Is it bad to be disappointed with a 2-0 win?

Alright, maybe disappointed is too strong a term, especially when it is another solid performance and three more points in the bag, but I can’t help feeling that we missed an opportunity to put five or six past Bristol Rovers last night.

Within the first 15 minutes we could have been 4-0 up on another day. Credit the Rovers goalkeeper, James Belshaw, who made some fine saves to keep the scoreline down in the early stages.

I do believe if the two red cards had come a little earlier in the game then we would have bagged a handful of goals at the end, we just ran out of time and a little energy in the final moments.

But when it’s a comfortable 2-0 win in the bag there is no point going all guns blazing and risking injuries, especially considering some of the Joey Barton-esque challenges we saw and having had Cameron Burgess already taken to hospital for checks on a facial injury. To be fair the collision was accidental in that case but it looked a nasty one.

From Kieran McKenna’s comments it sounds like it might be a little time on the sidelines, which is a shame as Burgess has found some good form of late. It’s a good job we have the likes of George Edmundson and Richard Keogh in waiting so we won’t be any weaker in the central defensive position.

Unlike Rovers, who, if I understand correctly have no central defenders available for the weekend after a double suspension.

Town dominated 90 per cent of the game and at times it looked like attack versus defence training. Conor Chaplin and Marcus Harness caused so many problems for the Rovers defence. With the overlapping Wes Burns and Leif Davis we pulled them all over the place and it was only a matter of time before the goal came.

Cue an excellent piece of play between Harness and captain Sam Morsy to work the ball across the area. Then who else is in the right position for the tidy finish? Of course it’s Chaplin. The man is on fire.

I want to comment again on Freddie Ladapo. That elusive first league goal still evades him, but I thought his performance was yet again very good. He hounded the defence forcing mistakes, got shots away and teed up Lee Evans for the second goal. I am sure it is only a matter of time before we see that first goal, and what a celebration it will be.

Evans also thoroughly deserved his goal. Overall his performances have been outstanding this season, but he often goes under the radar. His range of passing is of Premier League quality the majority of the time. Sometimes it goes wayward but that’s part of trying different strings of play. He seems to have tidied up the risk taking in defensive positions which we saw last season.

Dom Ball is a fantastic signing at this level and it is credit to how well Evans and Morsy are performing that he isn’t able to break into the starting XI at the moment.

He will get his chance I am sure and I thought he got up to the speed of the game very quickly last night when called upon to slot into the back three. He is calm and assured on the ball and almost played a defence splitting pass late on to send Tyreece John-Jules away. The attacker just couldn’t quite take it in his stride.

Davis is now looking like the quality signing we hoped he would be. He charged down the line time after time last night and won a free-kick within the opening seconds which almost resulted in a goal - Luke Woolfenden heading off the bar from close range.

The balance we have down both the right and left flanks is what will ultimately see us get promoted this season in my opinion. Defences outside the top few teams cannot cope with the constant spreading of play.

Defensively we looked robust once again and when Christian Walton was called upon he made a top-class save and was alert despite not having all that much to do.

We seem to have solved our lack of taking chances as well. We should have scored more last night really but last season that easily could have ended 0-0 but we are now scoring two goals a game on average.

What’s more the goals are spread across the attacking line and midfield which massively eases the pressure on the line striker. Often this has been Ladapo although we did see some more minutes for Gassan Ahadme last night.

There was maybe a little too much urgency in his play has he strives to impress but he has proven he can get goals at this level so I am sure he will bag a few in coming weeks.

Saturday sees our biggest test of the season so far, followed by two other very tough games. Winning would be a huge statement but a draw wouldn’t be the end of the world either. If we can pick up seven from these three games that will send a huge warning to the rest of the league.

We already have a four-point gap to third and seven points to seventh so all is looking good at the moment.

If we keep playing as we are and keep tweaking and improving where needed then it’s only upwards from here.

Uppa Town

Chief added 20:53 - Sep 14 Thank you for the summary. Always enjoy the read. Really appreciate that you focus on the positives and do not unnecessarily criticise our squad. I keep a spreadsheet looking at the rolling average points return of our last 10 league matches to see the trend in graph form. That helps smooth out the disappointment of losses and draws! Very rarely in the last few years have we been so consistent.

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scants_itfc_88 added 11:03 - Sep 15 Thanks - always try and keep it positive where possible. There isn't much to criticize at the minute, which makes it easier!! Sounds interesting - if we can average 2 points a game over the season then that is promotion form
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