Rovers 2 Shakers 0

[Rockford's Love Child]

A gritty, and on balance probably deserved, victory for Rovers.

The lack of confidence in the side was evident tonight in our inability to keep possession, and Bury had control of the ball for long spells. However, other than a couple of near things late in the second half I thought we generally kept them at arm's length, and defended very well indeed. Equally, I thought we actually created the better chances throughout the game, with six or seven decent attempts in addition to the goals.

Defensively we were solid, with all the back four having impressive games, other than a few communication problems with Rachubka. I was particularly impressed again with Holmes, who was solid defensively and always sensible in his use of the ball.

In midfield, it was interesting to see Labadie playing the 'Welsh role' in the captain's absence. I thought he did well and was deservedly man of the match, and given that he is more imaginative in his use of the ball, it got me wondering whether we actually need John to play that role ? I thought Weir started brightly and then faded, but did produce a fantastic attempted 40 yard lob in the second half. Baxter came into the game after half time, and was unlucky with two good efforts when bursting from midfield, which were superbly saved by their keeper.

Our inability to hold on to the ball was a real problem at times, and will have to improve at Hillsborough if we are to get a respectable scoreline. However, hopefully our passing will improve as confidence returns. Most importantly, with the subtle changes in personnel, it was great to see us keep a clean sheet and rediscover our doggedness in defence.

 

[DIW]

Strangely the BBC website has us down for 60% possession during the game which was a bit odd as I thought Bury kept hold of the ball much better than us.
Thought we just about deserved the win as we created the better chances but we have played better in the past this season and lost games so i'll take the three points.
Excellent game for Labadie, rightly MOM and most player put in a shift, Akins is looking very quiet though at the moment.
Rachubka is poor, totally clueless on any ball coming into the box and the sooner OFW is back the better really.
Would be nice to follow it up with another three points on Monday but I can't see that so here's hoping they can get a draw.
And finally well played to Ash Taylor who seems to be getting some ironic cheering and shouts of hoof from some morons in the Kop when he gets the ball. I know that Taylors main strengths are not his passing ability but what do they expect in League 1, Alan Hansen dribbling it out from the back? Ridiculous. Defensively he did well, plus he is now joint top scorer!

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

And finally well played to Ash Taylor who seems to be getting some ironic cheering and shouts of hoof from some morons in the Kop when he gets the ball. I know that Taylors main strengths are not his passing ability but what do they expect in League 1, Alan Hansen dribbling it out from the back? Ridiculous. Defensively he did well, plus he is now joint top scorer!

I agree that the jeering in the first half was idiotic, particularly given how obviously low in confidence the players were. The hoofs by Taylor and McChrystal were actually often the result of the ball being played back to them in difficult areas by midfielders who did not have the confidence to get their heads up and pick out a pass themselves.

However, I disagree about Rachubka, who has generally done ok considering he has played with about three different defensive line ups in his short time here.

 

[bigmart]

thought rachubka looked nervous and dodgy on crosses, our full backs didnt get forward to support the wide players very much.

At times we passed the ball around really well and looked a decent side and created some decent chances, their keeper made several good saves i thought we deserved wo win. Joss was outstanding for me and was easily mom for me.

 

[SonkORLY?]

Akins is looking very quiet though at the moment.

our full backs didnt get forward to support the wide players very much.

It is a bit depressing when your wingers support your full-backs more than your full-backs support your wingers, and I think this is an element of our style of play that Akins tends to hide behind when he's short on confidence. When things aren't going well he gets his head down and grafts for 90 minutes, which is fine, but would rather see him desperate for the ball and running at defenders at every opportunity like he was earlier in the season. To be fair, he contributed more than McGurk/Weir yesterday, and won the corner which lead to the first-goal. I wouldn't drop him.

Agree with RLC that Joss looks quite nicely suited to that John Welsh role as the most withdrawn of our 3 midfielders. Also agree that our back 4 were very good and Holmes' use of the ball was surprisingly thoughtful given my expectation of it not to be and also considering the manner in which we were passing the ball generally. Which brings me onto the point that the quoted 60% possession statistic seems very odd.

 

[darrens8761]

a win is a win but i was a bit dissapointed again at our style of football. 4-5-1 at home, 10 men behind the ball at home. but hey we won.

we just launch it forward aimlessly. totally bypassing our midfield who are quite skillfull. we fail to get baxter on the ball. imo he has the ability to make things happen and he is not scared to run with the ball through the center of the pitch.

if we are to play the lone striker then we need to either get another player in or get enoch fully fit and play the ball into his feet and have players run off him that was he can hold up the ball meaning we keep better possesion. tiryaki as much as he tries his ass off is not imo up to playing this level week in week out. he is all over the pitch rather than doing what he should be and that is up front holding the ball up.

it is fair annoying that we have some good players like ladabie, weir baxter robbo, all players who are often out of the games due to our route 1 tactic. we should try and get them on the ball more often.

i like les and he has done a good job in making us hard to beat etc.. but at times we are very poor and lack ideas.

anyway good win, lets hope it changes our fortunes and maybe push for play offs come end of season.