Trafford at the centre of Leeds win
Yesterday at 05:07 AM
There was absolutely no doubt that goalkeeper James Trafford was in superb form as the Clarets went to Elland road and beat Leeds 1-0 last Saturday.
He was assured from first to last, starting the game by making it as difficult as possible when Leeds broke clear in the first minute, and ending it by coming to collect that ball into our box, and grinning like the cat that had got the cream when he got back to his feet.
His performance won him the man of the match and the player ratings and for the man of the match it really wasn't ever a contest. He polled a massive 81% of the vote which was just short of the 83% he won in last season's 1-1 draw at Brighton.
It left little for the rest of the team but goalscorer Luca Koleosho took second place with 7% while 3% went to Zian Flemming who had a very good debut. Josh Laurent won fourth place with 2% of the vote.
We had the same top three in the player ratings. Trafford won it with a rating of 8.58 out of ten; that's the second highest rating of the season, bettered only by Dara O'Shea's 8.76 in the 4-1 win at Luton.
Koleosho was again second; his rating was 7.84, and again it was Flemming in third place with 7.51. Maxime Estève, despite his involvement in the almost first minute disaster along with Koleosho, came fourth with a rating of 7.35 out of ten.
Trafford has, therefore, won the maximum ten points towards the Up the Clarets Player of the Year. Koleosho won six points and there were four points for Flemming with both Estève and Laurent winning one point each.
Estève has extended his lead at the top of the table to fourteen points ahead of Josh Brownhill, but his performance in this game has lifted Trafford into third place, moving one point ahead of O'Shea.
The next vote will be underway this Saturday following the home game against Portsmouth. The Leeds result and the current player of the year table are below.
MAN OF THE MATCH
81% – James Trafford
7% – Luca Koleosho
3% – Zian Flemming
2% – Josh Laurent
2% – Maxime Estève
1% – Hannibal Mejbri & Joe Worrall
1% – Josh Brownhill
1% – Bashir Humphreys
0% – Lucas Pires
0% – Jaidon Anthony & Jeremy Sarmiento
PLAYER RATINGS
8.58 – James Trafford
7.84 – Luca Koleosho
7.51 – Zian Flemming
7.35 – Maxime Estève
7.00 – Joe Worrall
6.72 – Hannibal Mejbri
6.63 – Josh Laurent
6.53 – Jaidon Anthony
6.42 – Bashir Humphreys
6.37 – Josh Brownhill
6.16 – Jeremy Sarmiento
6.09 – Lucas Pires
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
30: Maxime Estève
16: Josh Brownhill
13: James Trafford
12: Dara O'Shea
8: CJ Egan-Riley, Václav Hladký & Luca Koleosho
7: Bashir Humphreys
6: Jaidon Anthony & Han-Noah Massengo
5: Josh Laurent & Vitinho
4: Zian Flemming
3: Zeki Amdouni & Lucas Pires
2: Tommy McDermott
1: Hannibal Mejbri
