We got a bit lucky with the run of the ball for the Dack goal but you've got to be up there to get the run of the ball and have the technique to dispatch a first time shot into the far corner. Two really good goals today made to look easy by the scorers and a points winning save from the keeper at the death. He made a really difficult save look easy as well.

That was then and you could still see the flaws in his game - lack of heading ability for a big guy, poor first touch, clumsy running with the ball, not physical enough. Then he goes to Big Club and he plays like he's playing for us at the moment. They don't want him so he ends up back at Southampton were he can't get a sniff of a game. I wouldn't have had him back and I said so at the time. There must have been better players out there for the big money we paid.

Mm, for a big guy he's not the best header of the ball I've ever seen. However heading defensively isn't as critical as heading for goal. If I was the manager I'd be giving him a whirl in a practice match, see how he does. Nothing to lose is there.

He's out for a month according to the radio.

I think he was hinting at " A Road To Nowhere ". Could have been " Psycho Killer "though.

I think you'll get good odds on it not ending 0-0. When did we last keep a clean sheet ?

Big - yes, burly - no.

I'm not knocking Ainsworth but how much passion for Rovers did Kenny have when he stepped through the door, or Mark Hughes, or Big Sam ? I'm not bothered how much of a fan they are as long as they can get the buggers to get their fingers out and start winning some games.

There is speculation at the moment that Trybull may be going back to Norwich, Mowbray seems to have gone cold on him. Is he better than Evans ? He's certainly not better than Travis. Douglas can't replace Bell, the Bell who is not a championship level player in most fans eyes. So far Ayala has missed more games than he's played and not pulled any trees up in the games he has played. Elliot's done OK , especially for a kid, but that's what he is, a kid of 17. Kaminski has improved the team.

Mowbray's main failing is he's always signing players to back up the ones we've already got. How about signing some that are actually better. As far as I can see only the goalkeeper is better than what we've already got ( that was nobody at the time he was signed ) plus the lad from Liverpool and he's not a massive improvement or ours.

Who signed him twice ?

He looks to be carrying a bit of excess timber to me.

Yes, good manager in his day. I went to his book launch at Waterstones in Manchester. There was a Q and A after and somebody asked why he'd let Denis Law leave and go to City. Basically his knees were so bad it took him two days to get out of bed after a game and he could only train on the Thursday before a Saturday match. Somebody else asked him who he regretted not signing. He said he'd tapped Peter Shilton up when Alex Stepney was on the way out and Shilton had agreed to come to Utd for £400 a week. When he asked Matt Busby about the signing Busby said - " Nobody is getting more than me at this club Tommy, tell him no ".

I'm expecting a repeat of the Huddersfield game both in performance and result. Anything more will be a pleasant surprise.

This is him getting his fortune told. Training at Shrewsbury will be a bit of a culture shock after Brockhall. Shape up or this is what the rest of your career has in store for you. I'm still of the opinion the Mowbray only signed him to appease his very vocal fan club. He showed very little signs of giving him a game. Never the same player after the injuries that blunted his pace and not smart enough to work out different ways of playing.

Sad to think that was David Speedie's last game for us. Nobody did more that season to get us up.

John Bray might have been before your time but he was a rough handful at fullback. Matt Woods wasn't a nasty player but he was a tough as teak centre half. When I look at how many games our current centre halves manage without limping off with some knock or other I just shake my head. Coming slightly more up to date, Ken Knighton and Alan Hunter were two players who could look after themselves.

Yes it was a cracker Mike. It was a bright February afternoon with the sun shining. We'd not done much in the first half and had gone behind to a Ray Pointer header after about half an hour. Second half we were playing towards the Blackburn End and it was pretty obvious that we'd had the hard word at half time. We not been playing long when Lawther latched onto a square ball about 22 yards out and hit a beautiful right footed drive that never went above a couple of inches above the turf. It fairly fizzed into the back of the net with Blacklaw in the Burnley goal hardly moving. I was stood on the Riverside right in line with where Lawther was when he struck the ball. It's almost 60 years ago now but I can still see that goal in my minds eye. After that Rovers dominated the second half and Fred Pickering got the winner late on in the game. It's still one of my favourite games. Incidentally we did the double over them later on in the season with a 1-0 win over there. They had been running away with the League but had an end of season slide and got pipped at the death by Ipswich Town, Those 4 points we took off them made all the difference

Getting fired when things go wrong is part and parcel of being a football manager. It's always been that way and it always will be. If you don't want to be a football manager who's been fired don't become one in the first place.

How many of the current team do you think would have gone in like that to win that header ? Lenihan, maybe. Then that's it.

His history of similar injuries suggests it'll be a week or two. If he doesn't make it who then ? We haven't even got enough players to play 3 at the back with wing backs, unless we throw Carter in again. When's Magloire back from his pointless loan period.

Didn't Nyambe come off injured ?

A repeat of the Huddersfield performance and result would not surprise me in the slightest. Who's going to play in the back four ?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

If you look back at the " highlights " of the Sheff Wed game, early on he takes a left footed shot from about 25 yards out on the left hand side of the pitch. I'd let him have another 99 shots left footed from that position and I'd bet not one of them would end up in the back of the net. I like to see a striker back his ability but that was just plain stupid.