arbitro

I thought exactly the same. I was expecting a lap of honour with a blow up trophy and Flemming to put his shirt on a corner post and wave it around.

An excellent game of football was to be enjoyed tonight as both teams set about each other but Rovers came out the winners when a draw would probably have been a fair result. The early tempo was intense from both teams who moved the ball quickly and accurately. Rovers got an early breakthrough with a well worked goal but Middlesbrough scored a terrific goal to equalise. The pace understandably dropped off a little in the second half but both teams still looked to get on the front foot as often as possible. Rovers took the lead again only for Boro to equalise with a few minutes to go. Rovers were then reduced to ten as Baker collected two quick yellow cards shortly after coming on. At this stage the vast majority would have accepted the draw but Mafoumbi lobbed the keeper from twenty five yards for the winner. What made his goal even more special was that he had to hold off two defenders to get his shot away. Rovers dug in for the remaining period and showed some mature game management to see the game out. The delight from the players was evident at the final whistle and the effort from every one of them was first class. I saw Igor Tyjon As we were leaving and asked him why he wasn't with the first team of indeed playing in tonight's game. He said he was injured with a calf strain but should be back next week

I saw Oxford play at Plymouth last Tuesday and they were well organised and gave little away. They played a 3/5 at the back for in and out of possession and rely on their most creative player, Cameron Branagan to get on the ball and make things happen. They also have Will Vaulks who isn't particularly mobile but has a mean long throw. Dembele came on and played down the middle where his pace troubled Plymouth. Rowett is a pragmatic manager who will have a clean sheet high on his priorities. As ever the first goal will be so important. Edit. I have just seen that Michael Helik is having a medical at Oxford today. He scored against us for Huddersfield last season and has been a real aeriel threat whenever he has played against us. He will be dangerous from their long throws if he plays. Hopefully our set piece coach is aware of this and plans accordingly.

Sometimes winning games comes down to fine margins as last night ably demonstrated. The first half performance left me so frustrated as we were poor and played with a low intensity. I would have taken Cantwell off at half-time as his half arsed attempt to play infuriated me. The 'experiment'of playing Weimann as a centre forward failed miserably as we huffed and puffed. We did miss a couple of big chances but so did Portsmouth. Seeing Leonard and Gueye both doing a thorough warm up at half-time told me that Eustace felt the same way. The changes were made earlier than Eustace normally likes to do them and suddenly we had a focal point at the top end. The first goal was simplicity in itself. A cross to the far post, pace on the ball and a big centre forward on the end of it. Then the fine margins kicked in as Portsmouth were denied a clear penalty and with no time at art we were two up and effectively game over. The third goal was the icing on the cake as Portsmouth had thrown the towel in. Cantwell was a lot better in the second half (did anybody else notice he pulled his socks up - literally) as were the majority of the team. I have to say Brittain was once again outstanding. I have often been critical of him in the past but I'm delighted with him right now. And credit to Eustace too as he wasn't too proud to change what clearly wasn't working. Recent managers might have dug their heels in to try and prove themselves right. The big plus aside from the three points was the goal difference improving and no apparent injuries. With another three games coming up in the next ten days we can go into them confident of getting a positive result in them all.

The forecast is for a dry but cold day.

It pretty much non existent unless you get there really early. There is some parking on the road in to the ground but it's always been taken when I've got there. There is a huge car park pretty much behind where we are sitting but it's a nightmare getting off. In the two times we've been recently it's taken between 45 minutes and an hour to get off. The silver lining to that cloud is that it's free 😁. I was told of a residential area if you go past the ground but checking on Google it appears to be residents only.

On two of the occasions when he was offside the pass to him was delayed. If the ball is played at the right time he is in. That has been a regular problem for us when strikers are making runs but not seen early enough. Sometimes you have to see the bigger picture.

Leonard does what Eustace expects of him when we are out of possession such as dropping in between the lines and also pressing when he has to. Eustace himself mentioned the missed chances but qualified it by saying that he is getting in the right positions. He is young and just back from two long term injuries which Eustace has said several times. Toth looked confident and aside from a couple of poor passes did what was expected of him.

I can't remember the last time I saw a keeper wearing a cap in a game. Toth looked quite dapper in his 😄.

Beck is undoubtedly a real talent who seems to me to be the complete full back. He can attack, defend, tackle and is comfortable in possession. His attitude seems to be really good too which isn't always the case when coming on loan from a huge club.

I can't remember when I felt as confident of winning after going in front. Defensively we were so solid I honestly couldn't see Boro scoring despite them having a spell of pressure towards the end. However missed chances (and easy ones at that) could have been our undoing but a win is a win and we comfortably put ourselves in tomorrow afternoons draw when hopefully we get a chance to progress. Once again Tronstad was excellent and I commented during the game that he is one of the best midfielders in the Championship. The way he reads the game and sniffs out danger is massive for us. It was good to see some of the squad players getting some game time and I thought they were all decent without being outstanding. A special mention to the 700 Rovers fans who braved the awful driving conditions to get there. The appreciation from the players after the game was genuine and Cantwell made a young Rovers supporters day by giving him his shirt (he might get carpeted for that from Waggott though).

Somebody's son/dad/brother/uncle/husband. A clear product of incest 😂

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c74mlnng30do Norwich are losing their best player for six games for the abhorrent act of spitting at an opponent.

I strongly suspect that Litherland is ahead of O'Riordan right now. Personally I would look to sell him or at least loan him out again with an option to buy.

So a week into the window we are minus 1 in terms of players. That is the risk you run with loan players and we have to accept it as it's out of our control. Signing players is within our control and we need to move quickly. Do I expect that to happen? Absolutely not.

A decent watch at Bamber Bridge last night on a difficult surface in which Rovers should have won. Two excellent chances were spurned late on as Rovers pushed for the win. We played some good stuff through midfield where Dunn was prominent although he got sloppy with his passing late on, probably a touch of fatigue. Our young centre halves did well against Ched Evans. Evans scored for them but for me it was down to Michalski. I thought he should have caught the ball in the six yard box at the far post. It was waist high and my feeling is that Michalski didn't fancy it as Evans was bearing down. Michalski is a confident lad, a real modern day keeper but he frightens the life out of me. On one occasion he rolled the ball under his foot as he was being pressurised. It's the modern way but I think it's far too risky. On numerous other occasions he was almost caught with the ball at his feet. With Litherland and O'Grady-Macken not playing and having been on the bench for the first team recently I have a feeling they might start at Middlesbrough on Saturday along with Duru who went off after an hour.

Sounds more like a dating website than a 'fixer'. The likelihood is is that he is a bullshitter.

We have six games in twenty days before February five of which are league games. Given the squad is stretched and we have kids on the bench we need players in quickly. I couldn't care less if other clubs aren't doing any business or that the market is slow, I'm only interested in what we do. Do I expect it to happen? No I don't and the likelihood is that our hopes will fizzle out and the season will be over by March. Another half season of promise is destined to fail again.

He was awful. Aside from winning a coupe of first half headers he didn't trouble them. He doesn't anticipate anything in the penalty area from open play and gives away far too many free-kicks.

I think Eustace got his selection wrong today. Cozier-Duberry, Cantwell and Gueye wouldn't have started for me and the course of the game and their input indicates I was right. Cantwell contributed nothing at all and I lost count of the number of times he lost possession. Cozier-Duberry, one first half shot aside made too many wrong decisions epitomised by turning into a couple of their players and losing possession which led to them scoring. I honestly don't know what to say about Gueye. He seems a likeable lad and popular too but he is nowhere near Championship level as a starter. Defensively we were solid again today with Hyam and Batth coping with their attacks well supported by Brittain and Beck. Baker and Tronstad were the equals of their midfield with Dolan looking good first half but fading away in the second. The real annoyance though is that they were there to be beaten today. It's clear why they concede so few so I thought another route would have been delivery into the penalty area but our set pieces and crossing was abysmal. Today was about beating that lot and right now I don't want to read about how well our season is going. The defeat is still raw and will be for a couple of days yet and in the cold light of day I'll reassess the season so far. But the here and now is that I'm p***** off.

And invariably that barrel is being scraped. I foresee another last day glut of panic signings like last season including deperado's like Fleck.

Is that up to you to do? Way ahead of us? But for a wrong decision at your place we would have won. Come out of the closet Dingle.

Bailey and Hird bombing on with Taylor and Wagstaffe ahead of them. They were part of the team that played the most exciting football I have seen from a Rovers team.

Me too. I'm guessing we are both from a similar generation and grew up watching games with lots of excitement. Far too games (particularly Premier League) I watch are too sterile and sanitised. Maybe we are dinosaurs 😂😂

Weimann was good yesterday I thought. His tracking back and covering space to deny Leeds passing through us was fundamental to the game plan. As I said earlier with only 30% possession most of was the work off the ball which was the cornerstone of the performance.