It's a 17 man game these days. The stronger the bench the better.

Collins isn't Franz Beckenbauer, we know that. Neither was John MacNamee.

Yep, it was like he had one foot nailed to the pitch some times. Opponents knew he had no left foot so they tried to keep him on his left hand side. Most of the time he still came away with the ball though.

I've noticed Downing has been on the bench quite often lately. Could be Pulis isn't keen on wingers.

Maybe before your time but Simon Barker was exceptionally good at turning into space and not into trouble.

For reasons I won't go into here I had to listen to yesterdays QPR v Preston game on Radio Lancashire. The score didn't flatter them and QPR were hardly in it. Stockley especially sounded a handful.

I think we can all agree that if we could have just held out in a few more games we could have been right up there. I wouldn't have thought that in August.

I can't drink much these days so my vision is fine. I miss having a good drink before the game to steady my nerves but nothing is for ever in life.

It might have been a pen given access to VAR but my Mk 1 eyeball still told me the shot went out for a throw in.

His delivery is definitely his weak point but that can and should be worked on.

You've got to be focussed 100% on the ball and making a clean contact. Nothing else should be in your mind. If you get clattered you get clattered. It's still a game of physical contact.

Yep, other clubs have taken our place as a laughing stock.

Yesterday's second goal was a real old time goal. Ronnie used to play Bryan Douglas into that position often with the ball inside the full back. A sharp low cross into the area and Pickering or McEvoy left with a tap in. It's still a killer move. I suppose if Dougie was playing now he'd be stuck out on the left wing coming inside all the time !

It wasn't a sitter by any means but he had time to get a shot away. He should have hit the target as a minimum. Wether it goes in or not is another story. Like the goal their lad scored from a similar position. I'd like to think that Big Brad would have got enough on that to keep it out. I didn't think the Dack chance was a sitter either. He to take it quickly, their goalie was out in a flash and it was on his left foot.

Correct decision making at speed under pressure is what separates the top players from the also rans. Tiredness has a bearing on that but at the end of the day the smarter players make less mistakes. Having structures in place were players know what to do in certain circumstances helps. Like Lenihan shouldn't be bombing out of the centre of defence. Raya ditto, leave it to Bennett. If Raya stays at home Bennett wouldn't be caught in two minds like he was yesterday.

He needed to work the goalkeeper at least, their guy had a similar shooting chance and put it in the top corner.

Yes that's true. Long may it continue.

That'd be great. Let's hope we can bring a couple of players in who will definitely improve the team. We'd not be far off then.

I don't agree with you about the cock up late on, Bennett should have taken charge of that situation and put the ball into row Z. He did well to rectify the error by throwing himself at the subsequent shot. It's a bit worrying that we got completely undone twice by " ale house " balls down the middle.

I think the mayhem has subsided to a certain extent and Mowbray has to take most of the credit for that. However it's a bit like living with an alcoholic, you never know when they'll fall off the wagon and the craziness will start all over again.

All of what you say is true. I think the first time I saw him play in the flesh a few years back he played left back and he looked a real class act in a very poor team. Unfortunately he got injured after about 70 minutes and had to go off.

When we were all bemoaning our lack of a rough and tumble dominant centre half a few weeks back we could have done worse than sign Collins on a one year contract. He's always been a tough competitor in the past.

Sounds like it. I think James Collins is a good signing though if he can stay fit. The Juries out on Judge. See what I did there ?

I remember watching Rovers " A " team playing Rochdale Reserves at Spotland, Crown Oil Arena now, a few times in the 1960's. Our team mainly consisted of mostly of 17 and 18 year old lads but you would get the odd top class International player coming back from injury. Rochdale Reserves consisted of about half a dozen old established professional players and a few of their young lads also. The standard was good and the old pros gave the kids a good grounding in the rough and tumble of playing against men. That's how the likes of Pickering, England, Newton, Byrom, Metcalfe etc could play in the First Division at 17 or 18 years of age and cope physically. I think that's missing from todays game. I went watching a pal of mine play for Rochdale Reserves against Burnley " A " team around that time and he was playing directly against Alex Elder who old timers will recall as the dingles Northern Irish International left back. He'd been a top class player but was just coming back from a broken leg. My pal was a flier who could catch pigeons and he gave Elder a bit of a chasing.

In Johnno we trust !