Hi all. Decided to sign up this season after a few years just browsing posts... (Cue f*ck off newbie
)
Thought a draw was fair, perhaps could of deservedly taken three points had Harte scored his free-kick.
First half I thought both teams were fairly sluggish, perhaps the team had pre-season nerves bearing in mind most hadn't played at such a high level before. We dominated and created most of the chances and perhaps could have made more of a few crosses and set-pieces. Harte's left foot didn't seem on form and believe Guthrie started taking them. Tony Pulis had clearly done his homework and Stoke tried to cut off our wing play pretty effectively, although I wasn't happy with the amount of times their full-blacks checked McAnuff and HRK. Most of the time each team had the same plan - hoof it to Pog/Crouch, and there wasn't really much flow to the game. Turned to my mate and said 'we've been the better team' and suddenly Stoke have a little spell and score, Feds unfortunately spilled and it rolled under him. Heard some idiot on Radio Berkshire slating Feds but he'll pick himself up and will be working on smothering the ball all week in the training ground I have no doubt.
McDermott said after the match that the goal knocked the steam out of us for 15 minutes, and in the second half we didn't really get going, can't really remember much for the first 20 minutes over than a couple of scrambles in our box. As always, McDermott made a good substitution replacing the quiet HRK with McCleary and he immediately made an impact. Made some good runs and created a couple of chances, Stoke seemed to be doubling up on him and McCleary seemed to be frightening them to death, reminded me of McAnuff on form. Didn't really see what happened for the pen, but the ball fell to Hunt who really should of scored from there (a bit like at West Ham 1-0 down) but the ref brought it back anyway and gave pen, which was very very cooly taken from ALF. Really thought Harte would score in injury team for some reason, but it was close, just over the bar.
I said before the game that it would be 1-1, I thought Stoke were pretty awful and didn't create much chances, Crouch kept quiet by the reliable Gorkss-Pearce pairing. I believe we are a counter-attacking team and play best soaking up the pressure and spitting it back at the opposition, but Stoke offered very very little attacking force and didn't really give much chances to counter, especially in the first. This meant we had to form chances on our own and we weren't impressive in doing so.
Feds - 6 - didn't have to do much, should of saved Kightly's shot but everyone makes mistakes.
Gunter - 6 - had a shaky first half with a few missed placed passes but was much better in the second, especially after his best mate came on.
Pearce/Gorkss- 8 - Solid. And Kept Stoke's forward line very quiet. Only thing, especially with Pearce, is just hoofing it and heading into nowhere.
Harte- 6 - Stoke tried to take advantage of his lack of pace and it worked occasionally, but made some good tackles, perhaps could of done better with set pieces.
Legs - 8 - Really impressive, won many many balls and made some good passes too, my MoM.
Guthrie - 7 - The midfielder that we really needed, made many long passes, spread the play and created chances. He will be a contender for PoS
McAnuff - 6 - Was fairly quiet, not much to say.
HRK - 5 - Was also quiet, didn't really do much, felt his head may of dropped after being blocked many times, had to come back alot to help Harte though.
McCleary - 7- Changed the match, made good runs, put some good balls in, and believed he won the pen. Should start ahead of HRK.
ALF - 7 - Didn't do much to note of but was fairly lively and tried to get in good positions, still believe he will be our top scorer. Pen was very very good.
Pog - 7 - Won lots of challenges, has a great touch, had a few really good touches but blocked by Stokes good defending. Thought he should have had a pen but the ref didn't get it. Didn't have a great view though.
Hunt - uhh 5/6 - didn't really do much when he came on that Pog couldn't do, should of scored and was distraught that he didn't.
