Murphy - N/A - don't feel I can rate him. Had nothing to do apart from punch away a set piece or two.
Christie - 8 - Had both their left-backs on toast throughout the game and defended solidly when needed.
Webster - 7 - Solid enough, better on the ball than I expected. Calming influence.
J Clarke - 10 - Can't fault him, unbelievable performance. He's not playing CB out of necessity, in fact he's very important to our play. We forced Colchester to thump the ball away, and instead of heading it straight back, Clarke would bring the ball down, and start a new attack from the back. Not often at this level is a centre back so composed and so capable as an attacking influence. Defended very well too.
Adams - 7 - Good performance. The left side was a bit quieter than the right, but defensively he was solid and got the assist for the opener.
Baker - 8 - Really good link up with Christie, we looked like scoring every time we attacked down the right. Drifted inside well to provide a valuable extra midfield passing option.
Thomas - 8 - The least eye-catching of the midfield 4, but he does the donkey work. Along with Fleck, dominated against a 3 man midfield in the first half.
Fleck - 9 - His range of passing is above anyone I've seen at the club for a long time. A lot fitter than he was last year as well. Worked incredibly hard joining the front 2 to press the Colchester defence and keeper, forcing them to go long, ineffectively, for the entire game. One of a number of players who've improved immensely under Pressley.
Moussa - 7 - Always looks a threat running with the ball. A 'nearly' performance from him today, a number of his through balls just missed their target, but he worried their defence sufficiently to create space elsewhere.
L Clarke - 8 - Brilliant in the first 75 minutes. Dominated the centre backs giving Wilson space, and was always sniffing out scoring opportunities. Loses a point for not taking one of his chances. Looked to be sulking a bit in the last 15 minutes as he was again denied by the keeper. Not great to see but it was clear he wanted to cap a great performance with a goal.
Wilson - 8 - Very sharp, has a great understanding with Clarke. Was very impressed with how he took the second goal in particular, very calm in waiting for the keeper to commit before rolling it in. From the moment he went through you had confidence he'd score. A great feeling to have about a striker.
The subs all came on when the game was petering out somewhat so impossible to rate their performances really.
These marks may look quite high, but it really was that good. I don't think I've ever seen a more one-sided game, certainly not one involving CCFC anyway. Also, the match experience at Sixfields, while better than I expected, is just not the same as it would be in Coventry. I'm glad I went though because Pressley, his staff, and the players do deserve support. Here's hoping we can see performances like that in front of tens of thousands at the Ricoh rather than a couple of thousand in Northampton sooner rather than later.
