The Poolie Bunker

After travelling miles to see one away defeat after another, it was nice to do a relatively short journey and not lose. On another day we would have hammered them, but it has stopped the rot at least.

Lee-Barrett 8
Soooo much better than Jan. Quick off his line, looks comfortable in the air, couple of good blocks, communicates...I'd be very pissed off if he is dropped after that performance.

Nolan 7
Pretty solid, got forward to knock some dangerous balls in.

Clark 8
Superb to see him back. Would have given him 9 if he hadn't fannied about with it and lost possession in a dangerous area.

Nelson 7
Look loads more comfortable with Ben next to him. Solid if unspectactular.

Elliott 7
Some of his set pieces are great, some are absolute bobbins. Defended OK.

Foley 6
When he got the ball to his feet caused them problems. I would love to see him get a goal, i reckon it would do wonders for him.

Liddle 7
Involved in most things, still a bit reluctant to play a ball forward when we are breaking out of defence though.

Boland 4
One of the worst games I've seen him play. Looked well off the pace, passing was poor and just whinged and whinged to the ref every time he was dispossessed. Sweeney next game please.

Humphries 8
Looks better and better in midfield, took players on a few times, and did well dropping back to left back when Elliott came off.

Barker 6
Can't fault his effort, given very little change out of their centre back, had a dodgy moment when he should have cleared instead of passing back to the keeper. Should have been subbed ten minutes before he was.

Moore 7
Another good game from him, full of running and caused them problems. Really should have scored from Robson's cross though.

Brown 7
Unfortunately didn't get the ball at his feet enough. Really looks dangerous every time he runs at a defence.

Robson 8
Most likely to create a goal all game. Set up Moore a sitter which he missed. Fouled on the edge of the box after skinning a defender, and denied a clear penalty. Plenty of good end product.

Porter 6
Wasn't on long enough to create an impression, and was cuaght out a couple of times. Should have been given longer...

Wilson 6
Northampton were there for the taking, and with more adventurous substitutions we would have won. Playing Lee-Barrett and Robson proved to be good decisions.

spot on PIN.

Boland is not the player he was last season, he had a lot of possession and
messed up a high percentage of it, with hospital balls.
Not what you need from a key midfielder.

Also Brown and Porter on at half time (if Joel's fully fit) and the game would have been won.

Matties contribution was also a plus, it got Elliott off, and he and Ritchie seem to have a
really good understanding. Could have been a match winner with the cross to Moore and
was definitely taken down for what looked like a stone wall penalty.

Although to be completely fair, Moore's miss balanced out there's a few minutes earlier.

I've been saying this about Boland since well before Xmas. He has poor for the majority of the season. However, is Sweeney really the answer? I'd like to see McCunnie in the middle with Lidds when he gets back from injury.

It wasn't an improvement over Carlisle in terms of attacking but it was defensivley.

It wasn't loads better in the first half but in the second half we made vast improvements.

We are slowly but surely getting there.

Yesterday does give a glint of hope.

We will be loads better when Monkhouse, Brown, Porter and McCunnie come back and find their way into the starting 11.