Thought Dale Stephens had his worst game for us so far, quiet and tired. BWP was MOTM for me. Created chances for Hayes, set up the first goal and scored the second.
Wasn't at the game, so cannot add anything constructive.
I feel 10 points out of 12 is a fantastic start to the season & much more than i expected, thought it would take 5 or 6 games to settle the team down & allow the players to work each others games out.
Why did CP take off BWP & replace him with Doherty at the end - was BWP injured - did we go 5 at the back for the last few minutes again? Adding an extra defender can screw things up as marking gets reallocated & the space that you're playing in is changed or more congested - hope Powell learns from this & had the confidence to stick to the formation that has built the lead in the first place.
Disappointed at dropping 2 points but overall really happy with 10 points from the first four games. Brilliant start to the season.
I thought Scunny were a decent side and played some neat stuff, once we rode their good start I thought we looked comfortable and could of gone in at half time at least a couple up. We had plenty of good chances in the second as well but i thought Scunny got better as the game went on and we tired.
Got the idea behind the subs but it didn't work, like others have said Hughes instead of Doc would have been a better switch.
Now!!...I have a Danny Green dilemma.
His delivery's into the box are absolutely top draw, those delivery's will cause most teams problems and we will get goals from them but he leaves Solly dreadfully isolated at the back. He just doesn't track back and help out in the way Wagstaff does and for that reason I wouldn't have bought him on with Scunny just getting back into the game.
Great start to the season, no major issues and look forward to seeing how we respond to this afternoon against Bury.
Very similar to a lot of home games last season. We never took control of midfield, we were second to most of the loose balls and the Back Four dropped off too deep during the second half. The opposition will get chances in and around the box if you drop off too deep.
I can understand bringing on Doherty as a third CB against a direct physical team like Notts County as we did last Saturday, but today it was a needless negative tactic. It obviously didn't work, cos they scored. Added to taking the ball into the corner from the 88th minute, it encouraged the opposition to push for the equaliser.
However, I'd have settled for 10 points from 12 in the opening 4 games, before the season had started. Especially when you consider we have 16 new players.
Well normal service is resumed! We rode our luck against a good Scunthorpe side and managed to produce two bits of quality to take a somewhat fortuitous 2-0 lead. However instead of going for the jugular and aiming for a 3rd to kill them off we sat back and let them take over the midfield in a manner reminiscent of Semedo and Racon at their worst and paid the price by chucking two points down the toilet.
We have to accept that this is a new team and today Stephens and Hollands did not fire as they had against Bournemouth although Scunthorpe probably deserve some credit for that with their continual harrying of our players.
Chris Powell got it wrong for me in taking Waggy off. He continually bailed out the struggling Solly (in fairness to Solly he won't come up against many better wingers than Barcham) all afternoon and we looked less solid and more tentative once he went and in my view that contributed to our conceding a second goal.
We had the chances to kill it off. Lillis made two excellent saves in the second half, one from Hayes, and Hayes missed a sitter in the first half. Overall though a neutral would see a draw as a fair result today.
Hopefully just a teething problem for us, as I think Scunnthorpe will be around the top 6 come the final reckoning, and at least we didn't lose. No room for complacency though and if that message gets through to the players then, just possibly, the result today might be a blessing in disguise.
Last thing: Is it just me or did anyone else think BWP's goal was an own goal off the defender? All down to BWP's pressure of course but I thought the defender put it in.
Couldn't make the game so can't comment on performance. All I will say is that before the season most of us would have gladly taken 10 points from a tough opening four games. Scunthorpe have a good enough squad to be there or thereabouts come the end of the season. A draw may be a good way to remind us that we won't win every game and we cannot afford to switch off, no matter what the score is. I still expect us to do very well this season.
Wasn't at the game, so cannot add anything constructive.
I feel 10 points out of 12 is a fantastic start to the season & much more than i expected, thought it would take 5 or 6 games to settle the team down & allow the players to work each others games out.
Why did CP take off BWP & replace him with Doherty at the end - was BWP injured - did we go 5 at the back for the last few minutes again? Adding an extra defender can screw things up as marking gets reallocated & the space that you're playing in is changed or more congested - hope Powell learns from this & had the confidence to stick to the formation that has built the lead in the first place.
Essentially we played a 5 man defence and arguably a 5 man midfield in those last few minutes.
Another day, in fact most other days it would have worked, Scunny only got the equaliser in the 91st or 92nd minute and there was stil time for a chance for us.
The real problem was that Scunthorpe played 4-5-1 from the outset and out manned us in midfield with the result that we failed to get moving and always seemed to be under-pressure, I've no complaints about their tactics they were well thought out and worked but it stifled our attacking flair, nevertheless we still scored twice.
All part of the learning curve for Powell and the team.
The Reading/League Cup match match hopefully will allow him to rest one or two players and give match experience to one or two players who have been peripheral to date.
Not read many comments but here's my basic summary of the game.
They troubled us a lot in the game, not really anyone's fault just more of a team's fault. Once we got the ball we looked good like we have done in previous matches.
We were unlucky not to be 3-0 up in the second half-their keeper made 3/4 really good saves.
BWP, JJ and Hollands were my best players. Stephens had a good first half then faded second. Hayes was poor, i have been defensive of Hayes in the first 3 games when people were slagging him off, but today he was not strong at all.
Wiggins looked okay, Morrison was good (would like to see their goals again though)
Green looked good when he came on, should start Tuesday.
I still have hope for the season, this is a game we would have lost last year. Scunthorpe were decent going forward, defensively they looked poor.
Hope those boo's at the end were for ref.
Still unbeaten, joint top and still scoring goals....just keep believing.
I'd say the initial contact for the Euell moment was outside the box, then there was more contact as he went down inside the box. To be fair to the referee this was probably the only decision he may have got right today! I can't wait for Tuesday now, hopefully it will allow Mikel, Green, Evina, Benson, Hamer and the rest to get a game and try to stake a claim to a squad position at least
euell was inside area looking from j block upper north! but i think the ref free-kick for the tackle outside in the first place! i also thought ref was poor and didnt let the game flow!
think most of the comments so far have been spot on. we arent being harsh on the team, they have been impressive the last 2/3 weeks but today i thought we were second best and scunthorpe were well worth their point.
they looked good going forward and their link up play, especially their entre forward droping into the whole between the back two and the midfield 2, impressed me. thought the little blonde fella for them was their best player, gets taken off and they score two!
for us, i thought elliot did well, solly was impressive again...what he lacks in height he makes up for in heart. wiggins was sloppy. morrision and taylor always seem to be in the right place and i dont blame them for either goal.
wagstaff was quiet. jackson took his goal well but only showed his quality in patches. hollands battles but wasnt his best game. stephens, nice touches and neat but didnt take the game as he has done.
bwp does what he does, scores. hayes....i didnt think he was too bad but for god sake man USE YOUR LEFT FOOT!!!
green has to start for me. them deliveries are too good for this level, we will cause panic in other teams boxes with them. euell, never been a massive fan i must admit but didnt really get an opportunity to show what he can do. doherty, not sure what the thinking was behind that.
2-0 up at home with 20 mins left and not getting 3 points in gutting. still, points a point and we remain unbeaten.
Well if we had won today people would be comparing it to last seasons start with Powell in charge and getting a draw now stops all that especially if we then lost next week. Listening to it one I think we would of lost last year and we didn't. A couple more signings and we will be up there at the end.
Yes, but to be fair you couldn't begrudge them a point. They looked a decent outfit and edged the game on play. Having said that -defensively they were poor and up front they reminded me of us in recent years where they lacked a bit of bite and just hoped for the best -which they got because we let them have too many attacks.
Positives were that we looked very sharp going forwards. I thought we looked like we could score every time we attacked which was unfortunately not enough (credit to Scunthorpe and their keeper who mad some great and one unbeleivable save). The biggest disapointment for me was when we had that late corner and elected to waste time and taking off BWP for Doc. Agaisnt these opponents our tactic should have been to look for the third as they were going to open up and their defence was poor.
Not too bothered though - I think Scunthorpe will prove to be one of the better sides (ability wise) although it wont be easy for them unless they sort out their defence. I think the team learned a couple of valuable lessons yesterday and whilst it cost us 2 points , they could prove useful lessons as the season goes on. 10 points out of 12 is an excellent start and I think we will kill most teams at the Valley who will be defensive minded and that we have a counter attacking game that will ensure we regularly pick up 3 points away.
made a 7 hour round train trip from devon for this! but never mind, was still a good game.
solly by far our standout performer, a million miles better than francis ever was. hayes didnt do much for me, had three good chances of which at least one should really have been converted. wiggins also has quite a bit of room for improvement too.
thought scunny kept battling tho and probably deserved a point. the moment we started playing around in the corner flag on 87mins really pissed me off and made me think we didnt deserve to hang on!
See, if Francis had cleared it as poorly as Solly did and as yesterday it lead to a goal, could you imagine the threads on here. His clearance was very poor.
We could have won, should have won but didn't. There will be other games this season when we nick a draw or a win and the 100% record had to go at some point. Still unbeaten though and in an automatic play off spot with 10 points from 4 games which I would have taken before the first ball was kicked in anger against Bournemouth. Its easy to look for scapegoats wrong substitutions etc hopefully this disappointment won't do them any harm and and make them twice as determined to bag the three points next week. Fair play to Scunthorpe the way they came back at us though and lets not forget Robbie made three or four top draw saves to keep them out earlier in the match. Onwards and upwards at Bury COYR.
Not had a chance to write anything yet, but really impressed with the quality of the bulk of comments on this thread. Some very good balanced assessments.
Comments
I can understand bringing on Doherty as a third CB against a direct physical team like Notts County as we did last Saturday, but today it was a needless negative tactic. It obviously didn't work, cos they scored. Added to taking the ball into the corner from the 88th minute, it encouraged the opposition to push for the equaliser.
However, I'd have settled for 10 points from 12 in the opening 4 games, before the season had started. Especially when you consider we have 16 new players.
No need to panic.
Posting before reading.
Well normal service is resumed! We rode our luck against a good Scunthorpe side and managed to produce two bits of quality to take a somewhat fortuitous 2-0 lead. However instead of going for the jugular and aiming for a 3rd to kill them off we sat back and let them take over the midfield in a manner reminiscent of Semedo and Racon at their worst and paid the price by chucking two points down the toilet.
We have to accept that this is a new team and today Stephens and Hollands did not fire as they had against Bournemouth although Scunthorpe probably deserve some credit for that with their continual harrying of our players.
Chris Powell got it wrong for me in taking Waggy off. He continually bailed out the struggling Solly (in fairness to Solly he won't come up against many better wingers than Barcham) all afternoon and we looked less solid and more tentative once he went and in my view that contributed to our conceding a second goal.
We had the chances to kill it off. Lillis made two excellent saves in the second half, one from Hayes, and Hayes missed a sitter in the first half. Overall though a neutral would see a draw as a fair result today.
Hopefully just a teething problem for us, as I think Scunnthorpe will be around the top 6 come the final reckoning, and at least we didn't lose. No room for complacency though and if that message gets through to the players then, just possibly, the result today might be a blessing in disguise.
Last thing: Is it just me or did anyone else think BWP's goal was an own goal off the defender? All down to BWP's pressure of course but I thought the defender put it in.
Essentially we played a 5 man defence and arguably a 5 man midfield in those last few minutes.
Another day, in fact most other days it would have worked, Scunny only got the equaliser in the 91st or 92nd minute and there was stil time for a chance for us.
The real problem was that Scunthorpe played 4-5-1 from the outset and out manned us in midfield with the result that we failed to get moving and always seemed to be under-pressure, I've no complaints about their tactics they were well thought out and worked but it stifled our attacking flair, nevertheless we still scored twice.
All part of the learning curve for Powell and the team.
The Reading/League Cup match match hopefully will allow him to rest one or two players and give match experience to one or two players who have been peripheral to date.
this.
Hopefully everyone will calm down now, and realise this is going to be long season. And i hate to say it, we will lose some games too!
OK, Ken.
It's all your fault.....
they looked good going forward and their link up play, especially their entre forward droping into the whole between the back two and the midfield 2, impressed me. thought the little blonde fella for them was their best player, gets taken off and they score two!
for us, i thought elliot did well, solly was impressive again...what he lacks in height he makes up for in heart. wiggins was sloppy. morrision and taylor always seem to be in the right place and i dont blame them for either goal.
wagstaff was quiet. jackson took his goal well but only showed his quality in patches. hollands battles but wasnt his best game. stephens, nice touches and neat but didnt take the game as he has done.
bwp does what he does, scores. hayes....i didnt think he was too bad but for god sake man USE YOUR LEFT FOOT!!!
green has to start for me. them deliveries are too good for this level, we will cause panic in other teams boxes with them. euell, never been a massive fan i must admit but didnt really get an opportunity to show what he can do. doherty, not sure what the thinking was behind that.
2-0 up at home with 20 mins left and not getting 3 points in gutting. still, points a point and we remain unbeaten.
Positives were that we looked very sharp going forwards. I thought we looked like we could score every time we attacked which was unfortunately not enough (credit to Scunthorpe and their keeper who mad some great and one unbeleivable save). The biggest disapointment for me was when we had that late corner and elected to waste time and taking off BWP for Doc. Agaisnt these opponents our tactic should have been to look for the third as they were going to open up and their defence was poor.
Not too bothered though - I think Scunthorpe will prove to be one of the better sides (ability wise) although it wont be easy for them unless they sort out their defence. I think the team learned a couple of valuable lessons yesterday and whilst it cost us 2 points , they could prove useful lessons as the season goes on. 10 points out of 12 is an excellent start and I think we will kill most teams at the Valley who will be defensive minded and that we have a counter attacking game that will ensure we regularly pick up 3 points away.
made a 7 hour round train trip from devon for this! but never mind, was still a good game.
solly by far our standout performer, a million miles better than francis ever was. hayes didnt do much for me, had three good chances of which at least one should really have been converted. wiggins also has quite a bit of room for improvement too.
thought scunny kept battling tho and probably deserved a point. the moment we started playing around in the corner flag on 87mins really pissed me off and made me think we didnt deserve to hang on!