• 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 Ebbsfleet

Ian

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Quite a physical first half but our quality has shone through. Two good goals from the front pairing and we have a good lead at HT.

Wrexham also winning and go top.
 

Boz

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Both Rovers goals quality, but haven’t been at our best and a few early wobbles from McNulty. Decent save from Taylor. Usual strange refereeing, unsure what Norwood’s booking for and missed a clear shove on Sutton as the ball went out of play for a corner.
 

Boz

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Comfortable win in the end, Norwood missing then scoring a one on one to make the game safe. Encouraging cameo from Ben Tollitt.
 
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As comfortable a victory as you will see. It was a strange opening quarter of an hour, with numerous stoppages, the visitors timewasting and two or three nasty challenges from the opposition that should have resulted in cards. At that stage I feared a frustrating afternoon, but out of nothing, Cook put as ahead with a brilliant finish. The goal settled us and from that point onwards we were in complete control, and looked like scoring with every attack.

I thought everybody played well, but there were standout performances from Cook, Norwood, Harris and the two centre backs. Ginnelly impressed me again with his movement and the way he picks people out in the box, rather than just lashing in the cross. As Boz says, it was great to see Tollitt back on the hallowed turf and he looked very sharp, almost creating one and scoring one. Taylor made one brilliant save in the first half from a wicked cross, but still flapped at a couple of balls that should have been comfortably dealt with. Man of the match for me was between Cook and Norwood, who linked up superbly at times.

A pity that Wrexham won, but we are in a good place at the moment. On to Brisbane Road.
 

Ian

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Good solid performance today. Can’t add much from the above posts. We are scoring goals and winning games and are in a great position.

Ebbsfleet were poor and are an average side in this league which shows you how poor this league really is. Onwards and upwards !
 

Sparky

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A straightforward win which could have been of a higher margin

One thing that impressed me was the work rate which started with the front 2 closing down. Nors always does this but Cook was excellent too.

I thought Jennings was very good today and some of the football down the left in the 2nd half was very good.

I had a good view of the Nors yellow. He went up with his elbow and was a bit careless. He got the yellow and was mouthing off to the ref who called Big Mac over to tell him to calm James down. Could have easily had a 2nd yellow for dissent.

A good game from ridehalgh who played out of position and Tollit looked sharp. Taylor did ok and made some good saves but had a dodgy moment in the 2nd half.

Onwards we go - 2 points off the top. Hope buxtons injury isn’t serious
 

Sparky

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One thing I thought today is how reliant we are on Cook and Nors. As has been said before, if one of them gets injured or suspended it would be a massive blow
 

Boz

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Ebbsfleet were probably the poorest side I've seen at PP to date this season. They had a little spell towards the end of the first half and a few chances late on when Rovers were a bit sloppy including a Raheem Sterling style miss with the goal gaping.

On players, Norwood and Jennings were much improved on Wrexham and the forward pair played well, with Cook's workrate being almost on a par with Norwood's. I share Sparky's concerns about their possible absence, though we won when Cook was banned the other week. Can't make my mind up about Ginnelly, who seems to drift out of games, although looks dangerous. It was a shame he couldn't keep an excellent cross-field ball from Sutton in play. Sutton was my MoM, kept things steady while McNulty, who made a couple of errors early on was very assured as the game progressed.
 
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aldo
Now its 8 home wins in a row and 6 in a row we have scored 3 or more 21 goals scored in 6 is cracking form and with the away form picking up again . Its exiting and entertaining which is abt time . and long mey it continue
 
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I had a good view of the Nors yellow. He went up with his elbow and was a bit careless. He got the yellow and was mouthing off to the ref who called Big Mac over to tell him to calm James down. Could have easily had a 2nd yellow for dissent.
I thought Nors was lucky to stay on after the initial challenge, let alone the dissent. It was more of a straight arm than an elbow, but some refs would have given a straight red. However, that challenge followed a spell where two or three bad challenges by the opposition went unpunished and the game threatened to boil over. The referee was poor and lost control.

With regard to Ebbsfleet, they played some nice football in the reverse fixture, but today only seemed intent on kicking our players. Their manager seemed very hyped up judging by his pre-match comments and I wonder if that was conveyed to the players.
 

drwhoman

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Good win. Just as well Raheem does not play in the NL if he reckons he is being butchered in the PL! Drivel from an overhyped player of course!
 

Ian

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The difference in physicality at this level is amazing to see. They get away with an awful lot, although I think that stems from the referees who have seen very little else in their refereeing careers.

I did think the game was going to escalate into a brawl early on although in fairness to the referee he booked one of theirs early on and gladly the game settled down.

Norwood was lucky with that challenge. At least with officials this bad, it sometimes works in your favour !
 

Boz

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After the referee had failed to show any kind of card for the studs showing challenge on Jay Harris in the opening moments, perhaps no surprise in the sanction for Norwood. I didn’t see the elbow from my viewpoint.
 
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Noors 50 goals in 102 games not bad considering he misses loads. But fair to him and cookie . If we didnt have them then it would be mangan alibi or wearing. Then we would be in the sh#$%t . Love cookie an noors . Great to see ben tollitt back and not pushed to hard will be good to see j wallace back to the poor lad needs a break . Neva know a player have so meney injuries and big injuries to sutch a shame
 
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Melon out ........lol..... thats 8 home wins in a row wow wow wow only kingy has done that . we are going up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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3-0 is a good win at any level. We are now very well placed but it is so tight at the top. If we win next week we could go top. If we lose we could drop out of the playoffs.

BTW, if Hartlepool went bust tomorrow and dropped out of the league, we'd be top. Not that I'd want that to happen.
 

Sparky

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Not that we’re a long ball team but all 3 goals yesterday came from goal kicks. The final one was an excellent flick on from Cooke nicely finished by Nors.

Surely the best front 2 in the division
 
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Surely the best front 2 in the division
Without question in my view. Rowe is a better as an individual, but no front pair works as well together as those two.

We seem to be scoring lots of different types of goals now, which I think comes from having such a settled squad.
 
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we still need the midfield to get more they just dont score enough . should be getting at least 15-20 between them . but yes the best pairing in the division
 
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