I have just noticed that Newcastle play the Rags on January 2nd with an 8 pm kick off. Hopefully this influences Benitez with his selection.

There are more southern based but at least ten clubs are within 100 miles of Accrington.

It appears that Accrington have the losing ticket in the EFL fixture tombola. Last Saturday they were at Southend and today at Yeovil. It makes a mockery of the notion that clubs prefer long distance games in midweek.

The downside is that some Rovers fans (I spoke to one yesterday) are tempted to take their £39 tickets back and watch it at home with friends. And I don't blame them one bit.

If Millwall on January 12th is free I'll do it.

Confirmation of the above but surprisingly Rovers only have a few hundred tickets left. https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/december/leeds-game-to-be-streamed-live-on-ifollow/

After a Rovers win my greatest hope is that it is Norwich nil. However given our propensity to concede I honestly can't see that. So I think we will have to score a few goals to win which means being on the front foot from the outset, something I doubt will happen. It looks likely that Graham, Dack or Mulgrew will have to once again come to the fore and get us some goals.

Would West Ham or Palace probably double his wages? If Rovers accept an offer I think he would be off in a flash particularly if it was a London club. Isn't he also back with the bimbo?

He played like a painter yesterday, in fact more like a master painter. ?

The logic of putting him on was correct by Mowbray. Two up and seemingly comfortable with no real pressure on him. The basics weren't even there. Whether it's the pressure of the fee, something in his head or anything else but clearly the lad has a big problem. I'm not attaching any blame to him for the debacle of the last 25 minutes but in the bigger picture Brereton is becoming a real worry and potentially an Albatross around Mowbrays neck.

For the life in me I just can't fathom out why he went for the ball with his feet rather than diving to punch the ball away. Two massively wrong decisions by Raya who, despite his excellent reflexes and shot stopping shows more frailties than strengths in my opinion.

At the risk of going over old ground mate I see nothing in him that gives me any optimism that he has anything to offer. Today he looked cumbersome and his touch was poor. I watched some of his movement off the ball and his runs invariably didn't give us many options to bring him into the game. He was one of a triumvirate of Rovers players who had Jota trapped near the corner but still allowed him to pass the ball through them. This lead to the penalty.

Players need games for a variety of reasons and Brereton has has very little game time this season. His sharpness, match fitness and probably confidence will inevitably suffer as a result. I don't see any harm at all in giving him a few midweek outings along with several others who just aren't getting enough minutes on the pitch.

I really can't make my mind up - is he an artist or a soldier? ?

I've just seen the Birmingham penalty on Sky and it looks worse than when I saw it in real time. Raya's kicking was poor today also and he was embarrassingly nearly deceived by a bouncing ball in the first half. His performance should give Mowbray a decision to make for next Saturday.

In the cold light of day Jack a point was decent because I was convinced we would lose after their equaliser. I think the majority of level headed fans realise what we need in respect of new players but maybe it's time Mowbray looked at bringing in players with the right mentality along with ability. How many of his signings would you want in the trenches with you?

I honestly haven't felt as comfortable for a while whilst winning as I did today. Birmingham offered nothing, they looked flat and seemed to lack any belief they could have got anything out of the game. I'm convinced that if Raya hadn't had a brainstorm we would have seen the game out.

Normally I would agree with what you are saying about sitting deep Jack but today I didn't think we did when we were two up. If anything I thought we were going to get a third and even a fourth but for me the ridiculous penalty was on one of Birminghams rare forays into our penalty area. I saw Birmingham being visibly lifted by the gift that Raya gave them and I thought was only then did they believe they could get something from the game.

Graham was holding his back before he went off. To suggest that though was the reason for dropped points is nonsense as we were comfortable and Birmingham hardly threatened. The game turned on Raya's stupidity which gave Birmingham a foothold but as importantly a huge lift. Without Raya's idiocy I'm convinced we would have seen the game out comfortably irrespective of who came on or went off.

I don't remember feeling as comfortable about a game as I did today at 2-0 up. A thoroughly disinterested Birmingham were beaten and didn't look like they had anything in them and had settled for a two goal defeat. And then Raya gives away the most stupid penalty I have seen in a long time. What on earth he was doing out there I don't know but to make the challenge with his feet shows how random his decision making is sometimes. And when they scored I really felt they whoever another and perhaps go on and win it. Quite frankly we just concede too many goals without the opposition having to work hard or through their own creativity. We are suspect defensively and today both full backs looked full of mistakes. I am still strongly of the opinion that we need to get to fifty points sooner rate than later or we could be in for a turbulent couple of months at the end of the season.

I think the answer may be in this article. https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/17297380.rovers-v-birmingham-mowbray-calls-for-patience-from-fans/?ref=mac

I can only remember it over the past few seasons but I stand to be corrected.

In that case I hope they have had stair lifts installed for all of us old gits ?.

I was in the Rovers store today and was told that whilst the initial allocation is 3000 there will be another 3000 available should there be the demand. Does that stand in the clouds hold 6000?

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/december/a-day-to-remember-2018/ As I recall from previous years this is always a poignant event as I recognised several Rovers fans on the big screen who sadly passed away in the previous year. Well done Rovers for showing respect and also giving the fans an opportunity to show our respect to them and their families.