Shrews v Rovers

[Rockford's Love Child]

Rovers make the relatively short trip to the New Meadow for a match which takes on even greater significance following Friday's defeat.

McNulty is out with a one match ban, Goodison is injured and Edwards will not be risked following his struggles at Peterborough, all of which means Rovers will play a left back at centre half. Against Colchester Ridehalgh looked decent in the middle and will probably deputise, whch leaves us with Horwood at left back which certainly does not fill me with confidence.

Ronnie was asked directly in his pre-match interview whether he will use Hateley / Jennings as a holding midfielder in the games ahead and gave a resounding no, so it seems we might as well save our breath on that front. However, RM did say we are likely to start with a 4-5-1 in this game to give Ridehalgh greater protection, which probably means a midfield three of Wallace, Koumas and Power / Atkinson. It also seems likely that Robbo will start the game ahead of Kirby.

We really can't afford to lose this game and with the incredibly tough matches that follow and the cancellation of the Crawley game, we really need three points. Shrewsbury are pretty inconsistent, even at home, so if we can get our act together defensively a win is not out of the question.

Hopefully Rovers will backed by a holiday crowd of at least 800-1,000 travelling fans for this one.

 

[bigmart]

Hope for a win but think we will lose 2 1

 

[roverstillidie]

Can't believe Ronnie still can't see that we need a defensive midfielder, I'm not too hopeful unless he plays one.

Team I would play:

OFW

Holmes Taylor Rideleigh Horwood

Jennings Hateley

Peterson Wallace Koumas

Lowe

Subs: Mooney, Goodison (I'm sure he's fit enough really!), Ostembor, Robinson, Power, Stockton, Baggie.

 

[bigmart]

Well that was just what was needed a big 3 points today and a bit of a gap to the bottom 4, looks like we played 4-5-1 ad it worked with a clean sheet, lets hope we can get something from the game on sunday now.

 

[roverstillidie]

We played 4-5-1 and won... there's a shock. I wonder if Ronnie noticed?

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Excellent performance from Rovers. We controlled the game and the only disappointment is that we did not win by a bigger margin, as we deserved to: we missed three or four great opportunities in the second half. Tactics were spot on and the work ethic shown by the players was excellent.

In the first thirty minutes we were not great on the ball and Shrewsbury had reasonable pressure and threw a number of crosses into our box. However, we defended well, with Ridehalgh in partiuclar outstanding, and gradually began to take control of midfield, with Robbo, Wallace and Koumas to the fore. A great move on thirty minutes ended in a fantastic finish by Peterson which was harshly judged offside; our goal followed shortly afterwards after another good movement.

In the second half we were by far the better side, playing some good stuff and creating numerous further opportunities, Atkinson and Peterson both missing gilt edged chances. We pressed high up the pitch and restricted a woeful Shrewsbury side to only one clear opportunity; Fonners was a spectator for much of the half. Koumas was outstanding in the second half in particular, Robbo gave us the composure and quality we have lacked in recent games, Wallace was solid (hope the knock he came off for was not anything serious) and Peterson did some great things and some really naive things. Basically, with those four on the pitch plus Lowe we had tons more quality than Shrewsbury and if they are the standard of team we are competing against in the second half of season, we should comfortably survive (injuries permitting): of their players, only Tom Eaves resembled a footballer.

My man of the match, however, is Liam Ridehalgh who put in a superb performance as a makeshift centre half against a couple of six foot three strikers. I wonder if his display will give Ronnie a selection headache on Sunday given McNulty's poor recent form ?

In all, an excellent day. The picture tonight is certainly much brighter than it might have been.

 

[bigmart]

I would certainly keep the same tea for sunday and hope we can get another result.

With 6 loans up 2 short term contracts and 2 players currently indisposed its going to be an interesting couple of weeks. I think Edwards & Otsemobor will go back to their clubs, Hateley will be released and possibly Jennings too, not sure about Peterson and the other 3 could depend on their clubs

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

Jennings came on for the last twenty minutes today and I think he might stay. Certainly, I don't think we can have a squad of midfielders where only one player (Wallace) can tackle.

I would imagine Ronnie will definitely want to keep Ridehalgh and Peterson and probably Atkinson also. The big question mark is McNulty; personally, I think we will struggle to find a reasonable replacement if we let him go.

 

[Ian]

Massively important we came away with something from this game and I'm delighted it was all 3 points. Sets us up nicely for Sundays game.

Head injury for Wallace so its touch and go whether he'll be fit for Sunday.