Well what a game, the second half was just superb from Rovers. Pretty much everything has been said but...

First half we just did not close them down and Tugay was absolutely appauling, his pass for the goal aside and he only seems to be able to play the ball backwards and sideways and he put Todd and Nissa under all sorts of pressure in the process. Silly mistakes, poor accuracy, putting the defense under pressure, not getting stuck in, getting sucked out of the middle of the pitch EVERY time the ball was played wide and he's surprised when he's subbed? He was just as much to blame for the third goal as jay because he wasn't tracking Dunn who ran about 20meters untracked to score.

Jay's lack of pace was exposed today, it's a shame because I think he is a good player. He is also so one footed it's unreal. Also,when going forward seemed very reluctant to cross, something Hughes should work on.

Brad - I don't care how good a shot stopper the man is and how many good performances he has put in, by not coming to the edge of the box, by not closing down the angle and by not collecting crosses and corners, he just invites the opposition to score. We always concede goals from crosses and corners and I want to know why he, nor the manager(s), will address this.

Now the positives - Reid was outstanding. Jesus what a transformation. Everything in his game today was exemplory, especially his response to Gronkjaer - nice and discrete and showed him whos boss. I like it. Not much more to say

But more importantly... THOMPSON. Are there still any questions whether this man can play in the centre? As soon as he came on he gave the team an edge, a new dimension. Two assists, countless decent and probing passes, ability to run at players, a cracking shot, pace, tenacity... His appearence was worth more than the point we got today and perhaps even three. Bring him in for Tugay immediately.

Todd and Johansson were good today, I just don't know who to blame for the goals. We had the numbers but seemed incapable of just simply booting it clear.

Gallagher was good upfront as was Jansen I thought. Nice to see the two appear and I think Jansen will be high on confidence scoring again. I'd play him again next week.

Freidel - 5 - not much to do other than the goals, doesn't fill me or the defense with any confidence when he doesn;t come to claim anything.

Neill - 6 - perhaps a little harsh, didn;t think he did anything wrong, apart from some wayward passing. Good option going forward and defended much better than usual.

Todd - 7 - Pretty solid and tough tackling today. I feel fairly confortable when hes playing. A couple of crucial tackles.

Johansson - 7 - again, stable at the back. A couple of "nissa," moments, but good in the air and some very well timed and crucial tackles.

McEveley - 5 - Unfortunatly not a good game for Jay today. His lack of pace was exposed by their wingers and his strength wasn't enough to deal with them. This will no doubt rattle his confidence. Otherwise he was looking to have real promise.

Reid - 9 - everywhere today. Absolutely everything in his game was spot on. He covered well, showed real confidence, ran at the defense... Very pleasing

Ferguson - 6 - Not a bad performance but gave them way too much space and time in the first half. Not enough probing passing or tough tackling.

Tugay - 4 - i'm afraid to say he was just woeful today. See above.

Emerton - 8 - another very pleasing performance

Dickov - 7 - ran his heart out and had a good game. Deserved the third goal but any quality forward should have finished the chance he had at the end. Unforgiveable.

Jansen - 6 - took his goal well and did a couple of nice moves. Unfortunately the service in the first half was pretty poor and he had very few opportunities to shine. Very promising though.

Gallagher - 7 - solid performance and gave something going forward. Nice linking, nice runs and good vision.

Thompson - 9 - See above. What a way to make your return.

Hughes - 6 - didn't take Tugay off at half time, unforgiveable. However, did bring Thompson on his place. Switched Reid to the left wing to protect McEveley at times after his mistakes in teh first half.

Team for next week...

Freidel

Neill / Todd / Johansson / McEveley

Reid / Ferguson / Thompson / Emerton

Dickov / Jansen

Dickov missed a brilliant opportunity...

Great match, what a comeback

Beautiful volley from Thompson - ANOTHER attacking contribustion. If this guy isn't playing next week...

EDIT: If somebody had have been following in Reid's shot we'd be ahead...

God is Thompson having a blinder!!!1

Two assists and the difference between the team of the first and second half. Dickov deserved the goal but Gallagher scored it.

Brilliant.

3-2 Reid finished off a good move. Thompson with the assist. We're playing with much more purpose now.

I just cannot believe that Tugay is still on the field. I don;t know whats happened to him since the Liverpool match, but almost everything from Birmingham stemmed from him.

Watched the third goal again - just as much Tugay's fault as McEveley's. Dunn ran through midfield for about 20 minutes and wasn't even tracked by Tugay.

This is just so frustrating to watch

Tugay just keeps getting drawn out to the ball on the wings and Birmingham have acres of space and on top of that he just keeps putting the defenders under pressure with poor short, backward passes.

McEveley was very much at fault for that third goal, but every time it gets in the box we cannot seem to get it clear.

Going forward we play some very decent football - Emerton has been brilliant, but with Tugay and Ferguson in midfield they are breaking and spreading the ball wide and we just cannot cope with it.

Dammit, they do not do student prices even for their own fans

You have got to be kidding! I didn't think their attendances were particularly high, nor that they were well supported enough to demand such high prices...

I was counting on this as a London game I could go to and even persuaded my girlfriend to come with me! But 35quid is ridiculous money, especially if I were to bring somebody with me.

Just like Rovers at times this season, eh?

By the way, was Moore playing last night?

Personally Krislu I think you are kidding yourself somewhat . I watched the second half and Australia were all over Norway for majority and played some nice football, atleast until maybe Cahill and Emerton were taken off. Your second goal was completely against the run of play.

It seems strange that he even takes the set pieces for Australia as well as Rovers. Over the last few weeks his set pieces have really improved for Rovers, but his free kick and one of his subsequent corners a minute ago were poor.

A few minutes ago Emerton and Neill combined brilliantly down the right to set up what really should have been a goal.

I'm not watching particularly closely but Emerton seems to be having a stormer.

Haha, Emerton showing Pedersen whos boss. The fact he was so easily held off and that hes taken a lot of knocks in this game would support my thoughts that he is too lightweight at present to make a sufficient impact in the premiership.

This is ofcourse presumptuous - I didn't watch any of the first half...

So, because I have not looked at players beyond the ones that I know about personally, I should not cast a vote?

EXACTLY, that is my point. If you will not even look at the other candidates, then no, you should not vote.

Comparing this to a general election is ridiculous - it's hardly a fair comparison. What political parties do in the present is what matters - you are voting for now and for the future. Sure you need to look at the recent past and elements of the not so distant past to base your decision, but not to the same extent.

Big A, you obviously have not understood my point and don't worry, I won't be making it again - people just do not seem to understand, or care

If this person had gone over the terstimonials given, looked at each candidate, or atleast the front runners, and based a decision on what each had achieved, at what times etc and had come to the conclusion that Sherwood was the greatest player of all time then I would accept it, though not agree. Infact some more influential and older board members have voted for Sherwood and I can respect their vote.

He "pointed you to the topic".  You couldn't find it yourself?

Then he asked you to delete your joke?

Negating how I got here, Sherwood is still the only player that I would vote for being that he is the best player that we have had since I started watching the Rovers in 1991.

I'm not going to vote for player, no matter how good the elders say they were, when I have not seen the facts first hand.

Nothing has annoyed me more in my time on this bored than hearing this over and over.

If you people, and you CLEARLY are not alone, are so narrow minded that you cannot form an opinion based on information presented right infront of you as well as the blatantly obvious then I can accept that (just about), but to then VOTE on a poll where you admit you are not capable of voting for the majority of the players?... Why vote?! Please, just do not vote and leave it to those who consider themselves able to vote fairly.

RARRRRRRGH it's just so narrow minded and stupid it's unreal!!

Birmingham 1 Rovers 0

I think it is a truly sad reflection of many on this board that Sherwood is above Forrest in this vote.

And i'd rather be popluar in my normal life, than on a brfc message board.

Then why don't you do us all a favour and bugger off?

I'll tell you what, lets give Enkelman a try, and Danns, and Donnelly, and MGP, and Thompson, and Peers, and Gresko... infact, lets just give the entire reserve team a go. Stupid Hughes, open your eyes, Cuidado wants you to give them a try despite them showing little, if any, reason to be selected...

How about you open your eyes, this isn't a sunday league kids team where everybody gets a game. It's no surprise nobody takes you seriously at all.

I have voted for Forrest. I know very little about many of these players and the only ones I have seen play are Sherwood and Batty. However, from the cases put forward by members of the MB I was able to reason that Forrest warranted the spot the most. I just hope that others in my position can make an informed decision as well...

MORPH so if you wear "the " clothes you should be expected to be singled out...what a load of rubbish.

THIS IS  A FREE COUNTRY AND YOU ARE ALLOWED TO WEAR WHAT YOU WANT....so what if hoolies wear certain clothes if someone wants to wear them as well what does it matter....someone earlier said what happened to wearing the rovers shirt,i wear it at home ,i never ever wear one when i go away simply because i cant be arsed with home only pubs its less aggro getting in and less aggro from some idiot giving grief over your colurs.

btw i dont wear designer clothes ,unless you class buy one get one free from matalan.

Abs, even if my post was 100% serious there is still a valid point to be made. People judge others on their appearance, that's just a fact of life. People also use their clothes as a means of making a statement about themselves, be it their lifestyle choice, sporting allegiance, musical tastes or whatever. If you are going to wear clothes associated with the "casual scene" you have to remember that those clothes, and the scene with which they are associated, hold negative connotations for a great many people. For all those of you who wear Burburry, Von Dutch, etc. please don't think I am telling you not to - you can wear stretch pink lycra and tell everyone you are the only gay in the village if it floats your boat, fashion is a personal thing after all. All I am saying is that if you dress in the "uniform" of the football hooligan, you can hardly complain if you are mistaken for one every now and again.

Very well put there Morph.

Personally, whenever I see somebody dressed in Burberry, I think "pikey," and thats because 90% of the time they are. If not that, I still think they're idiots for forking out so much money on a single item of clothing, especially if they are my age - how the hell can students afford to spend 100's of pounds on single items of clothing?! In addition to that, Burberry, as an example, is just so plain and so common that it makes it all the more easy to brand people into one category. If you want to dress like the scum of our generation, then you cannot complain when you are mistaken as being so. Likewise if I were to dress in a pink dress, I wouldn't complain when people accused me of being gay. A ridiculous example you might say - well Burberry is so common and so associated with pikies nowadays that it's a very easy comparison to make.

Add to that that Bothroyd, the strongest player on the pitch, was off

It's about 8 years since I have seen our centre forward physically boss opposing centre halves so comfortably and yet have such good ball control. JB knocked Hyppia about with ease last week and until his stupid retaliation Svenson had literally bounced off him 3/4 times. Powerful shots in both feet too (that 2nd save by Green was exceptional because his view of Bothroyd was blocked) and a fair turn of pace.

He should have it all but I can only assume that his temperament must be hideous. I know that Arsenal sacked him for dissing Don Howe (of courderoy trilby fame ), Coventry for falling out with Strachan, but does anybody know what went on at Perugia? Could Bothroyd be the new Collymore?

I must say that Bothroyd impressed me all the way back at Portsmouth and I really thought he could be a hit. He was just the player we needed in a lighweight attack of Dickov and Stead. His power is immense and he created so many chances when he dropped back into midfield yesterday - he was the only quality on the pitch.

He isn't a regular goalscorer - but what he will do is create goals through his linkage play. We need a clinical finisher to play alongside him. Is Stead that man? All I know is that Gallagher certainly isn't and that we do not have the funds to bring one in. If only Cole were still around...

The simple fact that Norwich were putting several defenders on him at a time sends a clear message about how good Dickov is.

Ah that isn't true USA, he had so many players on him because Rovers just were not commiting enough players forward throughout the game. Add to that that Bothroyd, the strongest player on the pitch, was off and Norwich were having an easy time of it until we actually started to commit men forward in the last 20 mins.