I think it was a performance that summed up where we are as a club at the moment, in terms of the inadequacies in the playing staff.
We actually started the game well and were the brighter side for the first twenty five minutes. There was a lot of nice approach play and I thought Chalmers was looking sharp and having his best game for us, with Hendry and Merrie also doing well. However, there was again absolutely zero goal threat from the strikers when the ball was crossed from wide or was fed into the box, and we are so powder-puff up front we are always vulnerable to the sucker punch. Newport scored from their first effort on goal, we defended poorly from a set play for the second shortly afterwards, and even at such an early stage of the game we were never going to get back into the match given the lack of goals in the side.
At risk of repeating myself, a forward line of Saunders, Burton and Mumbongo is never, ever going to be good enough at this level of football. Our striking options are an embarrassment. In the first two thirds of the pitch we are actually fine, generally defensively solid (not today) and with some decent players in midfield, but the striking options are completely inadequate. With Hemmings and Morris in the side we can just about cover those deficiencies, but without them we are hopeless in the final third.
In fairness to the players, there was no lack of effort in the second half and heads did not go down. Hughes did quite well when he came on and I thought Hendry actually deserved his consolation.
However, until the recruitment at the club improves, and we have decent options in all areas of the team, results will not improve. Changing the manager won't turn the strikers on the pitch today into footballers.
