Surely we could win the next two and still fall outside the playoffs. We need snookers really.

Cheers, that’s about right. We’ve got a slim chance at the moment but I wouldn’t be putting any of my hard earned on us.

People years into the future will be reading these reports Tony. Don’t under sell what you are doing.

It’s not going to come to that unfortunately.

Yes I could see it.

What odds are the bookies giving ?

Johnny Byrom was 17 when he made his debut for Rovers in the old First Division. That’s what I call a young player.

I saw the old guy in a cloth cap behind the goals giving the Rovers players the double V’s after one of the first couple of goals. Hilarious.

The only thing I’ll say for Pickering is he managed to stay on the pitch for the whole 90 minutes after having been booked after 30 seconds. He was a lucky boy in that Preston inexplicably never targeted him afterwards. I don’t think he’s good defender. He was put in really bad position for their goal but he managed to do neither one thing or the other. As you says he was marking a space and not a player.

I always thought it did you good as a player to play in a few different positions when you’re a young player. You get to understand what’s easy and what’s not so easy all over pitch.

Wasn’t it to Oldham ?

I’ve been to Bolton watching games ( mainly Rovers but other teams sometimes ) loads of times and I never had any bother. I kept myself to myself at games, usually went and stood on my own, and I kept my mouth shut.

I thought there were a lot of good performances, I wouldn’t have found it easy to pick a m o m . All the midfield three played well as did Gallagher and Van Hecke. However Tony’s stats tell their own story.

I know it’s hard to believe but we are bottom of the disciplinary league and most of the cards have been for trivial incidents that could have been avoided. That’s with a team of basically soft lads. I read the other day that the dingles have had 2 players sent of in 5 seasons. That’s with a team known for being physical but they’re not that stupid as to get soft cards like we do. You don’t win many games playing with ten men. Regarding Pickering I couldn’t believe Bolton didn’t load their right hand at any point in the game. I’d have had somebody running against him as soon as he got the early yellow card. You see the games exactly as I do. That doesn’t happen often with me !

I’ve been following Carters progress at Portsmouth. He seems to be doing really well there. He’s played on the right hand side of a back three and at right back in a back four. He’s getting good experience in both positions. Playing at right back says to me he’s got decent pace. Next years Scott Wharton ?

I spy a young Paul Young.

As my dad would say - “ They all piss in the same pot “.

Thanks Tony, I’ve been looking forward to this report. I’m glad your scores bear out my feelings that Hedges and Pickering were our weakest players on the night. Hedges got on my nerves right away with what you rightly describe as a “ dumb foul “. When your opponent is running away from goal towards the touchline the one thing you don’t do is get near enough to them for them to buy a foul. A little message should be going off in your brain as you move towards them “ Don’t get too close “. That’s exactly what he did. Lay a hand on an opponents shoulder and they’ll go down like a shot to get a free kick in s dangerous area. I agree with you about Preston trying to get Brererton a yellow card when he jumped up to catch the ball, pathetic. Same with our players surrounding the ref, although they did have a bit of a case on Monday night. The ref didn’t help himself with that early booking but to hand out five cards in a game were there wasn’t a bad foul in the whole game was pretty poor. The two worst fouls, that Whiteman committed, didn’t get a booking. As you say it used to be a man’s game, it’s certainly not now. As you know I watch semi pro rugby league and the difference in attitude of the players is like chalk and cheese. It’s like it was when I played football. If another player hurt you you did your best not to show it, todays footballers make an absolute meal of the slightest foul. Just one question, do you write your report as the game is going on or do you watch a recording of the game later ?

He did ok but he wasn’t up against a winger, he only had Cunningham to deal with who he could match for pace. I’d be worried if the opposition had an out and out pace merchant on the wing. Also he’s prone to getting drawn into a false position in the middle.

Well there’s a No2 shirt waiting for somebody next season.

The Travis goal was the best for me. Super diagonal run in possession from Diaz. Always looking to play somebody in. Intelligent play from Travis to get into a good position to receive the pass. The pass was spot on. Travis - cool as you like , knew what he was going to do before the ball arrived. Opened his body up and made the finish look easy. Cherry on the cake. Just when they thought they might have a chance. Extinguished.

Just watched the highlights again. Travis did really well to shape his body for the side foot finish. We need to get him in there more often. Brererton a bit unlucky hitting the post and skimming the bar with those two headers. He’s definitely improving that side of his game.

What does that very last sentence actually mean ? I’ve read it and re-read it and I’m none the wiser. Is it “ But we didn’t miss him, did we ? “

Unfortunately I can’t see us getting anybody better in.

Mm, at the start of the season I would have been very happy with where we are now. I had us down to be somewhere in the last third of the league.