Player Ratings

[Morisons Prozac 0]

Ruddy - 6.

R Martin - 6.

Ward -7.

Barnett - 8.

Drury - 7.

Crofts - 7.

Smith - 6.

Lappin - 6.

Hoolahan - 8.

C Martin - 5.

Holt - 7.

Can''t really be bothered to comment on each player but would like to say that Hoolahan and Barnett played really well today and Holt held up the ball very well today. My only worry is the lack of goals from the strike force and would like to see Jackson start tuesday and Macca come on a lot sooner.

[Viva_Marc_Libbra 0]

Agreed, subs earlier was my only worry. Jackson could have got a lot more into the game if we weren''t already one down just as he''s getting into his stride. Might have made the difference.

Having said that Lambert seems to know what he''s doing and I can''t remember the last time I saw him make a sub before 70/75 mins.

[Binky 0]

I would give each of the team a 7. Didn''t think anyone had a ''mare and were pretty effective for most of the match except in the penalty area. Hoolahan was running up blind alleys for the first 20 minutes but got better with some good runs in the second half. Holt overplayed his physical game to the point he was concentrating on knocking the opponent off the ball rather than watching and winning the ball. Lappin put in some excellent corners and crosses and is not afraid to tackle - but still doesn''t try to beat his man and is shot shy. Ward looked classy one minute and flaky the next. Would have liked to see Crofts more in the game but what he did I thought was perfect. I honestly thought that for once there would be no substitution (barring a goal being conceded or an injury) because I couldn''t see how what was on the bench would improve anything on the field.Thought Hull posed no real danger but always looked more comfortable on the ball and stroked it around with more confidence right from the kick off. Around the 68th minute, the ball was passed across the field with some 15 Hull passes followed a Ruddy goal kick! That said, 0-2 flattered them and a draw would have been the right result.

[Yellowfuture 71]

Dont know who got man of the match but it would have been Crofts if I had been chosing it. His tackling was terrific today, he really put himself about and also distributed the ball very well.

[Largey 0]

Barnett got MOTM, and i cannot argue with that.

[Yellowfuture 71]

[quote user="Largey"]Barnett got MOTM, and i cannot argue with that.[/quote]

No neither would I

[Chunky Norwich 0]

Ruddy - 7. Assured performance; good catching and kicking in slippery conditions. Probably couldn''t have done much about the goals (although I was in a bad position for the free kick)

R Martin - 7. Bit of a dodgy start but started getting forward well, linking with the attack and put in a few brilliant crosses

Ward - 7. Bit of an iffy start to his Norwich career but is starting to settle in well. Nice to see a central defender in a yellow shirt play the ball out of defence

Barnett - 8. Rightly being plaudited. A couple of brilliant saving tackles. Looks like he wants to play for the club.

Drury - 8. Seems to be getting younger for us with every season. Bombed forward well and linked up superbly with Lappin

Crofts - 6. Not a bad performance but not brilliant either. Although he does play in the unenviable position where you don''t really see him

Smith - 6. A bit similar to Crofts. Didn''t have a bad game, just didn''t have a great one

Lappin - 7.5. Saw that Smudger got evicted for apparently slating him. Or something?! I thought he had a good game. If anyone was going to put the ball in the box, it was him. Couple of brilliant crosses and good delivery from set pieces. The only blemish was trying to cross the ball to nobody when put through by Holt, rather than having a pop

Hoolahoop - 7. Like R Martin, didn''t do much in the first 20 minutes but started coming into it later in the game. Second half, most of our good play came through him and should have opened the scoring if 1) he had a right foot and then 2) the Hull keeper hadn''t made a great save

Holt - 6. Undoubtable quality and the focal point of all our attacking but he just looked really short on fitness. The man nicknamed The Horse just didn''t really put in a shift. Offside quite a lot through laziness and every time he went to ground took an age to get up and back into play. Not a bad game, just didn''t look fit

C Martin - 4. He doesn''t have to do a lot; his job is to stroke the ball into the net. But he really excelled today at not doing a lot. Had our best chance of the afternoon and you wouldn''t want that chance to fall to anyone else but squandered it. Anonymous really.

In essence I thought as a team we were really good today and I am happy to say they were clapped off. Hull did a smash-and-grab raid on us and should have been more than happy with a point, let alone all three! I just think the main difference was our strike-force being unfit or having a bad game. On another day, we could have scored 4 or 5 but it wasn''t to be.

Incidentally on another thread, I''ve put how badly Hull were at their cynical time-wasting, play-acting, ref-baiting and yard-stealing. Really hate teams that do that and I''m sad to say that it probably helped their cause in their victory today