Rovers v Blackpool

[Rockford's Love Child]

An entertaining game and a good performance from Rovers. If anything, I think we deserved to win.

In the first half I did not think there was much between the teams, with both sides playing some decent football up until the eighteen yard box but lacking a final ball. Blackpool edged possession and looked slightly more dangerous but did not really create anything in general play, and again it was a moment of suicidal defending from a set play that resulted in the opening goal, our defence completely switching off from a routine corner to the back post.

In the second half the game became much more stretched, with both sides having chances, but I thought in the final 20-30 minutes we were well on top. If Connor's brilliant strike had not been superbly saved by their keeper, with the superb Ferrier hitting the post with the rebound, we would have had the victory we deserved.

I thought everybody played well. Caprice was much better than on Boxing Day and Woods had a decent game. He is a different type of player to our other full backs, not as powerful, but more of a footballer, with decent distribution. The two centre halves were solid and saw off Gnanduillet, who is a real handful. In midfield, I thought both Perkins and Danns were much improved on the Burton game, particularly Danns, although I again thought Perkins looked knackered in the second half and should have been replaced by Potter. The amount of space between defence and midfield was still an issue when Blackpool counter attacked, with the back four lacking protection.

In the attacking areas, Connor continued his improvement and Morris was excellent again. CBT had a very good second half. However, the man of the match was Ferrier who put in a fantastic all round performance, bullying their two centre halves and scoring an excellent goal which he pretty much created for himself.

It is a pity certain other results went against us, but if we can maintain that level of performance, with a bit more quality added next month, hopefully we can do enough to stay up.

 

[bigmart]

A decent game which I thought we were just the better gem and could have won if not for a stunning save at the end. Some fantastic performances with ferried the mom.

What concerns me is that the likes of Accrington have now pulled well clear and we really need to pick up a few wins

 

[keep the faith]

trouble is effort alone won,t win games although we played well today but still feels like 2pts lost just wondering why micky never made any changes as I feel they were there for the taking,some good performances ie nelson, monthe, conor but thought ferrier was awesome

 

[Ian]

If they put that amount of effort into every game, we would certainly pick up more points. Blackpool are a decent side as their league position shows but we more than matched them today. Makes games such as the Burton one very frustrating.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

In fairness, I think the effort is there the majority of the time (even at Burton), but the problem is ability. We have limited ability, therefore we are inconsistent.

 

[Chris Johnston]

A really good second half from us, after a poor first half. What was doing my head in was the amount of set pieces or simple crosses that did not get past the first man. You can't blame the pitch for that, and I found it very weird, and incredibly wasteful. I would have thought that it would be reasonable to expect a pro player to be able to cross a ball from dead?

 

[aldoes mustache]

looking at the ferry man he has now scored 6 -7 games and 8 in 12 ok it also has cup games to . look at nors who has 2 in 18 games well in morgs just need to keep it out the other end

 

[aldoes mustache]

also nearly 8500 there today mp needs to get his wallet out we need help and fast can see danns and perks need comp and younger faster players in the middle of the park . its a must hope they got deals ready to go can see it being a busy few weeks . also can we have a new pitch cus the one we have is sh$%t . and mm is dropping very big pitch and player hints

 

[Ian]

What was doing my head in was the amount of set pieces or simple crosses that did not get past the first man. You can't blame the pitch for that, and I found it very weird, and incredibly wasteful.

That happens far too often sadly.

 

[Sparky]

That happens far too often sadly.

Spot on Chris. It was driving me mad first half. Caprice, Perkins and Morris all guilty of it. I mean how difficult is it to beat the first man?!?!?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

The set pieces have been terrible all season. Even when we do beat the first man, the ball is not attacked properly.

 

[ADD]

Neither likely to have much influence. Is DWR the new Mullin ?

Not sure what that is supposed to mean but I assume you did not watch the Man U game given your dislike of the format... just think he would materially influence our play at set pieces from watching that game...

 

[ADD]

That happens far too often sadly.

It is I agree something that drives us all mad. Some of the attempts yesterday were laughable... for those very few who watched the Man U23 game that was the only game this season when free kick after free kick and corner after corner went fast and true to the intended recipient... sadly the player who was taking all those is not one of the regular first team squad as just a youngster in MM's eyes. Why none of the others seem capable I have no idea,

 

[ADD]

For me a much better performance than at Burton with MM describing it as a proper Tranmere performance. We could so have done with their replacement keeper making that superb save from Connor with 2 minutes to go...
Ferrier as others said was exceptional today and for sure is now our No.1 striker. Interestingly, MM also said post match that like Nors he feels he plays better when up top by himself as another striker tends to "get in his way" so looks like we may settle on only 1 up front going forward. Defence much improved - Woods guilty of a few misplaced passes but generally given how little game time he had and playing on his weaker side he did well I felt. I would play him instead of Caprice if Rides is fit. Danns was also excellent in my book and if we are looking at changing the midfield I would make him Captain and have Perkins the player moved out. CBT good in patches but clearly not helped by having to play on such a terrible pitch. Connor is also getting confidence and starting to look more influential which is great news. Nelson and Monthe much more solid and we defended well aside from their goal obviously.
That said we need to be winning games such as yesterday's as Lincoln have opened up a gap such that it looks likely it will be 3 from the bottom 6 with Southend looking like the only certainty to go down.

 

[Boz]

A point was more than I thought we'd get, looking at the starting line-up,so grateful we got that. Sounds like on balance, while we could have won it, a share of the spoils was probably right. Thanks for all the reports. Very difficult game coming up v Coventry and we'll see how we're placed after that.

 

[aldoes mustache]

looking at the bench yesterday . with 3 forwards on there and the keeper . there was not much mm could change if he wanted to . you can see he needs more players

 

[Boz]

looking at the bench yesterday . with 3 forwards on there and the keeper . there was not much mm could change if he wanted to . you can see he needs more players

Due to Hepburn-Murphy’s late withdrawal, there were only 3 forwards on the bench, initially Micky had gone with 4. While I didn’t want to see Rushian absent as he’s the closest to a game-changer we’ve got, the bench looked more balanced with the introduction of another midfielder in Walker-Rice. It sounds like Micky should have used one of his subs to replace a tiring Perkins.

 

[Ian]

I also thought CBT should have been replaced as his legs had gone with 15 to go.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Morris is capable of good set piece delivery and I think the major problem this season has been that balls into the box are not attacked, rather than the delivery. For those suggesting that DWR should be starting games, do they really think a centre midfield of Perkins / Danns and Walker Rice would be fit for purpose in a relegation dogfight ? I can't think of many managers who would throw him into that situation. There is a big difference between playing under 21 matches and senior football in our current circumstances.

 

[keep the faith]

doesn,t matter how many forwards we have on the bench if none are brought on, I wonder if micky went for the draw instead of bringing on another forward just in case it went pear shaped