Wycombe Review

[fct]

City struggled to break down the bottom club tonight and ended up drawing a game they should have won.

The main reasons for the lack of a win were poor quality crosses and a lack of a killer touch in the box. Wycombe, having drawn much of their last few games showed why by packing their half and making it difficult for Cityto get into scoring positions. When the ball did find its way into the box a packed defence more often than not smothered any goal attempt.

Miller sent a shot rising over the bar early on but Wycombe were more direct, pumping the ball quickly forward and their forward McSporran made life difficult for a while for the defence, and after 20 minutes Hill limped off to be replaced by Fortune.

Wycombe forced a few corners and from one of these nearly scored but Phillips blocked the shot. that was the sum total of Wycombe's first half attempts. City got forward more as the half wore on but the crosses, particularly from Goodfellow, lacked direction and purpose. Peacock turned and shot narrowly wide close to half time but a 0-0 scoreline was no surprise.

In the second half City dominated but again their lack of akiller touch let them down. Peacock and Miller worked hard but couldn't turn their efforts into goals. Wilkshire, who had a dreadful match, was replaced by Tinnion and suddenly City went 1-0 up. Goodfellow at the far post from a corner drilled the ball across Williams into the far corner.

However the lead lasted ten minutes when Wycombe showed how to cross and score. McSporran got to a low cross from the right and flicked the ball past a startled Phillips into the roof of the net. City came forward but poor crosses from Aaron Brown let them down and the ball wouldn't drop fr a City forward on the number of times it fell loose.

At the end neither team was happy with 1 point but the 1-1 scoreline showed there is little between top and bottom in this division, if tonight's game is anything to go by.

City ratings:

Phillips: 6, made one good save, beaten at his near post, still stays on his line too much for crosses.

Carey: 7, played well, linked nicely on the right and put in a lot of work and tackled well.

Coles: 6, quietly effective, solid performance without being outstanding.

Hill: 6, average game but limped off after 20 minutes.

Bell: 7, good work on the left, passed nicely and linked up with midfield.

Goodfellow: 5, generally poor game, crossed poorly, ran into brick walls, but scored the goal.

Wilkshire: 4, shocking performance from a player supposed to be th eplaymaker. Opted out of passing forward by squaring it or losing the ball too frequently. Replaced by Tinnion.

Doherty: 8, man of the match, tackling and passing easily the best on the pitch, battled hard and all round was the best by a mile.

Brown: 5, his main purpose is to supply crosses and this he singularly failed to do with any quality. Outpaced defenders very nicely but let himself and his team down by making a pig's ear of the final ball.

Peacock: 7, if only he could score. Apart from that he's playing brilliantly and his control is something else to behold.

Miller: 6, battled well, a couple of snap-shots but again looked punchless. Replaced in the last 15 by Lita.

subs:

Fortune: 7, fitted in wonderfully at the back, assured performance.

Tinnion: 6, fairly good game, certainly an improvement on Wilkshire.

Lita: not on long enough to make any impression, and hardly got a touch.

[Reds]

I disagree about Docherty being man of the match.

He had an appauling game by far, was very tired and seemed lazy, he should of been subbed.

Tinnion for captain.

[fct]

You're having a laugh.

[Guest Mr Snufflelufagus]

I thought Tommy was quality for the first 70 mins but what really showed was when he gave a few passes away. This could be put down to the fact of lack of movement from other players.

[newboy]

Normally I agree with you - but Peacock better than Miller last night? Miller was one of the best players out there in terms of ball control, distribtion and effort involved.

Agree that Goodfellow had a stinker until his goal. If I was carey, I would have been well upset from the number of times a wunder-1-2 was set up, but goodfellow chose to ignore it.

[Bristol Boy]

Agree with most of that but not TD.

For a bloke of 24 he's kanckered after 70 minutes and he was knackerd after 55 last night.

It's one thing for Tinman to need a rest at 36 but 24????

As good as he's been, and I've said so, over the last 2/3 games he faded badly last night.

[94th Minute]

Miller should have been much higher than 6 he was the best out there by far with the execption af tommy d.

Do you do the ratings for the evil post

[fct]

I give the ratings as I see them; it was a rushed report last night as I got home after walking 2 and a half miles back to home and it was late and I wanted to go to bed but I thought I'd put the review on for readers to ponder.

Its my view of things of course and I don't get paid so no I do not do the ratings for the Evil Post. 6 is in my book an average mark, and miller did average, no more or less than what was expected of him. Of course, 12,000 people have 12,000 differing views and I don't expect half of you to agree with my assessment which is why its open to discussion and counter-discussion.