Match Thread Home V Bristol Rovers Saturday 16th October @ 3.00pm

Sorry for the delayed response, had to do some bloody work at work.

Done it. Not a fan too and takes some getting used to as my lad has work commitments too.

 

Perfectly sums up my football feelings, apart from not going to away matches.

 

Are either contracted to us beyond January?

 

This is the point where Bristol should have been stopped the cross for the goal, it's not as if we had no one to defend the wideman's run, Fould's is actually running away from the player, shocking closing down.

 

I did think about that myself when I watched the highlights, would it have finished 2-1 had Ridehalgh still been on the pitch? I think so.

 

Ridehalgh injury was a real blow defensively and attacking wise actually. His understanding and link up play with Vernam has been one of our biggest pluses so far this season.

Hopefully only out for a short period

 

Can anyone tell me why ROD never stretched his left arm out to reach the ball and stop it going in? It’s almost as if he expected it to go wide or over the bar so didn’t really try.

 

Let the merry go round continue lol

While they don't seem to be needed here it is ridiculous that no players last more than 24 months anymore they're a bit like managers coming and going

Unfortunately we have no identity and no core values

 

No I cannot explain why he did that.

 

'cos he probably had his eyes closed as usual...

 

Moment of the match for me was the 1on1 Songo’o the last man facing oncoming Rovers player. CRUNCH! Won it clean as a whistle, took the gashead 10 minutes to find his leg. A proper tackle.

 

There were a couple of blood and thunder blocks from Paudie as well I like that pairing

 

Yes, that was excellent and vital. I think Songo'o hurt himself with that tackle though.

He wandered, very gingerly, back up to the half-way line afterwards.

 

Didn't let it show though!

 

I’m usually not overly critical of keepers given I used to be one, but agree with this. Given the arc of the ball, seems ROD actually got close to it and - I think - might have tipped it wide had he gone with his ‘top’ (right) hand?

Would suggest like you’ve said it was a ‘covering’ dive where ROD has misjudged the flight a bit. All that said, the situation doesn’t occur if we (i) close down in midfield (ii) close down at left back (iii) properly defend what was a hanging cross into the area. Really horrid to watch.

 

Controversial opinion I know, especially after the disappointment of throwing way 2points.
However, I don't think we're too far away from being a side capable of getting out of this division in the right direction.

The winning streak last season never produced any of the football than we're showing in parts this season
Stevenage, Mansfield, parts of Rochdale game, and parts of Bristol game all illustrates the quality we can produce.
That can and does rip teams open.

Vernan can create mayhem, there was a 10minute spell at the start of the second half where he was almost unplayable.

Bizarrely after seeing the last few games, I feel we're making progress, even with an injury hit and small squad
The consistency will come, the season's early

I'm going to re-assess my early season prediction from mid-table, I'll now say 7th place.

 

I think we need a reality check here.
I was annoyed as all of us with the fact we did not end up with 3 points.
The first half display by our front players was as good as I can remember and I go back a bit and I go to all the home games.
If we were less than 5 goals up at halftime, Bristol Rovers will have got away with larceny.
The fact we were only one up was massively disappointing.
Callum Cooke and Vernam played as well as we could imagine in the first half.
Callum's vision and precision and willingness to attack was outstanding. His passing was worthy of a much higher level
Vernam was a revelation causing mayhem with his pace and directness and took that into the second half having created the second goal.
I imagine they both ran out steam at a similar time because we stopped getting the ball to Vernam after Cook scored.
Overall our attacking display was outstanding and just a word of praise for Andy Cook and his workrate and willingness to show. Cook is also having physically to fight all opposing centre halves under this season's new refereeing regime where they allow anything and let them get on with their
physical battle. I believe that the massive workload Cook is expected to achieve is having a detrimental impact on the quality and regularity of his finishing.
We have a good side well capable of achieving promotion. DA is I am sure aware of our squad limitations in offensive positions.
Injuries to our front players will have upset the early season applecart but the performance on Saturday in the first half should enable us all to stop the criticism and allow the season to take shape.

 

Not seen any of the away matches, so can not comment. In reality we should have won all 6 home games, although 2 of the 3 home wins , Oldham and Rochdale , were as waste full as ourselves.
We should have beat Barrow , Walsall and Bristol. 6 points thrown away, the league table would have looked much healthier. we need to sort the chances taken issue , if not before , then definately come Jan.
There is a good team in there.

 

A lot of praise quite rightly, for Vernham on here. Is anyone else slightly worried that he may be attracting interest from elsewhere and given our lack of budget, may be sold to help fund our January window?

 

Yeah, probably mighty Stockport to pair him up with Crankshaw....