AFTER a gutless shambles of a defeat at Millwall it emerges there is contract conflict going on behind the scenes, which may account for such a lacklustre performance.
What remains undisputed, though, is that over 1,000 Albion fans made the journey to the New Den only to be rewarded with a truly awful display in which one of the journeymen strikers at this level was virtually handed on a plate one of the easiest hat-tricks you'll ever witness.
Even Millwall fans don't rate Gary Alexander, yet he managed to score twice with his head under no challenge from an Albion defender and then slotted a penalty after a lamentable attempted tackle by Michel Kuipers.
If Dean Wilkins had two choices to make with his team selection following Matt Richards' return to Ipswich, he surely made the wrong one in continuing to omit Guy Butters.
Adam El-Abd and Joel Lynch crumbled as easily as a Christmas shortbread in the centre of defence and, although Sam Rents busied himself reasonably well on his return to the side, he was nowhere to be seen when Bignot had time and space to pick out Alexander for the second goal.
Maybe O'Callaghan's post-match outburst was a sign of his personal frustration at such a poor performance, but do we really want to keep someone who is so ill-disciplined as to pick up a booking for a needless kicking-the-ball away only two games after he had returned from a three-game ban?
He has a touch of class and quality on the ball, but he's probably burned his boats now by criticising the running of the club.
Hammond looked out of sorts today as well, and, once again picked up a booking for a nasty challenge. But he was by no means alone. There were no players who emerged with any credit and, according to Wilkins, we should forgive and forget this performance as a blip.
That maybe easy for him to say but performances like this surely make the prospect of a play-off challenge remote, and, unless there is genuine investment on the playing side in January, the team will falter more and the crowds will dwindle further.
Player ratings:
Kuipers 5;
Whing 6,
El-Abd 4,
Lynch 4,
Rents 5;
Fraser 5,
Hammond 5,
O'Callaghan 4,
Robinson 5;
Savage 5,
Forster 4.
Subs:
Cox (for Fraser) 5,
Revell (for Savage) 4,
Martot (for Robinson) 4.
By Nick Turrell.Labels: League One, Millwall, Nick Turrell
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