After 7 games who has impressed and who is flopping?

My star man so far

So we are 7 League matches into the season and it’s safe to say it’s been a strange one. Had we lost or even drawn the match last week at Southend I truly believe the pressure on Laws would have been pretty heavy and cracks may have started to appear. But we got the win and suddenly what would have been classed as a very mediocre start to the season turned into a hopeful start. Amazing what one game can do right?
The big question is… Who has impressed so far this season, and who is under performing somewhat? I will mark each player out of 10 below and give a reason for my rating. 0 means the player has been abysmal (basically the player is almost as bad as Tomi Ameobi) and this progresses until a player receives a 10 (Gary Hooper style, whoever gets a 10 should be knighted). Here we go:

Sam Slocombe: 7. Sam has come a long way since Joe Murphy left the Iron after our relegation from the Championship. Despite a poor spell at the end of last season he has been very reliable and he is improving almost every part of his game, all the time! For me the most noticeable improvement so far this year is his kicking. If he wants to push up to and 8 or a 9 he has to be more commanding of his area. He’s very close to an 8.

Andy Dawson: 6.5/7. Andy has played fairly well in every match I’ve seen him perform in so far bar one, AFC Wimbledon away. At Wimbledon he was consistently caught napping and was never tight enough on some skilful wingers. Other than that he has performed well and has played some cracking balls down the line. I’m expectant of a Dawson free kick being converted sooner or later. It is coming!

Christian Ribeiro: 8. I know Ribs has only played in a handful of fixtures so far this season compared to the 3 already named above but I do think he is a class above almost all the rest of the Scunny squad. He is great going forward and fantastic at the back. Worthy of his MOTM award when we held Sheffield United to a 0-0 draw. Sadly he suffered an injury in the match at Northampton and he now faces a spell on the sidelines. I can’t help but feel he will greatly missed. But does Lawsy have a thing against him?

Niall Canavan: 7.5. Niall has improved massively over the course of last season and was successful in slowing down the amount of game changing mistakes he was responsible for. Granted, you can blame him for the goal conceded at Northampton but, he was at the other end to put us into the lead so we shall let him off there! All in all it’s been a great start to the season for Niall and I expect 6 or 7 more goals to come from his head before the season is up.

David Mirfin: 8. Mirf has found some of the form that made him a favourite here in his first spell at the club and it has been pivotal to the Iron’s resilience at the back, which has seen us keep 3 league clean sheets and 2 clean sheets against higher opposition in the cup. If he can continue this kind of form he could well be the star man come May.. in my eyes. Worth mentioning his goal should have secured 3 points when we played Dagenham at home!!

Eddie Nolan: 6.5. Eddie has looked good when he has been played at the back, however, he looked quite ineffective when he was slotted into the hole void after the injury to Collins. I do like Eddie and expect him to be a big player for us this year. But he will be a big player from the back, rather than going forward. 

Terry Hawkridge: 7.5. What a find this lad was!! He started of the season superbly and faded away for a couple of games but has since come back looking great again. He adapted well when he has been played at right back and has assisted quite a few of the Iron’s goals already this season. I think to push him up to an 8 he really needs to find the back of the net soon. It will happen very soon though.

Michael Collins: 7. Up until his injury at Wimbledon Michael had put in some admirable captain performances and was a good leader for the team to have. Maybe you could pinpoint his injury as a major reason for the collapse at Wimbledon and one thing for sure is that all Iron fans will be eager for our Capt’ to return sooner rather than later..

Sean McAllister: 7.5. I would argue and say he has probably been the most consistent performer so far. He puts his all in for 90 minutes every time he plays and for a particularly small lad he can put a fantastic challenge in. He has stepped up to the mark and although we miss Collins, Sean has certainly provided us with some creativity in the middle of the park.

Matt Sparrow: 6.5. Matt scored on his second debut for the club and it was recently announced as our goal of the month for August. Other than that Matt has looked great in the middle of the park but I just hope Lawsy now sees he is not a right winger. The reason for his 6.5 is for the games where he played on the wing. I still think himself and Collins are the best central midfield partnership in the league, so hurry back Michael!

Etienne Esajas: 5. He has started the last 2 games and has looked tricky and willing to shoot from anywhere which is certainly a great attribute to have in League 2. The reason for his low rating is he has not appeared in enough games yet for me to push it higher. I do think he could be really big for us this year if we can keep him fit and keep letting him shoot from anywhere. We saw he can do that final part at Brigg!

Andy Welsh: 5.5. Andy has had a fairly average start to life at Glanford Park and now looks set to miss a large period of time with an injury. I thought he looked good in the match against Mansfield and has provided a further assist since then so he will be a miss through his injury, but more of a miss as we lack numbers rather than someone who has been incredible so far. He could come good though, we’ll see.

Sam Winnall: 8.5. My star man so far. I really like the look of Sam and I think he could be our 20 goal striker this season. He is a willing runner and puts in a good shift every time I have seen him so far. He currently has 3 league goals to his name which is just under a striker rate of 1 in 2 which isn’t bad at all. I can really see him scoring against Plymouth tomorrow and I do think a double (or maybe a hattrick!) is coming from the lad soon. You can see how much each goal means to him. Keep it up Sam.

Chris Iwelumo: 7. Chris has scored 2 in 3 league starts which is a great record so far. He is my first choice strike partner alongside Winnall and looks a handful. League 2 defenders must hate seeing him on the oppositions teamsheet! He needs a goal at Glanford Park soon to shun the doubters but for me Chris has done well so far and will only get better. I still don’t think he’s 100% fit, imagine when he is!

Deon Burton: 5.5. Willing worker and good at holding the ball up, but we need to see him scoring soon. He has looked a class act at times but has never looked like scoring has he? I expect him to pick his game up and the sooner he does that the better.

So do you agree with my ratings? What would you give the players?