Guiseley v Rovers

[bring back the cowshed!]

This is Guiseley's first game since they "stole" a point from Braintree. They will be fresh, but on current form we should see them off. On paper, this is one of the easiest matches in March. It probably won't be, but we really have to win to consolidate our position. We can't drop out of the play-off zone tomorrow no matter what happens, but our three main rivals can be expected to make up ground.

Braintree, ahead of us on goal difference, have picked themselves up well by winning two games since conceding that controversial equaliser at Guiseley and have a winnable game at Torquay. Dover play Welling at home, which would be a home banker were it not a derby match. Eastleigh must really win at home against mid-table Woking to stay in touch.

Spirits should be high at PP. The club is laying on a second coach, so there should be a sizeable SWA for a midweek away game. The injury situation is good and Jay Harris is back from suspension. So will GB stick to the starting eleven who have won two on the bounce or will he tinker with line-up or formation? Surely there is no need to do either. The team is playing good football and none of the players needs a rest.

Prediction: 2-1 or 1-0 win.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I agree with BBTC's assessment above. There is no need to change a winning team and provided our attitude is right we should pick up three points tomorrow. I thought this game might be in doubt after Saturday's postponement at Nethermoor Park, but there is no suggestion of the game being off at the moment.

Dover seem certain to beat Welling at home, so we need to at least match their result to set ourselves up for Saturday's crunch game.

It will be interesting to see how many of the SWA turnout tomorrow. I would normally estimate about 400 for a fixture like this, but with our recent displays the following might be a lot bigger and, as BBTC says, there is a more positive vibe around the club at the moment than there has been for years. It would be nice if we could perform as we have in the last two games and win convincingly.

I wonder if anyone else is venturing to this one ? Is Boz making his way from his Yorkshire lair ?

 

[Boz]

I'd agree with the sentiments above about team selection; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Aside from Braintree, who have a difficult trip to Torquay, who are making a real fight of their relegation battle, other play-off rivals look like taking maximum points from their games, which mean Rovers must do the same.

I wonder if anyone else is venturing to this one ? Is Boz making his way from his Yorkshire lair ?

Lol. I'm only just back from Welsh exile, but hope to be at the game. Not totally confident it will go ahead, despite the positive remarks on the Guisley website, the forecast for here suggests cold with possible snow/sleet in the morning. Let's hope it does and Rovers get the win we need.

 

[Ian]

I really expect to win this one. I would certainly keep the same team as it has a great balance to it. 2-0 Rovers as we march on.

 

[bigmart]

same team and I predict a 2 1 win norwood and mekki

 

[Ian]

Good news. Come on whites!

 

[bigmart]

damn 1 1

 

[Ian]

Can u believe it after our solid defence of late. 2-2. Still time, come on whites!

 

[bigmart]

McNulty gone off injured hope nothing serious

 

[Ian]

Swinging back and forth this game, Higdon with plenty of chances.

 

[drwhoman]

A draw. Disappointing. GB should be angry. Two equalisers conceded straight after our goals. On the positive side Eastleigh and Braintree only drew. As Grimsby won it looks like a three way fight for two playoff places. Dover, Rovers and Braintree, unless someone comes up on the rails. It makes a positive result at Dover essential. I hope McNulty is fit.

 

[drwhoman]

Sorry - I see Eastleigh scored a winner at the death. I am not sure it will change things greatly. They would need to win both their games in hand.

 

[Ian]

Really frustrating and this puts the pressure on like drwhoman says for the Dover game on Saturday. You can't be happy with conceding almost straight away after taking the lead twice. Higdon could have scored three in the first few minutes. Sounded like we were really dominant starting the game but I think they grew in confidence as the game went on and it sounded like we had a disappointing second half. Look forward to the reports.

There will be half a dozen teams fighting for that 4th & 5h place but the game in hand worries me. We have to win on Saturday.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

This is a really bad result. Back to our old habits of failing to take our early chances and then conceding sloppy goals. All the other results went against us with Dover, Eastleigh and Gateshead all winning, while Braintree can be happy with a point at Torquay. Realistically, it will now take a miracle to stay in the play-off zone. It relies on us stepping up a gear and at least two other teams falling away. As Ian says, we now need to win on Saturday. A draw will do us no favours, while a defeat would all but end our chances. As I think RLC said in an earlier post, our autumn slump has given us too much ground to catch up. I hope I'm proved wrong and just hope the team keeps going and doesn't give up. The SWA made up nearly half the crowd for a midweek away game. They deserve better.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Shocking performance from rovers. It started well enough and we should have been two or three up in the first twenty minutes but things went rapidly downhill thereafter. Over the ninety minutes I thought guiseley were the better side. We were pedestrian in possession, lacked shape and organisation and were woeful defensively. We created chances but gifted numerous opportunities to the opposition. Individually only Hughes and Kirby come out with any credit. Most of the senior players did not show up. If we lose mcnulty it will be disastrous. A victory at dover would keep the season alive but my gut feeling is we have blown it.

 

[Boz]

My first Rovers game for a month. We started brightly, looking good and having a niiumber of decent chances in the opening quarter hour, Higdon going closest with a header onto the bar. Guiseley seemed to have come back into it, one good save from a free-kick, when Rovers took the lead with an og, but didn't hold onto it for long, the detail of their equalising goal was impossible to see. Second half, Rovers appeared to start on the back foot straight away. An eventful few minutes around the hour mark, saw McNulty fail to recover from an injury and be replaced by Riley. Then a decent goal from Kirby, against the run of play, but Rovers ahead, but parity was quickly restored. The rest of the game was high stress for a Rovers fan as we kept giving the ball away, thankfully the hosts failed to capitalise.

RLC above, is unusually downbeat about this performance. For me the question is why we were unable to maintain the positive start, when we played really well. Perhaps also a regular Brabin reluctance to use his bench to try and change things, when Mackreth, Harris and Taylor-Fletcher were available. I thought Kirby had a good game, Jennings, Vaughan, Ihiekwe were all reasonable in the first half. Higdon seemed to attract a fair bit of flak from the SWA with a unwillingness to compete for headers. A lot for the manager to think about, before the now even more crucial Dover game

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Tonights performance just seemed a massive backward step compared to the quality of the previous two displays. We simply did not operate as a team as we should have done, which I think was partly down to a number of poor individual performances. Other than the first twenty minutes, which were tremendous apart from our usual glut of missed chances, we never had control of the game. Maybe tonight was a one off, but if a relatively limited side like guisely can cause us that many problems I am concerned for some of the matches ahead.

 

[Ian]

Thanks for the reports. It didn't sound that bad on the radio although we do have the pleasure of a certain rose tinted supporter sharing his views alongside the commentator.

Can't afford any more poor performances at this stage of the season. With results pretty much going against us last night it's going to be very difficult to maintain a top five place.

I think for us to do this we have to go on our best run of the season for the remaining games. There's too many teams still in with a shout.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Sounds like the performance was even worse than I feared. Looks like the Barrow effect is quickly wearing off. A win at Dover is vital to keep us up there and to give a boost to a flagging campaign.

No word yet on the McNulty injury. We have only Riley in reserve with Sutton at Barrow and Hogan still unfit.

What is also worrying is that last night Eastleigh did a Liverpool, coming from behind to win at the death. That could give them the lift to turn their season round.

If we had won last night, we'd still have had things under our control, but now we are relying on another surge in form and a couple of other teams to slip up.

 

[Ian]

I'm sure all the teams around us will slip up a little too, but with Dover having three games on us, that's a lot of points potentially.