[madsteve]

Magic is Back

We went to Griffin Park with two poor performances and a dark cloud hanging over our head. We may not have come away with three points but we came away with so much more - controlled the game, created chances, forced keeper to MOTM performance. Our defence looked solid with Hutchinson particularly outstanding, the midfield looked dynamic and the strikers found plenty of opportunities. All that was lacking was quality of finishing and a bit of luck.

Palmer replaced Hunt, Jones replaced Abdi and Joao replaced Wallace as CC looked to turn things around after two below par performances.

Wednesday totally dominated the first half and it was virtually a game of attack and defence. Unfortunately we missed chances, got unlucky & were denied by an inspired keeper. Joao & Fletcher provided great movement up front while Bannan was more like himself again in midfield.

Joao reminded me so much of David Hirst in his early days, looking brilliant one minute then missing a sitter the next. The first half miss was terrible but was so like Hirsty that I believe he will come good even if it takes a couple of years.

We then went through a terrible spell with Westwood giving away a goal by kicking it against Vibe & the ball bounced into his net. Jones then got himself stupidly red carded for dissent. After that we showed great character & battling qualities, still taking the game to Brentford and were rewarded when Hutchinson headed home Bannan's free kick.

This was by far our best performance of the season so far & every fan cannot help but be encouraged for the coming matches.

Westwood - 4 - terrible mistake
Palmer - 7 - assured performance
Lees - 7 - solid defending
Hutchinson - 9 - outstanding defending, match saver
Pudil - 6 - relatively easy afternoon
Lee - 7 - good movement
Jones - 6 - solid but stupid red card
Bannan - 7 - back to his best
FF - 6 - lively, created space
Joao - 6 - great movement, terrible miss
Fletcher - 7 - going to be scoring soon
.............................................................
Hooper - 6
Nuhiu - 6
Abdi - 7

Stat Attack:

Goals: 1 - Hutchinson

Assists: 1 - Bannan

Touches: 88 - Bannan, 85 - Hutchinson, 69 - Lees, 62 - Pudil, Lee, 59 - Palmer, Jones, FF, 50 - Westwood, 40 - Fletcher, 30 - Joao, 25 - Abdi, 19 - Nuhiu, 9 - Hooper

Tackles: 5 - FF, 4 - Lee, 2 - Hutchinson, 1 - Pudil, Joao, Nuhiu, Abdi

Interceptions: 6 - Lees, 4 - Hutchinson, 3 - Bannan, 2 - Pudil, 1 - Jones, Abdi

Clearances: 11 - Hutchinson, 4 - Lees, 2 - Palmer, Lee, Fletcher, 1 - Pudil, Jones

Attempts: 4 - Lees, FF, Joao, 1 - Hutchinson, Pudil, Bannan, Lee, Fletcher, Nuhiu, Abdi

Attempts On Target: 2 - Lees, FF, Joao, 1 - Hutchinson Lee, Fletcher, Abdi

Key Passes: 5 - Bannan, 3 - Palmer, 2 - Lee, Jones, 1 - Hutchinson, Fletcher, Nuhiu

Dribbles: 2 - Bannan, FF, Fletcher, 1 - Lee

Dispossessed: 3 - FF, Fletcher, 2 - Joao, 1 - Bannan, Hooper

Bad Control: 2 - Hutchinson, Bannan, FF, Nuhiu, 1 - Pudil, Lee, Joao, Fletcher, Abdi

Crosses (Accurate in brackets): 9 - Bannan (4), 6 - Palmer (3), 3 - Pudil (0), 2 - Jones (2), 1 - FF (1)

Passing Accuracy (Total Passes in Brackets):

100% - Nuhiu (14), 92% - Hutchinson (62), 90% - Abdi (20), 88% - Palmer (42), 86% - Hooper (7), 83% - Jones (52), 80% - Pudil (35), 79% - Bannan (66), Fletcher (28), 75% - Lee (47), 74% - FF (34), 73% - Lees (51), 68% - Joao (19), 51% - Westwood (35).

The good news is that every fan that saw that performance will be encouraged that wins are not far away and that the top six beckons well before Christmas. The disappointing news is that the fans that didn't see that performance are still seeing negative things that really aren't there (at least weren't yesterday). Hopefully, a few more performances like that and the negative fans will be won over.

We can't change the terrible performance at Burton and the disappointing one against Leeds but this performance suggests that they will be rare this season and we can expect more of what we saw last season.