Just in and thought I'd report back

[streatham dave]

Living in London I got back quicker than most Donny followers so hear goes. 1st half apart from the very early goal Portsmouth scored we just about shaded the half. Particular praise for Chimbonda who got the momentum going forward a lot and a few good tackles at the back. Gillet played well not just for the goal. He seemed to rise in confidence after the goal. Best half i've seen him have in a Rovers shirt. Hird(covering for Chimbonda going forward),Bennett and Oster(with good runs) pick of the rest but no one had what could be bad first half. I was optimistic at half time. I don't know what happened at half time but the players did not look the same in the second half at all. Portsmouth were quicker both in terms of passing and running and to be honest the 2nd goal looked as if it was always coming. If somehow we could have resisted then we would probably have come away with a 1-1 draw. Portsmouth were more direct down the middle than us. Our players looked tired second half in particular Chimbonda and Barnes.Fitness work needed? Stock did next to nothing in the centre of midfield. Sharpe had a hard time of it as we simply did not provide him with enough service except Chimbonda first half. Friend and Hird had a hard day today as at times (particularly in the first half) they were a two man defence. Illunga and Chimbonda should in my opinion not both be up at the same time. Illunga seemed to realise this 2nd half and had some nice touches. We were too easily cut through today. we need to pass quicker be prepared to run at the opposition, Shoot (Oster) and put a foot in in midfield. Disappointed today but we are only a couple of players short of a good team. Centre mid (stopper) and Cent def. I think Copps needs to be back in over Barnes or at least come on earlier next game. Stay positive people we have things we can build on and we will stop up.

[balbykiwirover]

Thanks for that Dave, that makes me feel slightly less depressed!

[Surrey Rover]

Living in London I got back quicker than most Donny followers so hear goes. 1st half apart from the very early goal Portsmouth scored we just about shaded the half. Particular praise for Chimbonda who got the momentum going forward a lot and a few good tackles at the back. Gillet played well not just for the goal. He seemed to rise in confidence after the goal. Best half i've seen him have in a Rovers shirt. Hird(covering for Chimbonda going forward),Bennett and Oster(with good runs) pick of the rest but no one had what could be bad first half. I was optimistic at half time. I don't know what happened at half time but the players did not look the same in the second half at all. Portsmouth were quicker both in terms of passing and running and to be honest the 2nd goal looked as if it was always coming. If somehow we could have resisted then we would probably have come away with a 1-1 draw. Portsmouth were more direct down the middle than us. Our players looked tired second half in particular Chimbonda and Barnes.Fitness work needed? Stock did next to nothing in the centre of midfield. Sharpe had a hard time of it as we simply did not provide him with enough service except Chimbonda first half. Friend and Hird had a hard day today as at times (particularly in the first half) they were a two man defence. Illunga and Chimbonda should in my opinion not both be up at the same time. Illunga seemed to realise this 2nd half and had some nice touches. We were too easily cut through today. we need to pass quicker be prepared to run at the opposition, Shoot (Oster) and put a foot in in midfield. Disappointed today but we are only a couple of players short of a good team. Centre mid (stopper) and Cent def. I think Copps needs to be back in over Barnes or at least come on earlier next game. Stay positive people we have things we can build on and we will stop up.

Dave, the second half changed because they closed us down in midfield hell of a lot more than they were doing in the first half and when teams do that to us we give the ball away and then start to lose our shape. Leeds did it last week and to be honest alot of teams have done this to us for quite some time now because the true fact of the matter is we've been found out.

I don't agree with your comments on Coppinger, I thought he was dreadful when he came on just as he has been all season. That said he had plenty to keep he company.

[grayx]

Having seen the goals from yesterday, your comments seem pretty accurate. I hope Stock looks at how easily he was brushed aside in the lead up to their third goal. Sorry to all the Sam fans on here but Sam & George at centre half didn't look too convincing either.
They say that games are won & lost in midfield and that appears to be where we're losing it week in,week out. We look desperate for a hard-tackling midfielder or two who can last 90 minutes.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Stock had a shocker in my opinion.  Looked a little tired, to be expected after 2 away games in a week and he had such a long time out, was never going to be easy.

Thought overall second half that Gillett was the only one really to take any credit from the game, the rest were average.  I felt we lacked a punch, plenty of tidy stuff but no real punch.

Again, I thought Sharp was average.  At times he wasn't challenging the balls into him and spent too long arguing with other players again.  There was one scenario where he went to challenge gave it a half baked attempt and the ball comes straight back in.  All very well blaming poor defending but the forward players have to fight, retain the ball and force teams back, we never did that yesterday far too open the fotball I felt.

Some say Oster isn't good enough off the ball, I'll give him some credit for that actually.  ONe time he poorly misplaced a pass but to his credit busted a gut, tracked back and won it back.

Thought the centre halves were too easily caught out by a ball over the top, I'd say this is a weakness of Sam Hird's seems to happen a few times to him.  But if they're constantly getting these balls over with midfielders not picking up runs then we will struggle.  Midfield is the key thing for me that has to be fixed.