From the weekend (mid-week fixtures to follow soon)
Ben Marshall - Millwall, Championship.
Made his debut at home to Cardiff. Flashed a 25 yard free kick just over the bar and put in a wicked cross that they nearly scored from. Fashioned another couple of chances before being subbed off with ten minutes left. Positive debut.
Connor Ronan - Portsmouth, League One.
Started at MK Dons and had a curling effort saved. Taken off at half time with his side 1 down but they came back to win 2-1 without him. EEL had come on as sub just before the winner, funnily enough.
Duckens Nazon - Oldham Athletic, League One.
So he can score goals in League One as well then. Grabbed a brace in a 2-2 draw at Blackburn. The first was great forward play, turning a defender before picking up the ball and beating him again with a nutmeg the finishing smartly past the keeper. The second was a powerful effort that the keeper could only parry into the net. Subbed on 72 but surely has enough to keep his starting place.
Goals at the start of the vid;
Donovan Wilson - Port Vale, League Two.
On for the last 35 minutes in a 5-1 drubbing at Cheltenham. Nothing to note.
Ben Stevenson - Colchester United, League Two.
Kept his place in the team and played 80 minutes before being subbed in a 1-1 draw.
Connor Johnson - Telford United, National League North
A full game against North Ferriby and helped his team to a rare clean sheet in a 3-0 win. Made a couple of Stearman-esque mazy runs: not sure that should be encouraged from a Wolves centre-half, unless they happen to be Willy Boly.
Dan Armstrong - Dunfermline Athletic, Scottish Championship.
Made his debut with a lively 18 minute sub appearance in a 0-0 draw with Livingston.
Jack Ruddy - Ayr United, Scottish League One.
A real test at home to Rangers in the cup and once again got showed up two or three times with what can only be described as shoddy keeping, letting in soft goals through bad positioning and a flimsy presence. 6-1 the final scoreline.
Andrew Sealy-Harris - Farnborough FC, Evo-Stik Southern Premier League.
Looks as if the Duck can fashion a reasonable career over here even if it won't be with us so his move here has been beneficial to him & we should be able to get some money for him
Looks as if the Duck can fashion a reasonable career over here even if it won't be with us so his move here has been beneficial to him & we should be able to get some money for him
A quick 5 minute cameo in a 1-1 draw at home to Bradford.
Duckens Nazon - Oldham Athletic, League One.
Started against EEL, who had won back his place for MK Dons. Got in through on goal but blasted it over the bar. Subbed with 25 mins to go. Game finished 1-0 to Oldham
Ben Stevenson - Colchester United, League Two.
A quick reunion with his old club Coventry. Lifted a shot over the bar in the first half and subbed with 8 to go. Colchester win 2-1.
Connor Johnson - AFC Telford, National League North.
90 minutes in a poor 3-0 loss at home to Curzon Ashton.
Unless we release him I doubt they can afford him as they are in for some huge cuts next season. Should be plenty of others that will show some interest though.
He did pretty well (other than an awful dive for which he should have been booked but somehow wasn't), same issue as Doherty though really. Fine at making up the ground to get forward but if you can't cross then you're immediately hugely limited in what you can do from that area. The little ball inside isn't always on.
Serious wingbacks in this system - like say, Alonso at Chelsea - can cross, pass, dribble, link up and shoot to a very high standard, as well as being strong defensively.
Alonso has serious tekkers. I wondered how he could possibly play WB when he joined as he has zero pace and at Bolton he got rinsed weekly but he’s a proper player these days.
I suppose it's how the role has been redefined since we last saw it to any great extent in the mid 90s (I had the exact same doubts as you).
Back then you ideally wanted an absolute flying machine there, like we had with Froggatt and Smith. Now it's not so much pace that you're after, but proper, consistently good quality (with plenty of variation in how you hurt teams) in the final third.
He’s got the lot other than pace tbf. Strength, aerial ability can score from anywhere, set pieces. I guess you don’t really need the pace if you’ve got good movement in a team with patient build up. Something Douglas doesn’t seem to do that much anymore, he rarely seems to get in round the outside anymore like he was at the start of the season.
The other difference is that teams often go 3-4-3 now (or a variant of it) rather than 3-5-2. So you don't have the wingback being hopelessly isolated down one flank all on his own any more, with the sole protection of a tugboat centre half being pulled into the channels.
That was the principal weakness of the formation 20 odd years ago and why it died out originally. Plus managers who now use three at the back tend to be switched on enough to pick centre halves who can actually play in that shape. Not just lamping three bog standard lumps in there and wondering why massive gaps keep appearing when they're up against a pacey forward or two.
Retained his place in the team at Blues but had a quieter game this time. Subbed after 66 minutes and Millwall went on to edge it 1-0.
Dominic Iorfa - Ipswich Town, Championship.
Started in the East Anglian derby. Had a penalty shout turned down after bursting into the area and going down, furious Norwich fans accused him of diving. Subbed with 10 minutes to go.
Connor Ronan - Portsmouth, League One.
Introduced late in the first half at Shrewsbury after his teammate got injured scoring a goal. Fairly quiet game for him though as Kenny's boys lost 3-1.
Ben Stevenson - Colchester United, League Two.
Started at Crewe and hit a powerful 25 yarder which the keeper saved. Subbed on 70 minutes as his team lost 1-0.
Donovan Wilson - Port Vale, League Two.
Another small cameo, this time barely ten minutes, as Vale lost at Swindon.
Jon Flatt - Kidderminster Harriers, National League North.
Thrown into the starting XI due to an injury crisis and doesn't sound like he'll be happy with the first goal conceded, coming straight from his punch out. Conceded another in a 2-0 defeat.
Connor Johnson - Telford United, National League North.
A full game in a 2-2 draw at Tamworth.
Andrew Sealey-Harris - Farnborough FC, Evo-Stik Southern Premier League.
A full game in a 2-1 win.
Jack Ruddy - Ayr United, Scottish League One.
A very welcome clean sheet in a 3-0 win over East Fife.
Dan McKenna - Bray Wanderers, League of Ireland.
Made his debut with a full game in a goalless draw at Dundalk.
Prince Oniangue - Angers SCO, Ligue 1.
A full game in a 1-0 loss against Saint Etienne.
Paul Gladon - Heracles, Eredivisie.
Came on for the last ten minutes of a 1-0 defeat at Feyenoord
Christian Herc - DAC, Slovak Superleague
Given a few minutes to make his debut at the end of a 2-0 win.
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