MATCHWATCH : Northampton Town (h)

[retro royal]

This is a hard watch, no movement off the ball up top

[Snowflake Royal]

There it is. Great break, great work from Lane and top header from Big Kelvin.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Lovely ball by Lane, perfectly weighted

[MartinRdg]

Great subs

[Sutekh]

[Snowflake Royal]

Lovely ball by Lane, perfectly weighted

For once a player in enough space a winger is actively picking them out.

[Snowflake Royal]

Fornah's looked a completely different player to the one we had... I assume it is the same Tyrese Fornah... tricksy winger Jacob has struggled a bit with

[Snowflake Royal]

Well that's risky as sub's go.

[windermereROYAL]

O`Connor looks a very good player.

[Snowflake Royal]

Good foul Kyerewaa. Slightly sloppy pass, but he made up for it stopping the break.

O'Connor wins everything in the air.

Funny how the defence looks better with our first choice centrebacks. Oh, a clean sheet!

Hope not to see Burns starting again.

[Sutekh]

16th

[WestYorksRoyal]

Deserved win. Not a convincing, dominant performance but back it up by beating Doncaster and we're making enough progress. Doncaster started well but are stalling so definitely winnable.

O'Connor and Williams look rock solid. Good to Lane to make a key contribution. Unlucky for MOM not to get off the mark in the league; did everything right and denied by a great save. Yiadom looked great off the bench, probably our best FB despite his age.

Key moments went our way. Big save by Stephens at 0-0, and the ref missing a senseless handball by Elliott.

[Royalwaster]

Deserved win. Not a convincing, dominant performance but back it up by beating Doncaster and we're making enough progress. Doncaster started well but are stalling so definitely winnable.

O'Connor and Williams look rock solid. Good to Lane to make a key contribution. Unlucky for MOM not to get off the mark in the league; did everything right and denied by a great save. Yiadom looked great off the bench, probably our best FB despite his age.

Key moments went our way. Big save by Stephens at 0-0, and the ref missing a senseless handball by Elliott.

Think it was more a clumsy handball than a senseless one. He was looking over his shoulder to head the ball and completely missed it.

[windermereROYAL]

Wasn`t intentional and the lino and ref agreed. comes under the category of seen them given though.

Speaking of the ref, she was very good again tonight.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Pretty sure with VAR it's given. A decade ago it was an accident, but now it's all about arms in an "unnatural position" and I think it's a penalty in today's rules. But luck evens out - we were due some.

[Hound]

Actually thought we played pretty well. Gave Northampton very little and we were the better side by a margin

Elliott did ok, CBs good, front 3 all contributed and nice to have some physicality up there. Thought Kelvin was good and caused a lot of problems

All subs did well bar the hapless Kyeweera who was pretty awful and almost cost us a few times

[bakerlou]

Just got home.

We bossed that, they came for a 0-0, were well organised and well coached but offered precious little attacking threat so it was all about whether we could get the one goal we needed (or not).

We looked much better with Williams in the team, and even better when Yiadom came on. I can see him starting soon. Mentions for Stevens who looked a little nevous but did fine, O'Mahoney looked much more confident and I thought he'd scored for a moment, and Lane who was marked heavily throughout but created the winner. MotM was their keeper though, who kept them in it, which should tell any non-attendees everything they need to know.

[bakerlou]

Actually thought we played pretty well. Gave Northampton very little and we were the better side by a margin

Elliott did ok, CBs good, front 3 all contributed and nice to have some physicality up there. Thought Kelvin was good and caused a lot of problems

All subs did well bar the hapless Kyeweera who was pretty awful and almost cost us a few times

Yes, broadly agreed. I forgot about Elliott as he came off first but yes that was good from him.

[Royal Rother]

Wasn`t intentional and the lino and ref agreed. comes under the category of seen them given though.

Speaking of the ref, she was very good again tonight.

Agreed. The game is so much better when it’s not stopped for every slightly questionable piece of physical contact. She was consistent with it and the game flowed as a result.

Most other refs in L1 would have made it into another terrible watch.

Kudos to her.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Entertaining game. Deserved win. Hardly faultless, but a massive improvement.

And that’s the main thing. Hunt has somehow turned an awful team who turned in abject performances against Exeter and Mansfield into a competitive, high tempo side playing neat triangles and pressing effectively.

Savage was outstanding the whole game. Not saying he was perfect, but his application and work rate were just outstanding and set the standard. That was the best I’ve ever seen Lane play - a quite brilliant assist. The two centre halves put in good performances. The substitutes acquitted themselves well - especially Yiadom, who looked like a top-end Championship player in a team of solid League Ones. He must have felt so good after that.

The referee was fine again. She obviously didn’t get everything right, but she was decisive, unfussy, and she let the game flow.

Still think it would be nice if they announced the visiting players, just before kick-off as it would have been an opportunity to clap both Guiness-Walker and Fornah, both of who should be shown our appreciation.

Get three points against Donny and it will all start to look very different. I’m so pleased for Hunt. And seeing us in 16th looks good.