Well, the horror of 5 back-to-back defeats will have to wait a bit longer before it can rear it’s ugly head again after tonight’s 2-1 win over Fulham.
In all honesty, we were well worth the 3-points and as Seani Maguire said in his post-match comments to the club, we probably should have scored more.
We went back into 6th tonight and we also topped the home league form table too with 26 points from 11 games. Of course, that would have been 27 were it not for an awful officiating decision but as we often say on the pod, I don’t want to go over old ground.
Instead, I’ll tread new ground and discuss performances and ratings from tonight’s brilliant victory over Fulham.
Declan Rudd
Dec had one shot on goal to deal with tonight and unfortunately for him, it took a deflection off of teammate Ben Pearson which sent it past him. Of course, you already know the scorer of the goal. The man with 7 goals in 5 games against us now; Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Overall though, I thought Dec did well and any shots that were fired his way, if they were on target, he never looked troubled. A solid night for the man between the sticks.
Rating – 7
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Joe Rafferty
Not a night to remember for Raff. He made a few wayward passes in the first half before he ended up leaving the pitch for an early bath after receiving a straight red from referee Keith Stroud.
There’s no doubting it was a red card. He went flying into the 50/50 challenge with Joe Brayn with his studs showing and a relatively high boot. I certainly ha don complaints and still don’t after seeing the replay.
Rating – 4
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Patrick Bauer
Took a nasty one to the mush from Denis Odoi in the first half but carried on and played the whole game masterfully. In 90 minutes tonight, he’s shown us what we have missed so badly at the back and that’s no disrespect to Jordan Storey, by the way.
Bauer was superb, classy and won 7 aerial duels tonight; more than any other player on the pitch.
Rating – 8
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Paul Huntington
Another timeless performance from the Cumbrian Cannavaro tonight. His 3rd start in as many games tonight and he looks like he’s never been away. According to WhoScored.com, he has also improved every game, too.
His first start against the Baggies saw him finish with a 6.73 rating, the QPR game he finished with a 6.74 rating and tonight’s game he finished up with a 7.04 rating. He was awarded the Sky man of the match and was deserving of it, although for me it could have easily been one or two others on the pitch.
Rating – 8
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Andrew Hughes
Hughesy certainly didn’t look like a player that had only played a handful of games this season. He won the second-highest amount of aerial duels in the game with 5 and he was as solid as we have come to expect him to be on the left side.
Did a good job on Anthony Knockaert all game and kept him quiet for the most part.
Rating – 7
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Ben Pearson
A very lucky boy tonight was Ben. Fortunate not to see red instead of yellow in the first half when he flew into a two-footed tackle that I can only assume the referee didn’t properly see.
He was fairly quiet all night but still did a good job marshalling the back four, sweeping up loose balls and throwing himself (literally) into challenges.
Rating – 6
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Billy Bodin
Back into the XI tonight after his injury lay off but he looked like he’d not been away for anywhere near as long as he actually has. I was impressed with Bill’s work-rate and tracking back to help out as much as anything tonight.
He had some good flashes through the game and the pass he played for Seani in the first half and then Potts in the second half that lead to Nuge’s first goal of his second coming were just glimpses of the quality Bill possesses. He did tire though for 5/10 minutes before he came off. Overall though, a good performance.
Rating – 7
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Alan Browne
A captains performance from the Irishman tonight. He started the game in central midfield and ended up moving to right-back after Joe Rafferty saw red then back into the centre when Ben Pearson was withdrawn in the second half.
He carried out his defensive duties very well indeed and his energy saw him all over the pitch, even when he was in that right-back slot. Impressive stuff from Browney and he has certainly played himself back into some decent form of late. Hats off.
Rating – 7
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Brad Potts
He has come in for some (slightly unwarranted) stick of late but tonight he showed what he is all about. He has been criticised a lot after his last couple of performances, so much so, there was a lot of questions asked tonight when fans saw he was starting again but he certainly would have shut a few of the moaners up.
He’s usually deployed to do a job in a game, at least this season, and that has resulted in a somewhat ‘limited’ performance at times if you will.
Tonight though, he was a huge part in the second goal with one of his surging, powerful runs from deep. A run that eventually led to the second goal going in and securing us all 3 points.
Rating – 7
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Sean Maguire
Brilliant from Seani tonight. He was all over the place from the start of the game and though he may have been quiet until his goal, once that went in he was a right pest for Fulham’s defence.
He took his goal really well too. An instinctive shot on the turn in the box, the kind of thing we have come to know him for. He was the WhoScored man of the match with a rating of 8.1 tonight too and probably just shaded it for me, too. Like I said though, it could have been one of many this evening.
Rating – 8
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David Nugent
Brilliant from the main man tonight. Nuge was everywhere, all night. Hustling, harrying and giving Fulham’s defence something to think about for the 75 minutes he was on the pitch too.
He had a decent chance to score before his goal eventually came too. A volley hit straight at the Fulham keeper made for an easy save but, he wasn’t going to miss with his second bite of the cherry. His first goal for us in 12 years was enough to eventually seal all 3 points and boy was it good to see.
Rating – 8
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Substitutes
All 3 subs contributed well enough to help us see out the game and secure the 3 points but to rate them all individually would be, in my opinion, a bit harsh. However, I will say that Barky should have done better with his chance toward the end of the second half. But, a rest will hopefully do him well and I have no doubt he will get more chances as the season goes on.
It was great to see captain Clarkey back out on the pitch, he could have returned to fitness at just the right time for us. Finally, Harrop looked sharp enough when he came on. He can probably consider himself a tad unlucky not to have started tonight too but, there’s plenty of football left yet this season.
Finally, if you haven’t yet listened, our first post-match special podcast is out now for you to listen to. Just hit play on the embedded player below and give it a listen. You can also listen to our debut on the Sky Sports EFL podcast, too. Don’t forget to follow us on social media if you aren’t already too!
