Thetownend.com

Some great work from individuals but this week's selection won't be the walkover last week was. Great performance proving that somehow we've built not only a team but a squad in about a fortnight. Really encouraging all-round game that.

bloody difficult one for me as everyone played well.

nice to see Simpson looking better today after last week.

Reed was excellent.

mckirdy and ward were both match winners. got a coin?

Ward for me, but special mention for Reed, McKirdy and several other good performers today.

Ward / McKirdy dead heat for me.

Went for Ward but Christ,  could have been any one of half a dozen. With the ‘big five’ out this week Garners got some big decisions next week !!.

Voted McKirdy. Goal and assist won us the game.

All played well though. Not a bad performance out there today.

Ward was class but Mckirdy makes such a difference to this team so gets my vote.

McKirdy, without him that match would be 0-0 at best.

The save just before we scored the second was so important, but without McKirdy’s goal & assist we don’t win so either could get it.

What sways me is that we almost expected Ward to be the weak link, so I gave it to him

Reed outstanding.

Ward.
Key save from the header low down.

Hunt's best game for a long while that.

Hunt remains a good right back at this level.  Competent at left back but offers no forward threat when playing that side.

Ward. Did anybody have a bad game?

No, absolutely no one. Just voted McKirdy as he deserves more votes than what he's got so far.

Everybody played well, but without MacKirdy we would probably have lost or drawn, so I gave him my vote.

without ward we'd have lost or drawn too
that's why it's a difficult one!

Can we reallocate some of last season's spare MoM awards to this game?

:D

Today was the hardest choice of MoM for a long long time.  I thought Reed and Simpson were excellent, Ward had a great debut in goal but for me it was Gladwin, made some fantastic passes and far and away his best game since his return.

Loved Mckirdy's energy but Ward was fantastic. Never a penalty he even said so himself to the ref, and made amends with a great save. Absolutely chuffed to fuck with that result.

Scoring goals at one end and keeping them out at the other are equally important. That's why it's a dead heat between McKirdy and Ward imo...

Ward had to be man of the match. He kept us in the gave with a combination of smart and spectacular saves! Loved his interview after.

The back 3 snuffed out Matt and Stevens completely.

Hunt had his best game and showed that he is a much better RB than LB.

Reed was superb in midfield. He broke everything up and drove us forward. He dominated FGR midfield completely.

Simpson and Payne ran all day

Two bits of sublime skill from Gladwin too.

McKirdy had that extra bit of magic and would have been MotM on another day. His interview was class too!

superb performance.

How Reed is not at the top of the pile this week is beyond me.
I guess you don’t get the full picture on a screen, but he was everywhere.
Closing down, chasing but above all his movement and ball vision way beyond this level.
Ward decent, McKirdy grafted but Reed Head and shoulders above every player on the park today.

Got a massive round of applause coming over to the Lino first half and telling him straight.
We have a real player on our hands, just hope we can keep him.

I gave it to Ward but I thought Gladwin was excellent as well. You could tell that Gladwin has played at a higher level. Reminded me a little of when Tommy Mooney played for Town, technically he was miles better then the players he played with. Just need Gladwin to be more consistent.

Totally agree that he put in an awesome performance. Think if I'd been rating him I'd go for  9 out of 10.

But, you've got to admit that Ward was unbeatable today. If he hadn't made all those saves, we wouldn't have won. In fact, we could have come away from the game with a heavy defeat.

I knocked Reed the first couple of game he played, but hoped it was just a fitness thing.  It turns out it was, he is well above this league.  Today though, Ward was nuts.

Just great though mate, debating over a few.
Let’s not forget Dion Conroy and the bad luck the lad has had. In addition the humiliation that the prick Sheridactyl imposed last season.
Calm, Cultured and organising that back line. A player that was destined for Sheffield United before that last injury. He is going from strength to strength. Critchlow is developing so well alongside him.
His fitness is now being managed correctly in the Club and paying the dividends on the pitch.

Above all incredible this team built on minimal resources and put together in a very short space of time.

Absolutely 100% this.

Regarding Ward’s MOTM credentials.

It is worth considering that the keepers match day action is similar to the refs, insomuch as that if you don’t notice the ref then you’d consider that a good performance for letting the game flow. Similarly the same with the goalie, if you don’t notice his contribution his lack of action makes him kind of not the focal point but they still generally have a good game in the overall scheme of things doing what they do. Yesterday however was completely the opposite. Wards heroics were as impressive as a forward banging in a sublime hat trick and in a game where there is a shining star forward the keeper easily gets overlooked 9/10. So for me Ward gets the nod, not only for the clean sheet and penalty save but frustrating their attackers at every opportunity and, and coming in as second string with very little match day action, very, very impressive.

Yes, I couldn't tell which if the back 3 snuffed out Matt, because they worked well as a unit. Odimayo I only remember noticing one - I think that's because he gave nothing away. Crichlow was very good, but get sucked into giving freekicks away when he had the ball and is looking up to see what to do with it. Conroy, as you say, was awesome and martialed the defence. There is also the run for the McKirdy goal where he dropped his shoulder twice to send two midfielders the wrong way before passing to Gladwin who whipped the ball into McKirdy. I sometimes joke about Conroy trying to be Hoddle, but that was just sheer class!

Cracking at the end with the players going off and getting well deserved applause.
Dion Conroy came over into the corner and quite rightly I told him he needs to empty his pockets and let Jamal Matt out. Made him laugh. :)

Absolutely bizarre game where to a man we were excellent. I thought Gladwin had his best game of the season and McKirdy was absolutely brilliant again, his running and pace really is what the side has been missing. I just hope at home we start to dominate teams, it's been too passive at the CG.

That said, I gave the Man of the Match to Ward. Absolutely superb performance. For a team that were so dominated, FGR did create/have 5 or 6 good chances and Ward made some incredible stops, the one down to his left from the header in the corner was inspirational. Good handling and distribution also. Well done keep!