Tyrone Shoelaces

Sorry to spoil your story Hanks but he did actually score 17 goals for Huddersfield , some of which believe it or not were penalties, he also scored 3 goals for Rovers.

Martin Britt was an England youth international who came to Ewood with a great reputation, apparently he made mince-meat out of the great Tommy Smith in a youth cup semi-final in the mid sixties. He played 8 games in the league without scoring in the 1965-66 season. At the start of the next season he started in the Central League and scored 12 goals in 12 games playing with a knee he had injured early in that season, he had to retire at the age of 21. One or two other Rovers who had to retire or leave early early because of injuries were- Jimmy Kerr, saw him at Bury before he came to Ewood , he was a real player , could have been a star but he did his knee as well. Steve Agnew, great at Barnsley, never had a chance at Rovers. Alan Gilliver, great goalscorer at Huddersfield but came with a bad back, had the operation and couldn't bend at all after that. One or two nominations for you to think about for worst player- Francis Kopel, Brian Hill, John Coddington ( anybody remember the penalty he took against Palace ? I've never seen anything like it , he had a longer run up than any fast bowler and when he actually got to strike the ball his shot was so soft the goalie could have saved it by throwing his cap on the ball !!! Unbelievably the ref made him take it again because the keeper had moved and he did exactly the same thing, the ball only just made it to the goalkeeper he had to dive forward to save it !!!!!!!!)

Having got this far I think it would be foolish to throw away our advantage by playing an over expansive game, Southampton need to win this game much more than we do , why play into their hands ? At the moment our strength is in our defence, we can strangle the life out of most teams, I know it doesn't put bums on seats or sell season tickets but thats not the issue on Saturday, making sure we don't give Southampton a leg up is. My team- Freidel Neill Todd Nelsen Matteo Mokoena Emerton Reid Savage/Flitcroft ? Pedersen Dickov/Stead? * Savage and Dickov if fit Subs Enkleman Amoruso ( may need to throw him up front if the worst happens ) Tugay (may need some creativity in midfield --as above-----------) Stead/Dickov Johnson Last Saturdays " performance" puts Gallagher and Thompson out of the reckoning for me.

Great performance today ,thats the best we've played for a long while. If we can maintain that level of commitment we should have no problems. What a difference a day makes, --- sound of me eating humble pie !

To win games you have to score goals, thats my problem!

Which three games do you see us winning then ?

Who was it said there are lies, damn lies. and statistics, going off actual playing performances we are very poor at the moment, apart from the Norwich game when were you last happy with the football we are playing? Both Palace and S/ hampton are playing better football than we are , principly because they have a threat up front, Rovers at the moment have the most toothless attack in the premier league. I hope i'm wrong but I do fear the worst.

Remember who told you first, Palace and Southampton are staying up, where does that leave Rovers ? I know we have to play them both at Ewood but on current form I can't see us beating either of them. As I see it the only hope we've got is for Pompey to drop down into trouble. At the moment on current form Rovers are the third worst team in the competition, anything from tomorrows game at Goodison would be a massive plus, but I fear the worst.