Grimsby (A) Ratings

[Drury-red]

Lainton (6) Not much he could do with the goals. Made some good saves and soldiered on after getting pole-axed in the first-half

French (6) Decent. Really like him at RWB

Hayden (5) Not his best game

Tozer (7) Calm as ever. Solid presence

Cleworth (4) Shaky first-half but improved in the second

Reckord (7) Thought he played well. Some cracking challenges

Young (5) Erratic, think he's trying too hard. Maybe he's better without the armband?

Redmond (4) Looked lost and off the pace. The gamble did not pay off

J.Jones (6) Best of the MF players

Hyde (7) Well taken goal and did well winning his headers/battles. Not sure about the offside goal

Mullin (6) Superb assist. Grafted but not his best night

______________

McAlinden (6) Not bad

Angus (5) Felt for him as he was left to feed off long balls. Slightly wasteful

Green N/A

[joe]

Lainton 6
French 6
Hayden 5
Tozer 7
Cleworth 4
Reckord 7
Young 4
Jones 5
Redmond 3
Hyde 7
Mullin 6

McAlinden 4
Angus 5
Green 5 - Awful header lead to their third

[wxmedwards]

Lainton (6) Solid performance - nothing he can do with the goals. We’re stuffed if he gets injured again (thought he was tonight)

French (6) Probably our standout player but that doesn’t say much.

Hayden (4) Awful short and long passes which were mostly aimless. Shocking for their second goal.

Tozer (6) Calm on the ball, however something needs to change defending set pieces

Cleworth (5) Shaky first-half but improved in the second. Brings the ball out well but gets bullied by experienced pros.

Reckord (6) Solid but that’s all he can give. Not good enough for us going forward

Young (4) Always looks like a red card waiting to happen. Chasing for he sake f it when he just needs to stand off. Not a fan at the min.

Redmond (4) Anonymous

J.Jones (6) Decent shift. Him and Young are too similar to play alongside each other.

Hyde (6) Good finish, good battling but didn’t see enough of the ball

Mullin (6) Pretty anonymous too. Good assist but a poor performance by his high standards.

Subs

McAlinden - (5) I want to like him but I’m not sure what he brings to the table. Gets marked a point down for pulling out/slowing down when he could have crossed the ball, instead letting it go out for a goal kick.

Angus - (5) Made some nice runs but again pulled out of a couple of 50/50s and we didn’t play to his strengths.

[Back of the Kop]

We had all this frustration in our last two promotion seasons of 1993 and 2003. We really struggled for consistency as we again didn't have the ball. Even with forward lines of Benno/Watkin/ Morrell/ Trundle we were mid table in November/December both seasons

Enter Mike Lake and Scott Green.

All of a sudden we have control of midfield and we're dictating the pace, releasing our wingers to get crosses into the box.

Our defence is under less pressure as no one is running straight at us

We are probably short of one or maybe two players and this will all change I think.The foundations are there, just so fooking frustrating at the moment

[DenbighRed]

People being a bit harsh on Cleworth from the reactions I've seen. He was pretty steady last night I thought.

It's a bit of a double edged sword being an academy graduate now that we've got money. You have to more than prove you're up to scratch or else people will wonder why we've not just gone out and spent a few hundred grand to fill your position.

He put in some great tackles, didn't misplace many passes and even ran the ball out of defence a few times. Positional sense and the dark arts of defending only come with experience in the first team, but so far Cleworth looks fine to me.

[El Jonez]

Originally Posted by Back of the Kop

We had all this frustration in our last two promotion seasons of 1993 and 2003. We really struggled for consistency as we again didn't have the ball. Even with forward lines of Benno/Watkin/ Morrell/ Trundle we were mid table in November/December both seasons

Enter Mike Lake and Scott Green.

All of a sudden we have control of midfield and we're dictating the pace, releasing our wingers to get crosses into the box.

Our defence is under less pressure as no one is running straight at us

We are probably short of one or maybe two players and this will all change I think.The foundations are there, just so fooking frustrating at the moment

I wasn't at the match but Radio Wales said Grimsby's 2 midfielders totally bossed the game against our 3 in the middle. It's not the numbers, but the players PP has selected in the middle of the park.

[Back of the Kop]

Originally Posted by El Jonez

I wasn't at the match but Radio Wales said Grimsby's 2 midfielders totally bossed the game against our 3 in the middle. It's not the numbers, but the players PP has selected in the middle of the park.

Correct EJ. Our balance is all wrong in there AND we we've got no real quality, strength or enough height.

Oh for a Brad Walker right now

[stevewxm]

Was there last night, pretty clueless tactics, roll the ball to defender, pass it across the back, hoof it long to there big centre backs, and start again.
Really not sure what style of football we are trying to play, no pace in the team, no creative midfielders, and no giants up front.
As for ratings, a general 5 for all but the problems are bigger than that.

[Lesjonno]

Originally Posted by stevewxm

Was there last night, pretty clueless tactics, roll the ball to defender, pass it across the back, hoof it long to there big centre backs, and start again.
Really not sure what style of football we are trying to play, no pace in the team, no creative midfielders, and no giants up front.
As for ratings, a general 5 for all but the problems are bigger than that.

Agree with all that except up front we have 2 great strikers who would have done better given some service.