Shabby Irons get lucky…and remain well alive

Domzele 2 Irons 1

A double save from Adrian saved the Irons

That really was a night to forget but it could have been a whole lot worse!

And at the end of it all the surprising thing was to see the smiles on the Domzele faces because the Irons won’t be this bad again (surely) and with an away goal in the bank they look a good bet to progress into the next stage of the Europa Cup.

We were a total shambles at the back and sadly Michail Antonio chose this night to produce his worst ever performance in a claret and blue shirt.

Whether you choose to blame him or the manager I’ll leave to you but from my perspective the whole Antonio right back experiment is now a massive embarrassment.

He was stranded up field for the second goal and time and again was totally skinned by man of the match and double goal scorer Crnic.

We looked inferior throughout and but for a fantastic double save from Adrian near the end the tie could have been dead and buried.

Suffering a ban and being in the stand, didn’t allow Slaven Bilic to have any influence from the dug out but he had picked a strong team despite being without Payet, Lanzini, Ginge and Oggy.

The Slovenians had opened the scoring with a pen after Nordveidt had been so harshly adjudged to have handled but we levelled from out own spot kick via Noble after the keeper came out with a near punch on Winston Reid as he tried to clear.

The decider came when Crnic slotted home a great goal from the left witb Antonio way up field and unable to get back – that situation has to be seriously addressed and soon because at the end Sam Byram dropped into central defence from left back and Antonio was taken off.

Shambles utter shambles.

Feghouli looks a real player and made some decent runs and provided some fine set pieces but he like everyone else disappeared in the second half. Andy Carroll can be happy with his contrbution and Noble led from the front. The rest? Average at best.

I have no doubts we will turn the tie around but to be honest we are lucky to still be in it. I reckon the smiling Domzele lads will perhaps take a reality check in the morning.

The tie is ours to win.