A gallant effort

[Filo]

Fantastic second half, Gotts was excellent and Haks just makes things happen

[jmt23]

Finally got on, with that stupid cookie thing.

Fantastic show in the second, but my god, they were nowhere near in the first. Their big centre half could have had my dog to walk around as he played in that first half, he was just allowed to create chance after chance for them.

How good was Jack Senior, he’s having an excellent season, also Gotts looks like what we thought we were getting.

There were two notable poor performances though from Jay McGrath and Owen Bailey. Bailey in particular was a mile behind play.

[grayx]

Fantastic second half, Gotts was excellent and Haks just makes things happen

I agree. Also think the lad from everton showed promise & never stopped running.
We do need to strengthen the defence tho, particulary centre half.
Billy offered nothing again im afraid.
Bailey had an off day by his standards

[tommy toes]

Robbie Gotts is becoming the midfielder we’ve been needing.
He’s a better version of Archie Irvine and Jimmy Kelly.

[Prez]

Took us 30 mins before we finally showed some aggression. Gave them far too much respect and gifted goals yet again.

Second half we were excellent, played some great stuff and was unlucky not to equalise.

Haks looked great, so good to have him back.

Still need at least 1 centre half if we are to turn our season around.

[Filo]

Took us 30 mins before we finally showed some aggression. Gave them far too much respect and gifted goals yet again.

Second half we were excellent, played some great stuff and was unlucky not to equalise.

Haks looked great, so good to have him back.

Still need at least 1 centre half if we are to turn our season around.

We need two in my opinion

[Jersey Rover]

Just need two proper center halves and we are decent. Far to soft through the middle

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

The second was a little unlucky with the deflection. Disappointing to lose the ball again in midfield so cheaply at times. It's fine to slate the defence but we gifted it away.

The one that annoyed me was their third, so easy to get at albeit a good cross and header which you'll get from higher level players.

We said at half time, go show some fight and set a performance to really build on over the coming weeks. They definitely did that.

[Chris Black come back]

Fantastic second half, Gotts was excellent and Haks just makes things happen

I agree. Also think the lad from everton showed promise & never stopped running.
We do need to strengthen the defence tho, particulary centre half.
Billy offered nothing again im afraid.
Bailey had an off day by his standards

Also liked him today. The ball did tend to stick to him rather than bounce off him. Full marks also for his shirt name being ‘Francis’ like he is straight off the beach at Ipanema rather than Blyth.

[Nudga]

First time in a long time that I've enjoyed watching Rovers. Makes me feel positive for the 2nd half of the season. 

[steve@dcfd]

Bailey had his worse 90 mins in a rovers shirt even when we were going at them in the second half he gave the second goal away from midfield. Molyneux and Sterry were poor again all the game.
Gotts was the best player on the pitch for us.
Senior had a good game except the only time he was beaten for the third goal cross. He also showed his worth when switched to centre half and we then started playing better.
Only if Okoronkwo effort could have crept in at the post instead of missing just. Robinson has pace and can get up and back in his cameo if he could have kept his shot down he would have scored.

[Fal]

Fantastic second half, Gotts was excellent and Haks just makes things happen

I agree. Also think the lad from everton showed promise & never stopped running.
We do need to strengthen the defence tho, particulary centre half.
Billy offered nothing again im afraid.
Bailey had an off day by his standards

Billy offered nothing? he wasn't amazing by any stretch but he nearly scored twice at the end so think you're being a tad too harsh.

[Chris Black come back]

Their keeper made an amazing save in the first half. Also two good saves from the Billy headers.

[StocksArmy]

I never saw the game I was out for a family meal (don’t bloody ask why it was booked for 3pm on a Saturday) but I kept tabs with family I usually go with and reports on X etc. What I got from the game was a lot of positives from the 2nd half showing fight and creating chances. But the main thing for me was the positives from the negatives. Our defensive woes were again highlighted and if we were only looking at one CB to strengthen us I’d go as far to say we need a full new back 4. I know that won’t happen but, our full backs just do not ever do enough to stop crosses whether it’s Sterry, Nixon, Senior or Maxwell. Love them all but we need better.

[Padge_DRFC]

I wonder how many left at HT? Really good second half that. Again subs made us worse particularly Sharp.

Third goal is really bad from Senior. May as well have handed and invitation out to cross

[jmt23]

Just thought of another positive I forgot, TLT was pretty good today, came out for a few crosses, and was unlucky for the goals.

The first was a WTF moment from McGrath - backing away from a player running direct on goal virtually on the penalty spot??? Pearson should’ve been screaming at him to close him down, but instead ended up trying to do it himself. Pearson is not the leader I had hoped for to bring our younger lads through, I do think he would be a good enough defender with someone decent at the side of him though.
Second was a massive deflection, the third a well placed header, but shocking marking.

[Chris Black come back]

Mainly due to excellent balls in from Gotts and then Middleton, finally we have some threat from corners today. Created all kinds of issues for them.

[Rovers91]

Just need two proper center halves and we are decent. Far to soft through the middle

Midfield still needs strengthening in my opinion, I really like Gotts but we need a Midfielder with quality who can control a game to play alongside him.
Get a quality midfielder in, another centre back in and put Bailey at centre back.

[redarmi66]

I wonder how many left at HT? Really good second half that. Again subs made us worse particularly Sharp.

Third goal is really bad from Senior. May as well have handed and invitation out to cross

i like Senior but that is spot on. Stood right off him and gave him space to cross.

[donnyguy]

Fot mobs player fact

Francis Okoronkwo had the least touches (29) of any outfield player to play 90 minutes.

[tingleyrover]

I left the ground feeling good. Play like that second half for the rest of the season and not only will we be safe but we will hand out a pasting or two.

The lad from Everton looks handy and my word, i forgot about the vision of Haks. That first half 2 quick throws nearly had us in.

The concern is the centre halves. Slow and ponderous at times. Don’t step up to play offside in time and leaves us open.

That said, with the new keeper we are one or two CBs away from League 1 status next season.

[NickDRFC]

Didn’t see the game but there’s been plenty of promise recently. Without improving the defence we’re going to struggle but sort that out with a signing or two and we should stay up comfortably.

[goalkick]

C

[roversdude]

Besides the 3rd goal Senior was very good
Gotts MOM by a mile
Bailey was that his last Rovers game ?

[Rovers91]

Didn’t see the game but there’s been plenty of promise recently. Without improving the defence we’re going to struggle but sort that out with a signing or two and we should stay up comfortably.

We are miles off staying up comfortably which is why we are 6 points from safety.
It will be a battle to stay up with the such bad recruitment done in pre season, there's teams above us that I think will pull away. We now need some proven quality to help with the relegation battle, it's between the bottom 5 imo.

[StocksArmy]

Question for all… is staying in league one this season a better achievement than promotion last season? I’ll go first and say yes. If we stay up it will feel just as good. Shouldn’t be waiting for January again but here we are.

[Upton Rover]

Hope we can take that 2nd half display into the remaining league fixtures and survive. It's sad to see Billy offering absolutely nothing, he should have retired, as a great player, surely Billy knows that

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Agree with most. Gotts and Senior were the only players who played with the required intensity all game and looked like they believed they could comptete. In the second half, the other players gave it a good go by raising the level up to Gotts and Senior.

Once again, there's some encouragement but we have to stop being too passive and hesitant when we can all see when we move the ball quickly and with purpose, we're a decent team.

[jmt23]

It should also be said they were and and are a good championship level club, with aspirations of getting back in the Prem.

[GazLaz]

It should also be said they were and and are a good championship level club, with aspirations of getting back in the Prem.

For reference, Bolton went off a shorter price to beat us than Saints did today.