So, after tonight who has forced themselves into contention for Saturday?

[Usher wide.]

Well, I’m struggling given the strength of the opposition.

Joe Ironside was in the right place at the right time to slot in a cross in the 6 yard box to put us 1-0 up after a stuttering 45 minutes, but he could have & should have put us in front on 23 minutes but shot first time straight at the keeper. Lack of game time, confidence or god forbid Joe’s best season was his season before.

Sbarra. What has been his most memorable contribution to the side apart from ‘stealing’ Billy Sharp’s No.10 shirt?
What is he exactly, an attacking midfielder? A ‘number 10’ just behind the striker/s, probing & ‘seeing all openings’ in that space? Running into gaps to receive the ball as he did tonight on 8 minutes only to find himself on a one on one with the keeper where he could have chosen to take another touch (because he certainly had the time) but no, he hit it straight at the keeper, I’m not sure he even looked up to assess. So let’s move on & with luck, move him on too come January.

Ben Close. Close he never has been, close he never will be.

Nixon was ‘ok’ but this was his chance to shine & he didn’t.

Fleming. Again was ok but on tonight’s performance will always be a bench warmer.

Lawlor’s distribution alone will always ‘condemn’ him to No.2 behind TSL.

Gibson. Not great in that company was he?

Apart from that & a fire in my flat, it’s been a satisfying result..thanks to Bailey, Molyneux & Hurst once they replaced three of the Second XI.

[adamtherover]

Hurst looks like a kid brimming with confidence!!

[Lesonthewest]

I thought Nixon, Emmanuel, & Fleming did really well, while I don't think Grant will change any of them, maybe Nixon in my opinion, they showed we have really good back up players. Close & Anderson on tonight's showing, way off it.

[DonnyOsmond]

Getting rid of Sbarra after 2 months and about 400 mins of game time.

[Silkscarf]

I like Emmanuel. He’s a handy player to have around.

[Silkscarf]

Agree about Nixon and Fleming doing well too. Decent ’reserve’ side really. We’ve seldom had that.

[PDX_Rover]

Jerky knees

[RoversInSpain]

Well, I’m struggling given the strength of the opposition.

Joe Ironside was in the right place at the right time to slot in a cross in the 6 yard box to put us 1-0 up after a stuttering 45 minutes, but he could have & should have put us in front on 23 minutes but shot first time straight at the keeper. Lack of game time, confidence or god forbid Joe’s best season was his season before.

Sbarra. What has been his most memorable contribution to the side apart from ‘stealing’ Billy Sharp’s No.10 shirt?
What is he exactly, an attacking midfielder? A ‘number 10’ just behind the striker/s, probing & ‘seeing all openings’ in that space? Running into gaps to receive the ball as he did tonight on 8 minutes only to find himself on a one on one with the keeper where he could have chosen to take another touch (because he certainly had the time) but no, he hit it straight at the keeper, I’m not sure he even looked up to assess. So let’s move on & with luck, move him on too come January.

Ben Close. Close he never has been, close he never will be.

Nixon was ‘ok’ but this was his chance to shine & he didn’t.

Fleming. Again was ok but on tonight’s performance will always be a bench warmer.

Lawlor’s distribution alone will always ‘condemn’ him to No.2 behind TSL.

Gibson. Not great in that company was he?

Apart from that & a fire in my flat, it’s been a satisfying result..thanks to Bailey, Molyneux & Hurst once they replaced three of the Second XI.

Didn’t see tonight’s game, but reading that, I’ve hidden all sharp instruments and I’ll try not to hang myself. Oh hang on we won 1-3.

Pretty harsh on Sbarra, I believe he will be a good player for us.

[drfchound]

I understand why people write we won 1-3 after an away game but in real life spoken situations I have never said, or even heard anyone say, “we won 1-3”.
It is always “we won 3-1”.

[ncRover]

Bit negative on Ironside? His all round play and first touch was back to what we expect of him and hopefully he can keep it up. His movement was much improved too. But yes, this is the result of a rocket up the arse he needed.

Jack Senior was great to watch at LCB again last night. And he was up against no mug in Fabio Jalo as well - a current Portugal U19 player. Even from that position, he got on the overlap to deliver a great cross in for the first goal.
The pace of him and Olowu either side of the now imperious McGrath is looking like a strong back 3. No more Tom Anderson please. Ref let him off the hook pulling back play for a foul when his error let them score.

[ForsolongaRover]

I think we need to recognise that most of the Barnsley starting line-up were not even 1st team squad players. No doubt Tyke will confirm this, so they had nothing to gain in the competition, it was just a practice game.

Given that, if they’d been our youngsters, we might have been quite impressed by their attacking.

[keith79]

Hurst for sure. I hope we don't change our centre backs now Anderson is back. He needs to work his way back in.

[NickDRFC]

Bit negative on Ironside? His all round play and first touch was back to what we expect of him and hopefully he can keep it up. His movement was much improved too. But yes, this is the result of a rocket up the arse he needed.

Jack Senior was great to watch at LCB again last night. And he was up against no mug in Fabio Jalo as well - a current Portugal U19 player. Even from that position, he got on the overlap to deliver a great cross in for the first goal.
The pace of him and Olowu either side of the now imperious McGrath is looking like a strong back 3. No more Tom Anderson please. Ref let him off the hook pulling back play for a foul when his error let them score.

Madger Gomes was a Spain U18 player. Doesn’t necessarily translate to ability in the men’s game! Although I agree that Senior looked very good, again.

[andy didcott]

Not Anderson.

[Reg of the Rovers]

I thought we were poor last night, against what was effectively Barnsley's under20s.

Close and Sbarra were dreadful, absolutely awful. It might be a bit knee-jerk for Sbarra but Close has had plenty of time to prove himself but he's still yet to come good.

We huffed and puffed first half, the game changed when Hurst came on, then Moly a few mins later and last ten mins we were running them ragged.

Hurst should start for sure. He was outstanding.

Anderson needs more time, he was well off it last night and looked like he was going to get himself sent off again.

Pretty terrible game, but we won and we're through to the next round and one step closer to Wembley.

Nice to see Grant and his lad together after the game, nice moment.

[adamtherover]

the CH partnership of joe and jay is gonna take some beating, pace, power and guile are starting to become the norm. the way jay handled cook on satdi was immense!!! ANd few will beat joe for speed in a foot race....

[philsky]

the CH partnership of joe and jay is gonna take some beating, pace, power and guile are starting to become the norm. the way jay handled cook on satdi was immense!!! ANd few will beat joe for speed in a foot race....

I also like Sterry and Maxwell making the four.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Ironside staked his claim well. Irrespective of the opposition he got in the right position for Seniors great cross and buried the header. Also a good knock down for Moly to set up for Hurst.

Hope this gets Joe going.

[adamtherover]

Guaranteed starters, are, teddy, jay, Joe,  bailey, mols and hursty,  if we have a back 4, sterry and maxell,   leaving 2 spare, sharpy or irons,  so then just two of a group of similar midfielders to finish the 11.... 

[eastender]

Bit negative on Ironside? His all round play and first touch was back to what we expect of him and hopefully he can keep it up. His movement was much improved too. But yes, this is the result of a rocket up the arse he needed.

Jack Senior was great to watch at LCB again last night. And he was up against no mug in Fabio Jalo as well - a current Portugal U19 player. Even from that position, he got on the overlap to deliver a great cross in for the first goal.
The pace of him and Olowu either side of the now imperious McGrath is looking like a strong back 3. No more Tom Anderson please. Ref let him off the hook pulling back play for a foul when his error let them score.

The Ref never let him off , Their player that scored was off side when put through , that's why the ref brought play back for a foul.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Guaranteed starters, are, teddy, jay, Joe,  bailey, mols and hursty,  if we have a back 4, sterry and maxell,   leaving 2 spare, sharpy or irons,  so then just two of a group of similar midfielders to finish the 11.... 

I’m still of the opinion that Nixon is better than Sterry just a shame he’s not had a run without injury to show it.

Agree with the rest of it though. We have a very good squad for this level so we are splitting hairs a bit which must be how the real big clubs fans feel when discussing which superstars should be on the bench.