Just back

What does mafoko bring to the game besides running at defenders then losing the ball by not looking for the easy pass.looks good but no cigar.
Or taking it 5 yards to far then stopping and losing the ball.
Shorty and shouty need to study the match footage and realise that he is exiting yes but end product no.

One of the better games i've watched in the last year of BSP football, Scott and Hurst cost us the game. If Coulson or even I had started on the right, we would've won. The fact we played with no right winger again was a joke, it only worked on Tuesday because Dunk was a left sided midfielder and him going off played right into our hands. Russell pulled off 3 magnificant saves, the one from Hearn being the best save of the lot and Spencer at the end was pretty impressive too. Duffy was superb all game yet again and Makofo & Artus were good too, it's not a disaster because we played well and the players didn't let us down, the management did.

My player ratings and analysis;

Mckeown - Didn't have a lot to do, his kickings the best i've seen from a goalkeeper in years mind. 6/10

Ridley - Far too slow today, got caught on the ball a lot and then got injured. Meaning we are now copulated with left backs, do we never learn!? 6/10

Kempson Wasn't at fault for either goal, but lumped it up far too much! 6/10

Pearson - Unlucky with the og, the players 'tackling' for the build up to it let him down. Looks awfully slow though and I dont really trust him with the ball coming towards him. 6/10

Wood I'm not going to give him a rating, because on balance he should be like a 4. However, he was terribly terribly let down by Scott and Hurst today. Bloke next to me (pillock) was screaming at him to go forward and make challenges, how the intercourse could he!? He was given two positions today and had he been given the support he so desperately needed (i.e a right winger) then we would've won today. Second half he got it and looked okay, but it was too little too late.

Thompson Not a great game for him today, looked more interested in flying in for a challenge than he did playing football. A number of times he allowed Darlo players to go in for 50/50 balls so he could whallop them, when it was his ball to get his foot on. When the ball was coming down the right he should've had the knack to drift out and support Wood, he failed to do that every bloody time. 5/10

Disley - Not great, lost the ball a lot. The things he did well, he did very well but the things he did bad he did very bad. Shown up by Artus today. 5/10

Artus - Good game, looked good yet again and was equal with Duffy and edged out just by Serge. Such a skillful player, played neat simple passes and even got stuck in when needed. I'm a big fan and he looked 10 of Disley today. 7/10

Makofo - First time i've said this, im begining to realise he's very good at what he does. It may not always pay off but he's our biggest threat by a fooooking mile! Great to see him score and he got in behind a lot more today, crossing is gradually getting better. 8/10

Hearn Desperately unlucky on two occasions in the first half, which was his best 45 mins in a Town shirt for me today. Second half he looked unconfident yet again and couldn't find the space he found in the first, I feel for him but it'll come. I'm certain Duffy is the best player for him to play with. 6.5/10

Duffy Won flipping everything again, he looks a revelation this season! His mouth let him down but he really does look a threat and is doing his best to bring Hearn into the game, putting him and Makofo on the transfer list is the best thing that happened to the both of them, good game yet again. 7/10

Subs;

I'anson - Clearly not a right back but made a good clearance from Walshaws effort to keep us in it - 6/10

Coulson - Why o why didn't he start. He made our goal and contributed to the game, had he played the full game we would've won. No questions. 7/10

Spencer - Didnt get long enough to make a rating, desperately unlucky at the end.

Hopefully Penn and Teller have learnt another valuable lesson, its not a disaster by any means. But Darlington were not better than us, our managers just played tactical suicide. The side is looking better, football is being played and i'm still confident we can do alright. Something really needs to be done about the defence though, far too slow and dithering about, it'll cost us games.

Painful to watch, another reason why we need to splash the cash on a striker... Vardy or Styche would have done, both have recently signed for new clubs or signed new deals. Hearn isn't reading the game.

Darlo were ahead of us on every level today!

Final ball = terrible.

Rant over,

Scotts a CLOWN!

Hearn wa sunlucky today. Two top class saves by russell and the lob must have been inches away. He keeps those up he will soon be up an drunning. Duffy dominated Graham Lee and co aerially and Mokofo showed the sort of effort and desire we need to get our season started.

Wood is getting slammed but he was on a hiding to nothing with nobody else playing on the right hand side. He was left totally exposed by the tactical ineptitude of the formation. Ridley look like he is injured again which again leaves us very very short of full backs. I'anson looked poor at right back today. Pearson worries me. Not because he scored an own goal but at times he looks very naieve and he needs to learn quickly

Well for me.....

some really bright play and link ups in the first half, Ridley was in their box more than ours and he and Serge seemed to have gelled, Serge running at will but as had been said elsewhere previously final ball not great but....at times both strikers had gone to far post so his shorter pull backs were made to look worse than they probably were.
Duffy had a pretty good game and did what he was there to do, flick on and hold up, for the majority of the game.
Hearn looked a completely different player in the second half, completely non existant and playing with zero confidence, he was not outstanding first half but disappeared totally in the second.
Totally non existant right side throughout the first half, Wood was not helped by having Thompson out of position in front of him but also had a poor game himself positionally, completely cost us the game.
Disley and Artus i liked, happy on the ball and some neat passes.

Happier with the performance as at times there was some neat and incisive play, we had plenty of chances today, Disley, Hearn x3, Duffy, Coulson, Spencer but Russell earnt his corn to deny a coup[le of those at least.

Poor result but far from poor performance, two pieces of defending aside.  

Obviously a decent performance at least with the ball, lots of shots on target and their keeper had a stormer. Off the ball we looked weak and tactically we had to close that huge hole on the right and didn't until it was too late.

We deserved something from that without a shadow of a doubt. We were the better side and looked very good going forward. We just keep leaking goals and sides seem to score with the majority of the chances we have against us.

The 4-3-3 didn't work defensively. I can see why we played with it from the start, Darlington don't usually play a 4-4-2 but once it started, we didn't change it and because Darlo had that extra width, Wood had to deal with two players and that cost us at least the first goal, even if the deflection was just unlucky.

Anyway, Makofo was our best player again, took his goal well too. Duffy had another good game, won a hell of a lot in the air, Hearn looked lively in the first half and could've had a couple, Artus and Disley did well in the centre too.  

Defensively we looked very poor. Nothing new this season....

Wood was poor today, ok he never had the back up from TT but was still exposed and looked lifeless at times. Artus is starting to show what a good player he is as is Mokofo and Duffy. Hearn will score but when? Russell was outstanding and stopped Town getting at least a point which on the whole I think we deserved.  
UTMM

We played quite well today and didnt deserve to lose but the amount of space on their left side was embarrassing. Their keeper was outstanding.