Mariners v Rovers

[Boz]

Little recovery time after Tuesday's battling draw at Southport, before a televised game at Blundell Park. Grimsby a pre-season favourite to go up, but have performed erratically. They do have a strong strike-force with Bogle and Amond joined by on-loan Tomlinson, who's a proven striker at this level.

Brabin's post-match remarks suggested he was unhappy with the defence, save Hill. His comments today suggest he's not keen on squad rotation, an assertion which isn't supported by his previous team selections. I'd like to see us give Ihiekwe a chance in central defence, with Sutton/Hogan at right-back. Blissett/Margetts alongside Norwood up front, resting the unfit Mangan, but little idea of how we will line-up.

Grimsby's never been a happy hunting ground for us. I did see us win there ~15 years ago, 0-1 think Gary Jones with the winner, but that was a rare good result. Fearing a comfortable home win probably 2-0/3-1, with a fairly small SWA of around 300.

 

[Sparky]

Formation will be interesting in this one. After sticking with 4-4-2 on Tuesday we clearly had problems so will GB be tempted to revert back to 3-5-2? With Jenno in front of the defence? It'll be interesting.

Grimsby of course lost in the play off final on penalties last season and will be a tough nut to crack. I just hope we start better than we did in our last televised game where we were woeful first half at Welling.

Mangan has fitness issues (again) so Blissett may feature against the side he opted not to join just before signing for us. His lack of recent match time may lead him to think he made the wrong decision. A win could see us put pressure on those above us but I can't see us getting anything more than a point.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Grimsby have been as inconsistent as ourselves this season, but they are formidable attacking side at Blundell Park, scoring four goals in every home game but failing to keep a clean sheet. With our own defensive problems of recent weeks, I can't see this ending nil nil.

I would expect Brabin to stick with a 4-4-2 formation, but probably not with two out and out wingers, and Ridehalgh may be returned to the side. I would agree that Mangan has not looked fit and probably needs a rest.

We have not got a great record at Grimsby, the only victory I have seen there being a 1-0 win in the 1991 promotion season, Kenny Irons scoring the winner (Grimsby went up automatically that year). Given our inconsistent form a draw would be a decent result, providing we can beat Aldershot on Tuesday.

 

[Ian]

Who knows what will run out before kick off? We'll either be woefully bad or amazingly good. However, seeing as we haven't got going in many games until the second half, I hope we can keep this to a respectable draw. Not a great deal of confidence though.

Also, lets hope we dont see Ihiekwe at right back again, he's pretty bad.

 

[bigmart]

Ian, we do not have a recognised right back and really need to sign one. Think we will end up drawing this 1 1

 

[Sparky]

Well bigmart was right with the score line finishing 1-1.

I wasn't convinced with the starting line up. Jackson is not a frontman but was unlucky not to score with a header. Their goal was a poor one to give away but credit to the lads for responding with Jenno playing in big blissett who finished well. After the equaliser they were the better side and we defended well. Holness doing well particularly.

A scrappy game but when you consider we're away at one of the better teams in the league and were trailing at half time, plus we lost 3 players through injury over the match, it's a good point.

No one stood out but mom for me probably Hill for making some key blocks/interceptions towards the end.

On to Tuesday...

 

[Ian]

Agree with that Sparky, tough game and they battled quite well. Still very lightweight up front. Their defence a little shaky and I would have liked to have seen more pressure on it and more for the keeper to do but a decent point nevertheless.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

Better tonight. Last 20 a bit scary but they didn't actually create that much. Quality goal for us. I'm never going to win a popularity contest with this but Holness kept us together well at the back. I know, I know...

 

[Boz]

Only saw part of the game, but a decent point. Feared for the worst when Holness had to come on, but he did ok.

Grimsby boss said we were the best side they've come up against. I know Grimsby were missing a couple of their better players, but expected more of them and quite encouraged that we came away with a point.

 

[Ian]

Got a lot of respect for their manager and captain who gave us a lot of praise after the game. Wish there was more of that in the game. Anyway, if we actually played decent for 90 minutes we might start to win games instead of giving teams the advantage of a goal or two before we decide to start playing. Holness was decent but he does have his moments.

 

[White Squaddie]

I thought Norwood did really well for us last night, put a real shift in and looks like he's now up to full fitness!

 

[Gray]

All things considered it was a decent point. Disappointing to concede from a set piece (but what's new), we scored a decent goal and we defended OK for the last 30 minutes, although we made it hard for ourselves by being second to absolutely everything.

Grimsby we're a really physical side and did kick lumps out of us all night. Ref did next to nothing but made sure he stopped Blisset celebrating in front of the Rovers fans who'd travelled to Grimsby on a Friday night.

It's good to see us try and play a bit of football but there's not enough attacking intent and we're sloppy and give the ball away (far) too often. I can see what we're trying to do and hopefully it will come good in time. Definite signs of improvement last night.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Really pleased with the performance last night. For the first sixty minutes we controlled the game, with Jennings and Harris running midfield. As has been commented we did not create enough, certainly until Blissett came on, but neither did Grimsby until they threw everything at us in the last twenty minutes, and even in this period our defence stood up very well. Over the ninety I thought we looked the better side, and Grimsby fans on the local radio agreed with their manager that we are the best the best team they have played.

I think we would have threatened more in the first half if Blissett or Mangan had been partnering Norwood up front. As I said after the Southport game, Jackson can not play as a conventional striker and I thought that was evident again last night.

There were a lot of solid performances, with Holness exceeding expectations when he came on, but Jennings would be my man of the match. He has been playing really well for a couple of weeks now.

Last night convivnced me that we will be up there at the end of the season: there have been definite signs of improvement in recent games and our overall record is not bad, played 11, won 4 drawn 5, lost only 2.

A special word of praise should go to the SWA who made the trip last night. We sang ourselves stupid and it was noticeable that our support had a more positive effect on the performance than the constant whingeing and barracking that takes place when we have a bigger turnout (Altrincham for example).

 

[Boz]

A special word of praise should go to the SWA who made the trip last night. We sang ourselves stupid and it was noticeable that our support had a more positive effect on the performance than the constant whingeing and barracking that takes place when we have a bigger turnout (Altrincham for example).

Yes, credit to those like you, who made the Friday night trek to the East coast. It sounded from the televised action like the SWA were in fine voice.

I was a little surprised at the quoted figure of just 144 away fans. However it seems the quality of the travelling support more than made up for the quantity of Rovers fans attending.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/grimsby-1-1-tranmere-rovers-10088801

Just read the attached Echo report. Mr Jones must have been at a different game to me.

Utter drivel.

 

[Ian]

Pretty negative report there. The only thing I would say is we were quite poor in the first half. I don't think we saw their keeper at all. Lot more solid in the 2nd half but we still need more bite upfront. Could be looking at quite a few draws this season otherwise.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought we were clearly the better side in possession in the first half, while not creating much.

The whole tone of that report is way off the mark. A draw at Grimsby is a good result, and the performance was decent.