Dear mackem,
To put it into context, to come away from home in the Barclays Premier League and pick up something is always decent.
The disappointing thing is that we had enough chances to win two football matches.
Everything else was okay but putting chances away is vital in the Premier League. Away from home, you don’t usually get as many chances as we did today and we had to take one.
Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to do it.
We had John O’Shea hit the crossbar and Asamoah Gyan was through within the first 12 minutes.
We need to find that clinical touch in front of goal.
At our level we should be taking chances, but we’re not. We have to keep grinding on and stick with our beliefs, because there isn’t much wrong.
It was good to see John O’Shea back for us. His experience and know-how will make a big difference.
He’s a quality player. We know what we’ve bought there.
It would have been a wonderful debut for him if he’d scored, but overall it was a pleasing first game.
All the best,
Steve Bruce