A home win. This is not a drill. We won at home. anyway a great debut from DKD just beat a typical Barry performance of genius and madness for me.
Gone for DKD but could make good cases for Cotter Cosgrove and Phillips Great performance especially first half. Just let down by defensive lapses and poor finishing Ps forgot to mention Craig who seems to be an excellent replacement for Kane
Toss up between Cotter and Connell for me, but went for Connell. Rarely gave the ball away, great pass for the opening goal and close with a couple of efforts. At the heart of most of the good moves.
I thought Connell gave the ball away loads today, and his passing was off. Funny how we all see the game different. Gone for DKD. Cotter a close second.
I think he saw a lot of the ball to be fair. Especially first half. 34/42 passes. Comparison... Craig was 37/45.
Craig and DKD were great. Cotter as good as I’ve seen him. I plumped for Cosgrove though. Not necessarily the prettiest performance, but absolutely integral to everything we achieved today. Without him we’d have had the ball turned over quicker, them come out quicker, and they’d have been able to sit higher up the pitch. He occupied their back line and didn’t lose a header all afternoon, even at one point trying to head a ball on the floor… Proper number 9 performance today, gutsy, physical, selfless - and he should have had an assist or two with his creativity too.
it was good to see him win headers and those knock downs going to our players. I’m often critical of him because I think he has all the attributes to be a real threat at this level. Hopefully this is the start.
First and foremost, it's important to note that it was a good team performance today. The first 30 minutes was excellent, creating multiple chances which on another day we could have been 3 or 4 nil up. The mix up at the back for their goal wouldn't have mattered then. The team is gelling. It's still a work in progress, but the signs are there that there's more forward momentum with players creating runs off the ball to give multiple options going forward rather than just lumping it forward. Midfield is involved more and we're looking like a team once again. If we play like we did in the first 30 minutes more and more this season we have a good chance of promotion. Time will tell. That said Bazzer was my MoM today, with honorable mentions for DKD, Craig & Cozzy. Baz seems to have improved immensely in the last 12 months and getting more consistent. I love Bazzer!
This with sprinkles and raspberry sauce. DKD, Craig and Cotter all had good games but Sammy boy put one hell of a shift in without any reward and was integral to our victory. Hopefully, it will be the first of many and he'll be on the end of some of the great football we played in the first 20 minutes in the future. Also thought Earl was excellent first half and good to see Benson back playing though it seems I'm the only one who thought he was mince when he came on.