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I think in all honesty yesterday’s game is going to be quite a tough one to try and summarize.
While there wasn’t a great deal of action by means of attacking play, I did think that there was a fair amount of positives to take from the game. Despite it being more of a gritty match than opposed to a free-flowing/kind on the eye performance, I think it showed a side to our game that has been severely lacking this season, so whilst not great to… well… endure (?), I think that kind of character will stand us in good stead for next season.
Moving onto the game, and after arriving for at Loftus Road in the afternoon, we got to the ground and into our seats fairly early.
Warnock did spring a few surprises in the starting line-up. The defence remained as it was, with Cerny, Leigertwood, Ramage, Gorkss and Tosic all continuing. In midfield we had Hogan switched to the right, with Buzsaky and Faurlin in the middle, and Taarabt on the wide left. Upfront we had rare starts for Vine and German.
The opening few minutes was quite a drab opening really, neither team really getting at the opposition and not much to really comment on. We created the first opportunity in the game via Taarabt. We had a corner on the right hand side, and we watched as the usual suspects entered the penalty area. Taarabt though simply dinked the ball to the edge of the area, and Buzsaky saw a vicious shot fly just wide of the right hand post. I’ll again say that while I haven’t been impressed with Buzsaky, that was a sign of his old self again – and despite it not going in, I suppose it was a positive that he had the confidence to take the shot on. Either way, the score remained 0-0.
Loach hadn’t really been tested at this stage, but he had to be alert literally a couple of minutes after Buzsaky’s first effort. We found ourselves with a free-kick around 30 yards out. As the player’s lined up in the box, Buzsaky stepped up and sent a vicious shot hammering into the bottom right hand corner of the goal… Loach flew across his goalmouth and pushed it just wide of the post, and eventually out for another corner. In truth, it looked a fairly comfortable save, but it was a good effort from Buzsaky and another sign that maybe he is just starting to return to his former self.
Watford weren’t really looking like causing many problems at all, and the only real effort of note that I can think of was after a long ball was played in behind out defence… Ramage calmly headed the ball back to Cerny, but Graham was running in behind him. Fortunately Cerny was a fully aware of the danger, and managed to beat Graham to the loose ball. Not much of a chance, but that really is all that Watford could muster at this stage.
We had another shot at goal shortly after. I think it was Buzsaky that crossed the ball into the box, and after being headed clear, there was a mix-up between two defenders and it eventually fell to Faurlin on the edge of the box. After switching the ball onto his right foot, he lashed it goalwards and way way over the crossbar… Straight into the rowdy Watford fans located in the away end.
I noticed that Taarabt was signalling to the bench that he wanted to be substituted at this stage. I believe he may have taken a knock or something?
Hogan had a chance from around 25 yards out following this as well. After being played in by Faurlin, he managed to cut in past Taylor, and blazed his effort miles off target.
Shortly after, we DID manage to find the goal that on the balance of play we had deserved. It came after nice work on the left hand side by Vine, who had managed to beat one man and lay the ball into the path of the onrushing Tosic. After appearing to come in centrally, he then decided to run the ball to the by-line and clashed with a Watford defender. I have to say that after looking at it on that one occasion, maybe we were a little fortunate? I haven’t seen it again, so I suppose I’ll hold comment on whether it should be a penalty or not.
Then the choice between Taarabt and Buzsaky. It was clear that Adel wanted to take it, but he watched on as Buzsaky picked up the ball and placed it on the spot. I noticed Leigertwood strongly telling Adel something… I assume that Buzsaky was our regular penalty taker!?
Akos made absolutely no mistake, and sent Loach the wrong way as he smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. I noticed near on every player followed the celebrations along the South Africa Road stand – with the exception of Taarabt who again signalled for Warnock to substitute him.
When he was substituted, I noticed that he marched straight down the tunnel (without any stick from the home supporters). His replacement Lee Cook, got a fair amount of abuse from the travelling Watford fans for obvious reasons.
Right on the brink of half time, we ever so nearly double our lead. It came after Faurlin again won back possession in the middle of the field. He played the ball chest height to German who was around the centre circle. While holding off the beastly Martin Taylor expertly, he span on the spot and released Vine down the left wing and darted into the box. Vine managed to beat one man and flashed a glorious box across the face of goal that somehow missed a host of players who were lining up ready to pounce.
With that the referee blew time on the first half, and we took a 1-0 lead going into the break.
In summary of that half, there were two players that really stood out for me. One was Antonio German who I thought had a cracking half. Winning a large amount of headers, holding play up brilliantly, and tireless running… He was rightly treated to his chant of “One decent German!” on a number of occasions for his impressive play. Also, Peter Ramage had an absolutely spotless half for us… I’ll come back to him later in the report.
I had a friend attending only his second game at Loftus Road, and watching ‘Spark’ attempt to save penalties during the half time both he and most people around us found it hilarious!
Shortly after the second half started, with Watford absolutely desperate to improve on their first half performance. Despite us being fairly wasteful in front of goal, we had been by far the better side and no doubt Mackay ripped into them during the break.
Whatever he said to them clearly had a positive impact as Watford ever so nearly drew level around 5 minutes into the half. After playing a long ball down the right hand side, Ramage lunged to try and prod the ball out for a throw-in, he just managed to scuff the ball backwards and it left the Watford left winger racing in at goal with our defence badly caught out of position. He got down to the left hand side, and with only Gorkss and Tosic at the back, he sent a cracking cross right onto the head of Graham who could only have been a matter of 5 yards or so out… Fortunately he couldn’t manage a clean connection on the ball and it skimmed off wide of Cerny’s left hand post. It was a guilt edged chance and Ramage (who had been absolutely spotless) nearly cost us a goal here…
The speedy substitute that Watford had bought on, Sordell was really starting to cause us problems. This time he popped up on the right hand side, and after bustling his way past Tosic he again put the ball on a plate for Graham, this time he was literally right on the goal line… Just as he turned to shoot at goal for what would have been a definite equalizer – Leigertwood came sliding in from nowhere and somehow scooped the ball out for a corner. It was a marvellous challenge, and without doubt we would have conceded here.
My memory of the host of chances Watford were creating in these stages of the game is hazy at best, but the amount of times that the ball flew into our box was crazy. To our credit, both Ramage and Gorkss were absolutely dominant in the air – but I would be lying to say there weren’t a few close shaves. I think that Watford were flagged offside about 20 times during the half, and either our makeshift defence was fully in tune with each other on a level that would be the envy of the likes of Inter Milan – or the lino was a QPR fan. Either way, it was making for a very frustrating night for the Watford fans and the running joke of “Offside!” for every single ball played forward rolled on and on… and on!
On the other hand, the referee was giving Watford near on every decision. Some of the calls he gave their way had Warnock tearing his hair out (yep, not the first time we have seen that!).
One funny moment happened when the referee was running back with his eyes fixed firmly on the ball which was on the right hand wing… While running to keep in touch with the ball, he charged straight into Martin Taylor and crashed to the floor. It was a hilarious sight, and needless to say he got plenty of stick for it. I noticed even Faurlin had a smile about it…!
Up the other end, we hadn’t really created anything in this half – It really was backs to the walls. Simpson had earlier been bought on for the then shattered Antonio German… and he nearly gave us a two goal lead. After Vine brilliantly played him though, he was left running at goal on the right hand side. His cross come shot made contact with Loach and went out for a corner kick. The resulting cross however was poor, and the score remained at 1-0.
With only a few minutes left on the clock, Watford continued to bombard us with long balls up field, but the defence remained water-tight and they just couldn’t break us down.
There was one fiery moment just before the game ended. Oastler had earlier been introduced for the injured Buzsaky, and he was involved in a nasty collision with a Watford player. He got straight up and there was a huge melee between both sets of players… It bought both sets of fans to life, and the pre-longed chant of “Going down going down going down” was probably the loudest chant of the night from the QPR fans.
As the referee blew time on the game, we had somehow managed to hold out for the 3 points. The player’s were quick to acknowledge the fans, with Ramage leading the celebrations. He came right down towards our corner of the ground grabbing his badge and applauding the home support. Cook also got a great reception from us.
In summary of the game as a whole, I have to say it wasn’t pleasing on the eye by any stretch of the imagination. But we were full of determination and grit, and I think that’s credit to Warnock.
I don’t think we would have won a game in this fashion under many of our other managers, and likely would have either conceded at some stage – possibly even lost.
Another encouraging thing for me was that even in the dying seconds, near enough every single player was going in strongly for possession. Despite being a little boring, you just couldn’t fault the effort… they really did want to win that yesterday; it certainly didn’t look like an end of season game that’s for sure.
Player Ratings –
Cerny – Didn’t have a massive amount to do really. Commanded his box for a couple of corners fairly well, but also flapped at quite a few too. Kept the clean sheet which was positive, but in truth he wasn’t really tested.
Leigertwood – Suppose he will continue to split opinion. I personally think he does an awful lot of work that goes unnoticed, he did make a couple of sloppy passes (as did everyone), but he did break up play nicely on a number of times. Also oddly enough provided quite good width on the right hand side yesterday. Certainly wasn’t the liability or accident waiting to happen that we have seen from some fullbacks this season… I thought he was solid in defence.
Ramage – The harsh negative… literally ONE mistake in the whole 90 minutes. As I mentioned above, he slid for a ball that he missed and we did nearly conceded from. But he was hands down our man of the match yesterday. His reading of the game, his strength, he even had the confidence to bring the ball into midfield on one occasion! For me, he should never be played right back again. He is a centre back, that’s his position, that’s clear to see. Unbelievably on this form, I wouldn’t be surprised at all for him to make the CB position his own. Absolutely awesome!
Gorkss – Ever dependable and back to his resilient best. Have to say he did lose out to a couple of headers, and was caught on a couple of occasions. But near on every time corrected his error, and got the challenge in. Seems to have formed a nice relationship alongside Ramage and I thought he had a good game.
Tosic – Another good performance from him. Plenty of running going forward, and put a couple of excellent crosses into the box. Strong in the challenge, and like I mentioned above with Leigertwood – he wasn’t that liability in the full back positions that we have had to endure at times this season. Obviously won the penalty, and looks to be a great loan signing at this stage.
Ephraim – Hmmmm, think Warnock with either drop or ‘rest’ him shortly. I personally think that Hogan can be quite a decent player, but he offered virtually nothing yesterday. A nice back heel and good bit of footwork towards the end was about as good as it got. Not direct enough, poor shooting and pretty unimpressive. To his credit, it wasn’t due to lack of effort; he tried as hard as anyone yesterday. But just had very little impact on the game.
Faurlin – Not a brilliant game by his sky high standard he has set himself, but won back possession well, and put in 2 goal saving challenges. Couple of decent passes and plenty of fighting spirit after being clattered and limping back on to finish the game off. Noticed he was becoming far more vocal during the game, and that’s another positive for next season.
Buzsaky – Desperate for him to show Warnock what he is capable of, and had little glimpses of the magic he can provide. Still a couple of wayward passes, but he was no exception, I think the majority of players were guilty of that. Some decent long range shooting though and took his penalty very well. Again nice to see him played in his rightful position on centre midfield. Played one stunning ball through to Taarabt that just evaded him.
Taarabt – Have to say my view on him did slightly alter last night. I think wrongly some fans will say he substituted himself after not being allowed to take the penalty, when in truth he had signalled about 5 minutes prior to that he wanted to go off. Didn’t look comfortable out on the left hand side, and had very little impact on the game. Didn’t like the way he stormed straight off down the tunnel though, that attitude argument will build more and more weight with strops like this. Complete contrast to Faurlin who I think probably would have played even with one leg yesterday!
Vine – I’ve said in the past that I think maybe his time with us is coming to a rapid end, and he didn’t do an awful lot yesterday. He did do 3 superb runs and crosses; one of them was truly brilliant. But for me he has lost about 5 yards of pace, and just didn’t quite look up to it IMO.
German – If it hadn’t been for Ramage, I would probably have said German was my MOTM. Comparing his stature to Martin Taylor was like David vs Goliath, but he gave him a real battle last night. How he managed to win so many headers was unbelievable, the fact that he complimented it with tracking back and putting his foot into challenges made it all the more delightful to watch. Did more in his 70 odd minutes on the pitch yesterday than Priskin has done since arriving here! To be blunt, there was one occasion where he should have played Cook in behind the back-line, and I’m sure Warnock will let him know that… Cook certainly did! But on the whole, another very promising display from him. Hope he starts on Saturday too.
Substitutes –
Cook – Again played out of position upfront. Didn’t really get a chance to get down the left hand side as we know he can. Couple of nice passes and one nice corner into the box but didn’t do an awful lot.
Oastler – Caught out in midfield with his first touch, and appeared sloppy. From that moment though, I think the player that he could potentially come shone through. Very easy and calm on the ball, and had some pretty decent touches and passes too. Again, hope we see a bit more of him on Saturday. Promising display.
Simpson – Looked much sharper, and I thought had a good game. Held the ball up nicely, and always looking to run in behind the defence. Very little service though.
Looking back on the game as a whole, it wasn’t one that will live long in the memory. But some of the youth are getting some minutes under their belts now, and that again only bodes well for next season… Oh and it was nice making Watford sweat out the season a little longer too!!
I’ll try and get a report done on the Barnsley game too if I get a chance. Thanks for reading.
U R’sss!!!
While there wasn’t a great deal of action by means of attacking play, I did think that there was a fair amount of positives to take from the game. Despite it being more of a gritty match than opposed to a free-flowing/kind on the eye performance, I think it showed a side to our game that has been severely lacking this season, so whilst not great to… well… endure (?), I think that kind of character will stand us in good stead for next season.
Moving onto the game, and after arriving for at Loftus Road in the afternoon, we got to the ground and into our seats fairly early.
Warnock did spring a few surprises in the starting line-up. The defence remained as it was, with Cerny, Leigertwood, Ramage, Gorkss and Tosic all continuing. In midfield we had Hogan switched to the right, with Buzsaky and Faurlin in the middle, and Taarabt on the wide left. Upfront we had rare starts for Vine and German.
The opening few minutes was quite a drab opening really, neither team really getting at the opposition and not much to really comment on. We created the first opportunity in the game via Taarabt. We had a corner on the right hand side, and we watched as the usual suspects entered the penalty area. Taarabt though simply dinked the ball to the edge of the area, and Buzsaky saw a vicious shot fly just wide of the right hand post. I’ll again say that while I haven’t been impressed with Buzsaky, that was a sign of his old self again – and despite it not going in, I suppose it was a positive that he had the confidence to take the shot on. Either way, the score remained 0-0.
Loach hadn’t really been tested at this stage, but he had to be alert literally a couple of minutes after Buzsaky’s first effort. We found ourselves with a free-kick around 30 yards out. As the player’s lined up in the box, Buzsaky stepped up and sent a vicious shot hammering into the bottom right hand corner of the goal… Loach flew across his goalmouth and pushed it just wide of the post, and eventually out for another corner. In truth, it looked a fairly comfortable save, but it was a good effort from Buzsaky and another sign that maybe he is just starting to return to his former self.
Watford weren’t really looking like causing many problems at all, and the only real effort of note that I can think of was after a long ball was played in behind out defence… Ramage calmly headed the ball back to Cerny, but Graham was running in behind him. Fortunately Cerny was a fully aware of the danger, and managed to beat Graham to the loose ball. Not much of a chance, but that really is all that Watford could muster at this stage.
We had another shot at goal shortly after. I think it was Buzsaky that crossed the ball into the box, and after being headed clear, there was a mix-up between two defenders and it eventually fell to Faurlin on the edge of the box. After switching the ball onto his right foot, he lashed it goalwards and way way over the crossbar… Straight into the rowdy Watford fans located in the away end.
I noticed that Taarabt was signalling to the bench that he wanted to be substituted at this stage. I believe he may have taken a knock or something?
Hogan had a chance from around 25 yards out following this as well. After being played in by Faurlin, he managed to cut in past Taylor, and blazed his effort miles off target.
Shortly after, we DID manage to find the goal that on the balance of play we had deserved. It came after nice work on the left hand side by Vine, who had managed to beat one man and lay the ball into the path of the onrushing Tosic. After appearing to come in centrally, he then decided to run the ball to the by-line and clashed with a Watford defender. I have to say that after looking at it on that one occasion, maybe we were a little fortunate? I haven’t seen it again, so I suppose I’ll hold comment on whether it should be a penalty or not.
Then the choice between Taarabt and Buzsaky. It was clear that Adel wanted to take it, but he watched on as Buzsaky picked up the ball and placed it on the spot. I noticed Leigertwood strongly telling Adel something… I assume that Buzsaky was our regular penalty taker!?
Akos made absolutely no mistake, and sent Loach the wrong way as he smashed the ball into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. I noticed near on every player followed the celebrations along the South Africa Road stand – with the exception of Taarabt who again signalled for Warnock to substitute him.
When he was substituted, I noticed that he marched straight down the tunnel (without any stick from the home supporters). His replacement Lee Cook, got a fair amount of abuse from the travelling Watford fans for obvious reasons.
Right on the brink of half time, we ever so nearly double our lead. It came after Faurlin again won back possession in the middle of the field. He played the ball chest height to German who was around the centre circle. While holding off the beastly Martin Taylor expertly, he span on the spot and released Vine down the left wing and darted into the box. Vine managed to beat one man and flashed a glorious box across the face of goal that somehow missed a host of players who were lining up ready to pounce.
With that the referee blew time on the first half, and we took a 1-0 lead going into the break.
In summary of that half, there were two players that really stood out for me. One was Antonio German who I thought had a cracking half. Winning a large amount of headers, holding play up brilliantly, and tireless running… He was rightly treated to his chant of “One decent German!” on a number of occasions for his impressive play. Also, Peter Ramage had an absolutely spotless half for us… I’ll come back to him later in the report.
I had a friend attending only his second game at Loftus Road, and watching ‘Spark’ attempt to save penalties during the half time both he and most people around us found it hilarious!
Shortly after the second half started, with Watford absolutely desperate to improve on their first half performance. Despite us being fairly wasteful in front of goal, we had been by far the better side and no doubt Mackay ripped into them during the break.
Whatever he said to them clearly had a positive impact as Watford ever so nearly drew level around 5 minutes into the half. After playing a long ball down the right hand side, Ramage lunged to try and prod the ball out for a throw-in, he just managed to scuff the ball backwards and it left the Watford left winger racing in at goal with our defence badly caught out of position. He got down to the left hand side, and with only Gorkss and Tosic at the back, he sent a cracking cross right onto the head of Graham who could only have been a matter of 5 yards or so out… Fortunately he couldn’t manage a clean connection on the ball and it skimmed off wide of Cerny’s left hand post. It was a guilt edged chance and Ramage (who had been absolutely spotless) nearly cost us a goal here…
The speedy substitute that Watford had bought on, Sordell was really starting to cause us problems. This time he popped up on the right hand side, and after bustling his way past Tosic he again put the ball on a plate for Graham, this time he was literally right on the goal line… Just as he turned to shoot at goal for what would have been a definite equalizer – Leigertwood came sliding in from nowhere and somehow scooped the ball out for a corner. It was a marvellous challenge, and without doubt we would have conceded here.
My memory of the host of chances Watford were creating in these stages of the game is hazy at best, but the amount of times that the ball flew into our box was crazy. To our credit, both Ramage and Gorkss were absolutely dominant in the air – but I would be lying to say there weren’t a few close shaves. I think that Watford were flagged offside about 20 times during the half, and either our makeshift defence was fully in tune with each other on a level that would be the envy of the likes of Inter Milan – or the lino was a QPR fan. Either way, it was making for a very frustrating night for the Watford fans and the running joke of “Offside!” for every single ball played forward rolled on and on… and on!
On the other hand, the referee was giving Watford near on every decision. Some of the calls he gave their way had Warnock tearing his hair out (yep, not the first time we have seen that!).
One funny moment happened when the referee was running back with his eyes fixed firmly on the ball which was on the right hand wing… While running to keep in touch with the ball, he charged straight into Martin Taylor and crashed to the floor. It was a hilarious sight, and needless to say he got plenty of stick for it. I noticed even Faurlin had a smile about it…!
Up the other end, we hadn’t really created anything in this half – It really was backs to the walls. Simpson had earlier been bought on for the then shattered Antonio German… and he nearly gave us a two goal lead. After Vine brilliantly played him though, he was left running at goal on the right hand side. His cross come shot made contact with Loach and went out for a corner kick. The resulting cross however was poor, and the score remained at 1-0.
With only a few minutes left on the clock, Watford continued to bombard us with long balls up field, but the defence remained water-tight and they just couldn’t break us down.
There was one fiery moment just before the game ended. Oastler had earlier been introduced for the injured Buzsaky, and he was involved in a nasty collision with a Watford player. He got straight up and there was a huge melee between both sets of players… It bought both sets of fans to life, and the pre-longed chant of “Going down going down going down” was probably the loudest chant of the night from the QPR fans.
As the referee blew time on the game, we had somehow managed to hold out for the 3 points. The player’s were quick to acknowledge the fans, with Ramage leading the celebrations. He came right down towards our corner of the ground grabbing his badge and applauding the home support. Cook also got a great reception from us.
In summary of the game as a whole, I have to say it wasn’t pleasing on the eye by any stretch of the imagination. But we were full of determination and grit, and I think that’s credit to Warnock.
I don’t think we would have won a game in this fashion under many of our other managers, and likely would have either conceded at some stage – possibly even lost.
Another encouraging thing for me was that even in the dying seconds, near enough every single player was going in strongly for possession. Despite being a little boring, you just couldn’t fault the effort… they really did want to win that yesterday; it certainly didn’t look like an end of season game that’s for sure.
Player Ratings –
Cerny – Didn’t have a massive amount to do really. Commanded his box for a couple of corners fairly well, but also flapped at quite a few too. Kept the clean sheet which was positive, but in truth he wasn’t really tested.
Leigertwood – Suppose he will continue to split opinion. I personally think he does an awful lot of work that goes unnoticed, he did make a couple of sloppy passes (as did everyone), but he did break up play nicely on a number of times. Also oddly enough provided quite good width on the right hand side yesterday. Certainly wasn’t the liability or accident waiting to happen that we have seen from some fullbacks this season… I thought he was solid in defence.
Ramage – The harsh negative… literally ONE mistake in the whole 90 minutes. As I mentioned above, he slid for a ball that he missed and we did nearly conceded from. But he was hands down our man of the match yesterday. His reading of the game, his strength, he even had the confidence to bring the ball into midfield on one occasion! For me, he should never be played right back again. He is a centre back, that’s his position, that’s clear to see. Unbelievably on this form, I wouldn’t be surprised at all for him to make the CB position his own. Absolutely awesome!
Gorkss – Ever dependable and back to his resilient best. Have to say he did lose out to a couple of headers, and was caught on a couple of occasions. But near on every time corrected his error, and got the challenge in. Seems to have formed a nice relationship alongside Ramage and I thought he had a good game.
Tosic – Another good performance from him. Plenty of running going forward, and put a couple of excellent crosses into the box. Strong in the challenge, and like I mentioned above with Leigertwood – he wasn’t that liability in the full back positions that we have had to endure at times this season. Obviously won the penalty, and looks to be a great loan signing at this stage.
Ephraim – Hmmmm, think Warnock with either drop or ‘rest’ him shortly. I personally think that Hogan can be quite a decent player, but he offered virtually nothing yesterday. A nice back heel and good bit of footwork towards the end was about as good as it got. Not direct enough, poor shooting and pretty unimpressive. To his credit, it wasn’t due to lack of effort; he tried as hard as anyone yesterday. But just had very little impact on the game.
Faurlin – Not a brilliant game by his sky high standard he has set himself, but won back possession well, and put in 2 goal saving challenges. Couple of decent passes and plenty of fighting spirit after being clattered and limping back on to finish the game off. Noticed he was becoming far more vocal during the game, and that’s another positive for next season.
Buzsaky – Desperate for him to show Warnock what he is capable of, and had little glimpses of the magic he can provide. Still a couple of wayward passes, but he was no exception, I think the majority of players were guilty of that. Some decent long range shooting though and took his penalty very well. Again nice to see him played in his rightful position on centre midfield. Played one stunning ball through to Taarabt that just evaded him.
Taarabt – Have to say my view on him did slightly alter last night. I think wrongly some fans will say he substituted himself after not being allowed to take the penalty, when in truth he had signalled about 5 minutes prior to that he wanted to go off. Didn’t look comfortable out on the left hand side, and had very little impact on the game. Didn’t like the way he stormed straight off down the tunnel though, that attitude argument will build more and more weight with strops like this. Complete contrast to Faurlin who I think probably would have played even with one leg yesterday!
Vine – I’ve said in the past that I think maybe his time with us is coming to a rapid end, and he didn’t do an awful lot yesterday. He did do 3 superb runs and crosses; one of them was truly brilliant. But for me he has lost about 5 yards of pace, and just didn’t quite look up to it IMO.
German – If it hadn’t been for Ramage, I would probably have said German was my MOTM. Comparing his stature to Martin Taylor was like David vs Goliath, but he gave him a real battle last night. How he managed to win so many headers was unbelievable, the fact that he complimented it with tracking back and putting his foot into challenges made it all the more delightful to watch. Did more in his 70 odd minutes on the pitch yesterday than Priskin has done since arriving here! To be blunt, there was one occasion where he should have played Cook in behind the back-line, and I’m sure Warnock will let him know that… Cook certainly did! But on the whole, another very promising display from him. Hope he starts on Saturday too.
Substitutes –
Cook – Again played out of position upfront. Didn’t really get a chance to get down the left hand side as we know he can. Couple of nice passes and one nice corner into the box but didn’t do an awful lot.
Oastler – Caught out in midfield with his first touch, and appeared sloppy. From that moment though, I think the player that he could potentially come shone through. Very easy and calm on the ball, and had some pretty decent touches and passes too. Again, hope we see a bit more of him on Saturday. Promising display.
Simpson – Looked much sharper, and I thought had a good game. Held the ball up nicely, and always looking to run in behind the defence. Very little service though.
Looking back on the game as a whole, it wasn’t one that will live long in the memory. But some of the youth are getting some minutes under their belts now, and that again only bodes well for next season… Oh and it was nice making Watford sweat out the season a little longer too!!
I’ll try and get a report done on the Barnsley game too if I get a chance. Thanks for reading.
U R’sss!!!
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