I agree with most of what Brightonian says. I thought this was a very good performance by Rovers that should have resulted in three points; other than a ropey first fifteen minutes we controlled the game and deserved to win. The catalyst for the performance once again was George Green. He showed incredible enthusiasm and energy, and a lot of quality, and lifted the performance of the players around him when we were struggling early on.
The first quarter of an hour was pretty shambolic defensively. Their first goal was a free header from a corner on the six yard line, which Brezovan came for, flapped at and missed; he did ok thereafter but I agree with those that say Fonners should have been in goal. After their first goal, we looked very shaky at the back for fifteen minutes or so. We ceded far too much space in the left back position and allowed Stevenage to get in behind us far too easily with straight balls through the middle. I feared the worst at this stage, but fortunately we settled midway through the half and got a grip on midfield that we did not really relinquish for the rest of the game. Green started to pull the strings, and in the twenty minutes leading up to half time we pretty much battered them and deserved to go ahead.
Contrary to what has been said eleswhere, in the second half we looked very comfortable, still controlling midfield possession and keeping a good shape. I thought Stevenage were deeply average for the majority of the half, and it was only when Westley gambled by throwing on three substitutes that they started to trouble us, Brezovan making a couple of decent saves prior to their equaliser, again poor defending from a corner. We continued to look dangerous, with Green and JMW causing a lot of problems, but the one criticism would be that we did not make their keeper work. As Brightonian says, we nearly won it late on after a great counter-attack which Green narrowly failed to finish, a victory which would have been deserved in my view.
To give Micky some credit, it was encouraging that after Stevenage equalised he made a positive substitution, putting on Hume and going 4-4-2 rather than shutting up shop, and in the last ten minutes we looked the team most likely to win the game. I disagree with Brightonian about Hume; he looked very sharp when he came on and put in by far his best performance since returning, and he and George Green might just give us the extra spark and quality we need to stay up.
The one real frustration is the quality of our defence. If we were even half as good defensively today as we were in midfield and attack, I think we would have won quite comfortably. The back four still looks unbalanced. Hopefully Thompson will replace Dugdale soon, but I would also like to see Holmes back in the team and Ridehalgh dropped at left back for Taylor. We looked particularly vulnerable in the full back positions today, and I think there are too many sub-standard individuals and square pegs in round holes in the back four at present.
Overall, a positive display that gives me encouragement that we can survive. Man of the match, George Green.
