What A Day - Great Game, Great Tension, Met Some of the players, AND got interviewed.

What a day that was.

Firstly, the Millennium Stadium was superb. Went in about 1.15 and just admired the view..unbelievable. Once the game kicked off, the atmosphere was great. Thought Howard's shot was in - couldn't believe Gueret saved it, but what a finish from Hayesy. Superb volley to keep it down.

But then we dozed off. Great finish from Fallon for 1-1, and then Colgan had a catastrophe. Could have been 3-1 but for a good save by Nick right on halftime though.

Second half..and we didn't look like scoring. Cometh the hour..cometh the man. I knew he was going to score during the game, despite being almost entirely ineffective. Whoever blocked Gueret's view deserves a big thankyou. Reid could have nicked it, but I thought we were under the cosh from the point we equalised to full time in extra time, apart from a 10 minute spell in the first period.

Why the hell did we show Trundle so much respect? We just stood off and let him do what he wanted - and he should have made us pay for it. Thought Shuker livened things up when he came on. Hassell, Devaney and Nardiello (til he went off) were either crocked or just absolutely exhausted.

Penalties..wow. Four of the calmest penalties I've seen. They must have studied Gueret to send him the wrong way everytime. All four were excellent, and it WAS McPhail who would have had the 5th.

Great atmosphere after the game finished and leaving the ground, superb.

Then later was walking past the ground and bumped into Steve McPhail. Asked him if he was staying next season and he said "Hopefully, yes", and that "I would have had the 5th penalty - AND I would have scored it too." Great lad. Got a photo with him, then turned around and there with a great big smile on his face was Chris Morgan. Photo with him. Turned again to see Shukes, had a chat with him too. Said he was heading away from the other players as "he doesn't drink". Then interviewed by Harry Gration for Look North, lol. What a day.

Ratings

Colgan 7 - COULD have been much lower. A dreadful error, but in the end, he went from zero to hero.

Hassell 6 - One of his lesser performances I think, but not helped by injury. Wasn't poor, but wasn't at his best.

Kay 8.5 - *EXTRA POINT FOR TAKING PENALTY SO WELL* - Did very well. Thought he took Knight out of the game and overall dealt quite well with Fallon.

Reid 7.5 - Solid in general - backed off Trundle too much.

Heckingbottom 8.5 - *EXTRA POINT FOR PEN* His best performance in a reds shirt by a long way. Thought him and Hayes were outstanding.

Devaney 6 - His worst performance for a while - great cross for first goal, but nothing more.

Howard 6 - Another who was quite quiet and seemed hindered by injury.

McPhail 7 - Thought he was one of the few that didn't seem to tire in extra-time and seemed to improve as the game went on.

Hayes 8.5 - *PEN* - Superb. Anyone who thinks hes lazy..just watch that. Forwards and back..last gasp sliding tackle in one box, goal in the other. Almost seemed to take it upon himself to be a leader in extra-time, and the same with his penalty, which calmed a lot of nerves. I know I'm a big Hayes fan, but he's up there for Man of the Match for me.

Richards 7 - Worked very hard, didn't give the ball away and his touch was there. Never looked like scoring, but he toiled.

Nardiello 7 - Just for scoring the goal really - very ineffective for long spells but thats just Danny, he scores goals.

For them, Fallon was excellent, as was Tate and Ricketts, the fullbacks. Leon Knight, however, is an ineffective, cheating, diving little tw*t.

But the fact is, who cares? We won. COME ON YOU REDS!

 

Good stuff mate

Pretty much agree with most of that really - thought Howard deserved a bit more maybe as he did well before he picked his injury up.

A great day!

 

Brilliant post mate

Where did you see the players then? Outside at Cardiff?
What a day hey?!

Paolo