Also thought Dickenson was very good. Given that teams routinely double up on Williams nowadays, there should be gaps elsewhere on the pitch for us to capitalise on, but we don't seem to take advantage of it. Matt Jay always strikes me as a player who can drift into empty spaces at the last minute, so I really don't understand why we don't play him more. Am I missing something?The 4-2-3-1 system made us much more solid, compact and connected tonight defence wise. Although Crewe looked dangerous going forward at times, they didn't work Ward hardly.
It became a game of territory rather like a rugby match where long kicks are traded until a mistake or challenge is made successfully. Bowman competed well and Law looked the most dangerous of our attackers.
The area where we were most disappointing though was wide. Lee Martin worked hard but on the ball was poor. Randell had a lot of the ball but did nothing with it, either running into defenders or floating a cross in for catching practice. His movement off the ball again reverted to static, especially when he came over to the left, often taking space away from Dickenson to move into without giving him an option. The only time he got away was when Taylor played him in and he got pulled/clotheslined before being tackled in the incident Manc alludes to. Obviously you cannot expect a lino to see something happening five feet away.
Matt made a mistake I think in the bench selection. Having switched formation to play two wide attacking players but have none on the bench and using Jake instead. Should have had Joel Randall who I think would have given us an extra option. His short, choppy strides and close control are made for this kind of pitch. MJ should have been on for the same reason late on, possibly for Archie and drop Law a bit deeper when it became clear that Crewe were happy with a point.
There goal was a bit unfortunate with a double deflection, one took it wide but I think it was Powell who then flicked it back on target.
Wrapping up, Dickenson man of the match for me. And the ref's nickname must surely be Daisy for the amount of fouls Porter milked out of him tonight.
The thing is Mike, we did play quite well tonight, and on the whole were better and created more than Crewe. We weren't perfect by any stretch but we competed well, created more chances than them and if anyone was going to win it was us. There's still 10 to play. We're in touching distance of going up automatically and its still in our hands. We're going to do it. It may come down to the last game of the season but we're going to get there.
The thing is we have other players who can create chances but seem to go to Williams out of habit. Even when Sparkes was playing who is the best crosser of the ball at the club, we tended to favour Williams too much. Now we are almost always going to him. Time for the other players to take more responsibility in creating maybe as it is becoming very predictable. And tonight when things are not really happening for Williams it is ineffective.
I think you mean "loyal City fans" watching on iFollow.
Yes, and those who would find 2 games in a week too expensive and those who work early on Wednesday, or are child minding or any of a lot of other perfectly understandable reasons why they couldn't attend tonight.
Mr Swabey-another example of a Devon based referee; under pressure no doubt to give every 50/50 decision to the away side so that he can't be accused of being a "homer".
