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Ridiculous booking of Trybull who otherwise he has been pretty decent.

Boro looking as complete and well-drilled a team as I have seen in the Championship this season. Defensively we have been much more capable of getting to the opposition players receiving the ball. Need to make it stick a bit more when we are going forward. We have scarcely beaten a player one on one since they have managed to isolate Brereton. We have had three shots and killed three pigeons on the Darwen End roof. Need more composure lads!

Adam Armstrong in the commentary box.

Chrome freezing on me so switched to Safari

Better than I expected. Should be entertaining...

I give him the benefit of the doubt in that the opposition is the intended audience... But I agree. Armstrong should have been subbed after 10 minutes. It shows how little faith Mowbray has in his £5m forward signing.

Enormously grateful for the distraction from the US Presidential Elections.

He can play left back and the two we have are quarantined.

Great to have Downing back

I'd take either Davenport or Buckley for Evans or even push JRC forward and bring in Pike from the u-23s

Looks like we will have 12 unavailable for this one including the Covid quarantiners. Would just be grateful for us not making this 6 defeats out of 6 against probable top half teams. Best we can hope for is a draw. If Arma is out, replace him like for like with Gallagher and give the big lad a chance in his natural position. Otherwise, unless we are drafting in more under 23s it has to be same again as at Swansea.

In the games I have seen Lewis Thompson has looked the real deal BUT There is a world of difference between playing under 23s and the Championship even if what was substantially Liverpool under 18s embarrassed Everton's first team in their FA Cup run last season...

Forgot about Bell. That's eleven out. Kaminski Bennett Ayala Johnson Bell Vale Travis Douglas Dack Butterworth Rothwell OK some Mowbray-esque out of position options you may disagree with but the Rovers "crocks when they get fit" XI would give the Rovers "team that played at Swansea" XI one heck of a good game.

Four key takeaways from the Reading and Swansea games. 1) At the sharp ends of the pitch, we haven't defended or taken chances clinically enough. Our opponents have. Ergo two defeats. 2) We have competed and been a threat in both matches which has shown the effectiveness of having such a deep squad. However it is a conceit to think we can push for promotion with ten players unavailable. We have now averaged eight unavailabilities in every game so far this season. 3) At full strength. everyone of Kaminski Douglas Ayala Johnson Travis Rothwell Dack would get game time in the 14 players used by Rovers. The players we did put out competed and on another day might win. With those seven players listed above playing, we win BUT 4) Mowbray- would he use the players to their full ability? Would he select an 18 and exclude Evans and Gallagher as he should if we were at full strength? Of the 14 used yesterday, would he select the correct four to start with the seven above and the right three to be used as subs? I will just add one more caveat, I am all for giving players a chance but psychologically it is not working. We have recently seen Nyambe (yesterday), Buckley, Brennan, Davenport, even Dolan, getting game time but I don't know what others think- they have all looked to me to be nervous as hell and low on confidence. None of them have given us what they are capable of in their cameo appearances. Add in Lenihan not being right this season and something is not clicking mind-wise with too many players.

Connery saying it was ok to hit women and he did it was totally unacceptable. But he was THE James Bond. Phrases have passed into the English language in his voice.

It could be worse. Mowbray could try to be organising a press conference at No.10

Very even first half but the mistakes are in our defence not Swansea's

The Man U v Chelsea semi is playing today and the Final is on Monday. The Under 23s game v Spurs wasn't played yesterday because of the under 18s game being played under last season's age limit rules. Our next game is relegation Arsenal at home on Friday 6th. The under 18s are third from bottom with the next two fixtures being against Sunderland and Newcastle- the two clubs below them.

Stuart. Let's forget Rovers are a football club for a moment and look at it as a company. It is a multimillion business perpetually in the public eye with 250 staff negotiating a pandemic with very little in the way of senior management. Just day-to-day operations in these circumstances make being CEO a 7 day a week, 10 hours a day job. Then add the footie on top.

Oh crikey, that's 9 out today. I was just thinking we are sure to get a free kick in a dangerous position today and was looking forward to Douglas taking it. I have posted on theReading thread that they had 4 shots on target, 4 goals and all 4 were at least in part made by glaring defensive mistakes. If the coaching staff have really worked on cutting defensive mistakes out, we have a chance this afternoon. At least Douglas won't be able to repeat his accidental back heel...

Finally steeled myself to look at the stats. Possession 66-34 Attempts 13-5 Shots on 6-4 Corners 3-3 All 4 of their shots resulted in goals and 3.5 of them were defensive mistake gifts (counting the second as half a mistake leaving the guy in time and space on the edge of our area- the other half was a sensationally accurate and powerful strike). Yes Reading were the better side on the night but we still gifted them their win.

One heck of a good run by the under-18s last season although the 20/21 crop are struggling a bit. The Under 23s should be strong for at least a couple of seasons now and despite congestion in the first team squad, no reason why some shouldn't join Brennan in knocking on the door.

So we demolish Coventry. Reading thrash us. Coventry handily beat Reading. Going to be one of those seasons.

Damn. When we drew 2-2 with Man U at under-23 level, both United goals were sadly down to Eastham. He looks a real talent but a little short for a keeper and his lack of inches occasionally cost. Going to be difficult to come back from this.