Blues drew 0-0 at home to QPR. Andy Munro was relieved at the final whistle.
Our mantra of playing well but not getting our just desserts was extinguished by a match when we played poorly and were lucky to share the spoils.
Buoyed by two wins in succession and the addition of the prolific Naiki Wells, Rangers played with a new found confidence and were a good yard quicker than Blues all match. However, to look on the bright side, under the likes of Steve Cotterill we would almost certainly have lost but the battling spirit engendered by Gary Monk earned us a point.
The pleasing aspects in our performance were an excellent rearguard action by the defence (including the increasingly maligned Lee Camp) and a decent performance by Gary Gardner in the middle. However, that apart, we weren’t really at the races with Maghoma having a rare off day and Jota equally ineffective. Kleftenbeld gave the ball away with unerring consistency and Jutkiewicz met his match in Baptiste. At the same time, Adams continued to look lightweight and ineffective to compound our lack of firepower.
In fairness, this needs to be put down to a bad day at the office but our winless run is definitely becoming a monkey on our back.
Gary Monk can’t really be criticised for trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear especially with the telling absences of Vassell and Davies. However, if I were to be critical then the substitutions need to be made a bit sooner if they are to change the pattern of a game. I would also suggest that both Pedersen and Colin need to push up more and provide options for the wingers a la Caddis and Cotterill. Although on this final point, it has to be said that neither the talented Maghoma or Jota are the best at releasing the ball to others.
