If Hughsey doesn't think that Stead is good enough, then we should trust his opinion because Hughes would obviously know a good striker when he sees one due to the fact that he was one of the best. I honestly don't think that Dickov or Stead are very good finishers at all. This may not be the best reasons, but of the games I went to last season, when watching the pre game warm up, the best finisher at the club appeared to be Pedersen and then emerton. Dickov imparticularly and Stead persisted in lashing shots wide or straight at the keeper. And this seemed to be the case at literally every one of the ten games I went to. May not seem a good judgement, but it shows that when the pressures off, there not much better then when the heat really is on, as proved last season. It's been mentioned before that when Dickov has time to think, he usually misses, but when it's more of an instinctive strike he usually fairs better, and I think the same can be said of Stead.

I'm sorry but they need the goals and have scored the 2nd most at home this season, where as we have the joint worst scoring record along with spuds away from home. 4-1, and just pray Citeh or Boro sneak into Europe and not Spuds.

The money for finishing higher up the league is more crucial than fielding a bunch of hopefuls. A few places higher could get us say Bellamy rather than a poorer striker if we finish lower. I wouldn't mind seeing one or two youngsters on the bench, but why change our lineup when it's doing so well? I think that the two players in question do battle, but they are falling short of the required talent-Thommo imparticular. It seems that he'slost all of his pace and his confidence-granted he was out for the best part of 2 years but if a decent offer comes in the summer then we should take it. (Everton were rumoured to be willing to pay 2-3 million in Jan).

I also love the way that everybody having a pop at Rovers has forgot about the Van Persie incident against Southampton. He's being portrayed as the innocent party and yet he was also accused of elbowing Keiran Richardson against Utd in the league cup. It makes me laugh that a team who were very dirty just a year or two ago complain when we get stuck in. And they can also boast one of the most shameful moments in footballing history (the van nistelrooy penalty)!!!

Must admit I'm getting very tired and annoyed of all this crap that were getting from journo's etc. We did all we could yesterday, we dont have a Pires, Reyes, Henry, Ljunberg or even Fabregas! Therefore attempting to stop them from playing is all we could do. Maybe in the summer Hughsey can bring in some creativity but until then against the bigger clubs we must fight hard. People like Worthington havn't helped our tag-and look where that got him-fool! Wenger and Fergie can moan as much as they want, they will do to each other next time they play when Keane, Heinze, Smith, Scholes, Vieira, Cole, Lauren etc start playing hard...just as we did yesterday. Let us have your chequebook Arsene and then we'll combine flair with gritt.

I think neil is being harshly critisised. If thatw ere Nelsen or Todd in his position for the first then nobody would have said anything. He dealt with Pires and Reyes very well. The performance wasn't great, we tried hard but nothing materialised-not even a decent effort. The simple fact is that if you play 4-5-1 against a half decent team (arsenal being a bleddy good team), then your going to be hard pushed to get back into it. It's happened at home against them, and it happened today. I agree with others who say that Stead should have been thrown on earlier, why use MGP and Emo to support Dickov when you have Stead on the bench? The day for me was summed up when Dickov was in a good crossing position late on and he hoofed it high over the bar-a tireless striker yes-but a pretty useless one if you take away his workrate. I think we'll beat Palace on weds, but with any Rovers game if we fall behind we're in trouble. Anyway, great performance by the fans, the one's who did turn up did the club proud.

On Rovers bet Ryan Nelsen to score first goal in 1-0 win is 490-1!!!...Just imagine it!!!

Everbod'y saying how good he's been in central midfield, and that his qualities suit central midfield, so why are people putting him right wing for our "perfect midfield"? I think it's blatant that Hughsey will keep him in centre mid this season and next, and we will bring in a right winger if Thommo and Emo don't improve. Reid's just starting to show his true form-so for heaven's sake don't ask him to play right wing again!!

Fergie moans-ah sorry mate, I forgot that you only had 5 minutes of stoppage time at ewood because of your constant whinging! What a tit. Anyway, good result-we rode our luck for a while, but if your to get anything at OT then you need luck. Couple of points, Stead seems much more effective than Dickov in the lone striker role, he can hold it up, and does look a threat when he gets a chance. Also, I'm afraid Thommo just isn't good enough anymore. Emo's not the best-but he's way more effective than Thommo. I know it's a squad game but if the reported January interest from Everton was true, then snap there hands of for even 2 million. Finally, it's great to see Steven Reid living up to his potential. I was also thinking, why doesn't he get called up for Ireland anymore? If garry Doherty is worthy of a regular place then why the hell isn't stevie in the squad?! Good point, and lets make it three points next saturday. Ps. Nelsen-what a leg!!!

This is very true-I think it's just the fact that nobody wants this to happen, and this is why none of us have put him in our team for next season. Hughsey obviously loves the wee man, and if we're all honest he'll probably be in our starting 11 come August. I really hope that this isn't the case, as tcj_jones says it will be a distinct lack of ambition if he is a first 11 player next season. He hasn't been good enough at all of his clubs-bar Leicester so he shouldn't be at us if we want to aim for a top half finish next season.

I think we need a big clear out this summer, and possibly to bring in a left back, a right back to compete with neil, a central midfielder and two strikers. I'd also look into the possibility of letting Emo go, if we can find a replacement. Out: Amo Gray Matteo Thompson Tugay Gallagher-I honestly don't think that he's cut out for this level Ins: Halls-haven't seen enough of him but sounds promising Parker Keane or Bellamy And then a second striker; maybe Tristan or Pandiani As for a left back I really don't know-Ball is too injury prone and has proven nothing for years so I think he should be a no go. I'd also be tempted to let Dickov go. He's done all that can be expected, but unless he can sit on the bench week in week out then i'd say let him go and use Stead to compete with the new guys.

The fact is he brought on Emo instead of Stead, which was a very poor choice. We needed two up top in the second half if we were to equalise. The disturbing thing is, that if we go 1-0 down against a team (rare recently I must admit) then you know only too well that we aren't going to score. Similarly if we go 1 up then it's more than likely that we'll hold on and win. Hughes cannot really address this until the summer-but he can start now by replacing Dickov with Stead. My mate joked to me yesterday "you need sparky to rip of his suit and get on the pitch" he joked, but I was intreagued by the prospect!! I seriously think that Dickov needs a few weeks off, because he's offering us very little at the moment-especially at home. The test for Hughes will arrive after the Utd game, when we play the smaller clubs. Will he stick with 4-1-4-1 or will he revert to a 4-4-2. I think that when you pull Mokoena out of the holding role then we will concede quite a few more goals. So it should be interesting. I'd be happy to stay with this formation, providing that Stead plays instead of Dickov. Finally, I said after the Everton game that Thommo looked like he was back. How wrong a man can be. He was absoloutely woeful-embarrasing even. I'm not usually one of those "he gets paid all that money and still he cant cross" but my god I found myself saying it yesterday. A guy trains everyday and every single one of his crosses sailed over the bar-bring back Emo honestly. I wouldn't push any panic buttons-lets just get the Utd game out of the way, and then we can pick up the required points.

I feel so sorry for Jansen that it's untrue. Not that I know the lad, but I think that this time away from football is the reason as to why Hughsey couldn't pick him-even over our free scoring strikers. He obviously isn't in the right frame of mind mentally, and I just hope that this isn't the end of his career as a professional. It's a crying shame-so much talent.

A great point and well earnt. We may not be pretty away from home but were resoloute and give nothing away-and I mean nothing!!! Watching the game, you felt so safe that the scousers werent going to score-Brad could have had the night off. We did offer no attacking threat-but were not there to make friends, were making sure we survive, which we surely are now. If we sign a creative midfielder, and maybe one or two strikers then I seriously think that we can finish top 6 next season. As somebody mentioned, I honestly think that the board will be tempted to splash a few million this summer to see how far we can go.

I obviously agree that a striker needs to be a top priority, probably even two strikers to be honest. I also think that we're pretty desperate for a decent left back. Nissa is doing as well as can be expected at the moment, however we could do with somebody who can defend and get forward when the opportunity presents itself. I've got be honest, there aren't many quality left backs around-but lets just hope that Sparky unearths one. Finally, as others have mentioned it's pretty evident that we need a creative midfielder, as our lack of goals can hardly be solely blamed on our strikers.

Great result and performance yesterday, and it should mean that about another 6 points is required-but with many of the bottom guys to play we should be fine. We never let Everton get going, and I think we proved that they're nowhere near as good as 4th place-however as people have said it is true that Arsenal etc would have struggled to beat us yesterday. A few mentions, Nelsen was immense again-what a buy, and Stevie Reid must be given a run in centre mid so that he can establish himself in the first 11. Finally, for the first time since his two year spell on the sidelines I thought that we witnessed some of the Thommo of old. Lets just pray that he goes on from here because if he does weve just saved ourselves a good few million. He should definitely replace Emo for a few games now. Great result, and lets have the same on Sunday!

Sat in the directors box for the game, but have never seen such a negative pile of crap like that for a while!!! Second half was bad enough, but the first half we were simply non existent. One plus point was Nelsen, he was awesome and as others have pointed out he had to cover for others' mistakes-even Todd on a few occasions (such as when he tried to take on Job in his own area!!!). Thommo was awful, and Mokoena was very poor-his passing was woeful, and as yet I havn't really seen anything for him to warrant being the "south african captain". Yet again Emerton flattered to deceive, a few good crosses were all he could muster despite him being a very quick player. Finally, if you play 4-5-1 and go behind with one inexperienced striker on the bench then you are screwed. It was so blatant that we werent going to get back into it, we didn't even muster a decent chance in the whole game. It would appear then that by not getting a striker in during January that we have shot ourselves in the foot, and dragged ourselves back into the dogfight. At best we should play either Stead or Gallagher upfront alongside Dickov, but I've got a feeling that Hughsey will either play 4-5-1, or go for the Dickov-Jemal partnership against Norwich. We must win next Saturday, but at the moment i can't see it happening. I may be being over negative, but even West Brom have banged two more in than us this season, 21 goals in 26 games is pathetic.

I'm going to this one, but I'm afraid I won't be sat with the boys, because I know Boro's chief exec's daughter. Should be a good game, and I think that we'l scrape a draw. Boro 1 Rovers 1

There's no way that we should be tempted to offer Emo as any part of the deal. This season he has been way better, and on his day he can match anyone. On the other hand a straight swap for Ferguson would suit both clubs.

As Roverthehill has pointed out, the d-man and robben up against Matteo is fairly ludacris, thus matteo must have the best game of his career to even come off the pitch with a shed of pride. I don't know why, but I just feel that were gonna somehow nick a point against them. They werent up for it against Citeh, so why not against us?! Rovers 1 Chelski 1

Good result as I had feared for a much tighter game than that. Bournemouth proved how tough playing lower league opposition can be so this was a professional performance from the boys. One thing though-if Hughes didn't give Stead a start against these boys in an effort to get his confidence up then he'll never start him in the prem. Expect us to get a striker in on loan and perhaps Stead to go to a Championship club on loan.

I can almost guarentee that we won't win comfortably. We never (Fulham apart) win by 2 goals or more and this trend will continue until we can find some added creativity and somebody to bang them in. I'm going for a hard faught: Rovers 2 Colchester 1

Going to this one and really looking forward to it-unless it pelts it down with rain (no roofing!!!). I'm confident that we can nick a win here, I'll go for: Portsmouth 1 Rovers 2

I predicted 1-0 to Rovers against Charlton, so can I make it two in a row? Like most, I think we should rest a few-maybe Dickov, Fergie and Emerton. I think we'll win this one without too much hassle: Cardiff 1 Rovers 3

A few players need to be rested. I'd drop Reid,Matteo and Stead. Possibly bring in Gally, Mceveley and Thommo/MGP. I reckon Rovers can nick this 1-0.