The Red Card Forces Brendan To Ditch The Extra Midfielder And Go 4-2-2-1.
The red card forced Brendan to confront his options.
Sevco’s deep defence had kept Rogic at bay for much of the game.
His goal was exceptional, but he was constantly running into their bank of players.
When Simunvoic was sent off we needed to keep things tight.
The decision to take off Rogic was risky but it was the right one.
We had sacrificed our additional man, and our attacking midfield threat, but that had been necessary to keep things bottled up at the back. The risk was not, as Sevco fans seem to think, that they take off a midfielder to bring on Cummings. It was that they make a double change, and go to a 4-3-1-2.
That would have given them a man advantage in the middle of the park and the extra man up front to boot. Their three-man central midfield would have found it easier to win the crucial battle there, and they’d have had three against two in the final third. Their advantage was in the middle … if Murty had pressed it.
We persevered with the two wingers for only seven minutes.
Brendan knew that the wide players – on both sides – were having little joy against packed penalty boxes and with both teams playing one man up front. He knew their attacking midfielder Windass was as well not being on the park. He seemed to be facing the dilemma of how to do more with less ….
But Brendan knew were the real battle was being fought.
And with Murty not willing to exploit his advantage, Brendan gambled instead.