Looking back it seems the red card to Hamill seemed to work more against us than it did for them, as it basically motivated them to sit back and preserve the 1-1. The draw benefits them a lot more than us, as they have two games in hand on 5th and 6th with 3 and 1 points separating them respectively. They essentially set up a 6-3-1 on top of each other, with Diamanti high up good enough to hold it long enough to bring others in when they did decide to come forward and then use Wales, Uskok or Risdon to help.
They also, to an extent, seemed to commit less dumb bookable fouls, only Sanchez got a booking in the second half for crunching Dávila. They put next to no pressure on the ball, and tracked back to set up their defensive line every time they lost it, meaning Payne, Taylor and Sail could pick passes into midfield, but had a bank of 6 sitting inside their box, which meant all the passing was sideways, and any deliveries would have to be perfect as they had 6 to our 2 strikers.
I think Lewis, Devlin and Dávila should have been more willing to shoot from distance in that second half, the keeper didn’t look all that good but was hardly tested, as chipped balls don’t work when they’re sitting that deep, and shooting from range will force them to step out and open up space for slipped balls elsewhere. But, anyway that second half was dreadful to watch, especially after the first where both teams tried to counterattack each other.
