In the absence of Luke Payne, I endured with 341 other fans a gutless, non committal 80 minutes, followed by an improvement (that didn’t take much) that proved too late. On top of that there is a red card to add insult to injury. Here are my ratings for today. Warning. It’s not going to be pretty.
Craig MACGIVILLRY 6.5. 🌟 Man. Should have anticipated the ball back from Stewart for the first goal better in my eyes, couldn’t do anything about the second and in fairness made 4 or 5 saves to keep the score down. Needs to be quicker with distribution I feel still but one of his better performances
Cameron Norman 5. Not bad and improved as the game developed. Certainly left it all out there and reliable outlet when we play quickly.
Warren O’Hora 5. Again not the worst and certainly no lack effort. Felt sometimes he let his opponent have too many touches in the box and gave the Gillingham attackers too much respect.
Anthony Stewart 5. Will undoubtedly get slated for the mistake and it was a costly one. Lead the backline fairly well.
Daniel Harvie 3. Simply a bad day at the office. Misplaced passes, overhit crosses simply poor. Compounded by two yellows. The first for a kick that probably was by the letter of the law, intentional even if there was no contact, as soon as he received his second yellow he was half way across the pitch before Drysdale sealed his fate. Not his finest outing.
Joe Tomlinson. 6 Solid first half and was a decent outlet willing to receive and take on his man. Was sacrifed at half time for more attacking impetus.
Mj Williams 5. Had plenty of the ball but little to no options to dictate play. Was often asking for options and part of the reason for the slow start. Needs to own the middle of the park more for me.
Alex Gilbey 5. Not without the typical effort and desire, it didn’t quite happen today often using individual quality to try and spark us into life. Pulled no punches post match which I’ll extend on later.
Jack Payne 4.5. Often doubled up on, when he got the space he used it well. First thought forward unlike the team.
Mo Eisa 5. Again effort cannot be faulted. Forced a save from Turner in the first half and tried his best all game. Needs to be closer to his strike partner for me.
Matthew Dennis. 5.5. There’s a good striker in there. One that takes responsibility. Drags the team up the pitch. Had a goal chalked off for offside after a Stewart header was palmed out to him. Hope he gets a run in the side in the future.
Ellis Harrison 5.5. Hopefully the goal will give him confidence as he’s certainly lacking something at the minute. His experience should be helping the squad get through this difficult moment but it seems fruitless
Still to be fully convinced.
Max Dean 5.5. His efforts and endeavour are brilliant to see and will take him far in the game. Had a shot brilliantly saved by Turner at 2 1 down.
Jonathan Leko 4. His talent is there to be released. On his day he’s the best player in L2. But today he made a catastrophic error. Trying to be clever he really gave Gillingham their second goal and the frustration really got to me. Not only that it’s his lack of awareness, his lack of enthusiasm at times. People that know me personally know I have my frustrations with him but that’s because I know he can be so much better. I want him to be.
Team performance 4. You can’t turn up for ten minutes of a match and expect anything. Once they cross the white line the responsibility is on the players. Alexander is not blameless and it feels like he’s holding this side back. Players look a shadow of themselves and feel like they crumble once behind. I’m not in the Alexander out camp yet. 12 games is not enough time in my opinion. The goals conceded need addressing, the mindset sorting. There’s time to turn this around. One win could spark our season. Look at Stockport County. I’m going to get shot down but give the manager and players time. We will improve but it has to start sooner rather than later.
Thank you for reading this far. Chris Turner will be in the hotseat for Barrow next Saturday. Thank you for reading this and until next time. COYD
