He is ill. Must have gone sick overnight or this morning.

That is bang on the money. Pears the latest Covid absentee.

It's a big game for Scott Wharton to prove himself but I can't help thinking that if he has a top performance he will be back on the bench for the Luton game.

Natural goalscorers are instinctive, they have an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time. Aside from the four internationals we had Trybull who played in the PL last season and two players who cost around £12m who Mowbray bought.

Whilst we are down on numbers we could still put four internationals in the starting line up yesterday which many Championship clubs couldn't. I was never keen on the five substitute rule simply because it gives an opportunity to change half of your starting team which I believe is far too many. I saw Pep's quotes but I wonder if he would be moaning if City hadn't had an indifferent start. I haven't heard the likes of Rodgers, Ancelloti or Hassenhuttl moaning. On the subject of our strikers I honestly can't see either of them as naturals. Their movement in the penalty area is poor with awful anticipation but I do wonder about the quality of coaching they are getting. I was thinking today about how many players have actually improved under Mowbray and his coaches. In my view most have stood still or even regressed in this period although the likes of Dack are the obvious exceptions.

Congratulations gumboots.

I have little sympathy with Mowbray about the injury situation. Last night we had two of the clubs most expensive signings in history playing as strikers who didn't manage a shot on target between them and contrived to both miss on a cross that a Blackburn Combination striker would have scored. And both of these were signed by Mowbray.

If ever there was a game for a solid 4-4-2 I think this was it. Fair play to Mowbray who has gone with an attacking line up but the real gamble I believe he is making is that we won't concede because I don't see us getting more than one goal tonight.

I've not heard today - sorry mate!

Exactly this. The football snobs who think risky passes in an around your own penalty area is great consider managers of his ilk dinosaurs. The statistic driven generation.

This smacks of Mowbray desperation to me. I'd love to know what we offered to him in the summer and what we are paying him now he has signed.

He could play along the back line but I refereed him a few times as Mowbrays centre back partner. Interestingly they were different characters as players. Venus was a moany type, always questioning decisions whilst Mowbray was generally accepting of them.

Whilst there are many comments about Mowbray having been a centre half it should also be remembered that Venus too was a centre half. That said Danny Graham is on record as saying they have differences on how we should play.

Mowbray is responsible for results and the buck stops with him. There are extenuating circumstances sometimes but if results are poor then the outcome should be inevitable. The key word there is should because as most of us know we are a rudderless ship just drifting aimlessly along.

I have read that the exemptions for elite sport in the impending lockdown are dependent on a strict testing regime. The EFL scrapped the mandatory testing after last season, presumably for the cost. Making this mandatory again would be a huge burden financially on clubs that are already struggling. I recall reading that private tests with a 24 hour turnaround were £110 each. The previous mandate was two tests per week which would cost most clubs in excess of £5k weekly.

It is the second tweet down. https://mobile.twitter.com/Ollie_Bayliss/status/1322620901305835523?s=20

I just read that elite sports can carry on. From a football perspective I saw that elite is from the Conference North and South upwards so presumably everything else will be suspended. It's a shame really because quite a few local clubs were reaping the benefit of hugely increased crowds. From a watching Rovers play live point of view I think this season can be written off.

Similarly Jack the only way of getting midweek results was on News at Ten, invariably towards the end of the programme. And it was as basic as that, no additional information was available until the mornings newspapers were out. On occasion I didn't know the scorers or anything like that until reading the excellent Alf Thorntons report in the Telegraph the day after. Contrast that to now.

This top six talk is so defeatist Nick and was spewed out of Mowbrays mouth recently and jumped upon by some as a target. So if we get top six and fail is that a successful season? Not in my book because promotion is the aim and the only guarantee to do that is top two.

Seeing that Darwen report made me remember how good a paper this was. Full coverage of non league games, updates from all the local clubs and in depth. Thanks Jack.

He absolutely will.

Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, George Cohen and Roger Hunt are the only ones still with us. Another true footballing hero gone with Nobby's passing. RIP.

Chelsea beat United 1-0 last night immediately after our game.

No problem mate - I didn't interpret your post that way anyway.

As I posted earlier I'm not 100% sure. The only change I was told about was Douglas out. All will be revealed at 2 pm.