Bristol Rovers (H) match thread - 29th March

[Brian Johnson]

1 hour ago, KidsgroveVALE said:

When did you come back to the fold?

He's newbie according to Devine Intervention, sorry, I mean Phil, sorry again, I mean Dipepa Delight

[Brian Johnson]

4 hours ago, Killersrevenge44 said:

It looked like Dipepa handballed when he controlled it. I think the defenders knew it and sort of expected the whistle. Good finish nevertheless

D1ck

[Brian Johnson]

4 hours ago, Spunk Trumpet said:

Where’s that Huddersfield fan gone?

To the shop to buy a map that show's him how to get to all the League One grounds next season

[Jim Gammon]

Such a good feeling after today. No DOF and 7 points out of 9. Obviously not great with other teams results but on the up. UTV

[PV1973]

2 hours ago, Spunk Trumpet said:

For me, like I’ve said, Moore had walked into an absolute shambles. With very poor players. Or so it seemed. 
His record was awful. His subs were baffling. His set up was delusional at times. But I backed him because of the “awful” players at his disposal.

Hindsight. Wonderful thing. 
But blatantly obvious that Darren wasn’t having 100% control in what he wanted to do.

His interview when he walked through the door mentioned “Dave” a dozen times or more. It was excruciating. That was the power that Flitcroft had and how brainwashed Carol was.

Now we are seeing those “awful” players flourish. A new lease of life.

IF we stay up this should be a massive wake up to Carol that we never go through this again.

Loads of hope now and optimism for the end of season push to safety. 
 

It’s amazing what a turnaround we’ve seen since DF went. I didn’t expect us to be so different. It’s like night and day. 

[Warren]

I know we want to be positive and rightly so. PV played well on a poor pitch and deserved to win. Good defending. Goals well taken. But let's not get carried away. Both goals were awful defending by Bristol. The first goal was about the ball being given away and no tackling. The second was a mazy run and good finish - but come on Balee should have been tackled or fouled near the start. He was waived through. 

Bristol were way off it today. I can see they are suspect at the back. But also they looked threatening without hitting the target with shots. 

We need more Bristol like teams to stay up. We also need to keep working on attack because the rest of the teams we face - especially away - are unlikely to so poor at the back. What a clown in goal!!

[Warren]

2 hours ago, PV1973 said:

It’s amazing what a turnaround we’ve seen since DF went. I didn’t expect us to be so different. It’s like night and day. 

He's irrelevant. 

[Houston Valiant]

8 hours ago, NW9Valiant said:

Just enjoy a bloody good goal ffs 😄 

It was a brilliant goal , and I think they were afraid to dive in . The finish back across goal  ranks as one of the goals of the season in League One. From a 17 year old at that. Made my day. UTV 

[mr1876]

8 hours ago, Killersrevenge44 said:

It was lousy defending... They stood off him. Any Sunday league defender would d have put a boot on the ball! 

What a knob you are you can say that about any goal if a defender had cleared it or headed it away he wouldn't have scored or a  school boy era  let him in  give the kid credit he had the balls to run at them they didn't know how to deal with it and he finished it like any top level striker well done baylee

[mr1876]

Great result today two great finishes for the goals no pi55ing about in defense head it kick it get it clear number one priority tackles going in winning second balls players backing up team mates all over the pitch and some big praise for loft who gave everything he'd got today chased and battled for everything and deserved goal don't know what flitcrofts involvement was with the team but that team today is not the team I've had to endure since October so if the two performances since he was sacked is the future then good riddance more of the same Monday UTV 

[JRC]

As a defender it's harder tackle when going backwards. Your weight and momentum are all in the wrong place. It's also hard to shepherd a player away from goal when the whole defence is going backwards and lost it's shape. I thought it was an excellent goal because once he had the defence in panic mode he kept on running hard and never let them regain shape collectively or set their body position individually so they had a stable position to get in a tackle. What he also did well was he recognised that 3 of the 5 defenders around him were were running back and to their right, where Loft had made an intelligent run into space. That opened up the space on their left and to our right for him to run into and ultimately score. If Loft hadn't made his run the 3 defenders would have reset the defensive line and Dipepa would have been pushed wide of goal on our left. 

For me it was an excellent goal because there was a moment when we forced their defenders to defend by instinct, rather than by training ground drills. He recognised the situation,  ignored the easy ball to Loft which Bristol were scrambling to counter and made use of the space that Loft's run had opened up. Even getting around their number 3 at the end was done well as he was moving left to right to fill a hole that had opened up to the goal, so his momentum meant he couldn't do a lot when Dipepa went right again, which gave him extra time to set himself before getting his shot away. 

 

[mighty vale]

Great result yesterday, one of the things which has been mentioned but is a real shift from previously is the no-nonsense defending. So many times there were situations where a ball forward was played through by BR, an attacker would be chasing and we hoofed it off the side to safety.

Before they would let it bounce, try to get it under control and play it out, or make a risky back pass to the keeper. We conceded so many stupid goals of our own making like that (both by inviting pressure and the defenders always looked in 2 minds as to what to do). Now it seems they've changed to a simple 'if in doubt' mentality and looked solid doing it for the first time. Just hope we can keep it up!

[ollyandpatch]

4 hours ago, Warren said:

He's irrelevant. 

Apart from the fact he got us relegated.

[Gareth70]

11 hours ago, Killersrevenge44 said:

It's a good job she listened! 

Shame she didn't get rid sooner

[Jacko51]

11 hours ago, Spunk Trumpet said:

That dosy thing shouldn’t be head of an ice cream van.

Have you ever met him?