to continue with cameo appearances, it will aid him much better than 90 minutes every few weeks, which tend not to have the best effect. For now though, he's doing well.
Overall an extremely poor game coupled with equally bad officiating. It tends to be very tricky to beat those sorts of teams at their own game so I'm not really sure why we resorted to that. I totally understand hoofing it late in the game when you're desperate to make things happen but there was no need to play like that in the first half. Even when we've just conceded there's plenty of time. You need to keep a calm thing and play to your strengths, which we didn't do. We're a team who can be good on the ball and keep it on the deck and play some nice football, which made the match even more disappointing. One positive, can't fault the determination. Not good football but bar Banton, everyone chucked everything on the line to try and get us the game. I just don't feel we tried it in the right way.
One final note from me. It's not those games where it's been a good match but you've come away with a loss that make you question your supporting, but rather those sorts of horrendous, poorly officiated games. Very hard to take in, you just have to tell yourself it wont be like that all season. I had to do that a lot tonight. Not good, but oh well. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, and we got that right at the end.
Onwards and upwards.
