• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

League Two Rovers v Stags

Match result

  • Rovers

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Draw

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Stags

    Votes: 1 14.3%

  • Total voters
    7
  • Poll closed .
Rovers v Stags
Posted by Ian
Prenton Park
Saturday, March 27, 2021 - 03:00 PM
Until: Saturday, March 27, 2021 - 05:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
Categories

Upcoming dates
All times have been adjusted for the timezone: Europe/London

This event has expired and has no upcoming dates

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
Keith obviously left early so he could have a good read of the Twitter comments!
I wouldn't bother. Takes a big man to be so abhorrent behind a keyboard. Absolutely no censor on that platform, some of the comments are disgusting.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Having watched Dawes's interview and reflected on the game, Vaughan's absence notwithstanding, we are still in a fantastic position.

I think we need four points from the next two games, which should be achievable, and we will hopefully have Vaughan back for the final few matches of the regular season.

Our very recent form is fairly patchy, but the same is true of some of our competitors (Forest Green) and a big win in the Easter matches could swing the pendulum our way.
 
Joined
1 Mar 2021
Messages
205
Player
Too many of them after over 50 years!
Let's look on the bright side. Third, when after Jackson we all thought it would be a struggle to get to the playoffs.Third, despite a rather knackered team drawing a few games. Now a clear week for key players to recuperate and for Hill and the coaches to work on the shortfalls. Plus, it's not all plain sailing for our rivals over the next month. I also think this team is capable of beating Cheltenham and Cambridge, especially when batteries have been recharged.

Having said that, I am not convinced Crawford is good enough at the moment , Kirby has potential, and Nugent isn't playing in the right areas if he is to be expected to score.
 
Joined
11 Aug 2009
Messages
225
Player
Jonny Morrisey
Having watched Dawes's interview and reflected on the game, Vaughan's absence notwithstanding, we are still in a fantastic position.

I think we need four points from the next two games, which should be achievable, and we will hopefully have Vaughan back for the final few matches of the regular season.

Our very recent form is fairly patchy, but the same is true of some of our competitors (Forest Green) and a big win in the Easter matches could swing the pendulum our way.
I thought the same to be fair, after the first 10 games we'd have taken our current position all day long. We just need to start killing teams off while we can and I'm just jot sure we have the firepower to do it. I'd be delighted with 4 points form the next 2 games but think we'll be lucky.....I do hope I'm wrong though!
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
Our very recent form is fairly patchy, but the same is true of some of our competitors (Forest Green) and a big win in the Easter matches could swing the pendulum our way.
Exactly. Some real six pointers coming up as we move towards the finish line. Loads of twists and turns to come!
 

Sparky

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2009
Messages
7,531
Player
Chris Greenacre
Yes we’re in our highest position of the season so far so lots to be positive about.
I just hope that now we’ve lost our club captain and keeper as well as Vaughan doesn’t cause us too many issues.

Murphy is a good back up keeper but losing Scottie is another blow from the spine of the side
 
Joined
24 Jul 2017
Messages
4,185
Player
aldo
so with Scottie out who do we think will be captain, I would give it to Spearing, he talks like a captain and is our best player at the moment think he would rise to it and love doing it, I would play Jolly or Burton in the next few games if it was me and leave Nugent on the bench, he is clearly ready for retirement and others little
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Yes we’re in our highest position of the season so far so lots to be positive about.
I just hope that now we’ve lost our club captain and keeper as well as Vaughan doesn’t cause us too many issues.

Murphy is a good back up keeper but losing Scottie is another blow from the spine of the side
Yes, Davies' absence probably won't make much difference in terms of individual performance on the pitch, but it could be a blow to morale in the dressing room.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
so with Scottie out who do we think will be captain, I would give it to Spearing, he talks like a captain and is our best player at the moment think he would rise to it and love doing it, I would play Jolly or Burton in the next few games if it was me and leave Nugent on the bench, he is clearly ready for retirement and others little
Yes, I would go for Spearing, although Clarke took the armband today.
 
Joined
24 Jul 2017
Messages
4,185
Player
aldo
hope they give the lads a couple of days off then work with them to get through the easter games we have been good against teams in the top half of the table
 
Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
5,690
Player
Alan King, Barry Dyson
Having watched Dawes's interview and reflected on the game, Vaughan's absence notwithstanding, we are still in a fantastic position.

I think we need four points from the next two games, which should be achievable, and we will hopefully have Vaughan back for the final few matches of the regular season.

Our very recent form is fairly patchy, but the same is true of some of our competitors (Forest Green) and a big win in the Easter matches could swing the pendulum our way.
Thanks for saving me the effort of posting the same sentiments.

While I’m gutted we lost another two points, I’d rather that than lose against either of our Easter weekend opponents. Each match will be a genuine six-pointer, apart from the morale booster a win over us would give. The league table doesn’t lie. We are third and no one can catch us by winning games in hand. Let’s not forget that when we criticise.
 
Last edited:

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
It was a good idea to use Dawes for the post-match interview. He was calm and direct, gave straight answers, highlighting the need for a second goal while on top. There were no digs at the fans; quite the opposite as he indicated this was the kind of game that with supporters present, they might have been the extra man to see Rovers to all the points.

As others have posted, we are in a strong position in that the promotion places are still in our own hands. I didn't have any issue with the starting xi, some had suggested Macdonald should have been rested, while personally, I thought Clarke could have done with a breather, but both justified their starts and played well. Crawford had a reasonable game on a rare start, save should have done better with the effort he skied over the bar. However, my feeling was the substitutions Keith made/didn't make in this game set us back. Kirby for Crawford made little difference, some nice touches from Nia, but taking off Morris, whose ball-retention was good, for Nugent was a mistake. Maybe replacing with Lloyd would have made more sense, given Danny's energy and ability to make things happen, something which cannot be said of the current version of Nugent. The fact Danny didn't feature at all, after we'd surrendered the lead was puzzling.

Since Vaughan's injury we have only won one game comfortably and that, at Southend, might be reflective of the poor quality of opponent. If the remaining games all see scrappy wins, by the odd goal, then nobody will care. However, hopefully the coming days without a midweek game will give the management team the chance to make some tactical tweaks in the games ahead.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,870
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Promotion is in our own hands and it is great to be third at this stage of the season.

However, at risk of being repetitive, our points per game ratio without Vaughan is not quite good enough to secure a place in the top three. We have picked up twelve points in the seven games without Vaughan which is a good return, but not as good as that of Cambridge, Cheltenham, Bolton or Morecambe in the same period.

We will probably have to improve on that performance in the last nine matches to go up automatically, whether through the return of Vaughan, a tactical adjustment, greater freshness in the players, or by beating our direct rivals and affecting their relative performance that way.

Edit: It is actually the same as Cheltenham's and given the current form of Bolton and Cambridge, perhaps they are our biggest rivals for a top three place.
 
Last edited:

bigmart

bigmart
Member
Joined
29 Jul 2009
Messages
7,107
Player
Ian Muir
I am hoping the fact that we have no midweek game will gave the management time to work on things on the training ground this week ahead of the Easter games as well as vital rest for the players.
 

Sparky

Member
Joined
8 Sep 2009
Messages
7,531
Player
Chris Greenacre
I think our only hope of automatic promotion is that our record against the better sides in the league isn’t too bad. Only drawing with Colchester and Grimsby etc is fine if we can beat the Cheltenham’s and Cambridge.
As Boz says if we can pick up scrappy wins next weekend through say Clarke headers from corners or say a penalty then that will do nicely. And it wouldn’t surprise me too much if we did that, even without Vaughan.
We’ll only know at 5pm on Easter Monday whether recent results are not going to be good enough to take us up automatically.

Going back to Dawes interview, it was a bit disappointing he was asked why Manny wasn’t in the squad but no mention of CBT who was in the pre match warm up so assume that was tactical also. We suspect there must be off the field issues but when you think CBT was arguably one of the best players in the league under Dawes and Parky, to not even make our bench when we aren’t scoring enough is really head scratching.

But as I say win both games next week, or even get 4 points and end up with promotion then it won’t matter.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
I don’t think it matters how much time we are given between now and the next game in terms of tactics. It’s quite obvious now that we do not have a suitable replacement for Vaughan or a tactic that works for us in his absence. It’s going to be a battle in these next nine games and we will need to scrap ugly 1-0 if needs be. We don’t have the luxury of goals now so the remaining games will be very tight affairs as we have seen over the last few games.
 
Joined
1 Mar 2021
Messages
205
Player
Too many of them after over 50 years!
I'm not sure Ian. There has not really been a chance to try out things through training due to all of the games. Things are being tried in live games with tired players. Still, guess we will see at Cheltenham and against Cambridge(who are top of the away points table over last 4 games)
 
Joined
24 Jul 2017
Messages
4,185
Player
aldo
Scottie, if it's the Achilles tendon, will not play again this season, some of our so-called fans who on the Paddock are saying I am glad he is out, and so on shame on you, yes he has cocked up and made mistakes, but he has also got us out of sticky situations and played brilliantly as we have won important games, as for the Twitter trolls, they are quite clearly not fans of our amazing club, it is getting so annoying with those dick H$%ds
 

bigmart

bigmart
Member
Joined
29 Jul 2009
Messages
7,107
Player
Ian Muir
I'm not sure Ian. There has not really been a chance to try out things through training due to all of the games. Things are being tried in live games with tired players. Still, guess we will see at Cheltenham and against Cambridge(who are top of the away points table over last 4 games)
Agreed, I don't think they have had much time to work on such things
 
Top