by Brum Royal »
14 Feb 2024 10:04
Stayed at the in laws in Lancs so a relatively short trip back last night. Some thoughts:
- A draw was probably about right overall, despite the disappointing manner of the way it came about. It looked offside when they showed the replay of the goal on the big screen in the ground, and the still earlier in the thread confirms this. That said Kelvin should have scored when up against the keeper, but didn't do enough to move the keeper and just hit it straight at the keeper's chest (good save btw from a keeper perspective)
- The pitch looked really sticky in the first half, the heavy rain from the end of the first half and through the second half at least allowed the ball to be moved quicker on it
- Too much of the first half was played with the ball at walking pace, there was little movement for the man on the ball. We defended well in pairs so there was always a man covering if there was a missed tackle, but it didn't work the same way with the ball in possession, and the man on the ball was frequently left isolated with no real option to pass to.
- Dorsett's injury looks a nasty one, we heard the scream as he went down (either slipped or trying to block, didn't see it as our gaze had followed the ball being crossed into the box). He's clearly in a lot of pain, was never going to continue (should have had a sub ready to go immediately), and was in agony when he was carried off between the two medics in front of us. Could be knee ligaments at a guess (haven't seen Selles comments yet).
- The full backs struggled throughout I thought - Mbengue and Abrefa kept getting beaten, and Fleetwood quickly worked out that they would have a lot of joy exploiting that, normally in a 2 on 1. I can understand the sub in bringing on Monluis as something needed changing to try to shore it up a bit at the back for that last 10 minutes.
- Bindon - what a player. Won everything. Huge performance.
- Button, solid. Came and caught well (bar one) on a very tricky night with how wet it was.
- Kelvin. Nothing seemed to really stick for him tonight. A real mixed bag of a performance. Annoyingly had the ball taken on him by Mukairu (offside) when he would have been in on goal, really should have scored to make it 2-0 as mentioned earlier. Looked very lethargic from about 70 minutes on, and probably should have been subbed earlier, as he wasn't able to get into position to support Azeez (in particular) when he broke forward on counter attacks.
- Wing - what a finish. Curled so, so late into the goal. I was stood right in line with it, I assumed it was just going to go wide then it suddenly swung and hit the back of the net.
- Azeez, our real creative spark, everything good going forward seemed to go through him. Very lively throughout.
- Overall, a draw probably fair. A decent night out, a nice little ground, with modern stands, sensible stewards, and a nice little club. Good attendance from the Reading fans given the distance on a Tuesday night, and in good voice too. Some good terrace humour in the chants as well "I'd rather be a haddock than a cod" and the "he's got short arms and can't reach the bar" were great. Small ground in a relatively small town, so could park a two minute walk from the ground and get away easily afterwards.