Both penalties were correctly awarded and Newsham gave the keeper no chance with either. The first came after a push on Ben Fairclough, whilst the second was for a handball offence. Between times we'd had another penalty call turned down, with the referee awarding us a free kick just outside the penalty area instead. I actually thought the challenge was inside the box. But if we'd been given three penalties in one half of football then under the law of averages we might not have got another one all season.
Fairclough was my man of the match overall, and Lincoln United had no answer to his pace. I thought Jones was arguably our best player after he came on though. He took his chances very well and is more mobile than most strikers of his stature.
The jury is still out for me on Kern Miller. As someone else has said he has all the physical attributes to make a good central defender. But on too many occasions his clearances were "long ball". He cleared his lines, but a lot of those clearances didn't really favour our smaller attackers like Fairclough, Newsham, Weir-Daley and Smith. Sometimes he just needs to look for a shorter pass and keep possession. Still, it's early days. With the right coaching there's still time for him to kick the bad habits he no doubt learnt at Sincil Bank.
Reed did enough to suggest he might get a run in the side at the start of the season - possibly at Milnes' expense. In the three games I haven't yet seen enough from Kallum Smith though; as things stand currently he wouldn't be in my starting XI at Droylsden.
Incidentally did anyone else suffer with insect bites at Ashby Avenue? I got up this morning with sore red blotches on my legs. It's uncomfortable, and the idea of a cold winter's day in Workington currently seems a whole lot more appealing!
