Friendly Pre season friendlies

[Sparky]

Hopefully mumbongo is one of the Triallists and is fit. Davies is a really worry not having hardly any pre season minutes

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Davies' fitness is a concern, but Byrne, Hockenhull and Jameson have all looked decent in pre-season.

Interesting that Robinson starts, presumably at centre half.

 

[bigmart]

Davies' fitness is a concern, but Byrne, Hockenhull and Jameson have all looked decent in pre-season.

Interesting that Robinson starts, presumably at centre half.

Could be Bristow centre half.

 

[Boz]

It is a concern about Davies. Will be interesting to see how we line up defensively, Robinson seems to be the left-sided central defender at ko.

 

[bigmart]

The new away kit is officially teal and brown, I like it.

 

[Sparky]

1-1 at the break. McAlear on the scoresheet again for rovers.

 

[bigmart]

Doohan pass to their player who scores 1 2

 

[bigmart]

1 3 trialist on for Nevitt

 

[bigmart]

2nd trialist on for Jameson, guess its Baba Fernandes

 

[bigmart]

1 4

 

[Sparky]

Be interested in any reports. Assume the visitors played a strong side second half and don’t forget they were one game away from the premier league last season.

Another game for Nevitt without a goal….was it mumbongo that came on?

 

[frenchrover]

Disappointing result considering it was against a team basically comprising their B team

 

[bigmart]

Be interested in any reports. Assume the visitors played a strong side second half and don’t forget they were one game away from the premier league last season.

Another game for Nevitt without a goal….was it mumbongo that came on?

They had a couple of new signings and Jordan Rhodes think most the rest were youngsters

 

[Sparky]

They had a couple of new signings and Jordan Rhodes think most the rest were youngsters

Ah ok. Only one game and at the risk of repeating myself, I do have a concern about our defence this season compared to last.
With another striker we may score more goals of course but I’m not convinced yet

 

[Boz]

Rhodes and Rudoni the midfielder they signed from Wimbledon were the only names I recognised from the visitors. There has been a big turnaround of playing staff there over the summer.

Don’t know if the trialist striker was the Burnley lad. He was mainly feeding on scraps, though did set up Nolan for a chance which ought to have been potted. If we need another defender, the trialist looked very composed and played a couple of nice balls on the deck.

Will write a longer report when I get back home.

 

[bigmart]

Ah ok. Only one game and at the risk of repeating myself, I do have a concern about our defence this season compared to last.
With another striker we may score more goals of course but I’m not convinced yet

In parts we played well especially first half, mcaleer looked decent the wing backs very good. Nevitt for all his effort didn't have a shot on target again, Hemmings should have scored at least one, Doohan absolute howler for the second.
Hard to say from the pictures but communication seemed to be lacking at the back

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought it was an encouraging performance, despite the scoreline. We conceded four but, as has been commented, one was a gift after an error from Doohan when he tried to play out, and the movement and finishing for the others was of a higher standard than we will face in League Two.

We actually looked dangerous throughout and created a number of chances, and the score does not really reflect the game. On another afternoon Hemmings would have had two or three.

I thought McAlear was excellent again, with some lovely touches in addition to a good finish for the goal. I think he will be a big player for us this season and will score goals from midfield. Both full backs were very adventurous, with Bristow impressive again. Robinson played as the left of the three centre halves and looked quite comfortable on the ball. It is good to have three left-footers in the squad and natural balance on that side.

Of the players that came on in the second half, I thought Nolan and Hughes were tidy on the ball and did well, but Mumbongo was fairly anonymous against a better standard of opposition. It is difficult to judge a trialist when neither of the games he featured in were against League Two opposition. The other trialist was a right sided centre half and did not particularly impress, going awol for Huddersfield's fourth goal.

In Doohan's defence, he made a couple of very good saves with his legs in addition to his error.

I am still quietly encouraged by the football we have played in pre-season.

 

[Sparky]

Thanks for the reports.

like RLC I’m looking forward to seeing what McLear can do this season. I guess the midfield three is going to be him, O’Connor and hawkes to start with. With Lewis and Nolan as back up.

a shame about mumbongo but all he can do is hope he’s impressed in training enough As the season starts in 7 days

re the other trialist, do we need another defender? I guess we need Cogley back up but he doesn’t miss many games and we could use the loan market if needed

 

[bigmart]

Interesting that Hockenhull never came off the bench which suggests he's unlikely to be a starter early on.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I think we have to bear in mind that the back three when the third and fourth goals were conceded comprised the trialist, Robinson and Byrne. The defensive line up will be very different next week and has looked solid in pre-season prior to this afternoon.