Plenty on here too Mike 😉 Unsurprisingly, I guess, with blue and white vision 😉

Lines persons give offside, no? So hardly a reffing issue. Thought the ref was decent today.

Utterly criminal from Gallagher there. Losing the ball cheaply in midfield. Luckily, their player had a rush of blood and blasted over.

Sell Pears 😉

The one before our goal? Not sure, need to see again. Hope the ref hasn't got a bad one in him that costs us.

Ref generous to us again -Wharton stood on attacker's toe -could easily have been a pen.

Hedges playing keepy uppy with his left and scoring with his right 😄

Enjoy us on the turnover-keep it well, move it quickly forward but then lack that quality final ball/finishing. Need to watch the opposition stealing when we play it forwards when our player has back to their goal. eg Sammie lost it and they were in, and from one of our 'predicatble' corners, a poor ball forward (from JRC?) to Wharton was stolen and they were in. Best piece of quality was the strike that hit the crossbar.

Hedges ran out of puff, felt a hand on his shoulder and fell over theatrically -bought it nicely.

3rd one from Trav 😉

2nd bit of good work from Pears What no screaming about the ref? I mean, Trav should have been booked all day long for that challenge on the edge of the box 😉

That's the excuse lined up then 😉

Incidentally, I mentioned to my neighbour in the ground that the ball over the top was likely to undo us. Carter was easily rolled at least twice and they were making useful deep lying runs. Seems something we are prone to.

Such a shame about the result. Rovers played really well today after going down to 10. Kept the ball well, nullified them and maintained a good shape/tactics given the situation. Just tiresome listening to fans a) moaning that we should press them (yeah right with 10 men) or b) stop passing it around and get it long more quickly (yeah right to who exactly with 10 men?) For all the nonsense diversionary stuff on Pears, Dolan, the fact we were down to 10, refs (what a surprise and wrong as usual), it comes down to simple stuff. Brain dead defending from Pickering and 2 simple over the top balls which we didn’t deal with. Heroic otherwise and I’m often very critical.

England totally outplayed. Given that we were lacking in quality, the one thing you can do is use good old English methods –get it in the mixer. So in injury time you send forward Millie Bright and bring on another big striker. But in 13 minutes, I don’t think one good cross/ball forward came in except for a big up and under which Bright won and the last corner of the game which was too close to the keeper. Poor. Enjoyed the world cup though. At least the women can get to finals.

Win is a win. We were pretty poor first half but they contrived to give us 2 goals (which were well taken.) More open and entertaining 2nd half once it got to 2-1. Markandy was poor. Not convinced -yet. Tronsdat was a mile off the pace –schooled by Travis. Not convinced -yet I’m going to hear a lot of voices around me all season screaming at players to stop “messing around at the back and get it forward.” Totally obvious that they are instructed to play out from the back at all costs. Lump it forward? I don’t think so. The number of times first half the ball was moved across the back line and then out to Markandy (back to goal) only for the poor lad to lose it/be outmuscled etc. There is going to be a lot of turgid midfield play –that will be fine when we win, boring and knives out when we don’t. Leonard was good. Should have scored. Lucky to score –keeper was useless, beaten at near post-only had to stand there and it would have hit him. Leonard’s overall display was very good though. Trav may not be a genius but does the necessary. Needed. Hyam excellent, Carter solid. Corners-I know the argument for short with the front 3 we had and their big lads but you’ve got to vary it occasionally especially when you’ve sent the 2 centre backs forward. Or is that the decoy? :-) Ditto early ball forward. OK, obviously no lumping it from full back in the absence of a target man but on the steal/turnover in midfield you could send it early then with a pacy front 3. Otherwise you become a little predictable. Dolan –comments a little harsh I think. Yes he rarely did anything that caught the eye but seemed to me that he’s been coached to keep it simple, keep possession, easy give and go. He did that really well. (As opposed to Markandy who frustratingly lost it plenty of times –and yes I know he scored.) How many times were people saying last season that he just runs down blind alleys? Seemed to me he’d jettisoned that yesterday and was therefore quietly effective. Worth the entrance fee for Adam’s curved forward pass alone. Who else can do that for us? And did I say, nice win. Good energy. Hope the tippy tappy is ok when pitches get rougher. But then Big Sam could be back. ;-)

Much as I am enjoying the nostalgia, it is also very depressing. Mentioning names like Hakan Sukur, Tuguy, Cole, Roque, Benni, Speedie. Compare to the present. Sheesh.

Nice posts arbitro and enjoying some reminisces of others. Makes a nice change from "he's sh**" and "he's useless" and "get rid of him" on match day. 😄

Inevitably, Mowbray v JDT has surfaced. As has the age-old debate that given what we have (ie dysfunction, no funds etc) would a different manager be able to get a better tune out of said deficiencies. But on another tack, could I ask a question of those thoughtful/knowledgeable posters on here concerning incoming loans? (Apologies in advance if I have these wrong). So Mowbray – Elliot, Tosin, JPH, Giles, Poveda, Khadra, Ayala (free), Dolan (free), Branthwaite, Harwood-Bellis, Cunningham, Downing (free), Johnson (free), Mulgrew, Diaz, Palmer, Reed, Armstrong , Rothwell?? JDT has had Morton, Thomas, Mola, Hirst. Obviously the gurning one had longer. And if you accept (you may not) that those loans under Mowbray are better than under JDT, my question is how far is the manager responsible and say his mates/contacts? Is it a case of having little black books of contacts or do scouts do it? How far is it to do with agents? Has our ‘stock’ as a club gone down that we can’t even attract top quality loans?

“We need a manager who knows what he is doing.” What like Mowbray? Who had years, multiple transfer windows and a far bigger budget and still didn’t manage the play-offs for us. And relied on Diaz to score a shed load for him (more by accidnet than design). But now Diaz is “shit” of course. Well, obviously –the club pathetically lets him go for nothing and then pays him loads to stay on and surprise, he plays at 80%. "How can it exceed expectations when we're probably going to finish in the same place as last season?" Knew it wouldn’t be long before Mowbray comparisons arrived. Leave it to others. Can’t be bothered to debunk that tosh. Consider length of time, money spent etc. Maybe get rid of some dross management behind the scenes. Get shut of the Venkys and agents. If you really think that team on the pitch was good enough then you know nothing about football. Don’t often agree with Gav but Rovers have over-achieved this season given the dysfunction that goes on at the club. I expected mid to low table. “How is the 'project' suppose to move forward with our current recruitment team and, reportedly, only frees and loans as transfer options?” Precisely. All chit-chat about players failings, manager tactics is hot air in the face of this. You could get lucky and find a manager who could work miracles on that criteria but good luck. And which manager worth his salt is going to step into this dysfunction? Why do you think we end up with a Aberdeen reject, a Preston reject, a Coventry reject, a league one player (Sammy), a player who is already on the beach etc etc etc. New manager? LOL. Of course, because all experience tells us that those who do the recruitment will make a cracking appointment and all the top managers will be desperate to make a bee line to this club. “Hyam, JRC, Wharton possibly Buckley and Carter. Rest can go.” “Squad needs a massive revamp.” That’s right. We’ve got millions to replace them (what would that be, 20+ players?) On another note, apparently there isn’t one good ref in this league (or one that hasn’t got it in for us.). That should be fine when we get relegated next year. “Because they will appoint a bottom of the barrel yes man next.” Indeed. That is the worry. And then the wheels well and truly come off.

Sorry, the layout of my post was poor. I was quoting someone who said he should take it into the corner. My next bit is my opinion as to why I disagree. IE I agree with you.😃

Hedges chipping that wouldn't play for me again. What team would that be then? I'd take Mark Robbins In the summer and fuvk jdt off Why would a good manager like him come to a dysfunctional club like ours? Hedges should take it into the corner. LOL. So a striker, clean through, one on one with keeper, should suddenly deviate and veer sharply off to the corner flag? Jeeze. Of course, Hedges finish was poor. But that didn’t cost us the game. I would argue Diaz twice minutes before had the chance to keep the ball high up the pitch but didn’t. (Caught offside again I notice.) And after Hedges failed, we were all set up behind the ball but S.Wharton again failed to defend properly. Agree that JDT didn’t help. I perfectly understand the logic of 3 at the back to deal with the aerial onslaught that is going to come in the given situation. The irony is that twice now it has upset the shape and stability of the team. As for all these players we should just get rid of –well perhaps. Given the exhortations here there would be no players left! But then, I know you’ve all got replacements lined up with the millions we can spend. There never is one silver bullet. This is Rovers. This is Venkys. This is £0m received for outgoing players (value circa £27m) and sum paid for incoming players £1.75m. This is dysfunction (or conspiracy depending on you POV) that can’t do paperwork. Generally, it seemed clear to me that he picked a team (not his best) by design hoping to do the business on the cheap so to speak, thus leaving the real war and best players for Tuesday. First half clearly showed that lack. Pretty certain, had we been winning say 1-0 at half time, you would not have seen Diaz/Hedges. Second half, improvement came. I suspect Diaz, Gallagher, Hedges will all start on Tuesday. P.S. Is it the ref's fault again?

I'm dreaming. A sensible comment amid a sea of ....

Saw something similar but a great deal more squashed in one of the Jack Walker Stand gents' toilets cubicles at the home game against Norwich. An easy gag I know but that day it was shi* on the pitch and shi* off the pitch.😃