Player ratings v Cheating Hearts

Sorry to tarnish their name with that adjective, but their two most experienced Socceroos showed the way and in my eyes tarnished their whole team.

Mossy 9 Terrific saves to deny them a wrongful win
Boxall 8 Strong tackling, a monster
Siggy 5 Was going really well with two great blocks etc etc, then gets sucked in by Kewells theatrics
Dura 9 Outstanding, his best game of the season
Timmins 7 Defended very well
Manny 6.5 Yes he was wrong side of Kewell, a mistake. Why did he have to breathe so hard?
Lia 7.5 Another top performance from Vinnie
Kenny 6 A bit quiet, didn't lose it with anyone
Roy 8 Great work, gave them the shits every time he had it, nice goal
Stein 6 Did well enough till subbed
Tyler 7.5 Should have two goals to his name. Kisnorbo should be ashamed
Ridenton 7 His best game for the Nix, against all the odds. Well done!
Brockie 5 Didn't really have much chance to contribute. Didn't let us down

Ernie 9 How did he not lose his cool??

Ref Williams 0 The worst one-sided performance Ive seen for a long time.
Lino 8 Good on you mate for putting your flag up to deny them a couple of offside goals as well.

Your view???

Boyd -Krishna combo 9. I believe if we keep working on this we will be a force to be reckoned with

Seeing as you excluded him...

Watson 8. Held the ball up well, made some decent runs and looked threatening.

Boxall was a monster tonight, loved it in the second half when left a trail of heart players on the ground as he went on a forward run. 

Oops sorry Watson, yeh a good sub

I don't read the match thread once the games kicked off, so just want to eat humble pie here about my concerns of a Boyd & Krishna combo. They were fantastic tonight. Boyd seems to be improving every week, easily the most improved player this season.

Tyler Boyd is my new favourite nix

Tyler looked sharp tonight, especially the back heel to Stein (?) in the first half that dummied the whole of Heart's defence. 

Only player I thought was poor today was Lia, gave the ball away a lot in the second half and twice from memory put our RB under pressure when he did this.  MoM between Andrew and Roy with honourable mentions for Ridenton and Boxall.

Agree re: Krishna. I hope he starts every game from here until the end of the season. If he can prove he's consistent then we could well look into him as a permanent signing next season, then hopefully as a kiwi the season after that. But he needs to be good for pretty much every minute remaining this season.

For all the complaining about injuries it has in many ways worked out quite well for us in the sense we have been able to try a lot of different combinations out and have given fringe players a greater chance to show what they can do.

In the long run... thinking next year, we should be stronger for it.

Also well done to Boyd, his goal came about from him first hitting a raking square ball to Krishna from behind the half way line and then working his arse to get in to the box where he finished.

Can't fault his effort for that. Pure heart and energy.

10 men worked really hard, a top effort.

Where I thought we let ourselves down was passing from the midfield, period in the second half was very noticeable. Think it was predominately Lia trying to play the match winning ball.

I was expecting Brockie to put a big stint in when he came on.. only saw him giving the Ref a serve and taking two free kicks. He seems to be struggling to read the game and be involved.

Stand out player for me was Boxall (there were many players who stood up), if Fenton was fit I think Siggy might be fighting for his position.

In the situation we were in yesterday, Brockie was not the player I wanted to see coming off the bench.

Oh, and a score for Ernie. About 150 should do it.

Given everything that has gone against him this season, and getting a point against their 12, and still remaining diplomatic after the game, well.......

Immense.

Man love xxx

He has more goals than Boyd and has probably had as much game time.

Although i think Boyd has more assits... so probably a nothing point.

Boyd also makes runs off the ball to draw defenders away, presses the opposition when they have possession, and usually tracks back when his team needs him too, not to mention just generally being involved in build up play more. I think it's easy to forget that even last year when he was banging in the goals a lot of people on here were still unhappy with Brockie because he never seemed to press, track back, or make decent runs off the ball.

I see Mossy, Dura and Roy were all named in the FFA team of the week, with Roy the player of the week!
Well done lads, thoroughly deserved