Agree with most of DIW's comments. Today's performance was all about guts and determination, against a dogged Oldham side that is a mirror image of its manager. We did play some good stuff at times, particularly in the first half an hour, but were never at our fluent best: we can't lose key players from the side week after week without it having some impact on our performance.
Although the match was even in terms of possession, there was a difference in class in the final third, as Rovers had four or five clear cut chances whereas Fonners only really had two saves to make in the whole game; the one in injury time looked spectacular, but was a save you would expect him to make. I thought both centre halves were excellent, while Wallace and Cassidy in particular also worked extremely hard.
I would agree that we missed Holmes' presence at the back, particularly in the final twenty minutes. Danny always seems to find a sensible pass to a midfielder or wide player whereas Kay did punt it long too often, with the result that we turned over possession and invited more pressure.
There seems to be a pattern developing of opposition teams attempting to put one of our players on crutches in the opening ten minutes of games. I would certainly like to see the tackle on Holmes again, as it looked like a possible straight red offence to me.
This was the kind of game we would never have won with a depleted team in previous seasons, and our away record is incredible: 6 wins, 2 draws 1 defeat. Roll on Braintree on Tuesday.
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