Andy Munro on Blues’ midweek performance.
Before this match, most of us would have taken a draw given the uncharacteristically inept performance against the team that nobody likes but they don’t care. However, such have Blues progressed that we were all a bit disappointed to just secure a share of the points, albeit against ten men.
However, before wallowing in any disappointment, it’s probably worth remembering a couple of things. Firstly that, apart from the opening ten minutes, Blues were clearly the best side in the first 45 minutes and our opener in the dying minutes of the first half was due to pressurising Boro’ into mistakes. Secondly that the ten men of Boro’ are part of an outfit that comprehensively beat the Manchester City galacticos and consequently are no mugs at possession football and hitting teams on the break.
Yes, there were some disappointing performances but it was sad to see the crowd’s displeasure aimed at Cotterill. His chasing back was exemplary, his appetite for the ball unstinting although, admittedly, his end product on the night was poor. However, the guy’s a brave heart as he never once hid when things weren’t going right.
A major factor in our failure to take advantage of the numerical situation was the under rated Davies leaving the field injured. I think that it’s fair to say that, of the many promising products of the BCFC Youth production line, Callum Reilly isn’t one of them. He is as raw as steak tartare and this was brutally exposed by the likes of Lee Tomlin and Leadbetter in the midfield area.
There was critic about the withdrawal of Demi Gray after a very promising first half but apparently he had been ill so this was understandable. However, it was unfortunate that his replacement, Dyer, continues to fail to impress and one wonders if we’d been better off keeping Duffy on the books.
However, if there was a tactical faux pas, it was keeping Shinnie on the pitch too long when he was taking one talented touch too many and being knocked off the ball. We were crying out for the pace and power of Wes Thomas and he made a noticeable difference when he came on.
Still, football is a game of personal opinions and Gary Rowett isn’t going to please all of the people all of the time…and that includes me. We may not have won for sometime but most of the games have been draws so it’s not all doom and gloom. Mind you, that doesn’t stop the Dismal Jimmies surfacing on social media and the like. Please give it a rest chaps and, if you can’t be bothered to go down the matches, you’ve not earnt the right to start the cycle of moaning.
