Originally Posted by choirboy (Post 1095014)

On reflection, I think that we should have been taking 3 points off Bury tonight. That chance was reduced drastically by the sending off which, although it was difficult to tell from the Clayton End, I thought wasn't even a foul. To me it looked like a good old fashioned "block tackle" where both players attacking the ball go in hard but with the side of the foot. The player that pulls out of the tackle can come off worse. I stand to be corrected of course by those closer to the incident and by any TV /video coverage. The decision spoiled any real chance of Stanley winning but I thought that Bury were pretty inept in not being able to take advantage of the extra player. Bettinelli was superb and got better and better the longer the game went on. One of the lads who stands near me said that Betts will play for England one day and I think he could be right! One save he did from a header, albeit from a player given offside, was simply immense and reminded me of the great save that Banks did from Pele all those years ago! He fully deserved the accolades of the fans in the Clayton End, definitely Man of the Match! Tom Aldred and Deano were brilliant too, particularly Deano after he was pole axed by an elbow in the back, off the ball, after about 75 minutes. No complaining or rolling about, he got up bravely and just continued! Braveheart Deano. Liddle did really well too and got stuck in superbly. Moly played well and nearly scored a great goal early on. Pierro battled and harried continuously throughout the match and Webber and Hunt had good games too. Once again it was centre midfield which let us down again, even allowing for the sending off.
The only good thing to come out of the match really was that we stopped Bury from jumping above us. I was a bag of nerves in the last fifteen minutes hoping that we would not get a repeat of Saturdays late reversal! Phew!
Come on Stanley keep battling.:mosher:
Management, players and fans together!:mosher:

Originally Posted by shakermaker (Post 1095043)

I was sat fairly close to where Wilson made his tackle and in my view it was a certain red card. It was a high lunge and somewhat reckless. Given that it was right in front of the referee (and the Bury players were so quick to surround the ref - a sad practice that occurred after every half-incident; their manager behaving no better) there was only one possible outcome.

Oddly the numerical disadvantage worked in our favour as it was only after Odejayi was taken off for Liddle that we managed to maintain our shape. In fact I'd go as far as to say that if we had played with our starting 11 for 90 minutes we would have lost the game.

Bettinelli had an outstanding game not only in making point-blank saves but in commanding his area and organising the defence. By far and away the clear Man of the Match.

Surprised to see the negative comments against our centre-midfield. Given that Bury played through the middle for the entire second half and got nowhere near I'd say they did well. We set up two compact banks of four to stop the play and they held their lines well. Joyce made a number of key interceptions and Murphy a number of important clearances.

Would hope to see Odejayi given a rest in the next game as his positional play was poor and he looked sluggish. Webber is such an important player for us in the centre forward role and would have scored if not for a wonder-tackle by the Bury centre half which killed our counter. Webber could do with a lively forward with plenty of legs playing off him. An in-form James Gray is the best candidate for this role in my eyes.