• 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.

Crawley Town v Rovers without Ron

andrewesq

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Fantastic game last season, so sunny, great goals and we were top of the league! Times have changed
Will be interesting to see if John Mc undertakes any major changes, and if the Crawley game actually does go ahead they seem to be desperate to play having had so many games called off ! Games in hand which could affect Rovers, so hopefully the rovers can come away with a result !
 

Boz

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I'm half hoping this gets called off. As there are no injuries, given the good showing at Bristol, it would be brave-foolish even-for John McMahon to make changes to that line-up.
 
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Judging by the noises coming out of Crawley it seems the game will be played and I would be incredibly surprised if there are changes to the starting line up.

Even before the events of the last couple of hours, I thought this was a tough game for us. After strong Saturday performances we have generally struggled in the midweek game that has followed and the players put a hell of a lot into Saturday's match. Added to which, Rovers are travelling down on the day of the game rather than having an overnighter and the pitch will be very heavy.

Crawley have not played for a month and it is difficult to know whether that will benefit them or us. All things considered, I would be happy with a point.

I notice that Rovers are struggling to fill the supporters coach and, following hot on the heels of a trip to the West Country, there could be a sub-100 Rovers support for this one.
 

bigmart

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I think we will get a draw from this game 1 1
 

Ian

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I'm hoping that their rustiness well play a big part tonight and i think we'll come away with at least a point regardless of the off-field shenanigans.
 
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After Saturday, I was confident of a win. Now it's all down to how well John McMahon can motivate and focus the players. The team spirit has always been good, so there is hope we can pull something off. I'd like to have gone tonight but can't.
 

Ian

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How much influence can John McMahon actually have tonight? The team picks itself and the players should be up for it anyway.
 
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Game called off

Absolutely disgraceful in my view. To call a game off at 6.30 when our fans have spent half the day travelling down is nothing short of pathetic. Surely the referee must have been able to make an earlier decision ? If the game was in doubt in the early afternoon it should have been called off then. I just hope our fans get some kind of compensation.

Crawley have a multi-millionaire chairman, so if they are unable to stage matches perhaps their fixtures should be switched to a different venue or, better still, Crawley given a points deduction for the fixtures they have failed to fulfil.

From a purely footballing perspective, I am not too concerned as we now have a few days rest before Coventry.
 

Brightonian

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Yes awful to call off at such a late stage. We arrived at the Checkatrade stadium just turned 7 pm and the stewards said they had only known for ten minutes or so that the game was off. The announcement didn't go on the Crawley Town website until about 7.20pm which we had monitored over the past two days and until then very confident announcements had been made about the game going ahead. We only live 40 minutes away (hardly rained at all in 3 days) but I feel so sorry for those who have made the 500 mile round trip which could have been avoided.

It seems that thought was given to a delayed start to 8.45 then the offer was made for the match to be rescheduled to tomorrow which was declined by Rovers. Crawley are saying they will consider compensation claims for Tranmere fans who made abortive trips and as RLC says they may have an dreadful pitch and a poor stadium but are not short of cash.

To look on the positive side at least we didn't loose! Didn't seem so at the time but perhaps we are better playing them later when they have to play a lot of games in a short time period and maybe in mid table nothing to play for mode by then with the new manager honeymoon period wearing off by then. As I don't think they have played at home so far this year they would have been very motivated tonight.
 

Ian

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It really makes no sense, because the night before the pitch was 'perfectly playable' after a lot of work by their groundsmen. Covers were on the pitch as a precaution. There must have been some severe weather in 24 hours. Having it called that late off is a joke.
 

andrewesq

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Surely Crawly must be fined or something!
Its a joke to call off so close to kick off, they purposefully made no attempt for an early day pitch inspection, but tried to push and push to get the match on.
Watching their chief exec looking completely embarrassed on their website is no conslotaion
See the rearranged is in April lets hope we are safe by then!
 
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I see Crawley have offered our supporters a refund of the ticket price. Whoopy-doo. As they know full well, the major cost of getting to away matches is the price of travel, which will have been £50 - £100 for the majority of fans that went down yesterday.

I really believe Rovers should be complaining to the football authorities about this situation, or clubs as irresponsible as Crawley will be free to f**k travelling supporters over whenever they want. I am glad to see some of our fans are making complaints of their own.

I am still at a loss to understand how their chairman and manager could assert on Monday that a 'pitch inspection was not necessary', only for the referee to tun up at 6pm (!) on the day of the game and deem the pitch unplayable within minutes of arriving.
 

Boz

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Try again, hopefully they've finally got the pitch sorted.

Crawley ended a losing streak with a 0-2 win at the Franchise and are almost safe. Despite the win at the weekend, Rovers didn't look that convincing, although the players carrying injuries must be a factor. Of the two games this week, our trip to Gillingham looks marginally easier because of their poor recent run. For this fixture, it would make sense to not take too many risks; Brown for Koumas, Arthurworrey for Goodison seem the obvious changes.
I think a point would be a good result now.
 
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Crawley have lost six of their last seven and must be pretty shattered after playing two games a week for a couple of months. However, given our injury concerns I agree that a point would be a good result.

I certainly don't think Koumas should play with injections again: better to rest him for a couple of games now rather than risk a career-threatening problem. However, I am not sure I would start Arthurworry. I think Goodison's presence has been the major reason for us tightening up at the back and going unbeaten for three matches.

With games running out it is important that we take something from our game in hand. A point would leave us four points above the bottom four, with a superior goal difference to three of the teams below us; a decent cushion at this stage of the season.
 

bigmart

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I would be delighted with a point from this game but think we will lose 2 1
 
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I'm planning to go and hoping for a good result. I think it should be less tense than recent games, but I hope we don't relax too much. I think both sides would be happy with a draw, so I'm predicting 1-1. If we win, I'll be surprised and made up as we should then be almost safe.
 

bigmart

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no lowe or koumas 1 down just hope no further injuries as down to bare bones now
 

Boz

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It sounds as though we were a bit unlucky, but OFW at fault for both goals. Is it time to give Mooney a chance? We have got to get something from the Gillingham game.
 
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