Ryan Johnson.
Football is all about players. You don't win if they don't play well, you lose if they don't. The fella in the picture above has never had a better game in a Wimbledon shirt arguably since the 3-0 away win at Sutton. He was absolutely magnificent, a colossus at the back and the foundation upon which our performance was built. Obviously MOM, at his best he is some defender.
James Tilley.
There were many groans and "Let the greedy bugger lie in his bed" posts when he returned (wrongly, how many fans would turn down a huge pay rise at THEIR work) but they've gone quiet now. I live in hope that he'll rebuild the trust he had with the fans not because of his departure but because of him having a go at them after a defeat, but anyway. All that aside, he is an excellent footballer who has instantly made us a better team. He's very rare at this level in that he can go both ways and hit it off both sides, he was excellent against Bolton and just as good last night. I don't like the attempt at a tash overly, but such is my total uncoolness my guess is that probably makes the young fella like it even more. We are very lucky to have him back, and the decision to make the deal was an excellent one by whoever made it.
One last thing on James. That was a bad tackle by him in the first half, I thought he was a little lucky. There are many reasons Port Vale are bottom, one of them is that they aren't co-ordinated on the pitch. Had they collectively gone berserk, surrounded the ref & whipped the crowd up, our man might have been in big trouble.
Marcus Brown.
There were moments, with Marcus there always is. Our best player played one pass to the new lad which was absolutely magnificent, he is the only player we have that can do stuff like that. It should have led to a penalty (more on that later) and I thought Marcus had a solid game. I'm not sure I like him though off the front man, I think we waste him a bit in there. As a 10 behind a front two would be my spot for him, like a kind of Florian Wertz at Liverpool role.
The referee.
I suppose I could just about forgive him for not giving the foul on the new lad from Marcus's pass. You needed a couple of angles on that one to confirm that in the tangle of legs there was an obvious foul committed and it was therefore a definite penalty. The direction the ball went after the foul suggested the defender might have played the ball (he didn't), so without any help from his linesman I can forgive that one. The Junior NKeng one though? Fucking hell you don't get much more clear cut than that. It's right in front of him and anyone who has played football can see it coming a mile off. THAT was even a penalty when I played, to not give it was an astonishing decision. Anyone who has the misfortune to have read my stuff before will know I'm definitely not a one-eyed fan who is biased towards us all of the time. Usually when everyone shouts "It's a pen ref!!!" I'm going "Nah not for me". Not here though, they were BOTH penalties and to NOT give the first was an awful decision.
Our playing style.
Johnnie and the coaches deserve huge credit for taking the second half of the Bolton game and running with it here. Gone were the endless attempts to slow the game down, there were some much quicker throw ins, the keeper released it early and there were even a couple of quick free kicks (mostly from Ali Smith who was also very good). We pressed high and were very unlucky to not get a reward a couple of times, and we committed bodies forward. Most pleasing was that even with just a few minutes left, we still got forward in numbers. We didn't take the "good point" at a "tough place to come", we went for the win. In short we were brave, and in the end we got our rewards with a great goal and three points.
Johnnie Jackson.
Has been accused plenty recently of having his favourites, seemingly undroppable players who seemingly get the nod regardless of performance. Last night's selection will have pleased those who were saying it, and no doubt there'll be plenty of "I told ya FFS" sprinkled around this morning. Some of the calls are big though, selecting an 18-y-o who hasn't as of yet provided much end product, dropping the captain, playing Seddon as one of a three, dropping our most natural finisher etc etc. These are BIG calls and the manager deserves credit for making them. Like pretty much all of us, he's better when he just goes "Fuck it" and shoves all his chips in the middle.
The travelling fans
I didn't go, watched it on the SKY plus. All you could hear was our fans, I thought we must have taken 800 or something. Then the camera panned over to them and there were less than half that. No wonder either, it was a magnificent effort to get up there. To generate THAT much noise though? Wow. Sometimes clubs refund tickets when they play shite and get battered away, here they should send them all a catering pack of Strepsils! There won't be many in that away end who'll be able to sing opera this morning.
A brilliant night. The players are off today, well deserved.
One last thing.
The new striker. Give him a chance, he actually played in the first team for Liverpool at Anfield. He ain't gonna be no mug, see the lad play before you give up on him.
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