Sheaf Saint

Archer played the through ball to Fernandes to score, but it was Downs that laid it off to Fernandes earlier in the move.

Did you miss the pivotal part he played in the move for our goal at Northampton then? He showed good strength to hold off the defender and receive a long ball forward from McCarthy, which he then laid off very nicely to Fernandes. That is the presence up front we've been missing.

It really wasn't that easy. Watch the replay again. The second the ball left BBD's boot, Downs had to slam on the brakes because he could see it was going just a fraction too far behind him.

Avoiding the defender and GK is all well and good, but you also need to put the ball right where the onrushing player needs it. He didn't even look up though, so couldn't possibly judge DD's run. For the chance to be an absolute sitter, the ball in needed to be perfectly in front of him, and it wasn't. So I'm not going to join the bandwagon of knee jerk fans who seem to have already decided he's shit. The jury is still out for me. Che Adams was frequently guilty of far worse misses than that, but was a very key player for us last time in this division and still got 16 goals, so I'm not gonna write Downs off just yet on the basis of a missed chance that wasn't quite as easy as many seem to think it was.

Just trying to provide a bit of balance. Some of the comments so far have been ridiculous. Yes, he will be very disappointed not to have scored, but the blame doesn't lie 100% with him. BBD needs to shoulder some as well for misjudging the ball in.

It shows the average position of each player making and receiving successful passes, not the precise location of each one.

Not saying he shouldn't be scoring it. Just pointing out some mitigation for why he didn't. It was a poor pass from BBD. You can clearly see on the replay that Downs had to slam on the brakes because it was slightly behind him and that's why he couldn't get a clean shot away.

This is their completed pass map from last night. A very familiar story

Well at least it wasn't as bad as Gillingham last season. Was it?

So it was entirely his own fault that BBD misjudged his run and the direction/weight of the ball in was it?

I'm gonna cut him some slack for that one tonight having seen the replay a couple of times. BBD didn't play it far enough forward and you can see Downs frantically try to slow down to avoid overrunning it completely.

Ref lost it there. Never a foul from Downes. He was right to be pissed about it.

Why is Arma trying to shoot from there FFS. Sometimes he's like the kid in the school team who thinks he's gonna be a star and always just ignores his teammates and shoots on site.

Free header. Should have scored. Shocking defending.

Good move, nice through ball from Archer and a tidy left foot finish from Fernandes after a sharp turn to put the defender on his arse.

Downes, Taylor and Matsuki for Downs, THB and Charles.

Archer somehow wins a corner there!

Triple sub. Will be interesting to see what this does to the formation.

Looked like he started the handbags so it's probably fair.

Edwards penalised for a fowl, but TBH I thought it looked six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Is there a single commentator in England that actually knows how to pronounce Sugawara's name properly?

Beauty from Fernandes!

You forgot Archer.

OK, having seen it back again a couple of times, I'm going to give Downs the benefit of the doubt for that miss, because the ball in from BBD was a little bit too far back from where it needed to be and you can see him desperately trying to slow down to make a connection with it.

Oh Downs.