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What a strange game. Anyone stand out there?

FBT for the 2nd half performance.

Quite liked RHM when he came on, chasing down a hopeless cause and the cross for the equaliser gets it for me. Agree FBT excellent in the second half though, and Lavinier improved out of sight after looking really bad for the first 30 too. Oh, and Austin scored twice, but we expect that!

Agree on that. Shade also looked lively on a par with RHM, if RHM had put that one great chance away it would have been a different story.

Shade is shit.

Austin wasn't the best player today but without him we lose.  Head and shoulders over anyone else in our team at doing his actual job well.  He got on the end of about 4 crosses that were just looped up hopeful ones on top of driving on the good one.

Laviner for me. No stand out performance today though. Ref was fucking shit.

I usually agree with you Rob, but I thought Shade did ok today

I can't pick anyone that stands out really. so none of the above

He has had worse games, but his best is just not.impactful enough.  Sloppy passes, no pace or won't use it, checks back, too much time on the ball.  I can see why coaches have persisted with him, but I just think he is a drifter.

Some very odd comments above, probably reflecting the anger and disappointment of the first half.

I don't think Gunning was particularly happy with Iandolo and Williams in the first half, which is why he changed them. Also, Jephcott was totally ineffective.

If you write off the first half you have:

TBT: Was outstanding. Marshalled the defence and snuffed out Gills threat. But also offered a bit going forward too.

Austin: Scores two, keeps Khan on the field for potentially longer than he should have been, by talking to the referee and stopping Khan from arguing. Then he was defending in our box too!

Agree with the above about RHM. If he'd slotted home on the break or even passed it to his right for whoever it was that was with him, then we'd have been raving about him. He made a couple of other chances for himself and put a superb cross in for the equaliser. But, he doesn't look fit and his first touch and composure lets him down.

Shade gave us a bit more strength and shape. He did OK, playing short sharp balls and roaming when he could.

Khan was superb and stupid in equal measures. If he could stop running into blind alleys and then fouling he would be much better. He could have been sent off for the first challenge that earned a yellow. There were also 2-3 other niggly things that another ref would have booked him for. But, made us tick, a couple of rasping shots and drove us forward.

Hutton: Why keep cutting inside in the first half? Prob best of a bad bunch in the first half. Maybe because his crossing wasnt that good in the second.

Lavinier: I thought he flattered to deceive all game. Didn't do anything particularly wrong, but had opportunities to do much better that he consistently failed to take.

Wakeling: Could have been hooked at half time. Poor game.

Brennan: All over the shop first half. Better in the second. Looks as if he'll be out for a bit the way he was limping at the end.

Williams: Worst thing that happened was scoring with his first real touch. Seemed to be all out attack and not helping in midfield at all. He was also well snuffed out by Gills. Our best player at the club, but not on song and glad he was pulled.

Iandolo: Where was he playing?

Jephcott: Was he playing?

Darcy: Ran around and offered us defensive cover and a bit of energy in midfield. OK cameo.

Minturn: Did well against a team offering little threat. Glad he was on the bench for emergency cover, but don't want to rely on him for 90 mins against a decent team.

Sooooo.....after all that it has to be FBT. Snuffed out a threat, but only after much of the threat disappeared with a 2 goal lead.

We simply must sign FBT

Majority short of match fitness understandably but I’m really hoping Morris whips them into shape as I can see us scraping into Autos and avoiding the lottery of the play offs

Good Summary except you missed Cain I thought definitely bought something to the midfield and will be a very good signing for us

Good spot! Yes, Cain looked solid and self assured. Couple of good cross field balls and a couple of duff ones! Not spectacular, but looks a good addition.

Yeah, I thought he looked decent v Grimsby too. Prior to that, he was the signing who frustrated me the most and I certainly thought he looked garbage.

Something to work with I’d say..

Austin gets my vote, agreed FBT was great second half but he was part of the defence which was all over the place first half and shipped three goals so I can’t vote for him on that basis.

Shade won’t improve. He ain’t good enough and looks like he cares more about what he looks like. Bet he’s mustard at 5 aside though.

FBT was his usual good self, what changed the game was us having someone else in midfield alongside Khan and that was Cain who I thought was excellent. Would have gone for Cain if he’d played the wholly game.

I get the regular FBT  love ins, have partaken quite happily in the past.

But we get zilch out of that game today without CA.

I'd have thought not playing that first half would have helped Cain's case!

Look, he scored twice, which is the most important thing, but he wasn't good today.

He was a threat in the box from crosses yes, but ultimately he scored a penalty and a deflected goal.

Let's not pretend he's single handedly dragged us over the line. Was a team effort today.

This is the main thing.
Not read back on the match day thread yet, but credit to Mad Gav for the half time subs.
I suspect that that was one of the more decisive moves in recent STFC history in terms of in game changes?

2 goals Charlie for me.

😂 probably true, but I struggle to pick anyone that only plays half the game

true, but does jephcott do that?

definitely a team effort though - which is the point

I guess we'll never know!

FBT like the team was awful majority first half, lost a lot of headers, diagonal passing not reaching and just out bullied by their big striker. 2nd half FBT was very good.

hutton will be giving the left back nightmares, had him on toast for 90 minutes and twisted him inside and out. he was the threat and and the width opened up the middle of the pitch. 1st half he was the only player that played well and did very well 2nd half as well. my vote

I rather agree that Austin 11 was the player without whom we'd not have achieved the 3 goals necessary to salvage the game.

However, I have to "out" myself as one of the 3 who voted for Minturn.

Having been horrified how we struggled defensively with an adjusted line up, I feared that the unexpected and forced introduction of our own teenage debutant (EFL) might prove fatally disruptive.  I would think our teenage defender can thank the influence of FBT alongside him.  However, as Gillingham's own attacking threat from set pieces and counter-attacks also grew in the latter stages, Minturn was equal to everything and stepped up.

To have conceded another goal would have rendered our own 3 goals worthless, so very well done Harrison!

i remember at Woking preseason thinking he was an experienced pro on trial and looking brilliant. with an experienced cb partner i think he can really learn this league and be quality, unfortunately tom clayton is our best cb and although i rate them so highly a 20 and 22 year old cb pairing sounds a bit scary

Don't struggle with our 21 yr old keeper though?

Not sure why FBT has got so many votes as we were defensively a clueless, embarrassing, shitshow in the first half.  Every attack they had ended in a goal.  Yes the midfield were absent but FBT and Brennen proved why we need an experienced centre back like Macdonald.  

But was that down to the shambolic set up rather than individuals?

It has to be both.  The players have to take some responsibility for that shower of shite.   I find it hard to believe that a more experienced centre half pairing gets done so easily so often.

Second half was better defensively but we had far more of the ball and they had dropped fairly deep so it was easier to defend against.

But two centre backs alone (FBT and Brennan) can't cover an entire team if, as happened, Iandolo looked like he wasn't really sure where he was meant to be playing, our wing backs were playing incredibly high up as usual and the midfield were offering less cover than a sheer dress at the Oscars. Defending is a team game!

Probably best to just ignore yesterday. Had a interim manager trying a few things out and it hasn't worked. We had a player sent off and were 3-1 down. St in the playoffs so a point was ok.

I think one thing we do know is that a 4 2 3 1 is the best way

Agree that it was a masterclass of ineptitude, but there was no one organising on the pitch, even to get into position for the basics like the kick off, set pieces etc.
I just find it hard to justify giving the MOM to a defender when you've conceded 3 goals in 10 minutes.  Especially to a team that took 3 months to score that many earlier in the season.

Plus with their new signings I think Gillingham have a decent team tbh.
Sure, we didn’t help ourselves but they’ll pick up a decent amount of points between now and the end of the season.

Yeah i was impressed with them to be honest

They aren't massively leaky either for their position. They let 3 more in than us.

my goodness the league is tight for the playoff places.

15th are 5 points behind (with a game in hand like many).

Last game of the season again!

I voted for FBT but understand the comments about the terrible defence - which obviously he is part of. The reason I voted for him is just I find his performances consistent and he always seems to be driving us on. Second half he was excellent. Kudos to Charlie for another 2 goals and also part of the conversation helping us get back into the game.