League Two Stevenage v Rovers

[MancunianWhite]

Tranmere being consistently inconsistent as always

 

[bigmart]

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

The standard this season is pretty poor, orient are running away with the league, then there is a clutch of teams who are much of a muchness and the absolute dross at the bottom

 

[Am on mobile]

Hi all just a quickie as i am on a small break got 150 comming in soon great win lads gotta go its a busy night

 

[Ian]

Stevenage were poor but they lacked confidence, they are going through a bad spell as are we but that was a great result. We actually didn't play that badly once the game settled down. We defended fairly well, there were a couple of hairy moments and they had a great chance to equalise late on but having said that, I thought our outlet was good today. Hawkes and Bristow worked well at times bombing down the left and although Saunders didn't really look like scoring, he caused them problems with his pace and movement. Hopefully that result will give them some confidence for Tues night and good to see Hawkes keeping his cool and taking a great penalty.

 

[frenchrover]

good to see Hawkes keeping his cool and taking a great penalty.

It was "the Aldo Shuffle" that did it

 

[Higgy 2]

Missed the game in the end.
I fancied Merrie having a run on the right of midfield just to stress fthen it up a bit as I felt Turner-Cooke or Chalmers might be a bit lightweight in a game like this.
Did Turner-Cooke show anything today in his time on the park?

 

[Sparky]

Missed the game in the end.
I fancied Merrie having a run on the right of midfield just to stress fthen it up a bit as I felt Turner-Cooke or Chalmers might be a bit lightweight in a game like this.
Did Turner-Cooke show anything today in his time on the park?

Turner Cooke did ok. He’s clearly got good technical ability but for most of his time on the pitch we were defending I.e the first half. Hopefully the next two games we’ll see what he can do int he final third

Saunders had a great chance to score earlier on before the penalty. I was shouting at hawkes to shoot but he played a great pass to Harvey whose first touch was poor and took him wide on his weaker side.

 

[Ian]

Saunders had a great chance to score earlier on before the penalty. I was shouting at hawkes to shoot but he played a great pass to Harvey whose first touch was poor and took him wide on his weaker side.

Yeah, his first touch was poor but I did like his contribution today. I think he needs to be a little more agressive in his play.

Also, Lewis was in a really good position late on and chose to square it instead of shooting. Sadly, the pass evaded our two players in the box. Good that we were getting chances and registered a couple on target.

Does anyone know what the beef was at the end of the game? Micky was giving as good as he was getting from the opp bench.

 

[Sparky]

Yeah, his first touch was poor but I did like his contribution today. I think he needs to be a little more agressive in his play.

Also, Lewis was in a really good position late on and chose to square it instead of shooting. Sadly, the pass evaded our two players in the box. Good that we were getting chances and registered a couple on target.

Does anyone know what the beef was at the end of the game? Micky was giving as good as he was getting from the opp bench.

Yes Micky mentioned post match that he was surprised Lewis didn’t shoot for that chance. Thankfully it didn’t matter.

I think Steve Evans was having a moan saying they should have two penalties (I don’t agree), and Micky made it clear he didn’t agree

 

[Ian]

Thanks @Sparky . I thought it was a little bit embarrassing they were claiming for everything after we had a penalty awarded. Two fouls, a handball etc etc.. as least noone could argue against ours, it was a stonewaller.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

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.

And the 160 who travelled (it looked more to be honest).

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought it was an excellent away performance and we deserved the victory for the second half display.

The first thirty minutes was very similar to the game at Prenton Park earlier in the season, with Rovers subjected to an aerial bombardment, but with the crucial difference that we defended the eighteen yard box superbly and restricted Stevenage to scraps. Turnbull was outstanding in this period and brought calm and organisation to the defence, but Murphy's handling and decision making were also good.

I thought we were poor in possession in the early stages, but midway through the first half we settled, grew in confidence and began to play some football. I thought the contribution of Hendry was crucial in that regard. Once he got his passing going the confidence of the side grew visibly and we started to get the wide players and forwards into the game.

We produced the best move of the first half when Hawkes unfortunately got the ball stuck under his feet on the edge of the box, and the second half began in similar vein, with Rovers on top. I thought some of our passing moves were excellent, particularly on the counter attack, and you could see the goal coming for twenty or thirty minutes. The fact Stevenage were forced to make five changes to try and rescue something from the game demonstrates that we were the better side.

Individually, I thought Hawkes had a very good second half and, despite drawing another blank, both strikers played well. Lewis led the line effectively winning a lot of headers and linking well with Saunders, and Saunders' movement was excellent. He had a couple of chances in the second half which he should have scored, the first from a brilliant cross by Cogley, the second when he was clean through but his first touch let him down, but he looked threatening today unlike some of his previous displays. It remains to be seen whether he is capable of scoring regularly, but he has positive attributes to his game.

There was great work in the build up to the penalty from Merrie, and a clever run across the eighteen yard box from O'Connor to draw the foul.

Man of the match between Turnbull, Hendry and Saunders.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Turner Cooke did ok. He’s clearly got good technical ability but for most of his time on the pitch we were defending I.e the first half. Hopefully the next two games we’ll see what he can do int he final third

Yes, I agree with this. He still looks a bit nervous and inhibited on the ball, but he does not give it away as much as Chalmers and is more disciplined positionally.

It was actually a bold starting line up by Micky, with the two wide players, but it worked.

 

[Ian]

 

[Boz]

Think our first win at Stevenage?
Haven’t seen any footage showing, but the hosts felt they should have had a penalty shortly after ours. Any merit in that line of argument?
Interesting that Merrie instrumental in setting up the penalty and O’Connor was the one fouled to concede it. Hawkes wouldn’t have been my choice to take it so well done for the conversion, Josh!

 

[mellow submarine]

Good to have someone solid between the sticks.

 

[Ian]

Haven’t seen any footage showing, but the hosts felt they should have had a penalty shortly after ours. Any merit in that line of argument?

Not in my opinion. They had a few half baked appeals but they were just getting a bit desperate in all honesty.

 

[Ian]

Good to have someone solid between the sticks.

Even at 40+ it just shows you the difference in quality to what we are working with now.

 

[Goody Two Shoes]

Thanks @Sparky . I thought it was a little bit embarrassing they were claiming for everything after we had a penalty awarded. Two fouls, a handball etc etc.. as least noone could argue against ours, it was a stonewaller.

It appeared to me that the ref gave them a lot of soft free-kicks but nothing in the box; rightly so as they we’re looking for it and I agree it was starting to get embarrassing (found myself laughing out loud at some of their antics). The win, and our penalty, felt justified with everything taken into account.

 

[bigmart]

Stevenage are a typical Steve Evans team with the style of football and antics they employ.

What formation did we play