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League Two Newport v Rovers

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Norwood
Yes terrible 45 minutes. We did not have one shot. Poor goal to concede. Manny header so poor. Very physical with Labadie being a pain in the proverbials. Need Feeney on at least. Might even bring Burton on and play 2 up front as it isn't working as it is.
 

Ian

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Aldo
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They are spending too long hoofing the ball up field. Banks, Spearing, Khan, Morris (also not in it much) are much better with the ball at their feet.
 

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Players pressured the ref into that. Didn't look like a red. Horrible team. Have to be careful we don't get another sent off
 

bigmart

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I'm not totally convinced that was a red but doubt it be overturned if we appeal.
 

Sparky

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Chris Greenacre
Disappointing result and another game without scoring. The sending off won’t have helped but sounds like we were poor first half.
Lots of work for Jacko to do
 

Ian

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That was frustrating and we played better with 10 men. Not one shot on target. Far too negative and not a great performance overall.
 

bigmart

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We went very good against an average team, hopefully Vaughan be back for tuesday and Smith will come into the reckoning
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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A bad afternoon for Rovers but at least we battled with ten men.

We did not get going in the first half. Newport were physical and niggly and got a grip of midfield, particularly through Labadie. This was not the sort of game that Ollie Banks likes, but he was a passenger in the first half, and with his poor performance we did not get the ball down and construct anything through midfield.

Jackson made the necessary tactical change at the break, taking Banks off and bringing Feeney on, and it is quite possible we could have got back in the game without the red card incident. The decision looked very harsh to me, but was completely predictable given Newport's gamesmanship throughout the game. We actually played our best football of the match with ten men, largely due to the contibution of Young who was very impressive and used the ball well, and was the biggest positive to come from the afternoon. I would not be surprised if he starts ahead of Banks on Tuesday night. It was also encouraging that we again showed spirit when things went against us and the players' heads did not drop.

Individually, Monthe was really poor with a mistake for the first goal, and an equally bad error in the second half which could have resulted in a second. Kahn, Morris and Feeney all did ok and Clarke was as solid as usual. Young was the real bright spark.

Not a disaster and we have two winnable home games coming up where we can get points on the board.
 

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That was truly dire. Back to the absolute rubbish of the early games. If we had played like that last week I could just about understand but we had a good side out today with a first choice/ equal back 5 (Murphy and Davies interchangeable for me) and 3 guaranteed starters in midfield. This playing 1 up front does not work when we don't have a target man. Jacko however seems unwilling to recognise that and we persisted until 4 minutes from time when the game was lost already.
Created absolutely nothing with not a single shot on target. Hoof ball all day long (so unlike last week which was good).

The sending off shocking reactions by Newport players but doubt it will be over turned on appeal - looking at it again his right foot seems to come out after the initial challenge as well. Agree re Banks he simply wasn't at the races. Think 100% he needs dropping which I guess will happen from Tuesday with Young and Feeney starting in place of him and Lewis. Personally have to say playing as we were I think we would have lost even without the sending off but we will never know now.
Finally referee was terrible beyond belief - and not just because of the sending off.

Bright spots very few, other than Murphy made two excellent saves, Clarke was solid as ever and Young looked excellent when he came on. Hasn't been easy start for Jacko with Covid last week and this week and I appreciate we have had more away games but even so 6 points from 18 is starting to be a concern.
 
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Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
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We played one up front in the previous three League games and performed well, so I don't see that as the issue today. We also have to bear in mind that other than Burton, we did not have a single recognised forward available due to Covid and injuries.

We have had a difficult start playing a number of the top sides, plus four out of six away from home.
 

Boz

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Iain Hume
I’ve been travelling so unable to follow the game properly. Was a bit more hopeful when I saw the line-up, but things seem to have gone as badly as my initial thoughts. While the next two games can be won, think they won’t be easy and given Smith will be an option maybe time for Jacko to look at playing 2 up front?
 

bigmart

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Ian Muir
We have a number of winnable games coming up which we need to take advantage of, there are hardly any decent teams in this league but we need to play better football.
 
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