Well, that was a bloody enjoyable night. When we got to half time at 0-0, I said to the people I was on the game with that I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up hitting them on the break and nicking a 1-0 win. I wasn’t far wrong as it turned out because we were 3 minutes plus added time away from doing just that.
Alas, it wasn’t to be. Leeds’ wonder-sub and Arsenal loanee, Eddie Nketiah, looped a header over Declan Rudd and the points were shared on the night. However, there were plenty of positives to take and some good performances of note.
Declan Rudd
Not a bad performance but not exactly great. I don’t really recall him making a save to be honest and I also thought he got a bit lucky in the first half too. Alioski fired a shot in from the edge of the box that went just wide in the end but Rudd looked super confident that it was going wide. I wasn’t so sure.
For the Leeds goal, he looked rooted to his line. It wasn’t great marking for the ball into the box but he just stood still and watched it loop over him. Now I’m not saying he could have saved it but he could have at least made an effort to try and get to it.
Rating – 6
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Darnell Fisher
Solid enough from Darnell. He did a good job marshalling Jack Harrison for the most part too. I thought he could count himself unfortunate for the free-kick that Kevin Friend awarded against him that eventually led to the Leeds United equaliser.
Rating – 7
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Patrick Bauer
Another good game from the best free-agent we’ve signed in a fair amount of time. It’s been said time and again but he and Ben Davies are forming a formidable partnership at the back and our successes so far this season are largely down to them two.
Rating – 7
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Ben Davies
A solid enough performance from Davies on the night. Aside from the marking for their goal. I thought he could have been a lot tighter to Nketiah but other than that, he barely put a foot wrong all night. I don’t need to say much else that hasn’t already been said time and again about Ben and, as above, Patrick.
Rating – 7
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Joe Rafferty
Another no-frills performance from Raff. He played with his heart on his sleeve all evening but tactically got caught out a few times and I thought Costa was having a good game against him coming inside and dragging him out on his wrong side quite often. However, I can’t knock him, our record with him in the side has been incredible.
Rating – 6
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Ben Pearson
Not Ben’s best game but he still showed his quality. With Kalvin Phillips playing for Leeds, I think the 2 best holding midfielders in the league were on show last night, without a doubt. By the way, what a tackle in the last few seconds. Never a penalty in a million years.
Rating – 7
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Daniel Johnson
Not his best performance this season but he was everywhere he needed to be, doing what he needed to do. Tracking runners and making things difficult. He can’t be expected to play to the levels he has for the majority of this season in every game but he was solid enough last night.
Rating – 6
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Alan Browne
I thought he played well in the first half but seemed to struggle as the game went on. Has had trouble hitting consistent form this season but hasn’t exactly been bad. I have a feeling it’s going to be a topsy-turvy season for Alan compared to last season.
Rating – 6
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Brad Potts
I’ll get some stick for this but I didn’t think he was all that bad last night. He seems to have become the new blame man, the one who everyone gets on the back of for some reason or another. As Oli has said on twitter, there’s no doubt that he’s lacking in confidence and sharpness but he was on the pitch to do a job last night.
Tactically thought Potts was spot on last night. Lacking confidence/ sharpness but his running stats will be up there. He was sacrificed to screen narrow/ then press their FB and cover Fisher when they had 2v2s wide. Did well imo. New scapegoat. #pnefc https://t.co/NMrqTFkm5b
— oli (@gorn__) October 23, 2019
Rating – 6
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Tom Barkhuizen
Similarly, he used to be on the receiving end of a lot of stick, much like Potts is getting now. His work off the ball is second to none in this side at the moment, in my opinion. We all know he has the pace to get in behind or wide in the channels and as we recently mentioned on the podcast, is probably one of the better finishers at the club.
He grew into the game in the second half last night and fully deserved his goal which now puts him on 5 for the season in all competitions. 2 in the League Cup against Bradford and 3 so far in the league.
Rating – 8
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David Nugent
Another tough one for Nuge last night. Again, as with Potts, was clearly on to do a job in the first half. You absolutely cannot knock his commitment, effort and work-rate. I just hope he gets a chance and puts it away sooner or later, I think it’ll spur him on a bit more for the season.
Rating – 6
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Substitutes
Sean Maguire
Was brought on at about the right time. His pace helped us get in behind Leeds’ back 4 a couple of times and he stretched the game for us too. He got himself an assist with the ball across the box for Tom Barkhuizen and also had a decent chance at the end from Alan Browne’s free-kick.
The ball flashed right in front of him and the goal and, to be honest, I thought he could have chucked himself at it a bit more to try and get something on it but alas, the chance went begging. Will probably do him some good to have reduced minutes with a big game against Rovers coming up on Saturday.
Rating – 7
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Andre Green
To be honest, he came on too late to really affect the game in any way but it was good to see him back on the pitch.
Rating – N/A
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