Dack will be playing on Monday but for the under 23's at Leyland.

As Isp82 said it was 1-1 and on an adjacent pitch the under 16's won 3-1. Interestingly both teams still had Recoverite on their shirts with the 18's in red and black and the 16's in blue and white.

They simply wanted justice and it's a huge credit to them that they persevered despite the Government, South Yorkshire Police, West Midlands Police and the S** lying. And their perseverance paid off as they exposed the lies. I have huge admiration for them all.

Was it you who had a reservation for your family? I actually mentioned to Waggott that somebody posted on BRFCS that the postponement was too late to cancel a hotel reservation for himself and his family.

We actually chatted about the three big decisions and it's probably the first time I've been in agreement with him. 😆😆 He was actually keen to seek my views as he is aware of my background and also the refereeing standards in general.

I have an update on the postponed game for anybody that is interested. After several emails to the EFL in which they refused to answer my questions they suggested I write to Rovers as they clearly weren't interested. I wrote to Lynsey Talbot who wrote back and said she had forwarded it to the Head of Communications. Within an hour I got a reply from the recently appointed Commercial Manager. To say I was disappointed with his response is an understatement so I wrote again telling him so. Several days later I hadn't had the courtesy of a reply so I wrote directly to Steve Waggott and included the communications I have had with the EFL and Rovers. I sent that email at 11.20 today and got a call from him at 13.45. The gist of the conversation was that there is an on going investigation with the EFL which has now got as far as their Legal Department who are now involved. He said he will keep us updated as and when there is some news. What he did say was that the game wasn't officially called off until 13.45 and his questions he wants answering are essentially the ones I have asked. These are: What time were the Hull players tested? What time the EFL were informed of the results? What time the game was called off?

Definitely Swansea John. I'm guessing the silly o'clock kick off is behind the request for a smaller allocation. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2022/january/19/ticket-news--swansea-city-v-rovers/

Well it was good while it lasted. I'm talking about Mowbray who dispensed with what has been a trusted system recently to put his square pegs in round holes. Buckley a defensive midfielder - do me a favour. With Travis being out the obvious replacements were Johnson or Davenport. And if anybody can tell me what the formation was after the triple substitution you are a better man than me. Mowbray really pulled a couple from left field with those. It was like last season again when we regularly changed several players at once and confused the life out of everyone Those weren't the only reasons we lost the game though. Frankly we were shite from one to eleven and not one player comes out with any credit. Tonight could be a watershed in our season.

We only have an allocation of 1,034 tickets.

That a really good point about Ayala. The irony of it is that it's probably the most injury free he's been for years and can't get a game.

I find it interesting that Mowbray doesn't deal direct with the owners but rather their lackey and he hasn't (not reported anyway) yet had any discussions about new contract for him. It's been said that the owners don't like giving bad news themselves. I wonder if the direct lines of communication between them and Mowbray have been cut off for a reason.

I still haven't seen anything official about the new logo replacement on shirts from the club. Surely Waggott or Fielder could just let us know what is happening through the official channels rather than seeing it from a local journalist.

He has been more Brereton than Diaz for sure. 😁😁

Thanks Joe. Do you know if there will be an option for a plain shirt for kids?

That could well be the case and would be acceptable to the supporters but, as I said why don't Rovers explain this rather than allow speculation. If there has been a contractual or financial reason just tell us.

It's almost a case of 'if you can't beat 'em join 'em' to me. In all honesty it's become farcical that clubs can have games postponed whilst hiding behind illness and injuries. And the current Premier League management are totally to blame by allowing it in the first instance. The answer to the first request should have been a resounding no. I have little time for EUFA but at least they had the balls to kick Tottenham out of the Europa League (or whatever it was) when they said they couldn't field a team and didn't play. When Middlesbrough were denied a request to postpone a game against us in 1997 and didn't turn up they were docked three points. That should have been the ultimatum to these clubs.

It's poor really when lots of supporters have bought shirts with Recoverite on them and certainly expected that business to remain as main sponsors for the whole season. Will Rovers now bring out new shirts with Totally Wicked on them? A better explanation might have helped.

Games like today can sometimes define seasons as we had to show a different set of skills to the ones of recent months. We didn't play well at all but ground out a result with some determined, resolute defending which will stand us in good stead for the rest of the season. We needed the back three to be good today and they were with Kaminski solid behind them. When the circumstances demanded we go to a back five we were equally as good. What was really pleasing was the defending of set pieces which has often behind Achilles Heel under Mowbray. I have a little worry about the form of a few players but with a solid base and ability to keep clean sheets we are giving ourselves a chance.

The team is as I expected but I'm really surprised that Dolan isn't on the bench. There was no mention of injury yesterday and I consider him to be a far better option that Butterworth coming off the bench.

I remember that too Ian. We travelled as normal on Ribblesdale Coaches and for some unfathomable reason were dropped off by the Littlewoods Pools building in Aintree and had to walk from there to Goodison Park and back. We ended up on he Gwladys Street Stand and I saw an Everton fan attacking some Rovers supporters with a broom. It was a real Beam Me Up Scotty moment.

Clean sheets is the way to go, absolutely. We can undoubtedly score and the suitability of this system to our players is apparent as chances are created. The key for me though is keeping the back three fit particularly Scott Wharton. The balance of a back three is critical and Wharton as a natural left footer is so important to that.

It's a real opportunity to get promotion and some investment in players will give us an even better chance. Where we are now will count for absolutely nothing if we don't go up. The Academy is irrelevant to the promotion debate and Dack is going to be a while away from the player he was. I was feeling reasonably confident until yesterday as I (perhaps naively) thought the owners would see what the majority see and enhance the opportunity we have for promotion by strengthening. I should have known better.

Almost unanimously every Rovers can I speak to says this is our best chance of promotion and more importantly a real opportunity to bring serious money into the club. And to achieve this dream we need to strengthen the squad of which we are an injury or two away from disaster. But this morning I read that there really won't be too much (if anything) spent on new players, rather the opposite where we will likely well and almost certainty weaken the squad. Already some of our promotion rivals have strengthened as they see the opportunity that lies ahead. Half way through the window and we have just been given confirmation that Khadra and Van Hecke are staying for the full season. Heaven knows what would have happened if they had been recalled. And this mess lies firmly with the owners.

Cirino was at the Academy on Sunday on crutches and his left leg in a brace. He seemingly got a knee ligament injury at Middlesbrough on January 2nd.

It is a ridiculous fee based on his ability and age but I think it's cute from Newcastle as it hugely weakens Burnley. I don't think Dyche will have planned for this and won't have a replacement lined up. He might just have to rely on plodders like Rodriguez, Vydra and Barnes.