Rovers v Shots

[Rockford's Love Child]

Aldershot come to Prenton Park after a convincing win at Barrow and are currently level on points with Rovers. Charlie Walker and ex-Southport striker Richard Brodie have both been among the goals for The Shots this season and will be a threat, but coming in the middle of a sequence of extremely difficult fixtures this is a game we really have to win. Both Wrexham and Grimsby have beaten Aldershot by big margins and, as we keep saying, this is the sort of home game we must win to finish in the top five.

We will be forced to make at least one change with Liam Hogan's concussion on Friday ruling him out. Marcus Holness deserves to keep his place, and I just hope Friday's showing was not a one-off. Elsewhere, I think we should stick to the attacking 4-4-2 but we need to play a recognised striker alongside Norwood, whether Blissett or Mangan.

Tuesday will probably see our lowest gate of the season so far, probably around the 4,000 mark with a sub-100 turnout from Hampshire.

It is about time we had a really convincing home victory and this would be a good place to start.

 

[Sparky]

Aldershot will be no push overs but as RLC says we need to start picking up wins and this is a good opportunity but it won't be easy.

Obviously a quick tempo from the first whistle is required. Agree that Norwood needs a recognised striker alongside him and I'd opt for big Blissett after his goal on Friday. Assuming Mekki isn't fit that means Jackson and Dawson on the wings.

I had a quick peek at he top scorers earlier. Already a couple of players on 8 with many on 6 or 7. We have four players on at least 2 which is good to some degree but need someone to start building a tally. Hopefully Tuesday will see that.

The lads should be in good spirits after a good result on Friday so I'm going for a hard fought 2-1 win for rovers.

 

[Boz]

Touch and go whether I get away from work in time to make this.

The visitors have picked up recently, with their strikers in decent form. Holness did enough to keep his place in central defence, while if Mekki is unfit, I'd like to see a recall for Liam Ridehalgh, a natural left-footer. Most of our goals have originated from passing movements on the deck, so would opt for Mangan or Margetts ahead of Blissett.

Prediction: Crowd will be well down, just scraping 4k. Can't see either side keeping a clean sheet, so either score draw or narrow Rovers win.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Can't argue with anything above. Just to add that our results are beginning to form a pattern. The better the opposition, the better we fare. We have just six points from a possible 18 against the bottom six sides, but we are unbeaten in five against the better teams and have a 100% record against them at PP. So, obviously a home banker!

 

[Gray]

I fancy us to start picking up some good results now after a slight dip in form and hope this starts on Tuesday. Agree with the above and think we should stick with 4-4-2, although our wingers need to be a bit more adventurous if that's how we're going to line up. We really need to be winning at home.

Having said all that, my Dad is going to the game so we'll probably lose.

 

[Ian]

I think we've steadied the ship a little bit. After a couple of bad results, two away draws aint that bad. Like Gray says, we need to be winning at home and I fancy us to do so. The squad is starting to settle and the balance seems better. After a few weeks GB now knows his players and what he can expect from them. Norwood is settling in nicely and just needs a steady strike partner. I fancy us to win this 2-0 (two magical James Norwood goals).

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed that second half. We played at a good tempo, penned Aldershot in, showed our quality and thoroughly deserved to win the game. We battered them really and could easily have had more goals.

Best not to mention the first forty five however. I think it must rank as one of the dullest halves of football I have witnessed: it is difficult to believe eleven men could do so little on a football pitch in three quarters of an hour. Aldershot were not exactly great, but we were fortunate to be level at half time. If we could start games better against the fair to middling sides we would be a formidable team at this level. As it is, there are real signs of improvement and with results going for us tonight, we are now in touching distance of the leaders with some exciting matches on the horizon.

Individually, there were some excellent performances in the second half. Mekki, Dawson, Norwood and Hill in particular were excellent, and Andy Mangan made a big difference when he replaced the ineffectual Blissett, linking the play well in addition to his goal threat. A fully fit Mangan and Norwood give us an extra dimension and I think they are vital players for us. My man of the match would once again be Steve Jennings, however. He was involved in a lot of our best moves and showed great desire to protect the back four in the latter stages.

Things are certainly looking up. On to Cheltenham......

 

[Ian]

I agree RLC. First half was crap in all honesty and we were quite lucky to go in level at half time. I don't think we had another shot on target, although playing Blissett wasn't working and yet again resulting in aimless balls up front for Blissett to only win a handful of headers. Managan made a big difference when he came on and yet again shows what damage can be done with a bit of quality in the final third. Tranmere played some excellent football in the second half and scored great goals. It was nice to see the front two scoring with good quality finishing, we need to see more of that.

Things are definately looking up and its a steady improvement but it would be nice if we played with the same tempo for 90 minutes. At this rate, I might start getting to the game at half time!

Surprised Aldershot were sitting just behind us before the game as they weren't great and really faded in the second half. Maybe all that travelling had tired them out!

Keep it going Rovers.

 

[Boz]

One of the most dismal first half performances I can recall in recent years and there has been plenty of competition! A puzzling starting line up including the ineffectual Blissett up front and Maynard at right-back, went behind early on and then struggled to make any impact against a well-drilled Aldershot side. Our manager spent more time berating the officials than trying to sort things out on the pitch. Norwood, who had been as bad as any in the first half, then showed his class to take advantage of a high ball that bounced off the Shots central defender and finish well in stoppage time. The booing from some quarters as the side went off indicated discontent with the display,while less vocal fans were reflecting how incredibly lucky Rovers were to be exiting on level terms.

Mangan replaced Blissett at half-time and things improved. Much more of the ball on the deck and some good passing movement. After a full-blooded opening 10 minutes from Rovers, the visitors came more back into it, with one effort being chipped past an open goal after a defensive mix-up. Rovers took the lead when a Jennings effort against the post was headed in by Mekki. Rovers also had a good penalty claim turned down and an effort cleared off the line, before good interplay between Norwood and Mangan saw the latter finish for 3-1.

I think Aldershot suffered a bit from two long away trips,but they gave us a good fight and things might have turned out very different had Rovers gone in at half-time still trailing.

MoM for me was Mekki who worked hard throughout, obviously wanting to make a point against a former club.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

At the moment, any win is a good win. But it sounds like it could have gone either way if luck and finishing had been different. Again, we blow hot and cold. At least this time we were hot for the last 45 minutes.

Something no-one on the OS or above has mentioned is the absence of Marcus Holness. I thought he'd be certain to play, but he didn't even make the bench, where young Evan Gumbs was the only central defender. We were told that Hogan and Jackson were injured, but nothing was said about Holness.

 

[Boz]

GB was complementary about Holness in the programme saying he'd been a model pro in his comeback. Can only assume a late injury/illness or something personal keeping him out.

I was surprised the way the defence lined up, the more obvious combination with those available would be
Ridehalgh Hill Sutton Ihiekwe. Initially, the central pair and the keeper were all over the place, but settled down. Hill and Ihiekwe linked well on the left side, Sutton took Ihiekwe's lead and actually started carrying the ball out rather than hoofing it, and he's much better doing that. Maynard didn't look comfortable at right-back, but did little wrong.

 

[Ian]

Holness was injured.

 

[Sparky]

Well after 44 minutes if you told me we would win 3-1 I'd say you were off your rocker! The first half was awful - our ball retention in particular was dire. We couldn't string more than a few passes together and I felt Harris in particular had a nightmare. The equaliser although well taken was a gift and did change the entire feeling in the ground.

I didn't think we could play much worse second half and there was a big improvement. Whether Blissett was injured or not, Mangan and Norwood are both clinical at this level and are a real threat. Blissetts loan spell has now ran out so it will be interesting if he stays. I still like a target man as an option in the squad and Blissett has done no better than Odejayi would have - although hasn't been fit.

Best 3 players for me were Jenno, Mekki (who I'm still not convinced by but put in his best TRFC performance to date), and Dawson who was MOM for me. His signing has been a real coup I feel as he is quick, skilful, aggressive and most of all, his quality into the box is usually very good. We should be trying now to sign him permanently if we can. Holness had a slight calf strain but special mention for Maynard who once again will have been frustrated being played out of position but worked hard.

Nice for GB to mention those of us in the Kop who made a bit of noise at one part to get the lads going.

This was a very good result against an in form and dangerous opponent. A tougher game awaits on Saturday but I suspect spirits will be very high in the camp and rightly so.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

At the moment, any win is a good win. But it sounds like it could have gone either way if luck and finishing had been different.

That was not the feeling I took away from the game to be honest. We blew Aldershot away in the second half and I think we would have won even if we had gone in trailing at half time. We have definitely improved and there is far more confidence and variety in our attacking play now. I would agree with Sparky that Dawson has made a major difference in this regard.

The first half was poor but Aldershot did not really hurt us and in the second period we played as well as we have all season.

I also agree with Sparky that Maynard did very well at right back, winning a number of challenges and showing good positional sense. Bizarrely, I though it was best performance for us so far. Criticism of the manager for the defensive line up is wide of the mark as he had few other options with three defenders injured. Playing Hill at centre back at this level would not be a good idea.

 

[Boz]

That was not the feeling I took away from the game to be honest. We blew Aldershot away in the second half and I think we would have won even if we had gone in trailing at half time. We have definitely improved and there is far more confidence and variety in our attacking play now. I would agree with Sparky that Dawson has made a major difference in this regard.

The first half was poor but Aldershot did not really hurt us and in the second period we played as well as we have all season.

I also agree with Sparky that Maynard did very well at right back, winning a number of challenges and showing good positional sense. Bizarrely, I though it was best performance for us so far. Criticism of the manager for the defensive line up is wide of the mark as he had few other options with three defenders injured. Playing Hill at centre back at this level would not be a good idea.

Perhaps we'd have won from 0-1 down at half-time, but it certainly didn't feel like that after the way the first half went. Rovers went into the second half all guns blazing, but didn't score in the opening 20 minutes. I think you are being too dismissive of Aldershot, the game was still 1-1, when they had an excellent chance to regain the lead with a defensive mix-up giving Browne an open goal to aim at, but he chipped wide. A couple of minutes later, we go down the other end and score.

Don't get your issue with playing Hill in central defence either. He's played in that position many times, in higher leagues than this. While not the tallest, he doesn't get muscled out of many headers and we do have another specialist left-back in Ridehalgh. Maynard has played right-back (and central defender) before and didn't do much wrong here, but it didn't seem the most obvious defensive line-up to pick with the personnel available

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I don't remember Hill ever playing centre back for us other than to cover injury for ten or fifteen minutes, but if he has played there previously I stand corrected. However, National League football is far more physical than Championship football and I don't think it would have been a good idea to play him at centre back yesterday. I thought the back four did well in general play and Aldershot's goal resulted from one of our midfielders - Harris - giving it away.

I still maintain that in the second half we showed application and quality that Aldershot did not at any stage in the game and we were worthy winners in the end. Aldershot had a few other chances but no real concerted pressure, even in the first half when we were awful. The overall performance, following on from Chester, Southport (second half) and Grimsby convinces me that we are improving.

 

[Boz]

I think you're right that Matt Hill hasn't played in central defence for Rovers. He has featured there for other sides and think he may have played there for the Blades when they visited PP. Agree that generally the back four played competently, the exception being the cock-up involving Davies and (I think) Sutton, which led to the Shots best chance of the second half.

I'd agree we are improving and some of the football in the second half last night was of high quality, with flowing passing movement replacing hopeful punts upfield.

 

[Boz]

Have now watched the highlights and a couple of things come to mind;

It was a sloppy pass from Jay Harris that gave Aldershot possession, near the touchline a foot or so from our box. However, it would be disingenuous to pin all the blame on Harris for the goal, as it's some distance away from goal and there is some good passing and poor defending before they score.

Tha Aldershot chance mid-way through the second half at 1-1. It's a ball which Sutton should have cut out, Davies makes a meal of and arguably both Sutton and Maynard should have been better placed to snuff out any threat.

Maynard did make an excellent challenge in the penalty area to put the ball out for a corner, where an error in timing could have led to a penalty.

 

[Higgy]

When fit we do have plenty of players signed as central defenders - Sutton, Riley et al. So with reasonable luck with injuries and form we should cope - even Holness can't be far away and Gumbs is someone who may come to the fore as he develops during the season. Hill could definitely play there - may not be a giant, but is no softie and has a good football brain. Granted he may be better suited if playing in a back three next to a couple of the biguns. Given Maynard's recent conversion to defense, he may also be a prospect for a back three