PLAYER WATCH v Huddersfield Town

[tonyoz]

PLAYER WATCH v Huddersfield Town

Each incident in the match was rated on the following scale: 

+5 GOAL 

+4 Excellent play 

+3 Very good play 

+2 Pleasing/good play 

+1 Decent play 

  0 Routine stuff 

 -1 Sloppy play 

 -2 Disappointing/poor play 

 -3 Very poor play 

 -4 Terrible play 

 -5 Own goal 

The ratings for each player were then combined to produce a measure of the players overall contribution to the match. 

 
Ratings       

Key incidents per player = coloured stars              Overall contribution = numbers

A change this week....first half scores are in purple, full game in black.

Kaminski                       *  *     (3) 1                                

Nyambe                        ***************  ******     (14)  16     Poor second half!

Lenihan                         ******************************   ******     (10)  37

Wharton                       *******************************  *****     (14)  38 

van Hecke                     *********************  *****     (18)  24 

Pickering (67)               ****************  **     (12)  21  

Travis                             ****************  ****    (17)  21     Faded as the game went on

Buckley (72)                  **************  *******    (8)  10     Good first half hour    

Rothwell                        **************************  **********    (5)  27 !!!     

Khadra (62)                   *********** **     (14)  13

Diaz                                ***********  ***   (7)  16 

  

Gallagher (62)              ****** *     9 

Edun (67)                      ******  ***     5    

Dolan (72)               **   **      2

                                                                        

Highlights and Lowlights 

(A justification for the main ratings given above)

It’s stopped raining but the guys are out with their giant squeegee mop to dry up the pitch. It looks pretty waterlogged from here! A draw will send us into an automatic promotion spot!

 

01 Oh yes! The ball holds up in the Town half, Pickering steals the ball and is fouled for his trouble!

02 This time Khadra steals the ball and he’s away. He slides it to Buckley inside the box, to the right, but his shot is well blocked by the defender. We’ve still got the ball and Lenihan, on the right wing, slips a neat little pass into midfield to find Khadra. There go the dancing feet again as he dribbles into the area past 3 men but his cross from the byline is blocked out for a corner. Rothwell’s corner came to nothing but we still have the ball and Town can’t get anywhere near it!............until Pickering fouls a defender.

05 Buckley receives the ball in the centre circle and threads his trademark pass through the defence for Khadra to run on to.  He takes it to the right corner of the 6 yard box but his powerful shot skims the crossbar. The pace of Khadra is a real asset.

07 A lot of Huddersfields’ passes are going astray. This time it’s the keeper’s turn to kick the ball straight into touch!

08 It’s incessant Rovers pressure until Rothwell stands on the pass, loses the ball and Town stream forward……until their man stumbles over the ball! Wharton gives the ball to Buckley in the centre circle, who effortlessly beats his man and drives forward. He decides to try a shot from 25m but it’s blocked. Too ambitious I think John! Travis picks it up and sends a neat little chip towards Diaz but the defender manages to head out for a corner.

13 Rothwell takes a free kick from the left wing, midway in the Town half. It’s over everyone as all scurry backwards. It lands just in the 6 yard box and van Hecke is first there; he may just have got a very slight touch but it goes, undeflected, straight into a very relieved keeper’s hands!

This has got to be the most dominant first 15 minutes we’ve had at Ewood this season….but no goals to show for it yet.

17 Diaz offside.

21 Oh my! It’s a rare attack from Huddersfield as Sinani takes it down their left wing. Our defenders are rushing to get back. His cross is excellent and Thomas gets on the wrong side of Pickering to dive low and direct a powerful header, from close range, towards goal. It hits Kaminski…I don’t know how much he knew about it but it’s a crucial save. Then there’s confusion about how to clear the ball between Wharton and Kaminski before Nyambe hoofs it clear for Khadra to chase. 

29 Travis reads the situation well and puts in a death or glory water-sliding challenge in the Town half to win the ball, Diaz picks up and heads for goal. He goes past Lees on the edge of the D, but the falling defender leaves his leg out and Diaz stumbles but keeps his feet. He runs into the box and Pearson comes in from the side to make a big body to body contact and Diaz, still unsteady from the first challenge, falls to the ground. The Lees contact was a foul but outside the box, the Pearson “shoulder charge” was dubious but he got away with it! Huddersfield charge forward with some nice interplay as the Rovers defence rushes back. It arrives to that man Sinani again but this time on their right wing. He goes past Wharton with ease and delivers a low cross from the byline. Fortunately van Hecke is there to put the ball out of play. The Rovers players surround the ref, complaining about the injustice of it all!

30 Diaz picks the ball up near our box and carries the ball almost the full length of the pitch before winning a throw in line with the edge of the Town box. Good stuff, he gets a big round of applause.

35 Huddersfield are right back in this game, knocking the ball about with much more confidence but Rovers hold their defensive shape. It all ends in a Huddersfield corner. Mowbray gets a yellow card for lambasting the ref’s performance - now there’s some display of passion for the doubters! Nyambe clears from the corner with a good defensive header.

38 A lazy challenge by Buckley, deep in our half, earns him a yellow card.

42 Holmes leaves Rothwell for dead on the wing and passes to Sinani 25m out but a sliding van Hecke puts him off enough for him to balloon his shot.

43 Lenihan on the wing slides a nice long pass to Khadra’s feet, just outside the box. He squares the ball to Buckley but his attempted pass to Diaz was poor. Buckley’s influence has waned considerably as the game’s gone on.

47 Van Hecke commits a foul in a dangerous area, 25m out. Diaz heads clear.

50 Pickering wins a corner and Rothwell takes. It’s Pickering who manages to get his head there first but it’s very crowded and it’s over the bar. Lenihan congratulates Harry as if to say “what are you doing here?”

56 Wharton plays a nice long pass to Diaz but he’s offside!

58 Some nice interplay by Rovers ends when Khadra is dispossessed just outside their box. He hasn’t had the best of times since that first half hour!

Rovers win a free kick, central but over 25m out. As Rothwell addresses the ball it becomes clear that we are in sore need of a “shot on goal” dead-ball specialist! He doesn’t try a shot - his cross goes straight into touch! Such a waste!

60 Lenihan disrupts Huddersfield’s possession on halfway and Buckley passes to Diaz on the left wing. Ben drives on impressively, past several defenders, to the edge of the box before squaring to Nyambe. Ryan is in nosebleed territory and is easily dispossessed….disappointing end to a nice move. Now there’s a great long ball downfield directly to the feet of Holmes and he’s away, sprinting towards the box. Pickering, at full speed, can’t catch him but maybe does enough to put the Town man off. Holmes fires into the side netting from the right corner of the 6 yard box. A close call!

62 Khadra off, Gallagher on.

63 Lenihan wins the ball on the right wing and passes crossfield to Diaz near the far corner of the 6 yard box but he can’t quite get there!

64 Rothwell picks up midway in the Town half and drives to the box where he squares to Nyambe who tries a left-footed curler from just inside the box but Ryan blots his copybook by bisecting the goal and the corner flag! He’s been fine defensively but, as an attacking wing-back, he’s struggled today.

67 Pickering off injured, Edun on. Jordan Rhodes on!!!

69 Huddersfield pressure! Thomas does Edun comprehensively and fires a cross in from the right edge of the box but Wharton is there to clear for a corner. The Huddersfield fans are loud! The corner is cleared without too much drama.

72 O’Brien is becoming more and more influential, stroking the ball around in midfield.

Buckley off, Dolan on. Good applause for John.

75 Nyambe wins the ball and is fouled just outside the D (what’s he doing there?). It’s 25m out to the left of the box and again we’re left rueing the absence of a Mulgrew type shot picker. Rothwell puts it harmlessly over the bar. We all knew what was going to happen sadly.

77 Lenihan plays a beautiful field length ball to Dolan’s feet and he wins a corner. Rothwell’s cross is straight into the goalie’s arms. His set-pieces today have been disappointing. The keeper’s long kick upfield has set up a foot-race between Dolan and Thomas. Dolan wins out and passes back to Kaminski, so Thomas clatters him with a flying lunge from behind. Very nasty, Dolan’s team mates are incensed. Thomas is lucky it’s just a yellow!

82 This time Rothwell’s corner is a good one and Gallagher gets his header on target but it’s cleared by a defender 1m from the  line! Now a long ball towards O’Brien sets up a race between him and Nyambe. Nyambe stumbles but keeps his feet as they go neck and neck into the box. It’s good perseverance by Ryan who finally gets a crucial foot in. Edun is able to clear to Diaz on halfway. He passes forward to Dolan on the left wing but he mis-controls and it’s all for naught.

84 Yellow card challenge by van Hecke shifts the momentum.

Nobody looks like scoring today. Wharton gets the sponsors Man of the Match award just as he wins another header!

88 Rothwell threads a lovely long pass down the wing for Diaz to chase. He attempts to cross from near the byline but the keeper plucks the ball from the air at the near post. Nyambe was charging in just behind him! I haven’t seen Rothwell so involved for a long time!

92 Diaz controls well and drives square across field 30m out, he passes to Rothwell who feeds it to Edun on the wing. Edun crosses low and, unbelievably, it goes through everyone to Gallagher 10m out but the defender’s there too and his attempted shot is blocked into the air for the keeper to collect.

94 Clumsy (not quite Fulhamesque) challenge by van Hecke. It might have been a second yellow if it wasn’t the last minute! It’s a dangerous position, on the left wing 35m out. In it comes and Kaminski comes for it and misses and van Hecke hacks it clear. The whistle goes.

Edited January 4, 2022 by tonyoz

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Thanks as always Tony. Looks like the sponsors got the MOTM award just about right.

[tonyoz]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Thanks as always Tony. Looks like the sponsors got the MOTM award just about right.

I just checked the BRFCS poll…….they have Wharton 7.8, Lenihan 7.7. Whoscored.com have them neck and neck too……Wharton 8.1, Lenihan 8.0. 
Now that’s spooky!