Player ratings v Coventry

[Elite_pie]

Haven't done this for a while, but here are my thoughts:

Collin 6 - Had surprisingly little to do in the way of saves, but generally looked assured.
Tootle 6.5 - Most of their attacks were on the other side, but played his part in a sound defence.
Duffy 8.5* - Excellent, led like a captain should and didn't put a foot wrong. Held us together at the back.
Brisley 7 - As usual kept things simple, good in our box and good in theirs.
Jones 5.5 - The one weak link in the side. Far too hesitant and struggled to contain the threat they offered on our left.
Virtue 7 - Nothing spectacular, but worked hard and got into some excellent forward positions that we didn't really utilise.
Hewitt 7 - Did what he's there to do, gave us that crucial physical presence in midfield.
Noble 6 - Not a lot worked for him today but got stuck in.
Grant 6 - Poor in the first half, but stuck at it and played his part even though his best bits were defensively.
Forte 7.5 - The Forte we want to see. Looked up for it and made the most of his chances. Just keep it going.
Ameobi 6.5 - Made sure their defenders didn't have an easy afternoon, should have done better with the chance he had.

O'Connor - no rating, but great to see him back. No time to make a big impression, but a really good bit of keeping possession late on just when we needed it. It's a big ask, but I think he might still play a part this season.
Hall n/a, but a good substitution when they were throwing high balls into the box.

Absolutely buzzing tonight. This was the sort of game that could have gone either way but we were back to the Notts we saw in the first half of the season where guts, effort and desire (a massive plus in a tight League 2) meant that we won more games of this type than we lost. Just keep it going lads, if we make the playoffs you will have done yourselves credit as a team.

 

[Piethagoram 𝕏 @piethagoram]

Based on my mean of 5

Collin - 5 - Well protected by those in front of him. Again failed to come to collect "his" ball in the early minutes of the game but did seem to speed up his distribution...but that isn't saying much. His "soft" hands cost us the Coventry equaliser, allowing the ball back into the danger area

Tootle - 6.5  - Back to his solid best.

Duffy - 7.5 - A high score, am I mad?...needed him to step up with a captain's performance. Read the game well but yet again does go down too easily to win free kicks for my liking. As Elite says, classy to hand captain's armband to O'Connor 

Brisley - 7 - Dominant iperformance. Both Brisley and Duffy helped Collin to have an easy afternoon

Jones - 5 - The weakest of the back four. Wasnt able to get up his side to help the attack at all. A better 2nd half than the first.

Virtue - 6 - An interesting positional move from Nolan. Plenty of effort but only a couple of quality balls played by him in the match. It may have been his best display for us, but worried about his lack of real defensive awareness at times. Hence the reduced rating.

Hewitt - 7 - As usual, his best work is off the ball. He can sense danger and put in a tackle / block. Just wished he had some "talent" in passing

Noble - 5 - No doubt, he was targeted and IMHO, could have easily been sent off, hence the reduced rating of 5. You could tell from his reaction, he knew he was lucky. He should have been substituted earlier.

Grant - 7.5 - An ability to put in a good ball and a cracking shot against the post, perhaps he should have scored with that. Much more effort put in by him rather than him going missing for long periods. Much more defensively aware too.

Ameobi - 7.5 - Heavily marked and seemed to get a raw deal from the ref. Some nice lay offs. Looked much more effective with Forte running off their back line. Missed a great chance.

Forte - 8 - MoTM What have we been missing. Tireless running and benefited with Shola being heavily marked and used the resulting space to his benefit. Still at a loss why Nolan seemingly preferred Alessandra to Forte most of the season. Forte was the real difference in this match.

Sub
O’Connor - 7 - Great block / defensive clearance within minutes on coming on. Provided a cool head when needed

 

A bit better game management to see out time but could have easily turned into another Mansfield situation. A much needed win with Forte out to prove a point

[Northants Pie]

Collin - 7.5 Did what he had to do well and was releasing the ball relatively quickly

Jones - 7 Thought he coped well with the near constant barage of attacks down his side

Duffy - 9 Lead by example, won pretty much everything and kept a very calm assured head 

Brisley - 7 Won pretty much all his headers and stayed on his feet when their centre half punched him rather than falling about all over the place

Tootle - 7 Think he realised Virtue's weaknesses when left two on one in the first 2 mins so just stayed back

Virtue - 5 This lad has a few good touches but still seems stuck in youth /  U23's mode, did do the Kevin Nolan role well for Forte's first goal

Hewitt - 7 Nothing spectacular, just shows how far he's come as that was the level you expect from him

Noble - 7 Fitted in well alongside Hewitt & despite their captain doing all he could to get him sent off managed to not get himself into trouble

Grant - 7 First half was doing far more defensively, in the second half though became a thorn in their side with his passing & movement

Ameobi - 7.5 Provided the perfect foil for Forte and despite being nearly constantly fouled kept his calm and nearly always gave us an outball

Forte - 8.5 What can you say?? Didn't really look in the game in the first half and should have scored when he put it straight at the keeper in the second half but he seemed to come alive in the second half (pretty much hand in hand with Grant) and deserved his two goals, where does he go from here?

O'Connor - 7 I give him this rating as he gave us the calmness and quality we'd been lacking all game and it was what we desperately needed when he did come on

Hall - n/a

What a performance against a dirty & difficult team!!