First game watched on I-follow in a while and not a classic to come back to.
A game where by and large I thought Rovers were the better team but were very lucky not to lose in the end, with Brizzle enjoying the best chance of the game at the death. This was an opposition also absolutely bereft of confidence who we never truly looked like scoring against.
Overall, I think the team set-up was about right, with the 4-4-2 working well and giving enough defensive cover. This was at the expense of having any form of midfield creativity though - both McCullough and Woodyard had very good games, but neither have an incisive pass or clearly the mandate to break forwards and support the front two until possession is established in the opposition half. That said, we only settled down after Nelson came on for Ray (who was poor, sparing Scotty's blushes on the line aside).
With two solid midfielders clearly there to screen, all our play had to come from wide and it's clearly where we're short of quality. Morris is technically very sound (probably our best technical player) but completely lacks the pace to beat a man or play out wide. CBT huffed and puffed but too often the final ball was a little wayward or he was too closely marshalled to get a good run on his man. Caprice manfully overlapped and ran all day but if he could cross, he'd probably have been playing at a higher level than Non-League up to this point.
Strikers had very little to feed off in truth, Cook largely restricted to half chances and Vaughan having one decent opportunity where he couldn't quite get a connection on a ball drilled into the box. Cook was not helped by being consistently fouled all game but got zero help from the referee (who had a shocker throughout).
I can't help but feel the state of the pitch is now incredibly detrimental to our survival attempts - whilst you could argue that we have more playing time to get used to it than other sides, it just doesn't lend itself to playing any other style than direct due to the inability to pass or dribble consistently on the surface; and direct doesn't always suit us due to the lack of quality from wide areas - good wingers and full backs are at a real premium at this level. This leaves us badly restricted with no Plan B if the opposition can shut down the flanks or get good command of their penalty box for when balls are pumped in.
Easier opposition to come than the past few games, but we're going to have to aim at a lot of 1-0 wins; I just don't think with the players and pitch at our disposal we're going to have a consistent goal threat at all.
Last night, Man of the Match for me was Ridehalgh, with a goal saving block, tenacious defending throughout and one of the few players who seemed to consistently understand the state of the pitch. Woodyard, McCullough and Nelson also get played well.