Port Vale 1-0 Reading: Player Ratings

David Button: 6

Today wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t do anything about the goal which looped agonisingly over his head and he actually made a decent save to prevent things going from bad to worse late on.

Andy Yiadom: 5

A lot quieter going forward than he was this time last week and got caught out defensively too often for my liking - including in the build-up to the goal. I expect a lot, lot better from Yids.

Tom Holmes: 4

A really, really poor showing from Holmes. It wasn’t going too badly until the goal, which he lost the ball far too easily for, but then after that his head went and it was mistake after mistake. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if that was the last we saw of him in the first team for a little while.

Tom McIntyre: 5

Not as bad as his central defensive partner, but not that much better. He made a couple of really good blocks and tackles, but McIntyre and Holmes are two players who have been used to losing games and shipping goals left, right and centre - and it shows.

Nesta Guinness-Walker: 6

Was probably our best attacking threat all afternoon, particularly in the first half when he did superbly to weave his way into the box and win the penalty. His end product when in crossing positions needs to improve tenfold though.

Sam Hutchinson: 5

The game tended to pass the central midfielders by a bit, and when they did get the ball the passing was so tentative and pedestrian - and Hutchinson was guilty of this as much as anybody. Even the battling intensity you expect from him was missing.

Charlie Savage: 6

Showed a few nice touches here and there and will be a mainstay for this team this season, but again the game seemed to pass him by a little and he was withdrawn midway through the second half.

Femi Azeez: 5

This should be Femi’s season to properly make his mark and stamp his place in the team - but it really hasn’t turned out that way thus far. He needs to do so much more than he did today going forward, because he has the ability to be a really good player in this league.

Harvey Knibbs: 5

He suits Selles-ball to a tee and should be a key player for us this term, but offered little going forward today. There were bigger problems than Knibbs’ showing, but I still expected more from him.

Andy Carroll: 4

I understand why Carroll started today, but how on earth did he play the full 90 minutes? Selles wants hungry, energetic forwards who defend from the front - we saw that on Tuesday - and Carroll is the complete opposite of that.

He wasn't even dangerous in the air when we did go long to him, and to top it all off he missed the penalty. A poor afternoon for him.

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan: 5

Had one effort in the first half that he skewed wide, but other than that it was a quiet day for Kelvin and he struggled to make any kind of impact on the game. Will surely feel hard done by that he was the first to be dragged by Selles in the second half.

Subs

Caylan Vickers: 6

Was the first to enter the fray from the bench and, although he didn’t manage to make the same kind of impact that he did against Peterborough or Millwall, there were still some promising signs from the youngster.

Lewis Wing, Matt Carson, Mahmadi Camara: 5

This trio were part of a triple sub made by Ruben but none of them managed to change our fortunes or have any real impact on the game. Lewis Wing had an attempted cross cannon off the crossbar late on, but that was as good as it got really.

Harlee Dean: N/A

Came on late on to try and shore up the defence (which didn't happen). Coming on post-80th minute gives him an automatic N/A.

Average: 5.13/10

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