Rovers v Silkmen

[drwhoman]

Amazing. Maybe these other teams had too much Xmas pud! I do wish we scored more but a win is a win!

 

[iandavid59]

Yes a game of two halves I thought Rovers approach play was excellent at times in the first half with James Wallace outstanding and some great movement from Andy Mangan but once again we did not take what chances we had and struggled against a very good Macclesfield defence. But we got our bit of luck with the goal and results elsewhere went our way.

Thought Kirby and Norwood struggled today and Andy Cook was sorely missed and Tolitt is such frustrating to watch and was lucky not to be cautioned for me another blatant dive looking for a penalty.

Finally what a nark is that Richard Brodie was lucky to stay on the pitch after his booking as he whinged at anyone that came near him and will have to be watched on New Years Day as he will try his best to get into the Referees ear and get players booked or dismissed.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Finally what a nark is that Richard Brodie was lucky to stay on the pitch after his booking as he whinged at anyone that came near him and will have to be watched on New Years Day as he will try his best to get into the Referees ear and get players booked or dismissed.

He was clearly trying to wind up Jeff Hughes today and get a repeat of the York sending off. He was also lucky to stay on the pitch after an awful tackle on Wallace.

I am not sure what he offers to the game of football.

 

[Mal]

very near to my 0-0 forecast. Thank goodness for bad weather. At least my Guiseley hope happened, although 2-1 rather than 1-0. The replay for Macclesfield may be to our advantage. As for the game, too many backward passes trying to play out from back. But hey, great to be top at end of 2016.

 

[Boz]

It's the 3 points which count, but some careful thought needs to be given to what didn't go right today, as we rode our luck a little in the second half.

Wallace started brightly but was the subject of a challenge by Kingsley James after about 15 minutes, with no attempt at playing the ball, amazing that the ref didn't caution for that. It seemed to dent his confidence. There wasn't much tracking back by Wallace today. Some great through balls and cushioned headers from JW, but if we are to use him it may be MM needs to look at an extra body in central midfield.

There are concerns with our attack. Norwood was subdued, Tollit's radar malfunctioned and agree with Iandavid about the ridiculous dive. He did deliver a couple of great balls into the box though. Mangan worked really hard but without end product.

The options to change things were limited, but I was a little surprised Micky replaced Kirby with Connor Jennings , but deployed him in more or less the same role. It felt a bit Brabinesque.

I'd like to see our goal again, as it looked like a possible foul on their keeper.

MoM for me was Jeff Hughes. Perhaps not as influential in a creative sense as usual, but did a great deal of defensive mopping up and scored the winner.

Ultimately a great turnout and a win to take us top. Got to be content with that.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I would be tempted to drop Norwood for the return fixture and play C Jennings just off Mangan. Norwood looks really out of sorts at the moment, probably not helped by the twitter furore, and Connor probably deserves a starting place given that the two strikers ahead of him are misfiring. However, Micky prefers to play with two conventional strikers so I can't see it happening.

Mangan and Norwood linked up well at Lincoln and in earlier away matches, so hopefully the same will happen at Moss Rose. They certainly did not work well as a pair today, although I thought Mangan had a good game individually.

 

[Ian]

I thought we missed a bit of muscle up front today. The few long balls we played were swallowed up with ease and limited Norwood to very little chances who spent most of his time chasing balls. He does look a tad out of sorts though.

Very pleased to see Wallace starting and is a class above on the ball. Excellent passing and vision. Looked a tad heavier than I remember so a few more games will sort that out.

I was disappointed to see we lost our composure in the second half as the first whilst without a goal saw some excellent foootball played by Rovers. Not sure about all this messing around at the back.

Couldn't have asked for better results today and although I don't think our performances have been great recently, we are picking up points. An excellent sign I think.

Rovers march on!

 

[Ian]

Also the attendance was fantastic. Over 7000 for a national league game. Incredible really.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Also the attendance was fantastic. Over 7000 for a national league game. Incredible really.

Absolutely.

 

[drwhoman]

Only three Div 2 average attendance are higher - Portsmouth, Plymouth and Luton. Our average attendance would put us around sixth or seventh in the Division.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Our attendances have held up remarkably well, especially considering many visiting teams bring less than 100. I have always thought the main factor in crowd numbers is our league position rather than the league itself.

 

[drwhoman]

Agree BBTC. The interested but not committed supporter will always be willing to watch a winning team particularly on a public holiday!

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

It's the 3 points which count, but some careful thought needs to be given to what didn't go right today, as we rode our luck a little in the second half.

Wallace started brightly but was the subject of a challenge by Kingsley James after about 15 minutes, with no attempt at playing the ball, amazing that the ref didn't caution for that. It seemed to dent his confidence. There wasn't much tracking back by Wallace today. Some great through balls and cushioned headers from JW, but if we are to use him it may be MM needs to look at an extra body in central midfield.

There are concerns with our attack. Norwood was subdued, Tollit's radar malfunctioned and agree with Iandavid about the ridiculous dive. He did deliver a couple of great balls into the box though. Mangan worked really hard but without end product.

The options to change things were limited, but I was a little surprised Micky replaced Kirby with Connor Jennings , but deployed him in more or less the same role. It felt a bit Brabinesque.

I'd like to see our goal again, as it looked like a possible foul on their keeper.

MoM for me was Jeff Hughes. Perhaps not as influential in a creative sense as usual, but did a great deal of defensive mopping up and scored the winner.

Ultimately a great turnout and a win to take us top. Got to be content with that.

Looking at the video, I don't think Jeff Hughes touched it. It was too high. The goalie appeared to knock the ball back into his own net when challenged. Great cross by Liam Ridehalgh, but I agree that maybe the wind played a part as it was a regulation catch for the keeper.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Looking at the video, I don't think Jeff Hughes touched it. It was too high. The goalie appeared to knock the ball back into his own net when challenged. Great cross by Liam Ridehalgh, but I agree that maybe the wind played a part as it was a regulation catch for the keeper.

That is the way I saw it at the time BBTC. Definitely not a foul.

 

[Boz]

Seen the goal again and agree with you both.

 

[Sparky]

Nice to hear Aldo was at the match along with his son and grandson.

His first match since the Barnes era interestingly.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Macclesfield's game against Altricham tonight has been postponed due to a frozen pitch at Moss Rose. Macc have had a number of postponements already this season, so I just hope Sunday's game goes ahead; the forecast looks ok at the moment.

Macc will obviously be fresher on New Year's Day than they would have been, but will apparently lose Brodie who is suspended for their next match.

 

[Boz]

I'd be gutted if the New Years Day fixture postponed. as never seen Rovers playing away on January 1st before