[Whalley Red]

I thought that when we were at our most dangerous in the first 15-20 minutes, a lot of the link-up play involved good touches from Craney. When he started to disappear from the gameplay, we looked much less effective going forward, if effective at all. It was when we were under pressure in the second half that he virtually became a passenger.

I agree with everyone else that defensively we look very good despite the lack of cover in front of the defence in the second half. Could we be starting this season the same as last year with very few goals conceded and plenty of 0-0 draws away from home?

I wasn't at the match last Saturday, but the problem on Tuesday for me was that, apart from the first 15-20 minutes when we totally dominated the game, there was no outlet for Joyce when he received the ball from the keeper. The movement of the midfield in front of him was very poor IMO and with their forwards closing down on our full-backs, there were many times when he found himself under pressure and had to get rid of the ball, sometimes with passes that put our full-backs under even more pressure.

We were clearly playing against a very good League 1 side, but this is one area that will need to be improved against Southend.