League Two Sutton Utd v Rovers

[Ian]

 

[Brightonian]

Foley for McPake. Unsure as Foley wasn’t that hot when he came on as sub in midweek.

Thought Foley introduction made a massive difference making us much more balanced. As well as the extra midfielder with some height, he breaks forward well and gets us out of the heading tennis. Whilst most were poor first half getting sucked into Suttons aerial and scrapping game. McPake particularly disappointing. The equaliser was coming for a some time and to be honest felt we were likely to take all three points .
Hard to fathom why the poor first half show. The pitch was very dry and the ball bounced up very different to PP, maybe had a bearing but who knows. Lewis Warrington was my MOM showing quality touches and seeing the pass to spread the play. Peter Clarke had a very solid game but his partner Tom Davies had a strange jittery afternoon and made quite a few errors. Josh Hawkes who is a threat took his chance really well but his performance was a bit mixed.
The Hemming’s situation is a strange one. First time seen him live and it is clear he has ability above L2 level. Conversely somehow don’t see him getting on the end of balls in the box and with little aerial ability and half a yard short of pace, not making things happen . Hopefully he will come good and no doubt we will persevere .

 

[Boz]

Thanks for the report Brightonian. My remark about Foley was in the light of a disappointing substitute appearance v Harrogate in midweek, but it sounded from both the commentary and your assessment than his introduction worked much better today.

 

[mellow submarine]

Just got back from the game, wow , what a 'stadium' , not sure what the EFLs minimum standard is, do they even have one ? On the positive side the stewards were really friendly , the sun was cracking the flags and we found a good pub before and after the match. Totally agree with Brightonians take on the second half. Not sure why we played hoofball in the first half , even without Foley, but it was neither pretty or effective.

 

[Ian]

Imagine what they could do if they played for 90 minutes?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We need to find a way of getting Hemmings move involved in games. He's our best option up front and is sometimes anonymous in games. Nevitt had a great chance very late on which he controlled well but just couldnt get the shot off before the keeper smothered it.

Hemmings was fine today I thought. The service to him was non-existent in the first half, but when we kept the ball on the floor his link play was good, and it was a great crossfield pass for Nevitt at the death which Elliott should have done better with.

His all round performances are good and he is clearly a quality player, but we have not worked out how to feed him. It is the service that is the issue, not Hemmings.

 

[Sparky]

Imagine what they could do if they played for 90 minutes?

Micky said post match that’s what he expects in the remaining 8 league games. Let’s wait and see

 

[Ian]

It is the service that is the issue, not Hemmings.

Absolutely.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I am a bit disappointed we did not win that, as the second half performance was good and we created a number of chances. However, we were absolutely woeful in the first period and a draw was probably a fair result on reflection.

I think the lack of experience in the squad is a major factor in our poor first half displays away from home. We had a very young midfield quartet today, and in the first half they showed naivety in their approach to the game. We were dominated physically by Sutton, which is unavoidable to some extent as they were simply bigger and stronger, but we failed to win both first and second balls and did not show enough aggression in the middle of the pitch. In addition, our decision making in possession was very poor, with everything hit long to the two strikers who never going to win their aerial duels. In the absence of Spearing and Morris, there was a real lack of composure in the middle of the pitch.

I don't like to single out individuals, particularly when they are young, but McPake was a complete passenger today and was deservedly hooked at half time. O'Connor was good in the second half, but tends to go missing for long periods of away matches and needs to offer more. In the first half Warrington was left with more physical work than he could cope with; if Spearing put in similar displays to some of Lee's recent performances away from Prenton Park, he would be castigated.

To give Mellon and the players credit, the switch at half time to more of a 433 with Foley in midfield gave us more control and we played a lot of good football in the second half. There were chances for Hemmings, Nevitt and Hawkes in addition to the goal, and on another day we would have come away with three points.

I thought MacDonald had another very good game; Hawkes performance was up and down but he worked hard and did not hide, and of course scored the vital equaliser. However, I agree with Brightonian that Warrington was man of the match. He did not go missing when we were struggling in the first half, and was excellent in possession after the break.

It was a good result overall, as this was our toughest remaining away fixture. I think our performance today would actually have been good enough to beat Colchester, Orient or Stevenage, so there is some hope of an upturn in away results.

 

[Ian]

 

[Boz]

I’m unsure that it’s right to attribute the failings of the first half purely down to an inexperienced midfield. Why were the defence, who contained the very experienced central pairing of Clarke and Davies so set on by-passing midfield and playing it long? From the commentary it sounded like Davies was having one of those days certainly in the first half, with a number of poor first touches? One feature which we are lacking in Spearing’s absence is the verbals, suspect that Jay would have had words about that approach, but O’Connor comes across as fairjy quiet.

Things seemed to improve drastically in the second half with the sub, playing more on the deck and the wind in our favour. It sounded like Warrington had a few good efforts where defenders got enough in the way and it’s good that he’s now got the confidence to do that. Hemmings doesn’t seem to be offering enough of a goal scoring threat and maybe needs to adapt his game in that respect as he didn’t seem to be on the end of much in the second half when we were on top.

 

[Ian]

I find it baffling that after two wins, you would hope confidence was up, they put in a first half like that. There is something just not right and maybe it is the inexperience as RLC suggests above. The sooner we get Spearing back the better IMO. It's extremely annoying because the second half was excellent and they played some really good football so the ability is there.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I’m unsure that it’s right to attribute the failings of the first half purely down to an inexperienced midfield. Why were the defence, who contained the very experienced central pairing of Clarke and Davies so set on by-passing midfield and playing it long? From the commentary it sounded like Davies was having one of those days certainly in the first half, with a number of poor first touches? One feature which we are lacking in Spearing’s absence is the verbals, suspect that Jay would have had words about that approach, but O’Connor comes across as fairjy quiet.

Things seemed to improve drastically in the second half with the sub, playing more on the deck and the wind in our favour. It sounded like Warrington had a few good efforts where defenders got enough in the way and it’s good that he’s now got the confidence to do that. Hemmings doesn’t seem to be offering enough of a goal scoring threat and maybe needs to adapt his game in that respect as he didn’t seem to be on the end of much in the second half when we were on top.

The centre halves did not particularly hit balls from back to front, and most of the problems in my view stemmed from the inability to a) win the ball in midfield in the first place and b) show composure on the ball when we had it. We had only three experienced outfield players in the first half - the centre halves and Hemmings - and I think that had a big bearing on the quality of the performance. However, Murphy did insist on kicking everything long in the first half, which I thought was peculiar given the way the game was going.

Our away form has been average all season, but I don't think it is any coincidence that it completely nosedived when Spearing, and now Morris, were injured.

Hemmings was on the right of a front three in the second half, so you would not expect him to be in or around the box as much as Nevitt. Mellon clearly sees him as having a role outside the box as a link player and creator, and he already has a number of assists. I think he is performing well.

A lot has been made of Foley's introduction yesterday, but I think it was the change of shape to 433 that was key, rather than Sam's performance individually. I think we need to drop McPake and start with three midfielders away from home.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Forest Green one up against Colchester.

 

[Ian]

Looks like their bad run might be coming to an end. Let's just hope it's taken it out of Colchester somewhat.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Some big games tomorrow night, none more so than Port Vale v Exeter. A draw would be appreciated.

Mansfield travel to Rochdale, and Sutton are away to Oldham.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Sutton 1-0 up at Oldham.

 

[Ian]

Vale doing well against Exeter. 0-0 HT.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Sutton two up, so the gap to eighth place will be reduced to two points.

 

[bigmart]

Sutton 3 up v an awful Oldham team