Tyrone Shoelaces

Before the game given our lack of defenders and the recent up surge of our opponents I would have taken a draw. I suppose I still think a draw was a fair result. We started off in our usual easy peasy style and before we'd really got going we fell behind to what I can only describe as a real joke of a penalty. The Hudds forward decided nothing ventured, nothing gained and just threw himself down full length after the most innocuous tangle on the byeline with Bennett. The referee, obviously listening to the heavenly voices in his head, decide it was worthy of a pen. I don't know who is more to blame for killing our great game, the refs or the divers ? But make no mistake they will kill it as spectacle that I, and people like me, will want to watch. After that we naturally looked a bit shaken but gradually worked our way back into the game. Hudds seemed not to know what to do after being gifted a 1 goal lead, it seemed as though it was a new experience for them ! A really neat move down the left resulted in a low cross that Holtby tucked away easily. This was shortly followed by another nice move which culminated in Dack threading the eye of the needle between outstretched goalkeeper's left hand and the far post for a well worked second goal. It was all Rovers at this point and it stayed that way until half time with Hudds looking a well beaten, demoralised, side. Obviously Mowbray had given them the usual half time cup of Horlicks and Valium because we came out as though we'd just been in a deep sleep. Hudds pushed us up the pitch 10 yards, gambling that our relative lack of pace up front couldn't hurt them, and they started to compress play. They also decided that the best way to counter to our walking football was to try a bit of running football themselves and before you knew it they had the upper hand and Rovers were looking rattled. A throw of the dice with a sub forward put us under more pressure and shortly afterwards the sub muscled his way through an ineffectual pack of Rovers defenders to scuff a weak shot past a sleepy Walton for an equaliser. After that the game basically petered out to nothingness as our games usually do. They was no sign of a winner from Rovers inspite of 3 subs coming on, We'd racked our cue for the day. We could really do with another holiday as this football lark can be really tiring at times. Just a few random thoughts - We won't get out of this league playing walking football in the next 50 years. We haven't got the ball players to make this work. To get out of this league you have got to be more dynamic and play at a higher tempo, more balls in the box and more players in the box. Playing a semi dwarf ( apologies to any dwarves reading this ) leading the attack just won't work I'm afraid. I've been there ( 5ft 8inches, 10 stone ) and it just doesn't work. We're too easily outmuscled and we don't win enough contested headers, tackles, second balls. etc. Nothing new to report there though, it's been like that for years. We lack pace all over the team. Raya would have thrown his cap on their second goal and saved it. Hands up who thought we'd go on to win the game after the score went to 2-2 ? Scores. Walton 5, Not nearly good enough for me. Ryambe 7, Bags of energy and athleticism, got up and down the flank really well. Not a great deal of end product but he's our best right back off todays showing. Tosin 7, Looked a good player on the ball, got his head onto most things, however he does seem a bit too casual on the ball at times. He doesn't look robust enough for a centre half but neither did Chris Samba at first. Williams 6, Did OK for me, he's better in the middle. Bennett 6, Got a raw deal off the ref for the pen. After a shaky start I thought he did OK inspite of playing in a position that was completely new to him. Holtby 7, I like the look of this lad but he's not a wide player. Came inside to take his goal well. Travis 6, Put himself about a lot but his passing and shooting is hit and miss. Got booked for a nothing tackle. Johnson 5, Not mobile enough for that role. Should have been subbed early on. Downing 6, Did Ok but a team of Downing's won't win you anything. Drifts in and out of the game. A bit of a luxury player. Dack 6, Took his goal well but disappeared in the second half. Armstrong 5, Never really in the game. leading the line on his own in home games is not his forte. No strength or aggression. Having said that the service he got was pretty poor. Subs. Gallagher 4, Ineffectual. Rothwell 5, Got tripped, took a shocking corner, that's about it really. Evans, 4 Why Tony, why ? I don't normally comment on refs but this guy had a shocker. He got loads wrong for both teams.

Why's that Phil ? Are you related to him ?

That's just ridiculous when you consider the black players that have been idolised at Rovers going right back to Howard Gayle.

I'd settle for somebody who can just provide us with a winning team. I'm not bothered who they are or what their title is. There's enough of them !

What not even your £5 stake ?

So if you put £5 on Hudds to win you get £16 back plus your stake ? I never bet against Rovers and I won't be doing now but that is a really good bet in my opinion.

Go to the front of the class Chaddy.

Rochdale just signed Paul McShane last week. Don't know a great deal about him but he's a centre half whose been around the block a bit from all accounts. MacNamee and Hawkins got a head to it or a boot to it and did what centre halves are supposed to do. They also hardly ever missed a game unlike our current crop of centre halves.

How depressing is that ? I wonder how Stuart Harvey explained £12 million = 0 goals ?

Of course. The team Jack Marshall put together was the best team I ever saw but I suppose he just misses out on the last 50 years.

I was taking about the poorest players we've seen in the blue and white. I'd forgotten about him. He made Ashley Ward look like Christiano Ronaldo ! Back on cringe making ----- that interview after the Wigan relegation game when that snivelling player who I will not name came on TV and defended The Snake. That was truly cringeworthy.

John MacNamee ? Graham Hawkins ? Where are they all these days ?

I've got a good pal who's a Sunderland lad. I've been texting him. He's underwhelmed with Parkinson but his theory is it's poisoned chalice. If he gets them up there are big money people in the background waiting to step in. They will come in then and probably fire him so they can get a more high profile manager, and if he doesn't get them up he'll probably get fired anyway.

Not really matey, he looked better in midfield than he did in the back four.

One of the main roles of a full back is to prevent the ball being played from wide areas into the penalty box. Bottle up that flank and anything else is a bonus. We've had so many crap players in the Venky's era I wouldn't like to single one out. Prior to that I thought that Ashley Ward and Christian " Bloody " Dailly were both awful.

I'd have given Gordon Lee a mention. You could also argue that Ken Furphy possibly saved us from oblivion. Bobby Saxton did pretty well with nothing. I'd have any one of those over the current incumbent. On another tack - the worst one is quite easy. Slither forward Steve " The Snake " Kean. Having said that Owen Coyle isn't far behind.

Yeah, I think that's the one. You don't get to see much of it though. When you watch the whole clip and the football on show and then you see what's on display at Ewood today it's like they're playing a completely different sport.

Interesting to see that all four goals came from good balls being crossed in from wide positions. Yet we insist on our wide players playing on the " wrong " wing and coming inside all the time. Modern football ? They don't know what they're doing.

They must have been talking about winning whatever they call the old Third Division these days. After all we did come second.

And Owen Coyle. On another theme I see Henderson at Rochdale is banging the goals in again. He'd have been good, and much cheaper, back up for Graham instead of Big Ben a season ago. Too late now I think.

Yep, Barthez had released the ball, Grabbi did nothing wrong. The goal should have stood. Just one in a very long list of bad decisions we got against the red rats in that era. The Wilcox " penalty " against them at Old Trafford being the worst in my opinion. The clearest penalty shout I saw all season just waved away by the ref ! For the goal against Everton he picked the ball up in the old inside left position before cutting inside leaving a couple of defenders beaten with a dipped shoulder and calmly stroked the ball into the far corner. It was a pretty good goal and he made it look really easy peasy. Why he never did it again is a mystery.

I'd just got into the ground when Bene scored the first goal for Hungary. The volleyed goal Farkas scored later on was one of the goals of the tournament.

If our players can win the individual battles with their immediate opponents you would expect to win the game. That's not been happening enough. In that respect Mowbray is right, just don't tell Chaddy, he likes to talk formations.

If that goal against the red rats hadn't have been disallowed he may have gone on to be a hero. If that had have been Cantona doing that it would have been a goal.

The best Rovers team I've ever seen losing 5-1 at home to fourth division Workington in the League Cup, followed by the same team losing 3-1 at fourth division Oxford in the FA Cup. That was the season I really though our name was on the trophy. When you live in Rochdale losing to them in a two legged League Cup Semi Final took some getting over also.