League Two Stevenage v Rovers

[Sparky]

Turnbull starts. Lewis in for mumbongo

 

[Higgy 2]

Interesting side. Turner - Cooke keeps his place and Lewis starts.
Good news re Turnbull

 

[Boz]

Turnbull back, which is good news. Lewis instead of Mumbongo hmm. I hope we haven’t loaned Turner-Cooke on one of those deals where we pay more if he doesn’t play. Given the nature of the opponent unsure it’s the right call.
At the athletics in Brum so when I check-in later hoping for a pleasant surprise…

 

[Ian]

I hope we haven’t loaned Turner-Cooke on one of those deals where we pay more if he doesn’t play

I hope so too, the kid still looks quite raw.

More experiments up front with the Lewis/Saunders combo. Hopefully it works out and we manage more than 0 shots on target!

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Hemmings, Walker and Morris presumably still injured. Glad to see Lewis back for his versatility and goal threat. I'm expecting the same formation, as Saunders surely can't play upfront on his own. With that solid back five and the pace up front and on the wings, I'm still confident we can pull something off.

 

[Ian]

I'm not liking where this game is going. All the pressure down Rovers end and none coming back.

 

[bigmart]

I'm not liking where this game is going. All the pressure down Rovers end and none coming back.

Sounds like one way traffic and only a matter of time before they score.

 

[bigmart]

Crawley who we play on Tuesday are 3 0 down at home to Carlisle, even we should beat them surely

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Crawley who we play on Tuesday are 3 0 down at home to Carlisle, even we should beat them surely

Unfortunately this season, Mart, the word should is not in this team's vocabulary.

 

[Sparky]

0-0 at the break. As you’d expect Stevenage have had the majority of the ball but we’ve defended well overall. We’ve had a couple of half chances but could do with Lewis holding it up a bit better. Stevenage look fairly toothless to be honest.

 

[Ian]

Both teams look low on confidence. Hopefully we can take something home.

 

[Goody Two Shoes]

Comfortable so far; if watching a pair of toothless pensioners gumming each other can be classed as comfortable. Hope the dentures are put in for the second half.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

PENALTY!! Josh Hawkes slots it in!!

 

[Ian]

GOAL!!!

 

[Goody Two Shoes]

That half-time Steradent worked a treat!
On paper, we have a much easier run of games now; nothing’s won on paper though.

 

[Sparky]

Fantastic result. The play off charge begins!!

 

[Keith Hill (Bolton)]

My head says defeat.
My heart says defeat.
My logic says defeat.
My gut says defeat.

so if I was going to follow all that, it is with all the information at hand, it is going to be a home win!







so I'm going for an away win. We are due one!

My giddy aunt!
told you so!

 

[Higgy 2]

Mystic Higgy. Great result......should have had a couple of quid on it instead of the horses.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I wouldn't swap Marrie for Hendry or O'Connor, but I do feel there is a case for him to play. Our wingers/wide midfield (depending on selection) are not that robust defensively and I'd worry we could get dominated in the middle of the park.
To make it more solid I'd have Merrie in a middle three or even wide right while Morris is missing instead of the youngsters.
0-1 away win.

Great shout, Higgy! You, KHB and I were the only ones to gave any faith in the lads.

What a load of pessimists we’ve got on this forum.

 

[Sparky]

An unexpected three points but certainly not turning it down. Stevenage were poor and you wonder how on earth are they second in the league.

First half they had the majority of play but didn’t cause us any real problems.
Second half we started playing some football and give Micky credit for making the change and putting merrie on the right. His nifty footwork led to OConnors run which was halted in the box. I wondered if Saunders would want the penalty to score his first goal but credit to hawkes who dispatched it.

We defended very well after that. Murphy’s handling was good and we didn’t look in any real danger.

Some good performances namely OConnor and Davies but turnbull was MOM for me.

A good result ahead of two winnable home games