On reflection

Sunday morning and I have had more time to ponder on the events of yesterday than my hurried post-match report allowed. We had to be at a surprise 40th by 7.30pm so were racing against the clock....

I received interesting feedback from readers last night;

Daggs disagreed with my assessment of the second half and thought we were lucky not to draw. He is concerned that we don't have a "Plan B" and that was a question posed to Phil Parkinson on a couple of occasions at the recent Q & A. I'll concede we weren't as good in the second period yesterday but Exeter would have been fortunate to leave SE7 with a point and their manager said much after the game. In terms of Plan B, we do look fairly limited but that's largely down to the quality of the strikers we have. To be fair to PP he did change it yesterday by bringing McLeod on and, lucky or not, it was McLeod who put away the second goal to win the game even if the formation remained the same. The introduction of Wagstaff also allowed Bailey to play in the middle and Sam to swap wings. I guess what Daggs (and an Anonymous commentator) was really getting at was our ability to go to 4-4-2. This is definitely my preferred formation and one that I am desperate to see again but you need the players to do it well, and we are simply too good in midfield and well short upfront with the squad we have. Parkinson was at pains to point out that Shelvey does operate as a second striker and that we are more often than not playing a 4-4-1-1 as opposed to a 4-5-1 that it looks on paper. Having said all that, Burton and McLeod probably deserve a good run together but I think we need to choose our moments for this. When we did it earlier in the season against Wycombe (albeit with McLeod and Gray) it nearly cost us the lead. We are unbeaten with the current formation and the time for 4-4-2 will come either when we are safe (two up late on, or three up) or when we are chasing a game and running out of ideas.

Chicago Addick expressed a concern that we are not closing games out and I guess at the late goals being conceded as invariably defend deep towards the end of games. Again a good point and I think we have the players to attack for larger periods of games than we are doing (particularly once we are in front) and particularly towards the end of matches when opposing players may be tiring and as vulnerable as we appear to be. We slow down in the second half but maybe that's inevitable after our typical first half exertions to take control in games. I think the need to attack is even greater away from home where it's difficult to keep a clean sheet if you go out looking to defend and rely on the counter-attack.

Mike then made the most sensible comment of all, in that Leeds winning at MK Dons shouldn't be seen as bad news for us as it denied MK Dons vital points and helped widen the gap between the top two and the play-off chasers. My blinkers here are because of a longstanding dislike of Leeds United and the fact that I have an armchair-supporting Leeds mate whose match-day texts manage to annoy me intensely and who won't allow me to forget the thrashing they gave us at the Valley the last time we met. What I wouldn't give for a win at Elland Road next week. I am also of the opinion that we need to be front runners this season in order to survive a late season loss of form so I don't want to see us look like we are settling for second place after such a solid start. If the pursuit of Leeds and top spot means we build up a healthy lead over third, then maybe that will be good enough.

I also forgot yesterday to mention Craig Noone who played on the left wing for Exeter in the first half and the right in the second (although Blackheath Addick noticed him too which reminded me). He gave Fraser Richardson a hard forty-five and beat him comprehensively on a couple of occasions, so it was a surprise to see him switched over although Richardson was giving as good as he good by the break. It was also Noone who slipped through for the disallowed goal which looked ok to me at the time.

I should also say that it was another surprisingly decent crowd at the Valley of 16,867, the biggest in League One yesterday and more than Coventry got in the Championship for the visit of ex-Premier league Boro. A full 50% more than QPR-ha-ha managed at home to Barnsley. Exeter also brought a few hundred more than I had given them credit for.

Leeds' last gasp winner wasn't the only one in our division with fewer than six goals arriving with the last two minutes of matches; Kuffour scored Bristol Rovers late equaliser that I missed when posting yesterday; Radhi earned Pardew a late point at Carlisle; Daryl Russell netted late for Norwich to take a point at Gillingham and Chambers did the same for Wycombe at Swindon. maybe it'll be our turn on Tuesday. I am going to the game and we should have a good vocal backing with over 1600 tickets sold up to yesterday.

Come on you Reds!