in my opinion. 

I know we conceded four goals again (and at least two poor ones) but for the first time this season, we actually played a bit of positive football.

One of the changes was forced (we wouldn't ordinarily play Newell at fullback if Mattock could remain fit), but Grant Ward in for Maguire and JCH in for Bowery suggested we weren't going to setup to be defensive fodder for a talented opposition side.

And that's very much how it turned out to be. Being a bit more positive in the way we setup allowed a bit of respite for the defence and goalkeeper who were coping well in the first half. In fact, in that first half we were the better side. It was hard to see Derbyshire's near miss from the opposite end of the ground so I'd assumed it was more difficult than it looked or the defender had done well to put him off, but having seen it again this morning, he needs to be burying that. Austin (a bit of an unfair comparison, probably) would have scored that, and I'd suggest most other teams' main strikers in this division would've done. JCH also missed a very good chance second half that, again, we need to be taking. However, JCH took his goal well and Thorpe scoring could help his confidence.

As for the goals conceded, well some of them were really poor. The first goal was a well taken goal, but before the break, instead of playing to the whistle, Ladesma was too busy being pre-occupied with moaning at the ref in that annoying way many Argentinians do, and having ran to the ref, the player he was marking escaped him, bombed on about 60 yards and before you know it, we're 1-0 down. The goal was good though, and it very much reminded me of Agard's goal at home to Brentford in our promotion season. The second goal was a good break but Thorpe looked incredibly slow tracking and, with the benefit of hindsight, should've probably taken a booking and wiped him out. The third was just another unexplainable howler from the keeper which was a basic piece of goalkeeping but having said that, Halford might as well not have existed given his pathetically hapless attempt to close the shot. The fourth is purely and simply a desperate dive which that idiot referee bought, but Frecklington's been around long enough to not give him the fuel as that big lump was going nowhere. So some very poor goals conceded in there.

I do get the feeling, though, that if we bring in Adam Collin (for lots of reasons, but let's be honest, it's now time), work on the defence as a priority in training (knowing a long way ahead of next week who those four will be, injuries permitting) and keep the same balance to the side as Saturday, we have a good chance of beating Fulham and other lowly opposition at this level. All is not lost, but we need a win soon, as we're not a strong enough squad to be trying to play catchup.

The main positives for me are:-

1) When we setup as a team not so negative, we are creating chances.

2) We scored two goals from open play against a top half team.

3) It was entertaining for the first time this season.

And the negatives?

1) The keeper looks a liability and I don't see it getting better with his shattered confidence. That's resonating on the defence and we look calamitous.

2) Our heads go down when we concede and we look so susceptible to concede further.

3) We sorely miss the Holy Trinity players from yester-year (Arnie, Morgan, Pringle).

I did see enough yesterday, that, if we get a win under our belt soon, we will compete. We still might not stay up, but the outlook would look less bleak than the down-by-Christmas negative stuff we've been served up prior to yesterday.

Player ratings for me:-

Roos 5 - might have scraped a 6 had he not majory ballsed up a simple soft shot at him, but even so his indecisiveness mixed with erratic charging out clearly makes the defence uneasy and find it hard to trust/read him. Absolutely no excuses for the third goal, and we can't afford to keep carrying him like we are. I wanted to give him a chance, but for me we need to get Collin back in as I can't see it stopping. We leaked four from about 6 shots on goal. Even disregarding the clangers, could he save more than he does?

Buxton 6.5 - had a more difficult time than usual but against stronger opposition than he's come across. Very level-headed, intelligent fullback that defends well. Looks a good buy if he can stay fit. If he trusted the centre-backs more, h'd have more license to get forward which he is quite capable of.

Newell 7 - very assured again and looks so good bombing on. The kind of signing we should be making. Young, quick, good feet and bucket loads of energy and potential.

Collins 5 - just don't rate him. This is supposed to be our experienced guy at the back. He doesn't shout and organise the other players, he hasn't the legs to track his runners, is prone to grab the shirt of the strikers and doesn't command headers powerfully enough for a defender. Not the signing we should've made in my eyes.

Halford 5.5 - Slightly better than Collins but not much. Criminally bad defending for the third goal as he just laid down and let Austin turn him. Throw-ins are very handy though (even with a tight touchline hampering his run-up) and actually played a few good balls in the attacking half, but again, doesn't track his runners. Any of about 4 QPR players could've tucked in the second goal.

Ladesma 5.5 - not inflential enough and pretty wasteful with the ball. Still strikes me of someone that could offer more and in his defence, he did support Newell well in his defensive duties which aren't really his forte. Still think he's got something if we can mould him into something useful. At the moment he's neither a wide player nor a central player nor a creative force. We need to establish a role for him and tell him what he should and shouldn't be doing as he seems to be a bit like a schoolboy chasing the ball around at times.

Smallwood 5 - not on song at the moment and isn't doing what he was so good at last season. But I do think, if you whip out the easy ball for him (which was so often out to Pringle's feet) he is massively exposed as he isn't a ball-player so at the moment with little outlet he looks like a pub player. Think he'll get better once we get more of a settled, established side around him and he'll grow as the season goes on. So infuriating when he can't play balls that Sunday league players could play, though.

Ward 6 - thought he showed promise, and much more than against MK Dons. Imposed himself on the game much than his debut, passed and moved, tracked back well, strong in the tackle and has bite which a lot of this team sadly lack. However, gave the ball away cheaply at times, made some naive decisions you'd expect from a player with little first-team experience and tired badly in the second half. But with more game time, I think he could be a really useful player on that performance.

Frecklington 5.5 - another one not on song. Peterborough fans think he can't be effective at Championship level. Do they have a point or is this just another bad run of form? Improved strangely as the game went on and is an intelligent player; the through ball for JCH's goal was very slick, but needs to improve to keep his place.

JCH 7.5 MOTM - what can you say? At any level of football, defenders are terrified of pace and this lad has frightening pace. The turn to setup Derbyshire for his sitter was sublime and he managed to make 3/4 yards on the defender in a 15 yard sprint. Incredible turn of speed, made himself a nuisance aerially and on the deck, had to run the channels with some truly shoddy balls to him and continued to work and took his goal well. I've taken 0.5 for him for missing that chance in the second half.

Derbyshire 6 - good all round play, neat and tidy and always poses a threat even when not in the game as he possesses quality. However, another good chance missed (is he a striker that needs 4 good chances to score?) and he needs to be scoring them. Felt sorry for him, as everyone seemed perplexed at the tactic of lumping it long to him to watch the man mountain Onuoha eat him alive. Bizarre tactic.

Maguire was terrible when he came on and Thorpe did ok in his not very natural position.

All in all though, much more positive than the first three games, though we do need a lot of fine tuning to make this work.

-- Edited by ChesterGreenMiller on Sunday 23rd of August 2015 11:59:47 AM