The View From Churchmans

We looked just as bad from the halfway line as we’ve looked from behind
the goal. I’ll be back to my old seat next week…

Two poor teams, one with a lot more to play for, and it was hard to
begrudge Brighton the win. In a way, I can sympathise with end-of-season
apathy, because I can hardly be bothered to write a report, but then
again, I don’t get paid thousands of pounds a week. So there’s no excuse
for yet another lacklustre performance.

As a starting eleven, I don’t suppose there were too many complaints on
the terraces. But if the main advantage which next season is supposed to
have over this one is that we might start off with a more settled
“core”, then that core just ain’t gelling. At the moment, it seems that
if this was a “transitional” season, it’s been a transition to
ordinariness. The emergence of four or five youngsters is great, but
it’ll only be compensation for the total lack of development of the
squad as a whole. If Wolves’ chairman can brand his team’s season as
being unacceptable, our own would be quite justified in saying the same
about the management here. Surely they must be able to get more out of
the players on show that what we saw?

The instant “what a load of rubbish” from the North Stand after
Brighton’s second goal was heard clearly in the Directors’ Box. When you
hear that at Portman Road, you know things are bad. Nearly 24,000 people
(again) deserve better.

Match Ratings:
Excitement – 2/5
Town Performance – 2/5

Player Ratings
(1-5 for how much they cared, 1-5 for how well they fared):

SUPPLE 6 (3/3):
Don’t you just hate it when the pick of the bunch is your keeper? At
home? Against the worst team in the division? Shane did most things
right once more, and is the brightest spot of the season for me. A few
communication problems this week, but otherwise pretty good.

WILNIS 5 (3/2), NAYLOR, DE VOS 5 (3/2), BARRON 5 (3/2):
The left side was our weaker, but I’m not going to point the finger
solely at Scott Barron like a few people seemed to. He was left with far
too much to do: Jason struggles to cope on that side, Matt Richards went
walkabout in front of him far too often, and no defender can expect
anything other than a torrid time when the only support ahead of you is
Darren Currie. It was two (or three) on to one every time, and no young
fullback should be expected to cope with that. Meanwhile, Jason seemed
to have forgotten how to head the ball any way other than straight up.
Bam-Bam got dragged off after (typically) sticking his head in the way
of an attacker’s boot, and Fab had a reasonable but quiet game changing
positions as fequently as the midfield.

CURRIE 6 (4/2), JUAN 4 (2/2), GARVAN 6 (3/3), RICHARDS 5 (3/2):
Against his old club, Darren seemed more up-for-it than anyone else on
the pitch, but the trouble with players like him is that being up-for-it
has more of a detrimental effect on your contribution than a beneficial
one. He was shooting on sight, despite being the worst shot in the club
(I think one out of six was on target, and it was the weakest of them
all), and he rarely seemed to be as composed as usual – which I’ll admit
is what I usually find most irritating about him. Jimmy and Owen were
mediocre in the centre, often seeming to be trying to do each other’s
jobs too much; Matt just ran around like a headless chicken as usual and
nobody seemed to know where he’d pop up next. Interesting that when we
went 4-3-3, Jimmy was taken off and Matt was moved into the centre
rather than Matt being taken off.

LEE 4 (2/2), HAYNES 6 (4/2):
Alan is still unfit, surely. The presence and touch we enjoyed for the
first few games seem a lifetime away. Danny scurried around and was a
constant irritant to Brighton, but also achieved little of substance.

Subs – CASEMENT 6 (3/3) played as a full back and then later as a centre
back, and showed considerable composure. He may well be another bright
prospect, but in the centre he’s going to need more of a Mogga to play
alongside than Jason or Bam-Bam will be able to offer. Good to see
FORSTER back (and even nicer to see that it wasn’t Haynes who had to
make way) but he looks rusty.

The REF was OK. The CROWD was restless, although as I’ve said before,
the club doesn’t deserve such a forgiving following – there’d be a lot
of unpleasantness if, say, Villa or Leeds supporters were being served
up this rubbish. Hit of the afternoon was undoubtedly “Does your
boyfriend know you’re here?”