All in all, a bloody frustrating night. It feels like we have been robbed of what would have been a well-deserved point but when your luck’s out, your luck’s out and that’s certainly how it feels at the moment, despite a bad half at Derby and a bad game last Wednesday night.
Tonight wasn’t our night and with that now being 3 defeats on the bounce, it’s imperative we start to pick up points sooner rather than later in order to keep in touch with the top 6 and our chance at a play-off place.
This is our first player rating piece since the win over Huddersfield. I didn’t see the Derby game and to be honest, I didn’t have the time to watch it back and the Hull game was eloquently covered by our friend over at Deepdale Digest. So, without further ado, here we go…
Declan Rudd
Dec played well, made a few good saves and ultimately, was hard done by with the penalty decision being awarded against him. However, I thought Alan Browne summed it up well in his post-match comments to the press.
Alan Browne on Rudd: “I don’t think it was a penalty but I don’t think you can give him a decision to make. I could see it happening, he’s stretching for the ball and I don’t think he needs to dive in but he probably made his mind up and committed to it.” pic.twitter.com/G2oMo7RuI6
— North End Report (@northendreport) December 2, 2019
Rating – 6
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Alan Browne
Browney deputised very well for the absent Darnell Fisher. He dealt well with West Brom’s threats that came down his side, mainly in the form of Grady Diangana. Overall, a good performance.
Rating – 7
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Paul Huntington
Hunts reminded us of the ultimate pro that he is. Starting his first game in the league against this season, there were some doubts about his ability at this level but he showed what a professional he is.
He dealt with almost everything that came his way and for me, he was the man of the match by some distance.
Rating – 8
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Jordan Storey
Overall a solid performance from the 22-year old and he was guided through the game by the vastly experienced Paul Huntington. In the absence of Patrick Bauer and Ben Davies, I thought Storey, alongside Hunts, filled in well.
Rating – 7
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Joe Rafferty
Steady. A word that has probably been used time and again to describe Raff and it could be used again after tonight. Did his job, nothing more, nothing less.
Rating – 6
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Ben Pearson
A performance that we have come to expect of Ben now. He was brilliant again and was huge in stifling Albion’s attacks. A close contender for man of the match for me.
Rating – 7
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Daniel Johnson
DJ was deployed in a slightly more deeper role tonight and perhaps was lucky to not pick up a card early on but he performed admirably and without a doubt had our best chance, forcing a fingertip save our of former North End and current Baggies number 1, Sam Johnstone.
Rating – 7
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Tom Barkhuizen
Barky had a job to do tonight; cover Alan Browne. He did it very well while still, though in limited spells, offered an outlet for the team. Not his usual role but like the rest of the 11 that Alex Neil selected, he had a job to do and I thought he did it well.
Rating – 7
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Brad Potts
Another who was deployed to do a job and I thought he did it very well. Patrolling the middle of the park and shutting West Brom down where he could. His energy and running was evident all night and I was impressed.
Rating – 6
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Sean Maguire
I thought this was his poorest performance for a while. His style of play is all energy and at times he looks worn out. Tonight was one of those times. Some of his decisions tonight were questionable too and he looked to back out of a few 50/50s or chasing balls down.
Rating – 6
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Jayden Stockley
A so so performance from Stockley. Nothing stuck up top with him in the first half and though he won his fair share of aerial duels, they were often just flick-ons to nowhere or an opposition player. However, he did okay, certainly not his worst performance in a white shirt.
Rating – 6
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Substitutes
Josh Harrop, David Nugent and Billy Bodin all entered the game late on but all 3, due to the short amount of time they were on the pitch, failed to really impact the game in anyway so it would be harsh to give them a rating.
