Bristol Rovers match thread

[kpinwp]

I know why we're still in it.

Dean Bouzanis.

Considering how insanely dominant Rovers have been, if I were one of their's I'd be deeply discontented right now.

[garethl]

Had our chances too if we can shore up and get tighter defensively.

[silverf0x]

Streaming the match and so pleased to be able to turn that commentary OFF!

[os]

WOW its only 1-0, we are still in it

Then followed by suicide

[kpinwp]

That looked and felt fairly dreadful. A few limitations became apparent.

Yet, it's a 2-0 defeat, away from home, against a good team who currently seem to have the wood on us. In the context of a very successful season.

Tant pis.

[davethegrave]

Oh well. First loss in how long?

[banjo]

Too many injuries too night cost us but you cannot fault the teams avert. So now on too Saturday and lets hope some off our injured players are back.⚽️⚽️

[localboy86]

Feb 15, 2022 21:46:31 GMT davethegrave said:

Oh well. First loss in how long?

Since early December away at Newport

[os]

Well beaten tonight, you can't lose Eastmond, Milson and Barden from your midfield and expect to get much away from home against a decent side on a rainy Tuesday night. I cannot argue with the spirit those that played showed, but ultimately we were well short.

I don't think the referee influenced the outcome tonight but he really should have gone to specsavers.

BR use of digital media with LED hoardings and a decent size scoreboard playing ads as well as giving the score, is how you help maximize your advertising revenue.

[Del]

Why on earth was Deano going for that ball ?

[Amber Aleman]

Yet again we return empty-handed from a trip west, and the two-month unbeaten run has now hit the buffers. That was our poorest performance of the season so far, but in mitigation we were missing six regular players, three of them defenders. Coby Rowe, who hadn't played since November, was pressed into the starting line-up and understandably looked a little rusty. He didn't last the ninety minutes and we ended with Joe Kizzi partnering Ben Goodliffe in the centre of defence and Enzio dropping to right back. There was at least a second-half cameo from Harry, another player returning from a long injury lay-off.

This time Rovers played down the slope in the first half and sliced us open as early as the fourth minute, the two Andersons combining slickly for their first goal. We did create a few openings ourselves, but almost every time Rovers took the ball into our half they looked a threat, a combination of desperate blocks and narrowly off-target shooting keeping the score to 1-0. Then Deano saved a penalty, only to undo that good work early in the second half by failing to reach the ball and being lobbed for goal number two. After that we rarely looked like getting a foothold in the game, though thankfully for us the Gas took their foot off the gas a little as the match wound down.

We stay fifth, and Matt will be fervently hoping that some of his absent players are back for the weekend's trip to Hartlepool.

[garethl]

Not much to add. Paid a little for not getting another centre half in January on top of injuries to at least 4 of our best XI. Don’t think it was actually fair to ask Coby to start tonight given he hasn’t played for what 2 months or so? Would have moved Kizzi central and played Enzio full back as we finished, but options limited there too with no Barden available. A difficult night and we did well to come away without some serious goal difference damage. We’ll bounce back but it might not be Saturday against Hartlepool who are very strong at home. Rovers looked a decent side and played some good stuff, credit to them. They still looked suspect defensively as we, in the moments we did get forward, had some pretty good chances 1st half too. Overall just glad it wasn’t 4 or 5.

[Andy K]

Feb 15, 2022 22:08:10 GMT Del said:

Why on earth was Deano going for that ball ?

Because the defenders were nowhere in sight.

[Andy K]

Poorest overall performance all season, but then with no Tanto, Bennett, Eastmond, Milsom, John or Barden that isn't much of a surprise. Rovers played better against us tonight than the previous 2 encounters and you can see why they're a form team.

We were miles better after the introduction of Beautyman and Randall. Poor Coby wasn't anywhere near ready for 70mins of play tonight but we didn't have many options.

For me, we lost the game in midfield. I thought both Kenny and Ali were off form tonight, and the defence lost its shape too often. The number of times Enzio and Ben G were covering where the full backs should have been was pretty high.

I've seen posts on other social media that imply that Bouzanis lost us the game. Idiots. He's probably the reason we didn't lose by 4 or 5 tonight.

I've not seen Matt Grey so angry as I did tonight. I need to see a reply of it but I thought it was a clear pen shout for a trip on David before they broke away and scored whilst most of our players (including most of our defence) were still protesting. Dean had no choice but to go one on one as he was totally exposed and to be fair that was a quality finish from their guy at that angle.

But let's put this in context. We're 5th in a league we were favourites to be relegated from with 15 games to go. 25 points from that available 45 will see us into the play offs. Some of the moaning I heard tonight from the more stupid among us would have given you the impression we were about to be relegated from the Isthmian League.

Whatever side we put out in any of the remaining games this season won't put in a poorer performance, because we will learn from it. Oddly enough it may just be the kick we need to press on.

[kpinwp]

All other considerations aside, I think it's worth giving due credit to Rovers for that result. For my money they do employ the right tactics against us. Apart from a post-second-goal lull they hustled us, relentlessly, all through the match. Unlike, imo, Forest Green who showed us a little too much respect last Saturday. Admittedly against a stronger Sutton side.