I felt last night that after an excellent 70 minutes or so we (understandably) started to tire. At that point, Cook was brought on which made sense. FGR were strong at the back with Tilt/Ellis giving nothing away in the air and Cole struggled in that sense. However I thought Connor J at that point was running on empty and would have liked Sousa on to give some energy and a test for their defence. As it was the sub was made but only after they scored (too late). I just felt we needed to freshen it up if we were going to win it as FGR were starting to get a bit more of the ball in our half with numerous set pieces. Similarly Collins could have come on for Norwood who worked hard again.
A few issues to discussion though:
Strikers - Norwood doesn't look like scoring at all. Despite all his hard work/link up can we afford to have a striker at this stage of the season looking so out of form in terms of goals? I guess the answer is yes if we are winning, as we have been, but with another tough game on Friday there is an argument to give Collins a chance - although that is a risk in itself with him being unproven. Cole has done great recently and although MM keeps mentioning Cooks performance (monitored by GPS), has dipped recently, I think he should be playing. At the end of the day and with Nors not scoring, having a 20 goal a season striker on the bench doesn't make sense. Against Solihill, Braintree etc it didn't matter as they were so poor, but coming up against the likes of FGR we need our best striker and Cook is the man. I can't see FGR resting Doidge and Dover doing the same with Miller when they are up against other top 6 sides. I'm not being critical of Cole who has been very good since his return, but we all know who the better striker is and you play your best players in the big games. Set pieces are such a big part of the national league and in the first half especially, we were putting in plenty of crosses in and Cook is much more likely to get on the end of them.
Midfield - Harris out for the season apparently. He has been immense in recent weeks so a massive blow. Along with Dawson (what is the point), Maynard was involved in the warm up before kick off so must be close to full fitness. I didn't think Wallace did too bad last night but a midfield pairing of him and Hughes is too slow. The latter has looked jaded recently and we cannot rely on Wallace who has hardly played in the last 2 years. Hopefully Lois will be back ASAP.
Promotion - certainly won't catch Lincoln now. Play offs it is but our record against those around us (including the imps of course), is a concern, and something in the players minds perhaps. Another negative result on Friday and things will look a bit gloomy.
Sorry Ian - I'm not feeling as optimistic as you this morning