Agree with all the above. They have a bigger squad and were able to freshen things up. They looked more up for this game. They are mid table with little to play for at the moment in the league. Where as our total focus is the league at the moment and its all about Saturday now- HUGE game!
Scoreline didnt reflect the game really no doubt though we were well beaten they did have most of the play.
Yes Pritch seemed to shake his head when he got MOM ( it also got a bit of a chuckle from the Alty fans) it was definately one of his weaker performances last night. Would agree with Olsen as MOTM probably. Lugsden ran his socks off again. Paul Booth looked good again and was the strongest at the back last night. First 2 goals we couldnt do a lot about really.Last two our errors. Gary Scott seemed to go walkabout for the 3rd as their centre half Young steamed down the left unchallenged and was able to cross it in for Denham to finish. And the 4th our error again Pritch played himself into trouble and gifted Senior to kill us off.
I thought we played quite well for the first 20 minutes/half hour, although with only Thomo to aim for we never looked like scoring against their big solid defence. We missed Black without any doubt and whilst money is tight we are desperate for another striker now that Mike has gone back - there were no outlets last night. As far as the league goes we are going to need to score the chances we create. I certainly would like to see some of the forward midfielders try their luck more from the edge of the box, plus if we can bring in a loan striker from a higher level.
I think we look a little lethargic, possibly after the effort put in on Saturday. In fairness Alty looked good, they certainly were a much better side than the assortment of Vics players we played the previous Tuesday. If nothing else hopefully we learned one or two things out of last night.
As others have said I would rather take our defeats in these cup games and pick up points in the league, our season will not be defined by going out of this competition at the semi’s. In fact we may make more out of the competition by hosting the final (fingers crossed) than winning it!
Above anything else the players need to rest and build their energy levels now ahead of the weekend. I would imagine Thursday will not be a heavy training session.
Accepting that we were defeated by the two Conference Premier teams over the last week or so, but with these games and the win at Marine we have had some great match practice recently compared to other teams. Also useful for the management team to get an indication of how our players could compete at a higher level.
As the Wincham_Rabbit correctly says hope the lads can rest a little before Saturday.
