Rovers 2 Crawley 0

[bring back the cowshed!]

Another win for the mighty whites! Our third "double" of the season and the first time this season we've managed four league wins in a row. Shame Doncaster grabbed a late winner, but Sheff U and others lost points.

I'm delighted with the points and the clean sheet, although most of the stats (shots on/off target, possession, fouls and corners) are all in the visitors' favour. Sounds like a close game. Thankfully, the most important stat (goals scored) was in our favour.

I look forward to the reports. How did Amoo play? How did JLAA look?

 

[Ian]

Delighted with the 3 points but disappointed a little with the performance.

Crawley were better in possession and passed it around better than we did.

Crawley's weak spot was their finishing. They should have had two in the first half, one when Fonners couldn't handle a shot and another when their player hit the post. Really, both should have been buried.

The game was effectively over at HT.
Crawley continued to push but we held them off without doing that much attacking of our own. It wasn't uncomfortable, but had we pushed forward, we could have scored 1 or 2 more.

It as great to see JLAA back on the field and although he wasn't involved a great deal, did have some balls to run onto and doesn't seem to have lost any pace.

I return back to what I said a few weeks back. I just don't rate O'Halloran. His only quality is pace. It would be much better to see JLAA and Amoo up front. They have much more to their game.

Speaking of Amoo, delighted he scored and looked decent. Was hoping to see more of him in the second half, but like I say, we were too cautious in going forward.

Gutted Doncaster won, but overall very good day with Sheff Utd losing at home. Again we remain top and with JLAA, Amoo and ABB back in the squad, things are looking good.

I'd love to get Gibson back. Daniels is OK but nowhere near as good as Gibson.


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[Rockford's Love Child]

A great win. A good, open first half and a low-key second where we never really looked in danger of losing our lead.

Crawley did play some decent stuff, in the first half in particular, but I thought we created more chances throughout, with Crawley's only opportunities of note coming from our defensive errors: the spill by Fonners referred to above and a mistake by Daniels which gave Alexander an opportunity from ten yards.

I was not disappointed by our performance. I think Crawley came to have a real go at us, hence the possession they enjoyed, but their adventurousness played into our hands as we picked them off on the break as we have away from home for much of the season. I agree with Ian to the extent that the centre of midifeld does concern me a bit, as without Wallace's controlling presence we could not get a grip of the game at times. Max struggled to get into the game in the early stages, but got better as the match went on.

I was impressed with Amoo, who was strong, quick and direct. As soon as Akpro is fit enough to start I would imagine those two will form the striking partnership.

Defensively, Ash Taylor was outstanding and would be my man of the match but I thought Daniels had a very ropey game. Made a succession of little half-errors which could cost us against the top sides, and looked generally shaky. However, we have kept yet another clean sheet so perhaps I should not be too harsh.

The best part of the day for me was seeing Bell Baggie and Akpro coming down the tunnel for the warm up and I think even their presence on the bench gives everyone at the club a boost. With those two in the eighteen you start to realise what a good side we have got this season.

Finally, the referee. As predicted, he was useless. Almost seemed to will Crawley to get back into the game by giving a succession of dubious free kicks on the edge of our 18 yard box and 'assisted' by his linesman gave Akpro off side in the second half when he clearly ran fom behind the ball and took it off Amoo's toe. He was clean through and was denied what would have been an almost certain goal.

 

[Sparky]

A scrappy 2nd half but we did enough in the first 45 to deserve the win.

Some solid displays I felt particularly from Ash, Zoom and Palmer.

Amoo surprised me leading the line well winning a few headers and scoring a poachers goal. I agree about OHalloran. Very ineffective and one goal in 10 ish appearances sums him up. I see Lee Hughes scored btw.

mcGurk was his usual self at times frustrating but did ok. Max was out muscled at times.

Performance not important at this stage of our season and vital we won with 2 tough away games coming up.

 

[DIW]

Finally, the referee. As predicted, he was useless. Almost seemed to will Crawley to get back into the game by giving a succession of dubious free kicks on the edge of our 18 yard box and 'assisted' by his linesman gave Akpro off side in the second half when he clearly ran fom behind the ball and took it off Amoo's toe. He was clean through and was denied what would have been an almost certain goal.

Funny - I was right in line with that and I thought he was offside. Generally the ref was very fussy though.

Apart from that I agree with most comments. Amoo had a decent debut and Akpa looked sharp when he came on. I also don't rate O'Halloran and agree Gibson is better than Daniels who can look shaky at times. Ash Taylor man of the match for me (if only that shot had been an inch lower!), Palmer had a good game as well , he really does have an engine and was all over the pitch. Squad does look much stronger and we had a good bench today.

 

[Ian]

That was never offside!


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[bigmart]

Sparky, Lee Hughes didnt score it was an OG he wasnt close to it.

Onto the game i thought it was quite a good gme with both teams looking good going forward especially in the first half although neither defenese was as solid as can be. Amoo had a really good game won loads in the air is quick and strong with plenty of skill for me mom just ahead of Ash who was outstanding at the back.

With players starting to return their should be competition for places now which can only be a good thing.

Two tough away games now 4 points would be a decent return.

 

[Boz]

BBTC, the stats do not lie. This was an edgy uncertain performance by Rovers and if Crawley had a half-decent striker, they would have have made more of their 17 goal attempts. As it was, Rovers scored twice around the half hour, firstly Amoo from short range after the visitors failed to clear, then a Zoum cross/shot that found it's way into the net via a post. Despite further pressure from the visitors, they couldn't find a way back into the game.

Defensively, we were brittle. Daniels is not as assured as Gibson, with his dithering on the ball and weak headers today, I'm starting to think Goodison would be a better option. OFW made some good saves, but didn't command his area. Ash Taylor however was immense, doing the job of two central defenders, winning everything in the air and very unlucky not to score with the effort against the bar bouncing down the wrong side of the line.

Elsewhere, while we are missing Wallace, that's not just down to Max Power, Liam Palmer doesn't seem as strong in his absence. Neither Robinson or McGurk were at their prime either. Max was also involved in both goals and deserves credit for that.

It will look a great start to his Rovers career for David Amoo, goal in his first game. I have my reservations about him and for all his much vaunted pace, O'Halloran seemed faster today. As did the returning Akpa Akpro, a couple of decent runs and a debatable refereeing decision denying him a one-on-one chance to get on the scoresheet. It would be interesting to know where Ronnie sees Cole Stockton fitting in now...

MoM Ash Taylor by some distance for me

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

To be honest, I doubt if the BBC stats are accurate - did they really have more attempts on goal than us? - and I did not think it was an uncertain performance from us, more a case of Crawley coming and having a go and playing quite well. However, I still think we deserved to win the game. Crawley have actually got a proven striker - Alexander - but they did not actually create many clear opportunities today. For all their possession in the second half, I could not see them getting back into the game and their only efforts on goal were from distance.

Defensively I don't think we were that bad, I just fear that Daniels' naivety could be costly against one of the really top teams. I thought Fonners actually commanded his area well today, collecting all the balls that he came for.

Personally, I did not see anything in Amoo's performance to give me me major doubts. He held the ball well, worked hard and scored a goal and was a constant menace to their centre halves with the threat of his pace in behind. Clearly Akpro is our top striker, but Amoo has the makings of a decent partner.

It is clear from Ronnie's post match comments that Cole is a big part of his plans - he said it was great to have him as back up - but understandably he does not want to load too much pressure on the shoulders of an 18 year old who has only played half a dozen games.

I also think Palmer had an excellent game and has been consistently good in Wallace's absence and our weakness in midfield was largely down to Max drifting in and out of the game, although McGurk did have a particularly poor game today.

 

[Ian]

I do think the major difference between the two teams today was the finishing.

Both teams had really good chances. Two glaring chances from the visitors in the first half and a couple of half chances in the second, whereas we also went close with Ash's excellent strike which rattled the crossbar and Palmers free header which he should have done better with.

In terms of possession and passing, I thought Crawley edged it.

I think this has been the story of the season though. We've had good games and bad games, but throughout we've been able to put the ball in the back of the net.

I don't think anyone would say we deserved to be 2-0 up at HT, but the fact is, the goals keep coming and so do the three points!

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[Tartantranmere64]

A vital three points against a team who can now do us a few favours by beating other top six sides.

The performance was a bit disjointed but consider that its a bit of a revolving door at present with players coming in on loan, back from injury while others head out the door. It will take time to gel. The return of JLAA was a big boost, he looked really hungry when he came on.

Ronnie got the tactics spot on, withdrawing the two wide men in the last half hour as Crawley tried to bulldoze us through the middle. Expect he might go with a similar system for these next really tricky away games.

Delighted for Amoo that he scored. Hopefully he can kick on.

Only downer for me was the size of the crowd. I know it's January and everyone is skint, but the Wirral public really are picking and choosing their games. I would have expected more than 5011 at a game like that. If it hadn't been for the 18 Crawley fans we wouldn't have even got 5000!

 

[WildRover]

Only downer for me was the size of the crowd. I know it's January and everyone is skint, but the Wirral public really are picking and choosing their games. I would have expected more than 5011 at a game like that. If it hadn't been for the 18 Crawley fans we wouldn't have even got 5000!

The Crawley lot disappointed me, theyare only 3 points off the playoffs FFS, and they brought a minibus full, if that! We all know how picky the Wirral public are, pretty sure against Swindle we will be on for a 7K+ crowd (Mainly cos swindle fans will sell out expecting another 5-0 twatting!)

 

[Ian]

There's a thread on here from a few months ago regarding attendances. I'll have to dig it out.

Will attendances improve if were still top after a few months? I don't think they have at all.

Attendance was poor yesterday.

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[Boz]

On attendances, while I was expecting to reach the 5.5k, they're not something which will increase consistently on a day without cheap entry, but the underlying trend is up. As was highlighted on an earlier thread, it makes more economic sense for the club to keep prices at current levels as we lose money, despite the increase in numbers cheap prices bring.

RLC, I didn't count the number of Crawley attempts on goal, but they seemed to have more than us, certainly they were in possession more and my instinct agrees with what the BBC stats record. Unless, of course you know different?
Ronnie's post-match remark about grinding out a result seems to show an acceptance of this.

David Amoo did ok yesterday, held the ball up quite well and scored a goal. However, he just doesn't appear to be a natural striker in the way Stockton does. Amoo's career record to date is about a goal every 6 or 7 games and despite being a few years older than Stockton, isn't vastly more experienced. I hope Ronnie isn't just paying lip-service to Cole's prospects, but don't find the remarks about wanting more strikers encouraging.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

The BBC stats will include a feeble effort from 30 yards that trickles into Fonners hands or goes harmlessly wide - Crawley had a few of those - as an effort on goal, but I don't think those stats give a true reflection of the game. I thought Crawley had a lot of possession without really hurting us, whereas we had greater penetration from perhaps less of the ball.

Ian, I think gates are up by about 1,000 on average so there has been a definite increase, which even PJ has commented on. However, I agree that the crowd was really disappointing yesterday. I suppose we have to remember that there are a lot of whoppers on the Wirral who prefer to scurry under the river rather than support their local team, however well it is performing. Lets face it, we can all remember gates of barely 5,000 for games in the old First Division when we were last there.

I agree with TT64 that it is likely we will change formation for the coming away games, as we did at Sheffield United before Christmas. However, I think we really need to win one of these two games, and perhaps should be relatively adventurous at Coventry given their poor home record.

Boz, while I might understand your scepticism about Ronnie's development of young players based on his previous spell, is it really justified by his record this season ? For example, he has made Max Power a fulcrum of the side in Wallace's absence, whereas in previous years he would have simply stuck with Harrison or brought a loanee in. In post match interviews he regular mentions Cole, Kirby and Power and seems to genuinely rate Stockton as a player.

 

[Ian]

Boz, I would still look for an out and out striker to partner JLAA, stick Amoo out wide and remove McGurk from the side.


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[bring back the cowshed!]

Boz, I would still look for an out and out striker to partner JLAA, stick Amoo out wide and remove McGurk from the side.


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Agreed. Our only out and out strikers are Cole and O'Halloran, but according to the BBC site, Ronnie is still looking to bring in one on loan, even after signing Amoo. You have to be impressed with the way PJ is supporting Ronnie this season. (BTW, Baxter has signed a two and a half year deal at Oldham.)

 

[SonkORLY?]

David Amoo did ok yesterday, held the ball up quite well and scored a goal. However, he just doesn't appear to be a natural striker in the way Stockton does. Amoo's career record to date is about a goal every 6 or 7 games and despite being a few years older than Stockton, isn't vastly more experienced. I hope Ronnie isn't just paying lip-service to Cole's prospects, but don't find the remarks about wanting more strikers encouraging.

You really are impossible to please sometimes. All last week you were complaining that we hadn't signed a striker to replace Cassidy, now you're bemoaning the fact that Moore has publicly confirmed that he wants a striker.

I rate Stockton but he's 18 and has scored 2 goals in his career. People need to lay off a bit.

 

[Mal]

I agree with Sonkorly. Remember Craig Curran?

 

[Boz]

Remember Craig Curran?

What's he got to do with anything?