riverholmes

The criticism of Buckley on the second goal seems harsh and rather unfair. He was isolated against a ball running winger. He correctly seeks to hold up the attacker so that others can come and support him. As he does so, he can see another Brentford player going down the line, effectively creating a 2 v 1 situation for a moment. Buckley's jockeying does enable other players to get back. However, the Rovers player (can't tell who it is) who comes to directly 'support' Buckley neither confronts the winger nor tracks the full back. This leaves Buckley not knowing who to track and what his team mate is doing. Arguably, he made the mistake to go with the full back. However, also culpable is the backtracking Rovers player who does nothing, except to create further confusion. Then there was another Rovers player inside who allowed the Brentford to get his excellent shot away. Buckley might've made mistakes elsewhere but in this case, I would lay more blame on the inadequate backtracking player, than the makeshift right back.

Perhaps, if PNE had the budget for an U23 team, Dolan would've been kept on to show his abilities. Maybe, a reminder to Rovers, if and when drastic cuts are contemplated. The U18s FA Youth Cup match highlights from Rovers v PNE in February this year are interesting to watch. Sorry if it's been already discussed - but though Rovers ran out 4-2 winners after a PNE player got sent off, the highlights suggest that PNE were very impressive and, perhaps, even the better team against a side with highly rated Rovers youth players like Brennan, Burns and Whitehall, amongst others. Dolan scores and plays well for PNE and another player, Ethan Walker, performs very well and scores.