As others have said, we were lucky to get anything from last nights game. Harrogate should of buried us good and proper. Given the amount of chances they had, if it wasn't for young Ravas pulling off some brilliant saves we could of been hammered. I really feel for Ravas, he's left totaly exposed at times. There's such a compliancy in our defending at times by players failing to close down, being out of position and not making the tackles. For the first 20 minutes they had us on the ropes and we looked like a team without a plan, everything by us was far to predicatble.
Maybe teams are starting to work us out and exploit our weaknesses after scouting us. There was cerytainly far too many long punts up the pitch. I sympathise with the defenders, as there was at times zero off the ball movement giving us no hope of playing it on the deck. Thankfully our efforts improved in the second half and the two substitutes instantly made an impact. Suddenly passes were being made, players were supporting one another by moving into space and the tackles were being made. Just shame we couldn't of started so brightly in the first half. A couple of poor decisions by the ref I feel, but we did well to recover and gain a point from what looked like a possible second defeat in a row.
There's some serious questions to be answered in terms of defending. I use the term defending because this is the responsibility of the whole team, not just the back four. Looking at the league table, there's only 1 team that have conceeded more goals than us (32). We have a goal difference of 0. It's so risky relying upon the stratergy of if they score one we'll score two. The games against Ferriby and Harrogate have proven that things need to be tightened up. It speaks volumes when you see how many goals have come from our defenders. Now that isn't necessarily a neagtive that defenders are scoring but you have to consider while they're attacking, who's covering these positions and unfortunately we're easy to score against. Maybe we should be less adventurous and curtail our openness at times in order for us not to need to score 3 goals just to get a draw. It's a predicament for the manager as no doubt he prefers our attacking style but at what cost do you attack. I'd prefer us to be a more solid team and scrap the wins out and do it ugly rather than chase games like men possessed. Maybe some will disagree and enjoy the excitment that comes with the current way of playing. Maybe a balance can be struck between the two styles over the next couple of games.
Anway, well done to all last night. It took real grit and determination not to give up the fight and these players have proved they're all battlers. See you all Saturday.
UTP
