Barrow (a) - 7 May 2022

[Baldy]

Mansfield it is then.

[Tabasco Kid]

Conspiracy theorists will be out in force tonight. Mostly on Facebook.
Mansfield in the PO, and Roberts banned for one game.

[CobblerForever]

You'd think not having Roberts (in particular) but also McGowan would seriously weaken the defence. Maxted hasn't played in the league (blundered badly in the League Cup) and we don't have a Right Back (unless Harriman suddenly comes back into the team after a long time out of favour).

[Jonesy9]

Conspiracy theorists will be out in force tonight. Mostly on Facebook.
Mansfield in the PO, and Roberts banned for one game.

They’ve got ammo though, considering Barton has previously been done for match betting and is very vocal that match fixing is “rife”
7-0 here, and getting 2 goals in injury time last week… :p

Out of all of the teams that were vying for 3rd spot Rovers were probably the best. Us, Port Vale and Mansfield have been very flaky.

[Melbourne Cobbler]

Never experienced anything like today before, and never want to again. The impossible was possible.

[Manwork04]

Never experienced anything like today before, and never want to again. The impossible was possible.

Same, totally surreal.

[Jonesy9]

Bloody annoying game times as well. Away to Mansfield with a 7:45 kick off.
Has been my sons first season going and we’ve been every home game. Was going to take him to both playoff games but that might be a bit of a stretch for a 6 year old.

[observer1]

Distraught would be the best word to describe it.

I know many predicted Sc***horpe rolling over like that but I honestly didn't. And even at HT when Rovers were 2-0 up, it didn't really look like they were going to score 7. But then when they got 5 so soon after the 4th, you knew what was coming.

An unbelievably harsh afternoon, capped off by the Roberts red.

[Tabasco Kid]

They’ve got ammo though, considering Barton has previously been done for match betting and is very vocal that match fixing is “rife”
7-0 here, and getting 2 goals in injury time last week…

Well, that didnt take long. Tell me Jonesy, did we land on the moon?

[everbrite]

So he’s out for the play offs!

0ne game ban😀

[CobblerForever]

Bloody annoying game times as well. Away to Mansfield with a 7:45 kick off.
Has been my sons first season going and we’ve been every home game. Was going to take him to both playoff games but that might be a bit of a stretch for a 6 year old.

Virtually certain it's live on Sky - save your money and watch it at home.

[Shoemaker]

Bad luck cobblers
But give Bristol rovers maximum credit
They just won 7-0 to get promoted to league one.
That’s one hell of an achievement.

[bungle]

Sc***horpe had a 17 year old rookie in goal...

I honestly think if Rovers had been playing any other team in the league today it
would have been a completely different story. It's a ridiculously unfortunate
turn of events and I'd argue that on balance we've been the third best team
in the league this year.

Having said that I do think Brady's game management was wrong. I think Barrow's goal just before half-time spooked him into shutting up shop and retreating into a wing back system, whereas the smart move would have been to keep the same formation and to retain an attacking threat which could be reignited when Rovers inevitably started chalking up the goals. Our lack of game-changing attacking options off the bench has been a problem all season and once again Rose and Kanu came on and offered nothing.

Ultimately, Brady is a good manager who needs to learn from an occasional tendency towards over-caution which reared its head again today. We have to dust ourselves down and give the play-offs a good go. We've just won three games out of 4 plus a very creditable draw against the second placed team in the league. We are certainly capable of winning the play-offs and Brady needs to find a way to eliminate the disappointment and to focus on the positives of what has been a very positive season overall.

[everbrite]

The only thing that looks dodgy to me is Brady’s substitutions

No it wasn’t, 3-1 away is decent result.  Not a lot wrong with tactics or subs. Appéré and Eppiah were shot thru’. Would have subbed both 10 min earlier? Everything else is hindsight!

[everbrite]

Bloody annoying game times as well. Away to Mansfield with a 7:45 kick off.
Has been my sons first season going and we’ve been every home game. Was going to take him to both playoff games but that might be a bit of a stretch for a 6 year old.

You need to calm down Jonesy9

[Claret Lady]

 Sc***horpe gave Rovers a very unfair advantage and are a disgrace!

[CobblerForever]

No it wasn’t, 3-1 away is decent result.  Not a lot wrong with tactics or subs. Appéré and Eppiah were shot thru’. Would have subbed both 10 min earlier? Everything else is hindsight!

Zimba should have come on for Eppiah. He would have been a handful, a goal threat, challenged their central defenders and stretch their defence. Danny Rose has scored one league goal this season from 36 appearances (14 starts) and been booked 11 times. Apart from aggravate and get booked, what does he offer?

[Welly Cobb]

Zimba should have come on for Eppiah. He would have been a handful, a goal threat, challenged their central defenders and stretch their defence. Danny Rose has scored one league goal this season from 36 appearances (14 starts) and been booked 11 times. Apart from aggravate and get booked, what does he offer?

He's very good at winning fouls and killing a game off, so if we were looking to set out a 3 - 1 he's ideal, but he is utterly pointless at the moment if you're trying to score a goal.

[Jonesy9]

You need to calm down Jonesy9

I am calm  I’ve expressed an opinion that I thought that Brady’s tactics were a bit off considering he knew that Rovers were storming Sc***horpe, and I’ve been berated for being ‘ridiculous’. I don’t think he’s tactically done well enough and Roberts has saved us a lot this season. I’m not a fan of him downplaying our abilities and regularly stating that “nobody expects us to be this high up the table”. I feel that it impacts the players confidence. But of course I could be wrong.

And then I expressed some frustration that the kick off time is late and it’s a shame I won’t be able to take my son to both legs. Again, I don’t think im not calm 

And no im not a conspiracy theorist. All I said was in agreement to the comment that some people will question how easily Sc***horpe rolled over, due to Barton’s own comments previously about how rife match fixing is. Im not saying that I agree, just making a comment.

I thought that the forum was about expressing opinions with fellow ambitions fans. I simply stated that I felt that Brady’s tactics after going 3 up were showing, as they have done previously this season when we take a commanding lead. We sit back too much, let teams play against us and we often get squeaky bums.
Given Rover’s last few games and the goals they’ve scored I simply felt that we could have done with going for it in the 2nd half and tried to grab another goal or two.

I’m of course very frustrated, but I feel pretty calm considering.
Good news that Roberts is only banned for 1 game. I assumed 2 for a straight red.
Hopefully McGowern can come back. Mills looked shaky at RB, and I don’t think that the back 5 with both Koiki and Mills on the left and Hoskins on the right quite works. We miss Hoskins pressing up top when he’s back deep.

Playoffs are anyones guess, but the team I fear the most are Swindon.

[Jonesy9]

Zimba should have come on for Eppiah. He would have been a handful, a goal threat, challenged their central defenders and stretch their defence. Danny Rose has scored one league goal this season from 36 appearances (14 starts) and been booked 11 times. Apart from aggravate and get booked, what does he offer?

Eppiah is a tricky one. I really enjoy his work rate, and I think that him and Appere up front work quite well together in pressing and closing down. However they get worn out quickly as Pinnock, McWilliams and Sowerby rarely back them up and press as a team.

However he’s had a lot of very good chances over the last few games that he’s fluffed. Could have won us the game against Exeter and could have got one today.

I’d be interested to see if we could get him back for next year, as I think that if he can get a few more goals it might set him off.

Same for Appere. Hopefully he settles in well and finds his shooting form as he gets in really good positions.