I was disappointed we did not win a game I thought was there for the taking. Once we settled, it was clear we had more quality in midfield than Yeovil and some of our passing moves were very good. However, we were let down by our final ball, and by tactics which probably hindered us against a limited side. When your best chance comes in the 96th minute, you know you have not really done enough to merit a victory.
I don't think the 451 works for us against average teams. Gilmour was hardly involved in the game today and at times it felt he was completely superfluous; Banks and McCullough could have coped fine without him. By contrast, Norwood was too isolated up front until the introduction of Mullin. Much of the game at this level is about anticipating and winning second-balls; often today Norwood would win the first header but there was nobody within thirty yards of him to pick up the scraps. I think he is becoming frustrated by the lack of support, which partly explains the couple of misses Ian refers to above.
In the first twenty minutes our play was quite disjointed, with too many long balls played up to Nors which he could not hold on to, with the result that possession was gifted to the opposition too cheaply. However, midway through the first half the midfield settled and from that point onwards I thought Banks, McCullough Jennings and Smith were excellent. On a number of occasions good approach play resulted in a ball whipped into the box which we did not attack because Norwood was too isolated (see above re. formation). By contrast, the hosts offered next to nothing in open play. Their front players were lively, but the majority of their pressure resulted from a succession of free kicks gifted to them by a referee, most of whose decisions were mystifying. However, we dealt with the set plays quite comfortably.
In addition to the midfielders mentioned above, I thought both centre backs were excellent and Davies did not really have a save to make in ninety minutes. However, my man of the match is Jonny Smith, who was involved in all of our best moves.
We have picked up another point on the road and I should not be too critical, but today's game does feel like an opportunity missed, with some much tougher fixtures to come in the next couple of weeks.
On to The New Lawn.