Another 90 minutes littered with errors

After last weeks victory and good performance at Southend this was very much a case of "after the Lord Majors show!" Right from the first whistle it was obvious what sort of game this would be and you have to ask yourself the question-Are we really up to the Physical battles that a lot of the teams in this division play? Do we have the nasty side to our team to compete. based on the last three home games i would say we don't. the Manager has told us it won't be pretty so why then does he select a team that totally lack the physical attributes to compete in this sort of game. Action speaks louder than words and leaving out the big targetman that has taken so long to find is outrageous to the extreme. Just like against Wycombe it would seem that GC learnt nothing as he set us up so defensively and mainly hoofing the ball out. I have no problem with playing this way but at least give the team the tools to play that way.

Bonham 5 Not a patch on the player during the first few weeks of his spell with us. Looks like his confidence has gone a bit but would still sign him if possible because miles ahead of the other keepers. Looked like he should have done better on the goal and a couple of mishandles like last week.


Partington 3 Has not been anywhere near the form of James Clarke and the most obvious example of GC being a bit inconsistent with his use of "keeping the shirt". His distribution varies so much over 90 minutes as does his marking and general play. Not convinced he is up to League 1 football as I have never seen a player who apologises to himself so much for damn right poor distribution..
Lockyer 6 Another solid defensive performance shown by the fact that Shrewsbury created very little really but his distribution leaves so much to be desired especially if he has ambitions to play at a higher standard.
Craig 7.5 MOM  Solid throughout and to be honest I find it a joke that people are still criticizing him when very few players actually get the better of him in the battle and the goals against pretty well prove this. Distribution isn't the best similar to Lockyer.
Holmes-Dennis 7 Based on his performances he is one of the ,if not the best left full backs in this division so why on earth would you play him anywhere else. Our problem is more that GC has failed to acquire a midfield player who naturally fills that position and so I would go for Tom Nicholls especially when we play teams who have big efficient centre halves.

Rodman 6.5 Suffered from lack of good service but looked good when he did receive the ball and got better as the game went on. Superb header for the equaliser but never going to get a good service with the shaky Partington behind him. His goals are proving useful and I am sure there will be a few more before the season end.
Lines 5.5 Why on earth does he play so negative these days? What is the point of questionably the best passer of the ball at the club passing back regularly to two of the worst passers of a ball and why when you have  a midfield ball winner who is quite defensive do you need a Lines playing so deep. GC sort it out because there lies one of the reasons why we look second best at times when we come up against crap sides like Shrewsbury and Wycombe who just spoil the game.
Ogogo 5 Disappointing performance after last weeks impressive display but the truth is that it was not entirely down to him but more to his partnership with Lines but I would also mention the fact that Shrewsbury obviously know his game well and set out from the start to antagonise him and he was lucky not to be given his marching orders when he kicked out at a very similar type of player in Norburn. who should not have been on the pitch if the referee had shown a level of consistency that should be expected. I would say yesterday was an average game.
Sercombe 6 Lost to explain why two Managers have decided to put probably our best central midfielder totally out of position on the left side? He really looks lost out there and personally I would play Nicholls there in a sort of free role where he can pick the ball up and run at defenders and like Sercombe does, still come inside as Holmes- Dennis is more than capable of attacking as well as defending. Sercombe missed two golden chances to score, one in both halves.

Reilly 3 Looks totally out of a game when he comes up against spoiling defences and should have been brought off earlier. He is a frustrating player because he did play well last week but there is no consistency in his performances-he is either good or awful and yesterday he was not good!!
Nichols 6 Had a difficult match as was physically not strong enough in the battle but to be fair to him the service was pretty dire and he was definitely a lot better than Reilly.

Subs:
Jakubiak 6 Lots of effort and a couple of good moments 
Clarke-Harris 7 Looks like exactly what it says on the tin or what he tells us is on the tin and based on yesterday I have no reason to doubt him. Unlucky with a near post header and my only surprise was that GC didn't start him when you look at the opposition. He was exactly what we missed in the home games against Burton and Wycombe and there is no excuse whatsoever in not playing him now we have him onboard. 
J. Clarke 6 did ok for the few minutes he was on and personally I would never have left him out based on his performances when he held the shirt. It is a myth that Partington delivers a better cross or in fact anything. 


Crowd 6 The only thing that really inspired the crowd were the tactics of Shrewsbury which really made you want to be victorious but the home performances this season on many occasions but particularly against the worst teams has not exactly inspired the home support and I would say the entertainment provided has not been anywhere near that to be expected.
Ref - 0 Hate to do it but this guy never had control , let alone lost it. Ruined the match with the seeming belief that we were there to watch him ridiculously wave his arms about and waste about as much time as the opposition. I think he may have lost his directions and maybe he was supposed to referee on the Downs but at least there he would probably have been carried away and thrown over the suspension Bridge!
Shrewsbury 2 I will use a quote from somebody else here- awful, awful cheating team with a manager who hopefully will be in Division 2 next season. My words- gone completely is the good footballing side of last season and replaced with thuggish tactics that unfortunately came and got what they wanted.

GC- 3 I think our ideal Manager would be a cross between DC and GC because the qualities DC had would have been perfectly balanced with GC. The minimum of changes after a good performance matched with the more technical ability of Dc to set up the team based on them opposition. I have thought that maybe what should have happened would have been a set up similar to Lincoln where DC and GC were in charge and Marcus Stewart would have stood aside. The good thing is that GC is learning his trade and if you look at his results he has made a pretty good start but he has to devise a team and formation that can match these horrible teams who come to the Mem with one intention.or I am afraid we will be heading back to League 2 as our home record is little short of disgusting.

So we move on to a blank weekend again and unfortunately this alone could see us back in the relegation zone before we head for a notoriously poor return at Fratten Park Tuesday week. Our remaining fixtures are going to be Cup finals every week and it is hard to see where the number of victories required will come from- probably six wins will be required with a couple of draws. it is going to be close and it is going to require a more physical approach to games but there again looking at our record under GC why should just two defeats in that time turn to 8 or 9 defeats in the remaining  games? UTG