League Two Rovers v Orient

[Sparky]

After a two week break it’s the visit of league leaders Orient to look forward to.

Despite being top Orient are in relatively poor form. An Orient fan I work with says they are faltering a bit. They’ve scored one goal in their last six games and won one game 1-0. Other than that it’s been some defeats and some 0-0 draws. They have had a number of players suspended but their regular defenders return for Saturday.

As for rovers Micky is restricted to any major changes. Chalmers will have had a weeks training and Brad Walker a bit longer. It’ll be interesting if the latter plays as Micky was complimentary about OConnor and merrie in the last game. Hawkes can’t be dropped given his goal scoring and Morris is one of mickys favourites so unless he plays chalmers or hawkes alongside Hemmings I’m not sure what else he could do. Of course mumbongo may be fit to start, Burton did ok in the last game and who knows, we may have a new striker in before Saturday.

I’m sure Orient would take a draw. As for us, a point against the league leaders wouldn’t be a bad result. Given this and both sides recent issues in scoring goals, I can’t see anything other than a draw.

 

[Ian]

I can see a Rovers win here. If Orient are struggling a little as @Sparky alludes to above, we have home advantage, a couple of new faces and who knows maybe even a striker! 2-0 Rovers. Hemmings and Morris on the scoresheet.

 

[Colin K]

This will be a lot tougher than Orients poor form suggests. They lost convincingly against Stevenage in their last game (with a couple of their first choice defenders suspended) but they have still kept clean sheets in 7 of their last 10 games and have conceded the least amount of goals by a team outside of the Premier League and will have their first choice back four available.

In terms of our starting 11 - I’m not expecting much change from the Walsall game, unless Mumbongo isn’t fit in which case Burton will start. It’ll be interesting what happens from the bench in this match, given MM only made one change in the Walsall game and it was late on in the first half. If similar happens again then it’ll go to show how much faith he’s got in the rest of the squad!

Bookmakers have Orient as slight favourites, but hopefully home advantage will help us breach that back four and we come away with a narrow 1-0 win.

 

[Boz]

I agree with Colin that Orient’s recent poor form isn’t the best indicator for this fixture. With their returning absentees, they are going to be a challenging opponent and a draw would be an acceptable result, though obviously I’d prefer more.

Even if Mumbongo is fit after his possible concussion, Lewis returns from suspension and it would be no surprise to see him paired with Hemmings up front. I don’t think Brad Walker is fully match-fit from remarks on the pre-match, so injuries/illness aside would expect the same line-up as Walsall elsewhere.

 

[ALDO MUSSY]

I would drop mumbo-jumbo for Chalmers I would play the Two wingers and play Morris just behind Kane and Tell Kane to hog the box and fine him if he doesn't do it rovers 1-0

 

[dollar'sbloke]

I would drop mumbo-jumbo for Chalmers I would play the Two wingers and play Morris just behind Kane and Tell Kane to hog the box and fine him if he doesn't do it rovers 1-0

Have you ever seen Chalmers play? Moving Morris would destroy the most effective weapon the team has had all season, some might argue the only one much of the time, Cogley bombs on because of the threat and attention seeking of Morris.
I'd wager Mumbo will return, off the bench might come Chalmers, Burton/Lewis and Walker which in itself would be almost revolutionary. A counter balance to that progress would be any injury at all!

 

[Sparky]

For me hawkes has been more effective than morris. Just look at his goal tally. Morris has shown odd glimpses but in my opinion not enough hence why I hope we brought in chalmers to give our wide men some competition

 

[bigmart]

I fancy a home win 1 0 with Hawkes getting the goal.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

For me hawkes has been more effective than morris. Just look at his goal tally. Morris has shown odd glimpses but in my opinion not enough hence why I hope we brought in chalmers to give our wide men some competition

I agree about Hawkes, but I think Morris has really suffered after missing pre-season.

 

[dollar'sbloke]

For me hawkes has been more effective than morris. Just look at his goal tally. Morris has shown odd glimpses but in my opinion not enough hence why I hope we brought in chalmers to give our wide men some competition

My overwhelming impression without data, is that most attributable goals have come from work on the right and those conceded by errors on the left. Maybe others have different impressions.
I think competition is myth held by fans, although prompted by manager speak, most players suffer from lack of confidence not the absence of self doubt. No matter how good Morris is, a viable option to his obvious threat is to replace him with a sub with extreme pace- this and other obvious ploys are simply not available this season. The Nolan sub at Crewe personified this paucity of options, I could see what Micky was thinking more intense interplay in the middle might open up channels in a tiring defence. I can also think of dozens of better options just not available.

 

[Sparky]

Hughes looked decent playing wide on occasion. Salford away springs to mind. He has great delivery but obviously couldn’t persuade Micky.

RLC probably right about Morris fitness. Never easy missing some parts of pre season as you’re constantly playing catch up.

 

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

I still don't think we are strong enough to score enough goals to win this.
I've gone for an away win.
But hoping for any points.

 

[ALDO MUSSY]

morris was better when he last played just behind the front two in the middle thats all,

 

[Sparky]

It’ll be interesting whether Micky goes 4-4-2 and plays Saunders alongside Hemmings or plays him as a number 10 just behind

 

[bigmart]

Orient have signed Kieran Sadlier on loan from Bolton, good player and is available tomorrow

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Orient have signed Kieran Sadlier on loan from Bolton, good player and is available tomorrow

Shows how much money some clubs are spending.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

This is probably a good time to be playing Orient. However, it is worth remembering they have only lost four games all season and we start the match very much as underdogs. They have an abundance of experience and quality in their squad including George Moncur, Darren Pratley, Omar Beccles and Paul Smyth, with Kieron Sadlier now added to that list.

I think we will start in a 442 with Hemmings and Saunders up front, assuming the clearance went through in time. From Micky's pre-match comments, it seems both Chalmers and Walker will start on the bench, with the former more likely to get time on the pitch than the latter.

A draw would be a good result, but we could really do with a victory with a couple of tricky away fixtures to follow.

I think the gate will be about 6,000, including 3-400 Orient fans.

 

[Sparky]

Very much so a tough game. The visitors have the best away record in the league with 7 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats. We’ll do well to get something from the game.

 

[Boz]

Orient have signed Kieran Sadlier on loan from Bolton, good player and is available tomorrow

Shows how much money some clubs are spending.

There was some suggestion earlier in the window that we might loan him, though that seemed optimistic.

 

[Boz]

It will be interesting to see if we start with Saunders tomorrow, only just joined up. I think it may be he doesn't start but comes on from the bench. Don't recall seeing him play, but from the clips, he's closer to a Nevitt in terms of style, than any other striker who's been in this season's squad, though obviously an upgrade.