Charlton 1 Rovers 1

[DIW]

Didn't make it down to London myself but was pleased to see full commentary on radio 5 live this afternoon. From the radio it sounded that, once again we played well away from home, and it was a total home penalty that gifted the equaliser. Maybe I'm wrong about that though. Points I would make though are -

• Good performances away from home against Udders, Preston and Charlton = only 1 point
• When was the last time we got a pen? And when was the last time we got a late penalty to win the game, or salvage a draw?

 

[amplesou]

see what i mean about short memories jurying the close season

you don,t just need cash to buy players ,

ref,s as well.....

no question !

 

[drwhoman]

CHARLTON

I would have settled for point before the game but the reports suggest we might have won but for lack of a goal scorer and the ref. Twelve goals in twelve games tell its own story. Goals against at eleven is a top six performance. Enoch is not delivering so I am not quite sure why Les is persevering with him - no one else I suppose. Still they are only four points off the six - in heaven's name Les - see if you can get Liverpool to lend you Eccleston or someone. Even Morgan the Youth striker who seems to score a lot of goals. Dodgy ref decisions are almost irrelevant if the team is two or three up.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought we would play well today, but I did not think I would come away feeling gutted that we had got a draw. We deserved to, and should have won the game.

First half we completely dominated, created several good chances while Charlton, who we made look p*** poor, couldn't muster a shot on goal worthy of the name.

Second half the game became more stretched, but we were still in control and could, and perhaps should, have extended our lead.

Still perplexed as to why the penalty was given, as from my vantage point nothing happened. Nothing at all. A straight forward ball into the box, a bit of jostling, and a gutless, homer of a referee decides that Charlton should undeservedly preserve their unbeaten record. In all seriousness, we have probably lost six points away from home at 'big' clubs this season because of appalling refereeing decisions, and it is getting beyond a joke.

As for our performance, it was a great team effort of commitment and a lot of good football. Enoch had by far his best game of this season, and justified his selection, but still looked edgy in front of goal, missing two good chances in the first half. Joss also put in by far his best performance of the campaign, and staked a claim for being selected ahead of Weir, who I thought was caught in possession too often today.

My man of the match would be Goody, who was immense again, but all of the back four were excellent, with Raven particularly impressive.

Jose appeared much fitter than in previous games, and put a real shift in, as well as being good on the ball as usual.

You could argue that we should have scored a second goal today before the penalty incident, but I think that would be harsh on the players. To come away from home against the top of the table side and lead with ten minutes to go, only for a dubious decision to cost us again was really unlucky.

Looking at the bigger picture however, it is clear that the absence of a goalscorer is costing us massively. I don't believe any of the sides above us are better than us in terms of defence and general approach play, but without a regular goalscorer we won't get into the top six, which is where I think we deserve to be on our performances thi season.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

"We had a lot of time wasting and spoiling but we have to expect that from teams who come here." - Chris Powell

He must have been at another match today.

Proud of Rovers today. Happy 2nd birthday Les, you are doing a great job IMO.

SWA.

 

[DIW]

see what i mean about short memories jurying the close season
!

Actually I have no idea what that sentence is meant to mean.

 

[Ian]

Superb performance against a 'top' team. Frustrating we aren't picking up the points we deserve from these games. I also might start just going to away games in the future as our performances away from home are much better.

We simply must be more clinical in front of goal.

 

[amplesou]

Actually I have no idea what that sentence is meant to mean.

Cream always rises to the top ,with a little help from the referees.?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

"We had a lot of time wasting and spoiling but we have to expect that from teams who come here." - Chris Powell

I'm not sure when this 'time wasting for a point' occurred considering that we were ahead with ten minutes to play, and the game flowed end to end in the remainder of the game. If he reckons his side 'dominated' the second half, I would hate to see a game in which they struggle.

Biased and ungracious comments from Powell, who has gone down in my estimations.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Thanks RLC. Glad to hear we played well. I presume Joss sat deeper than usual in Welsh's absence? He'd be a reliable long-term option in that role if he wasn't so reckless.

Les needs to put some thought into why we're playing better football away from home, and how to encourage us to play that way at PP.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Thanks RLC. Glad to hear we played well. I presume Joss sat deeper than usual in Welsh's absence? He'd be a reliable long-term option in that role if he wasn't so reckless.

Les needs to put some thought into why we're playing better football away from home, and how to encourage us to play that way at PP.

I think it was more of a 4-4-1-1 really, with Baxter slightly ahead of Weir and Labadie. Joss seems to have found his mojo again in the last couple of games and probably deserves a recall, although as you say, he picked up another needless booking yesterday for a wild challenge.

I can't understand why our performances away are so much better than at Prenton Park. Certainly we seem to play with much more freedom away, and rarely resort to the long ball. It's frustrating, because if our performances against Yeovil, Carlisle and Bournemouth matched the ones at Preston and Charlton, we would have an extra seven points now.

 

[DIW]

...which would put us fourth.

 

[SonkORLY?]

I think it was more of a 4-4-1-1 really, with Baxter slightly ahead of Weir and Labadie. Joss seems to have found his mojo again in the last couple of games and probably deserves a recall, although as you say, he picked up another needless booking yesterday for a wild challenge.

I can't understand why our performances away are so much better than at Prenton Park. Certainly we seem to play with much more freedom away, and rarely resort to the long ball. It's frustrating, because if our performances against Yeovil, Carlisle and Bournemouth matched the ones at Preston and Charlton, we would have an extra seven points now.

Interesting to hear how the midfield shaped up. Do we really need Welsh to screen the back 4 when we're playing at home to inferior sides? I know he's captain and is one of our more established players, but it might be something worth thinking about in light of Saturday.

We seem much more patient in our build-up play away from home, much more content to simply be in possession of the ball. At home the expectation is that we have to attack and score goals and I think we tend to channel that by playing way too direct, especially in the first half of games against teams we are expected to beat.

 

[Sparky]

On the subject of Welsh, Les is gonna have a decision to make regarding the captaincy - Ash has done well so should he keep it ?

Back on topic the result was unexpected to me but thinking about it afterwards, I wasnt surprised.

Similar to last season at times, the system we play (and the players used), works well away from home as we can at times pack the midfield and be hard to break down.

At home, when the onus is on us to attack, the system, well sometimes anyway, doesnt work, and cannot create that many clear cut chances. Although even it did, Enoch at the moment wouldnt put many away.

So I'm not surprised we're impressing away from home, but as someone said (and Les did too), we need goals and wins to do something special this season, not just good performances.

So a good result but the big question will be when we are at home next Sat to Oldham (who we should, on the face of it, beat) can we take the game to them, create many chances...and actually put more than one away (12 goals in 12 games says it all).