arbitro

Against an experienced, physical side like West Brom it was always going to be difficult but handing them a goal in the first minute set the tone and gave us a mountain to climb. It was particularly galling that the goal was given to them. I'm still scratching my head to try and figure out what Lenihan was doing. We huffed and puffed but the second goal was a real killer for me and although we pulled a goal back I can't deny that West Brom were far better than us and deserved their win. The result highlights what is going to be a long, hard season for us with a wafer thin squad lacking some experience. Team work and effort will get us so far but a lack of experience and quality will cost us more and I still believe we will be scratching arousing the bottom six soon. I don't understand why Mowbray didn't bring Butterworth on instead of Dolan. He has a lot more physically to offer and would have been a better option. Mowbray was reverting to type again when West Brom had a set piece or corner. He left nobody up and the likes of Clarkson were back defending. It also allowed them to flood the penalty area and no out ball for us.

Or three, four even. He should excel against some of the lumbering giants masquerading as footballers for that lot.

A close friend was at last nights game and eulogised about Rovers saying we were the better team until the last knockings when some indiscipline kicked in. No Rovers fans were officially allowed in but he assumed that a group who celebrated the goals were players families.

Put me down for Middlesbrough on August 28th please Mike.

The huge wages to turnover issue has happened under the watch of Mowbray and Waggott so for him to use that as an excuse for another failure is just not acceptable but some of the gullible will buy his nonsense. Using rough calculations I reckon it's around £40m.

My granddaughters card has just been delivered with a covering letter signed by 'Ticket Office'. Surely they could have put Waggotts signature on it as the Chief Executive of the club to show gratitude for actually buying one. It's the little things that matter and things like that irritate me. FOW

I don't often agree with Mowbray but his singling of the fans last night was absolutely right. As at Millwall on Saturday they were really vocal and encouraged the players throughout the two matches.

Well done mate. Your honesty is great and will stand you in good stead for the future.

Winning is everything in this game and it's far more enjoyable if it happens with a late goal. The performance wasn't great but I honestly don't get too worked up about how we play if we win. There are some tough times around the corner for us so I am savouring the wins. Individually I thought Carter was great tonight and I'll be unhappy if he is sent out on loan again. He is ready for Championship football and his defensive versatility cannot be understated. The collective was far better than the individual parts tonight but who can honestly complain at a win. As a slight aside I'd forgot what a ball ache away night matches are with the vagaries of our motorways. Diversions, lane closures and millions of traffic cones I haven't missed one bit.

And Ben Arentoft was indeed Preben.

His proper name is Cornelius.

Cornelius is missing for Sunderland tonight. Amazingly he is injured having gone off on Saturday.

I thought there were several strong performances last night in an enjoyable watch. As somebody said earlier both sides missed plenty of chances but in the bigger picture we have some real promise coming through. Phillips is only 16 and he was probably the biggest player on the pitch. His touch, pace and passing were really good and I'd be surprised if he isn't joining the first team training sessions this season. If he continues his progress I hope the club really don't look to sell him for a comparatively meagre amount or that some greedy agent doesn't ruin him.

I meant Stuart Jones who is the Academy Director.

I saw him in the Lancashire Senior Cup final a few weeks ago and coincidentally his family were sat behind me. His mum told me he was off with the Welsh under 17's a couple of days later as he is eligible for Wales and England and had to decide soon what his intention was. She did say his dad wanted him to play for Wales and his mum had a Manchester accent which probably adds to his dilemma. I agree that he looks like a top player in the making and significantly Stuart Harvey spoke to him at length in the Technical Area when he came off last night. He seemed bigger last night than when I saw him play a few weeks ago 😁😁.

It was pleasing to see David Raya amongst the Rovers fans yesterday although he tried to stay incognito with shades and a mask. I had a glance over when we scored and he was politely clapping. Once a Rover always a Rover 😆

Undoubtedly Millwall had a lot more of the ball towards the end of the half but I never felt uncomfortable with that. If we were going to make a change I thought Dolan was the right man to go off and for me if should have been Butterworth replacing him. Although small in stature I feel he is a lot stronger and can hold the ball better. Instead Mowbray went with a change of shape and some positional changes. He very rarely goes like for like when making changes. Going back to a less complicated system was the main factor in getting a point in my view. I was happy with a point however but on another day, as we have witnessed many times before, Mowbrays tinkering could have cost us.

Millwall presented a completely different challenge to Swansea but Mowbray opted for the same formation but a different tactic of no discernible press. I thought we were comfortable in the first half of a poor match will Millwall only threatening from set plays. Mowbray changed the system at half time to go to the back 3/5 which he seems determined to prove to somebody that it works. We offered no real threat to Millwall and some players again seemed confused by what Mowbray was asking of them. After Millwall scorer (when our three central defenders went awol) we had another change of system and personnel which produced our best spell of the match. Overall I thought our late endeavour deserved a point and Brereton once again looked a different player in the system we played later on as did Gallagher. I thought Carter looked a better left back than Pickering when he moved there as we looked far more solid defensively. We had a horrible journey with cancelled, late and broken down trains and were given a plethora of feeble excuses.

Each club gets an allocation of guest tickets for visiting directors etc. Blackpool had a large number of requests from scouts from various clubs and filled the allocated areas so our people used two of Middlesbroughs.

Venus and Park were at Blackpool on Tuesday as guests of Middlesbrough although I suspect it was more to do with the fact we play Middlesbrough soon rather than actually scouting players.

Wow. That was the most enjoyable half hour I've had for a long, long time with anything football related. Fantastic memories of not too long ago and it's so nice to hear his kind words about our Rovers. Well done to Andy Bayes and Radio Lancashire too for putting it together.

The big difference between any of those mentioned and us is that we were downsizing. We weren't moving to a new site, we were moving the STC to the Academy site which was smaller and it was doubtful whether the criteria for Category A could be met. However it was spun it was simply about money and two fingers were stuck up to the jewel of Jacks legacy. That alone makes it a despicable act by the horrible people behind it.

On the Kean and Mowbray debate AllRoverAsia succinctly summed it up me. He said Kean was a clown but Mowbray is a ringmaster.

I have a vague memory of reading of him living in Darwen Andy. I'm sure it was somewhere off Bolton Road.

I wouldn't be averse to Johnson coming back in but not at the expense of Buckley. Travis would be out for me. He was shocking last night as he was for the last half hour against Swansea. He is another player who seems to have plateaud under this coaching regime.