I can't get at Danny Wilson too much as I like him but I'm baffled by how at Bury, 2-1 down he brings on Evatt when we have a young striker on the bench eager for any few minutes he can grab, but against Gillingham at 3-2 up he doesn't give himself the option of Evatt.
I know he's obviously lost some of his sparkle, but Ian Evatt once upon a time was a very good defensive midfield player. For five or ten minutes when you are winning wouldn't he be a big help in closing things down and not conceding? I know he is also a player who might grab a goal from a dead ball, but is he more likely than Ricky German or any regular striker?
I think you are bit harsh on Fulton Pooch. I've faced penalties I think I should have stopped but didn't, but it is a situation in which a keeper makes a decision he has to live with ..... left, right or wait and stop the central ones. There are clues you can pick up and ways to keep yourself calm so that you are thinking about the save, rather than envisaging a 3-3 scoreline .......... but you can only really be a hero, it's tough man who'll make you a goat from that range. Bad penalties have a pretty good chance of finding the net, because you don't know beforehand they'll be bad.
I was glad Graham's doing okay and Maguire got a chance. I don't think Danny is the most willing to change players during the game, so you assume players behind them marooned on the bench can't be very impressive. Certainly I thought that in our first few games when it seemed obvious that a combination of O'Shea and Gardener would only catch each other on a going day once every four or five games. It's hard to imagine a Reece Mitchell or Kristian Dennis can be close to a breakthrough when the most they were trusted with as replacements of those two was five minutes. I've some sympathy with fans who assumed our reserves didn't have much to offer. Certainly I thought Kristian Dennis (at his age) had to be proving he could make the jump from National League to Division One by the end of this month - luckily he has thanks to Ched's injury.
I know he's obviously lost some of his sparkle, but Ian Evatt once upon a time was a very good defensive midfield player. For five or ten minutes when you are winning wouldn't he be a big help in closing things down and not conceding? I know he is also a player who might grab a goal from a dead ball, but is he more likely than Ricky German or any regular striker?
I think you are bit harsh on Fulton Pooch. I've faced penalties I think I should have stopped but didn't, but it is a situation in which a keeper makes a decision he has to live with ..... left, right or wait and stop the central ones. There are clues you can pick up and ways to keep yourself calm so that you are thinking about the save, rather than envisaging a 3-3 scoreline .......... but you can only really be a hero, it's tough man who'll make you a goat from that range. Bad penalties have a pretty good chance of finding the net, because you don't know beforehand they'll be bad.
I was glad Graham's doing okay and Maguire got a chance. I don't think Danny is the most willing to change players during the game, so you assume players behind them marooned on the bench can't be very impressive. Certainly I thought that in our first few games when it seemed obvious that a combination of O'Shea and Gardener would only catch each other on a going day once every four or five games. It's hard to imagine a Reece Mitchell or Kristian Dennis can be close to a breakthrough when the most they were trusted with as replacements of those two was five minutes. I've some sympathy with fans who assumed our reserves didn't have much to offer. Certainly I thought Kristian Dennis (at his age) had to be proving he could make the jump from National League to Division One by the end of this month - luckily he has thanks to Ched's injury.