Cider, Cider, Cider!

So a huge crowd of 632 people crammed into the Valley last night and boy were they disappointed? Well personally no – not that I’m defending the defeat but (prediction of 3-0 win aside) you’ve got to almost expect it really. Usual poor fare for the first league cup match of the season and, that’s right, Charlton out – at least they spared us from extra time. Congratulations to Yeovil who worked hard for their win and deserve a good draw in the next round.

So George Doors ...

Elliot (5/10) Looked out of place, well at goalkeeping anyway – looked as dangerous as some outfield players late on
Basey (6/10) Looked more comfortable in second half at left back rather than first when the side didn’t seem to have much shape to it
Youga (8/10) Solid performance whether at full back, centre back, attacking, kicking opponents, whatever
Fortune (6/10) Went off injured and was below his best even until then
Moutaouakil (6/10) Can be international class as we’ve seen but then can play like last night too
Wagstaff (5/10) Early doors so I’ll not be too critical – If he’s going to make it he needs these games so I’m not complaining
Holland (7/10) Ran tirelessly but didn’t show the leadership you’d expect on a night like this
Shelvey (8/10) SDAP MOM – See below
J Thomas (7/10) Actually tried to take people on without being flash, stood up to a few challenges – come on JT you can do it!
Bouazza (6/10) Should have scored early on but seems to be settling in – watch this space
Varney (6/10) Another headless chicken night tonight – started really well but then seemed to be chasing shadows
Semedo (Sub 7/10) Usual solid performance – why doesn’t he play more – anywhere?
Sam (Sub 6/10) Like JT ha an on off button Pardew needs to find out how to work
Dickson (Sub 7/10) Usual livewire performance – shame he couldn’t breakthrough

Moment of the match : Has to be Elliott’s foray forward for the 4 or 5 corners at the death – almost woke some people up in the lower West

2DAP MOM : Has to be Jonjo – another performance where he looked a class above his more experienced colleagues – I’m trying not to get too excited about Jonjo but if we’d paid £3M to a club from a higher league I’d be over the moon but he’s 16 and cost us nowt ... woohoo!!! J

As for the other results ... well I got that slightly wrong too with just 10 of our 17 second division representatives progressing ... although I did predict Crewe & MK Dons (well done Roberto) getting the results they wanted
Let’s hope the ‘big’ four out tonight do better than some of us ... I expect a clean sweep

Coventry v Aldershot
Forest v Morecombe
Sheff U v Port Vale
Wycombe v Birmingham