Udders 0 Rovers 0

[Boz]

A well-earned point for Rovers. Team unchanged from Walsall, Gunnar not on the bench, injured or absent? A good vocal following in the away end got behind the lads, who started the game brightest. Early efforts from Showumni and a great shot from Gornell, stinging their keeper's palms from ~25yards. The home team, then got more into the game, aided by the ref, but despite going close didn't pose many problems. Second half continued with the home team in ascendancy, without ever troubling too much. Blanchard replaced the injured McLaren and Brown replaced Enoch for their full Rovers debuts. Late on, after Naysmith was sent off for 2 yellows, one of the few things the ref got right. There was a late effort from ITM, which went wide, but Huddersfield actually seemed stronger with 10 men, failing to take a couple of decent chances after we squandered possession.

Collister. Looked sound bar one mix-up with Goodi.

Cresswell. Steady, though his height makes him susceptible to the long-ball over his head.

Goodison. Assured showing, aside from the above mix-up.

Wood. Much more convincing than the Oldham game, though booked for a rash challenge.

Darville. Still gets pulled out of position, but is starting to get used to his team-mates and delivered good ball into the box.

Welsh. Quiet game, but did little wrong.

McLaren. One of his better showings, more suited to the defensive midfield role than one further forward.

Labadie. Looked good today.

ITM. He didn't seem that happy playing alongside Enoch, maybe the transfer talk is getting to him. Perked up when Brown came on and we tried playing more on the deck.

Showumni. A few good touches, early effort on goal. again the ref didn't give him anything.

Gornell. Came closest to a Rovers goal with his early shot and worked quite hard

Subs. Blanchard did ok as defensive midfielder. Kayleden Brown wore distinctive orange boots, seemed to be wrestled to the ground a few times without the ref imposing any sanction, though perhaps he went to ground too readily. Would need to see more of him. I did wonder if Les should have introduced Fraughan or McGurk when they went down to 10 men.

Huddersfield. Given the money they've spent, a bit disappointing. Good crowd, but their fans quiet too. Hardly anyone bought vuvezelas, despite them being on offer, the Rovers drummer made more noise.

Mr Eltringham, Ref. One of the biggest homers I've seen for a while, though thankfully he didn't lose us the game.

 

[SCooperSomersaults]

Huddersfield 0 Tranmere 0

Just a quick post before I put the full match report on the home page.

Thought Tranmere were terrific today. They harried the opposition into mistakes and we created a fair few chances of our own to worry the home side and all their money that they've spent.

First half, Gornell had a lovely long range shot well saved by their keeper, Enoch forced another save from a header, and there were 2 goal keeper clearances superbly charged down that nearly ended in the goal. Lucky for the boy Smithies (who is nowhere near as good as he is hyped to be).

Second half, the lads tired somewhat but still pressed and forced mistakes. Huddersfield had a couple of decent chances and there was a mix up between Wood and Collister but apart from that we defended superbly well.

Dunno why Nielsen didn't play, not even on the bench either, but Joe Collister put in a commanding display. Some great saves, great punches and catches to relieve the pressure too. Only thing I would say on the negative was that he could have come out for a couple of long balls but left his defenders to make difficult clearances instead when he could have perhaps come out and taken the ball. A little bit shy of shouting at Goody and co perhaps? But otherwise, he was great.

Quick word on the new loan signing. He came on for the last 15 minutes and was terrific. Quick, tall, looks quite strong and should have won us a penalty with their stumbling centre half dragging him back in the box. Looks very promising.

Match report to follow, then some more views later on.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Terrific effort from the lads today and a second convincing display away from home. I actually enjoyed today's game more than the 3-3 last season as we kept our shape throughout and never looked unduly troubled. The quality of our passing was much better than we came to expect last season, particularly in the first half an hour and last twenty minutes, which was due in no small part to Joss Labadie who was outstanding.

I thought all eleven players put in strong performances, even those like McLaren who I usually have no time for. Wood and Goodison performed excellently as a pair and Darville had his most assured game so far. Brown looked a handful when he came on.

Special praise should also be given to Joe Collister who, bar one mix up with Goodison, didn't put a foot (or hand) wrong, and was especially brave when the ball was thrown into the box. On the evidence of the last two games he should keep his place ahead of Neilsen.

Agree with Boz's comments about the ref, who was appalling, and seemed to think it was 'loadsamoney' Huddersfield's right to simply turn up and collect the three points. Despite his showing, I was slighly disappointed we didn't win the game, given that we were in control for long spells.

 

[Ian]

Well this is certainly promising. Positive reports coming from The Galpharn and that's two excellent team performances back to back. Can we put the Oldham game down to nerves? The lads certainly seem to be performing well as a team and away from home too!

Collister should definitely keep his place, he's having an excellent start to the season. Wood seems to be getting more confident after looking shaky and nervous against Oldham. The same can be said about Darville.

Did the three lads play well together up front?
This young Welsh lad sounds exciting. Hopefully will get to see him play next Saturday.

And even McLaren had a good game! Wow..

 

[SonkORLY?]

Very good result, and thanks to all for the match reports. 1 point from 2 games isn't good, but it's an improvement on 0 from 1. Let's hope we can push on and get our first league win of the season sooner rather than later and start to move up the table a little bit.

 

[Boz]

Did the three lads play well together up front?
This young Welsh lad sounds exciting. Hopefully will get to see him play next Saturday.

Would be interested what SCoops and Rockford's Love Child say in response to your question. Personally, I didn't think the front three operated particularly well as a unit, it seemed to function better when Brown replaced Showumni and ITM in particular improved after the change.

For me, Kayleden Brown is an impact player, he's got pace and could prove a real nuisance to tired opposing defences from the bench. He's nowhere near Showumni's height, so the team played the ball more on the deck, which is good. However, Enoch had a good first half and did a lot of work when Rovers weren't in possession. It was noticeable after the change, that when Rovers lost possession after an attack, the home side were able to make much more headway with Brown on the pitch and that's an area of his game he'll need to work on.

 

[bigmart]

We now need to beat a rampant bournemouth next saturday and thinks look somewhat better

 

[roverstillidie]

Dunno why Nielsen didn't play, not even on the bench either,

Maybe he missed his ferry?

 

[DIW]

Good result and things look better this week, particularly the performances of Collister and the rest of the defence in keeping 2 clean sheets. If we can keep this up and build upon a solid back four then we will be okay this year.

Well done to Les and the boys. We must get a result against Bournemouth next week though.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

In response to Boz, I thought the front three did well yesterday and seem to be developing more of an understanding. I think at the moment Brown is just an impact player to bring on for the last twenty minutes to be honest, as Showunmi is the more intelligent and aware of the two players (people who have only seen the Oldham game might not believe this !).

What really surprised me in the last two matches was the performance of Terry Gornell. He seems to be adapting to the wide role and is better on the ball than a lot of people give him credit for, showing some nice touches yesterday as Scoops alluded to in his report.

 

[The Bootle Rover]

same old same old

How nice to read some enthusiastic comments and the potential for an upturn of fortune from almost everyone.

But not Sonko.......despite an upbeat attitude from all he's still pissing on everybodies chips.

Well done Les and the team, lets hope we can improve from here on.

 

[Mal]

Yep. Shades of Marvin from Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

 

[SonkORLY?]

0 points for reading comprehension. But I'll try again because I love to make you happy.

Very good result, and thanks to all for the match reports. 1 point from 2 games isn't good, but it's an improvement on 0 from 1. Let's hope we can push on and get our first league win of the season sooner rather than later and start to move up the table a little bit.

Very poor result, you guys need not have even bothered providing match reports. 1 point from 2 games is superb, but 0 from 1 is much better. We can only hope this good result was an anomoly - fingers crossed our first league win of the season will be a long time coming. Long may we stay rooted to 19th!

(Is this better? Feel free to correct either version as you see fit - although please note that, by default, as they are directly opposite, they can't both be wrong. Enjoy your chips.)

 

[The Bootle Rover]

Woof....so touchy

Being obtuse simply for the sake of it is just plain silly, but does suit you.

And of course both of your comments although opposite can be, and are, wrong. The real picture is one of the many shades of grey, not the simplistic black or white you provide.

Chips are fine.

I still think you are a Johnson spy.

 

[roverstillidie]

A vast improvement on the "performance" against Oldham and a throughly deserved draw. It wasn't one of those lucky draws, with the exception of perhaps one or two hairy moments - in particular when Robinson headed over the stranded Collister, Rovers were comfortable. We could have won the game if Labadie/Brown (can't remember which!) had squared the ball to ITM in the last minute who had the goal at his mercy, but a draw was a fair result in the end.

I was very impressed with Collister, whose handling and positioning seems to be much superior to Nielsen's. He dealt with several tricky situations comfortably, the only real error was not coming out to collect a ball which Goodison was telling him to collect (rightly) in the 1st half. Hopefully those problems will be solved with expeirence and a bit of playing time.

Goodison also had a very good game, he marshalled the back line well and cleaned up at the back when scrambles started to ensue. I was also impressed by Mclaren, yes Mclaren:shock: who was exceptional in the 1st half with a series of interceptions and tidying up in midfield, although his set pieces were still a bit dire!

McLaren's replacement when he got injured - Blanchard did very well, he won everything in the air and performed a sort of Ash Taylor role in midfield, but with a bit more composure. I would like to see him starting at the back instead of Wood though, who I think looks a bit lightweight and nervous at the moment.

Player Ratings:

Collister: 9, A reassuring presence in goals and made several excellent saves.

Darville: 7, Was a bit dodgy in the 1st half, but improved greatly in the 2nd half once he got his positioning worked out - he noticed the Huddersfield left wingers always cut inside!

Wood: 6, Made some good challenges but got caught the wrong side of the attackers too often, causing Goodison to have to come over and try to intercept.

Goodison: 8, A rock at the back and was talking to the rest of the back four thoughout. Impressively covered for Cresswell at left back in the 2nd half when Rovers were caught on the break. We need him to play another 44 league games!

Cresswell: 7, A solid presence at left back and got forward well, got caught out with the ball down the channel once or twice though.

Welsh: 6, Doesn't look fully fit but got stuck in. Passing was erratic.

McLaren: 7, Played very well in the 1st half making crucial interceptions but had much less presence in the 2nd half until he was injured.

Labadie: 7, Made several excellent runs forward and could have had some good scoring oppurtunities if he had got the ball out of his feet more quickly.

Thomas-Moore: 7, His usual hard working energetic self, perhaps a bit hesistant when presented with shooting chances though.

Showoddywoddy: 7, Much better than against Oldham - seemed to discover he can run and made some good flick ons - unfortunately he doesn't have an understanding with ITM yet. Ran out of steam in the 2nd half and was taken off.

Gornell: 6, Had some good touches and a great shot in the 1st half but seriously lacks pace at this level and I think will struggle to play at this level if he continues out wide.

Subs:

Blanchard: 7, Played very well in midfield and stemmed the tide when Town were pressing for a goal.

Brown: 6, Threw himself about a bit and troubled their centre backs - McCombe should have been sent off for pulling him to the ground as last man - just outside the penalty area.

Man of the Match: Goodison was a contender, but I've got to give it to Collister for his excellent display in goals and several key saves, as well as his strong punching at corners.

 

[Ian]

Nice detailed reports and player ratings.
I've just seen the highlights on Tranmere Player and I was expecting to see a couple of Rovers' chances but only showed the early Showumni hit.

Hairy moments were Garner's run through the Tranmere defence and shoot across the goal and like RTID mentioned, the confusion with Woods' headed back pass which nearly caught Collister out.

Nothing of Gornell's early chance. Did we have any other notable chances?

 

[Boz]

Ian, I'm amazed the Gornell effort wasn't shown, as it was probably the closest either side came to scoring. Enoch had another effort charging down their keeper's clearance, Labadie had a shot which went over, ITM went round their full-back but shot wide and that was about it for Rovers.

RTID; mostly agree with your assessment but would make the following observations.

Wood looked like a rabbit in the headlights v Oldham, but was much steadier here, he's also solid in the air. It would knock his confidence to drop him at this stage, he's racking up the yellow cards and likely to have an enforced rest before too long anyway.

Gornell is doing a heck of a lot better in the wide position than expected. Agree with Rockfords Love Child that he was probably the pick of our forwards at the Galpharm, though you may be right that his lack of pace could prove telling. A weakness of having Enoch as one of the three is that he has to play in the middle, as opposed to last season, where the three up front were more inter-changable.

Blanchard. Thought he did well in a defensive midfield role, but unsure if he's got the height or physical presence to play central defence against a team going the aerial route.

 

[Sparky]

Wood was on the radio on Friday night saying how nervous he was against Oldham (which you can understand for his first senior game) plus whats its like playing alongside Goodison - but sounds like fingers crossed he is getting better and maybe responding to the fact that Broomes will be back shortly.

Same for Gornell - he isnt a wide player and wont like playing there - but at the moment its the only way he will get in the starting 11 and maybe he sees McGurk/Brown coming in and maybe responds to that by working harder and doing better.

A bit of healthy competition is what we need !

As for the game - that was a great result. Just need to follow it up next Saturday.