• 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.

rovers v torquay

Boz

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Iain Hume
Twitter account says no pitch inspection and game on.
 
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Ian

Super White!
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Aldo
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No surprises there.
 

Boz

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Jennison Myrie- Williams sub for them. Remember that goal at Elland Road.
Afraid that memory surplanted by a string of couldn’t be arsed performances when brought back by Adams. It would be typical of him to score against us today though.

Disappointed by Gumbs being dropped. See Hughes and McDonagh return to the bench after recent absence. Sleeting hard as the players come out.
 

Boz

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Rather patchy performance so far from Rovers in a game where Torquay’s first real effort on goal came in the 5 minutes of added time.

Seem to be playing with 3 at the back and Clarke as a wing-back and looking less assured there. Mottley-Henry as RWB has done well so far and his cross converted by Jennings gives us the lead.
 
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aldo
Not gonna be there as stuck on a bloody plain 2 hrs delay in aus not happy will land 3ish . An wat the fuck are england playing at . They are an embarrassing mess some of them need to be fined . Behaviour is embarrassing . And the aussies are loving it . We paid 5k to go over and lots of fans have spent more than us . We had one day . That was bad enough . . Phew rant over . Super performance great cook is now off an going and clark with another assist . Glad connor got one he needed that .
 
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At last we are getti g the results at home . If we can start scoring away from home and start winning then things will move fast great cookie is getting goals now made up for him and clark another assist . Even though we didn't play to are best an the weather is not great and a 2 week lay off . Well done boys onwards and upwards s.w.a
 

Boz

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Deserved win, though there was a ropey spell from added time in the first half until midway through the second.
 
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Not a vintage performance from Rovers but the win was thoroughly deserved against a Torquay side that was well organised but seriously lacking in quality.

I have to say I was not convinced by the formation change, having done so well in recent weeks with 442, and I thought the change of shape probably contributed to some of the slightly laboured play at times, with the ball given away more cheaply than normal on occasions. Obviously the long lay-off probably did not help either, nor did Torquay's tactic of sitting in their defensive shape for virtually the entire first half. However, playing 532 did allow Connor Jennings to move into the centre of the pitch, where I thought he put in his best performance of the season and was better able to get into the box for the first goal. The wing back role is also perfectly suited to Eddie Clarke, who showed his inexperience once or twice, but generally did well and produced an absolutely scintillating run and cross for the third goal. What a prospect he is.

Elsewhere, I thought it was a day of solid rather than spectacular performances. The three centre backs were all very good, with McNulty particularly pumped up having missed the previous game. Cook and Norwood worked extremely hard and Banks and Norburn had decent games. I don't like seeing DMH having to do so much tracking back at home to Torquay, but he did the job very well, in addition to maintaining his attacking threat.

Overall, it was a good performance against a team who have frustrated a number of the top sides recently. A decent crowd too, boosted by some visiting Norwegians and the free ticket offer.

We are now ten points off Macclesfield with a game in hand and all of the top seven still to play again. I would be surprised if we did not at least make the play-offs from this position, which is something I was not confident of a couple of months ago.
 

drwhoman

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Good win. Pleasing that the upturn has largely been achieved by the players from last season, who were clearly suffering from a hangover, although the tactical tweeking and the introduction of one or two new players such as DMH and latterly Banks has kicked things along recently. BTW. Do we know if we are going to be able to keep Banks a bit longer? I know Hughes is close to fitness but he is a decent player.
 

Cowshed Kid

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A couple of periods of play aside, where we were a bit sloppy, another accomplished performance in my view.
Pitch was heavier than it looked but nevertheless some of one touch pass and movement was excellent.
Bucko's distribution failed him somewhat today, a few hit and hope punts over the top which is unlike him.
One clearing header that went a bit too close to the goal aside, Macca showed why he was brought back in.
Rides may as well take an early holiday as I can't see him dislodging Clarke. Top notch performance all round and as soon as he went on that run and put cross over you knew Cookie was going to nail it.
I would feel deprived if Nors didn't miss his customary one on one. He doesn't disappoint! But as you expect from him, chased everything. Nice to see his combo with Cookie producing a goal again.
Thought the two subs were the right ones to make. DMH may have made way but Jay brought some energy into the middle as Banks seemed to be tiring. No qualms if we could afford to keep OB a bit longer.
I normally say you don't realise a player's worth until he's missing. I think Hughes is a difficult player to replace but without him CJ and Ollie N have shone.
Nice to have some MM songs going again. Whatever we all thought was going wrong, and it covered all aspects of his job, it looks like we've turned that very wide corner.
And.... don't mess with our Scottie. If you think the odds favour him, save yourself for another day!
 
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I think Banks is playing the Hughes role at the moment, which is why he is not missed. I otherwise agree with your comments CK.
 
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Cheers for the reports guys . Gutted ive missed yet another win but hey ho cant be helped. With a 2 hour delay at airport ans a nightmare drive back . Now lets beat solihull moors in the cup we need to start winning and scoring away from home . Lets get banks for the rest of the season . And hope motley henry can stay longer.
 

Boz

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I also felt that the change of formation didn't help. It didn't seem that Torquay, with a poor goalscoring record, merited 3 at the back, which is generally seen as a more defensive option. While it assisted Connor Jennings who played well deployed more centrally, both Buxton and Clarke didn't seem as comfortable in their new positions and they were probably the two best players in the Maidstone game. As Cowshed Kid highlights, Buxton's distribution was all over the place, although defensively he did little wrong. Clarke was over my side of the pitch first half. He seemed positionally to be more where you'd expect a deep-sitting left-winger, further forward than a wing-back, presumably on instructions. The attacking side of his game seemed blunted and he often ran into dead ends or was dispossessed. Things seemed to improve for him second half, culminating in the run and peach of a cross for the third goal. He's a rare talent, but on occasion his inexperience showed.

Elsewhere, Banks generally played well, feeding DMH for the move that led to the opening goal and the front pair worked hard, although their defenders were allowed to manhandle Cook without sanction. As well as the goals, there were 3 Rovers efforts cleared off the line, so it could have been even more comfortable. However, Micky needs to address the difficulties we had in retaining possession as the end of the first half and the opening of the second half, when it felt like the visitors could be back on level terms.

MoM Toss up between Dylan Mottley-Henry and Connor Jennings for me.
 

Cowshed Kid

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"Tranmere do have that physical edge, and maybe we didn't deal with that today".
Quote from their manager.
What utter bollocks.
 
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aldo
We have now won 6 of are last 8 home leauge games losing to the dragons and the draw at chester . at the same time are away form reads drawn 2 lost2 won 1 big ddifference
 

Ian

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For all the talk about keeping Gumbs in the side, I have to say McNulty was superb yesterday and unlucky not to get on the scoresheet too.

Not a classic yesterday but a good solid performance nonetheless and we are starting to climb the league steadily putting some pressure on the top six.

In the top six, Sutton and Wrexham got a trouncing yesterday with Aldershot also losing at home.

With seven goals and two clean sheets it’s going to be an interesting run in after a Christmas as we hit decent form.
 
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Alan King, Barry Dyson
I don't think we can overstate how well the team is progressing at the moment. Since the Peterborough debacle and the Gateshead slip, we have played three form teams. If we hadn't conceded a sloppy late goal at Macclesfield, we'd have beaten all three. Macc are currently league leaders, Maidstone had lost just one in nine and won at Cheltenham in the FA Cup, while Torquay had not conceded for three games. I thought the aftermath from Peterborough replay would take longer to recover from. But from what I hear and read, none of the recent league games were easy, but the organisation and application is getting better.
 
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