Man of the match...

[Kernow Yellow]

...Chris Tardif! WTF?

He showed last night why Smith has been right to keep faith with Turley all season. I used to think we had the two best keepers in the Conference - now I'm not so sure. If Tards really wants to secure a move away from the club, last night will not have helped his cause.

[Radley Rambler]

Best of a bad bunch Kernow - was there anyone else who deserved it more?

Yeah Tardif had some flaps but he also made some excellent reflex saves.

[Baboo]

...Chris Tardif! WTF?

I used to think we had the two best keepers in the Conference - now I'm not so sure.

I think the quality of the Conference keepers is pretty good. I had mistakenly believed that they would all be crap and throwing the ball in their own nets at least once every game to give us a goal start.

[Kernow Yellow]

Best of a bad bunch Kernow - was there anyone else who deserved it more?

Anaclet. Defended well and got forward well. Always made himself available for a pass from midfield or defence. Rarely had an option to move the ball on again easily. I know his crossing was poor (as ever), but if he could do everything he wouldn't be playing in the Conference.

[Baboo]

Best of a bad bunch Kernow - was there anyone else who deserved it more?

Anaclet. Defended well and got forward well. Always made himself available for a pass from midfield or defence. Rarely had an option to move the ball on again easily. I know his crossing was poor (as ever), but if he could do everything he wouldn't be playing in the Conference.

But without a decent final ball all of the rest of his (alleged) good work is a waste of time.

[Kernow Yellow]

Best of a bad bunch Kernow - was there anyone else who deserved it more?

Anaclet. Defended well and got forward well. Always made himself available for a pass from midfield or defence. Rarely had an option to move the ball on again easily. I know his crossing was poor (as ever), but if he could do everything he wouldn't be playing in the Conference.

But without a decent final ball all of the rest of his (alleged) good work is a waste of time.

That would be fair comment if he were playing as a winger, but he's a wing-back. I think he's let down badly by his team mates, who use him as an outlet (often the only one), but then offer very little by way of support when he's in possesion. People only notice how bad his final ball is because he's involved in so much we do. Anyway, I don't think his crossing was worse than anyone else's passing last night.

[Baboo]

[quote=&quotKernow Yellow
Anyway, I don't think his crossing was worse than anyone else's passing last night.[/quote]

That is not saying much. But I think Burgess made more decent passes in the last 10 minutes than everyone else did during the entire game. (I'll now await a barage of abuse telling me how lazy Burgess was)

[Mally]

Best of a bad bunch Kernow - was there anyone else who deserved it more?

Anaclet. Defended well and got forward well. Always made himself available for a pass from midfield or defence. Rarely had an option to move the ball on again easily. I know his crossing was poor (as ever), but if he could do everything he wouldn't be playing in the Conference.

Its a funny ol' game. The Oxford Mail said it was his worst game for the U's and gave him 4 out of 10. I think the truth is somewhere in between. I can't remember him receiving a passinfront of him all night so to be fair by the time he got in a crossing position he'd run half the length of the pitch to retrieve the ball but his final ball was very poor.

I think Tardiff was the best player on the pitch for us which I know isn't saying much. He made some very good saves and I think the problems he had were more to do with defenders not being used to a goalkeeper who was prepared to come out of the 6 yard box.

[boris]

I also thought Anaclet was the man of the match for Oxford. He was the only player who actually seemed to want the ball, which made it all the more frustrating that when Eddie was in acres of space the pass always went left, to Brevett or Burgess, who proceded to lose possession.

And since when has the Oxford Mail's opinion counted for anything?

[ty cobb]

...Chris Tardif! WTF?

He showed last night why Smith has been right to keep faith with Turley all season. I used to think we had the two best keepers in the Conference - now I'm not so sure. If Tards really wants to secure a move away from the club, last night will not have helped his cause.

Are you joking Tards kept us in it last night - if Turley had been in goal then we'd have lost by 2 or 3.

Some of the saves were top drawer, fine his communication may not be as good as Turleys but at least he caught it when he came out (apart from one dodgy punch)

[SmileyMan]

...That would be fair comment if he were playing as a winger, but he's a wing-back. I think he's let down badly by his team mates, who use him as an outlet (often the only one), but then offer very little by way of support when he's in possesion...

Actually, he's badly let down by his manager insisting on the flipping suicidal formation.

Put him on the right wing, and give hiim the job of beating a midfielder and a defender then putting a cross in for 2 strikers || opposite winger || attacking midfielder. OK, so he's not the fastest, but he has good ball control - a rarer skill in this league, and he should be able to beat two men three or four times a match. In fact, being slightly slower will give more time for targets to arrive.

If he can't then supplement his good work with a quality cross then fair enough, ship him out, but at the mo, it's poor management that's letting the team down, not the players. They clearly don't know what they're supposed to be doing in the positions they've been put in, and to top it all the word has obviously gone around the Conference that the way to puncture the &quotbig boys&quot egos is to muscle them off the ball.

[GodalmingYellow]

I had Quinn down as MotM. But no one deserved it.

Tardif made too many mistakes and nearly cost us further goals. Poor punching, virtually no catching, terrible kicking, but on the other side 2 or 3 excellent saves that Turley might not have made, especially the first one, which bounced a short distance in front of him.