• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

the match v macc

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Apparently Evan Gumbs broke his leg in training today. Terrible news for him and not great for us either.
 

Boz

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That is dreadful news re Gumbs. From Evan’s perspective, after being on the fringes of the team of late and for us, just an injury/suspension away from Jay McEveley returning to first team action. Think we need central defensive cover now.
 

Cowshed Kid

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Please, please this isn't history repeating itself with a spate of squad sapping injuries.
 
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aldo
thats not great news but things happen . get well soon . please we dont wont jay m . back ever shocking player
 
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Really bad news. Hope he recovers well but I assume that's his season over. He deserves a new contract.
 
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Has anyone else noticed that the team tonight wear numbers 1 to 11 - apart from Norburn (15) in place of McEveley (6), who doesn't even make the bench. This suggests that tonight's eleven is more or less what Micky had in mind at the start of the season.
 

Ian

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Damn.. need a big second half here.
 

Boz

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Had enough chances to be comfortably ahead. Couldn’t judge whether the Cook effort was offside, but liner had his flag up quickly. Their goal started with a McNulty misheader, could have been cleared.

Not sure that starting Tollitt has worked out the way we’d hoped.
 
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Well I wasn't expecting that I must admit!!! I'd be surprised if we catch Macc now, especially if they win their game in hand.
 
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pissed off bloody bottled it . i know ben has been out but he should have been replaced in 2d half norburn was crap we gave the ball away to mutch and cant pass a ball . did we not have eney subs joke big crowd an they bottle it .
 

Boz

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The second half was one of the most spineless I have seen from a Rovers side in a long while. It was hard to understand why no subs were made, Norburn seemed itching to get sent off and was generally poor, Tollitt, as I suggested after the Bromley game might not have been ready for a start. Very few emerge with credit after that.
 
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I am not sure I concur with Boz that we were spineless tonight. We were just beaten by a better team. Macc were absolutely ruthless, we were anything but ruthless. I would not be too critical about what happened after the fourth went in, as the players must have been as devastated as us at that point.

In the first half we had the better chances and should have gone in ahead but we were too profligate. The timing of the first goal was terrible for us, the timing of the second even worse. Defensively the second, third and fourth goals were abysmal, albeit Durrell scored two absolute worldies and was rightly applauded off by the Rovers fans. For his first goal he by-passed two feeble tackles from Harris and Norburn and none of the back four came out to block him; it was an idiotic handball by Ridehalgh for the penalty, at a time when we were well in the game.

I agree with Boz about Tollitt who was miles off the pace.

I just hope the players can get their heads together and (a) secure a play-off place and (b) make a reasonable attempt to finish second or third.

Such a shame. The ground was bouncing before kick off tonight and once again were let-down by a sub-standard display in a massive game.
 

Ian

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Such a shame. The ground was bouncing before kick off tonight and once again were let-down by a sub-standard display in a massive game.
That's the crux of it really and it seems whenever we need to step up, we can never seem to do it. Macc were excellent tonight and we couldn't cope with Durrell running at our defence. I'm not sure I'd class his goals as worldies, from what I could see, it looked a little lapse in defence to allow him time to shoot and Davies should have done better. Possibly a bit harsh until I see the highlights though..

What annoyed me most about our performance, and this happened against Bromley, was that we really struggled to string three passes together on the attack. We found ourselves in promising positions numerous times on the break only to give the ball away with a sloppy pass as AM mentions above. This continued all game. Cook should also have buried that early chance.

Very disappointed and I'm now looking back to last season and wondering if anything really has changed for the better? Probably doom and gloom due to my disappointment but are we looking at another failed season via the play-offs?
 
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Very disappointed and I'm now looking back to last season and wondering if anything really has changed for the better? Probably doom and gloom due to my disappointment but are we looking at another failed season via the play-offs?
In a division that is so competitive we will have to respond well to even make the play-offs to be honest. Confidence must have taken a hammering tonight. I certainly would not fancy our chances in any one-off matches after that display.

On the way home I was thinking about the money we wasted in the summer. We had a massive opportunity to strengthen the squad with quality and at best we stood still, in a division that was probably weaker than it has been for a number of years.
 

drwhoman

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Very disappointing but,as I am sure MM will say, we just have to go and get a win on
sat. Automatic promotion is beyond us. Rovers were clearly mugged as was always possible with a good team like Macc. A late first half goal and then a second so soon after the equaliser must have been demoralising. I imagine panic had set in with the pen and it was all over after that. All history now but if we had kept it at 1-1 for ten or fifteen mins then maybe the crowd would have got them over the line. Sigh....,,.
 

Boz

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The only goal of theirs I saw clearly was the first and everything fell for them in a sequence following McNulty’s misheader, the only thing he did wrong in the air all evening.

The two Durrell goals looked like quality finishes, though he could have been closed down more certainly for the first of them and some felt Davies was at fault, would need to see again to judge.

I was some way from the penalty, but while Ridehalgh did have his arms away from his body, the ball seemed to be aimed at him and the referee was behind the incident, so in no position to have a clear viewpoint. Will check the highlights, but felt it was guesswork from the official. Had that not been awarded, we might have fought back, so a real turning point.

I want to hear Mellon’s explanation for no substitutes tonight. As things fell apart on the field, this was mirrored on the bench, there was no attempt to change things. While the game was beyond rescue, trying something different, might have at least given the crowd some glimmer of hope for what comes next.
 

Cowshed Kid

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Disappointed, but not going to spend too long trying to analyse where we failed. Maccs were excellent all over the pitch and simply too good for us. I admit doubting their quality before the game but not now.
Durrell did to us what we hoped Tollitt would do to them. He was excellent as was their keeper.
Tollitt is going to need more game time - his first touch let him down far too often.
Their second half goals were difficult to see properly from lower kop but you don't expect to concede two daisy cutters from outside box.
Flags looked great if nothing else!
 
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Like all of you, I thought it would be closer - even if we lost. But the other results could have been worse, our run-in is not that bad and at the moment we have an almost injury and suspension free squad. As drwhoman says, it's now important to bounce back right away and win on Saturday. A couple more sulky defeats and we will be out of the play-off zone.
 
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