Steve's Sunday Summary - Week 6

Quite a different "feel" to this week, with the size and depth of the squad coming into play, as it was always going to have to do, though few of us would have suspected at this time last Sunday just how many injuries and suspensions we would have to cope with.

Fulham away mid-week was always going to be too far for me and so it was that I powered up the laptop to seek out team news.Of course the surprising headline that greeted me was McFadzean's three match ban, which still irks on three fronts as this week's gripe.
Gripe 1. The charge was accepted, which means that we have to ask what the player was thinking. Made captain in Moose's absence it would be odd to think that he had simply tried to "get away with one"
Gripe 2. The ref saw nothing wrong at the time. The crowd, partisan in so many other ways, didn't seem to respond and the Wolves lad jumped straight up and ran after the ball. My understanding is that the referral to the F A owed much to the personal intervention of Walter Zenga. How very public spirited. I hope we all remember to offer our thanks when he visits the Pirelli in February.
Gripe 3. If Zenga did report it after the game, how on earth did it take until less than three hours before kick-off to confirm a ban? Surely a huge disadvantage to the Brewers having to prepare not knowing whether the captain would be eligible to play. Fairer, I would suggest, for any ban to start at very least the day AFTER it is confirmed.
And so the first few minutes of following the commentary on the patched up side was done with very low expectations, which were hardly heightened by what appeared to be one-way traffic. But then a goal and the very real prospect of a first away win. Sadly, not to be, but which of us would not have taken the point at 7.45?

And then yesterday, speculation rife on the way to the ground as to how we would form a defence, and how we might cover the absence of Chris O'Grady in attack. My view is that we managed a sterling effort with depleted resources and very nearly got away with it. Tom Flanagan was made ready to complete a back three (a brave decision to start with this pattern) and grew into the game as it progressed. Not sure whether Stuart Beavon was fully fit as it seemed strange not to start him and even stranger to deploy Marcus Harness as a sole striker whilst he was still on the bench.

I haven't seen any debate about whether it really was a penalty, though it seemed a bit of a soft one on the i-player in real time, with the Brighton lad running across Williamson, but no complaints from the players tells its own story. Tough to lose a point in the last five again, and tough that we contributed with a cheap surrender of possession from the otherwise excellent Brayford.

But over the 90 minutes there can surely be no debate that Brighton were the stronger side. To paraphrase the Wolverhampton evening paper from a week ago, the timing of the goal was harsh, the result wasn't, however welcome the point would have been.

But that is not a criticism. Four, possibly five of the absentees will be selected as soon as they are available. To get so close to holding a side that only missed out on promotion to the Premier League by the narrowest of margins is no disgrace, far from it.

Brewer on the box this week has been Jordan Pickford. He was in shot, though blameless, three times in eleven minutes as Romalu Lukaku re-discovered his scoring touch on Monday night and again this afternoon, single-handedly keeping Tottenham at bay until one of his defenders put one on a plate for Harry Kane. He seems to be getting a regular start for Sunderland. Come a long way since a bit of dodgy handling at Cheltenham on the opening day three seasons ago.