[Archived] Rovers 2-1 Portsmouth

[pick32]

good 3-0 win if we can keep lua lua under control watch him against arsenal recently he is a very talented skillful player the sort we should go for if portsmouth get relegated.

[DudeAbides]

Easy win!!!!

3-0

Mgp, Dickov and Neil

[SouthAussieRover]

Rovers 2 Pompey 1

[USABlue]

The jim in me is coming out, it usually does, I hate to expect to win, been burned too many times. Tough fixture for us at this time. As soon as "arry was Appointed I looked for when we played them and thought mmm, just enough time for them to get their act together.

My prediction, a dull match, draw or loss and a couple of thousand fans that came back walking away saying bah, same old Rovers.

Sorry it's the jim in me.

[AggyBlue]

Can't believe the pessimism that still exists.

I'm starting to get that mid nineties feeling that we are going to win every game.

I will be totally relaxed at tonights game and I'm expecting a comfortable win.

For those who haven't got a season ticket, get yourselves a half ST, it's onwards and upwards from here on in.

[James No. 7]

hells bells....that means i am gonna have to be out of bed with a coffee at 6.20am instead of 6.30am!!

I'll take anything. I'm Rovers-starved!

This should be an easy win for us. We really do need to finish teams like Portsmouth off if we want a European place. A 2-0 win to us with MGP and Bellamy bagging the goals is my prediction.

[philipl]

I would rate Jewell above 'Arry and Boro's squad above Pompey's... but Pompey are a Premiership outfit and like any Premiership outfit, well capable of beating us if we don't get our mindset and tactics right.

On that basis, Hughes isn't like Souness so whilst I'd hardly say I've reached the point of expecting a win from every game, I've certainly reached the point of expecting a good performance every game and tonight that should be enough for three points.

Here's hoping!

[Bobby G]

I get the feeling that Bellamy may be brought off the bench again.

Anyone shares that thought?

[Eddie]

I think he'll start this one. He and Kuqi up front to really have a go at it.

[Mr. E]

Finally I'll get to watch Rovers again, it's been some time now. We are in a good form right now, playing against a weaker team, have big expecations about this game.......quite the scary sitation it is. I'm gonna refrain from predicting a score as I usually bring bad luck with those.

C'MON ROVERS !

[Quack]

2-1 to Rovers Lua-Lua for Pompey and 2 for Bellamy.

[Flopsy]

we're going to lose we're going to lose we're going to lose

[FourLaneBlue]

We should have more energy than them. One game less we had to play thanks to the weather and now they have to journey up to Ewood. Hopefully we'll obliterate them in the later stages.

The papers will blame it on Pompey being tired...but who cares?

[RoyRover]

This is the first time in a long time that I will be able to see Rovers play, so hopefully they won't disappoint in front of the Sky cameras. Portsmouth are starting to come into some form under Harry Rednapp, so this could be a difficult enough game for us tonight. However we should be looking to extend our winning run, after two away wins and two great performances. Rovers to win 3-1, with Bellamy getting two and Kuqi the other. Lua Lua with Portsmouth goal.

[roverstilidie123]

i think it will be 3-0 to rovers

Kuqi 1 BENTLEY 1 Bellamy 1

and aother good proformance form rovers tonight hopefully will see us start moving up the table

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Dont forget to tell the kids it's only a quid

370480[/snapback]

Come on Rovers kids fill those stands......back to 1980 prices!!!!!!

[Blue blood]

Wigna are a lot better than Portsmouth, Rovers are in fine form, so why am I nervous about this one? We really should win this, in fact I can only think of three decent players for pompey, and Harry will do better when he has had chance to buy so this is a good time to play them.

I'd start with the same 11, firstly because they deserve it after their excellent win.

Two of portsmouth's best players are the midfielders O neill and Taylor, so if we can keep them quiet and Savage and Reid have the potential to keep anyone quiet then we should be in line for a comfortable victory. Lua Lua is fast and it will be interesting to see whether rovers will adopt special tactics to counter this as they did wigan (ie use the offside trap more often) or play our normal game.

Portsmouth still have a lot of players who are fairly new to the premiership and with a strong physical presence I reckon that their defence will get nice and flustered: cue Kuqi and Dickov. Also Bellamy running at tired legs from the bench would imo be of best use to rovers. With Bolton and Manure coming up I'd want to make sure that he's fit for these two absolutely massive games, and with his injury record it'll be tempting to us him sporadically until then.

Head says 1-1 but I'll ignore it and say 2-1 rovers, Pedersen and Kuqi for us, Lua Lua for them.

[waggy]

a real tough game this.i hope sparky plays the same team as saturday,with tugay joining bellars and co on the bench.why disrupt a winning team?and he has said if players miss games due to injury and suspensions they have to bide there time!

rovers 1 v 1 pompey

attendance 19854

[Bing]

Harry has more or less admitted that his team is dreadful and is desperate to bring in half a dozen new players.

The best he has been able to do is get them scrapping a bit and working hard. No doubts that our team will more than match them in that department and then our extra bit of quality should see us win the game quite comfortably.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

PORTSMOUTHSKI??

[OscarRaven]

ROVERS 1-0

Late second half strike. Looks too easy on paper so bound to be a tough slog.

[philipl]

Well the deal has been done and the Russian is buying Portsmouth according to the BBC.

Probably will have a motivating effect on the Pompey players tonight unfortunately.

[Welshrover1981]

Should be straight three points for Rovers, tonight. Reidy on form, Bellas scoring, MGP playing well, Nelsen the rock in defence, 3 straight wins.

But then there is Pompy, battling for Relegation, Successive wins in a row, Redknapp boosting confidence and Some Russian Tycon's son wanting to spend his pocket money on buying half of the club.

Also we are one of the main games on MOTD according to Radio Times, instead of being one from last or the last game.

So my prediction for tonight......

2-1.

Pompy will give us a sterner test than Wigan as they are fighting for survial. But if go in at them like we did against the Latics then we should get a win.

Come on the Rovers

[bellamy11]

Should be straight three points for Rovers, tonight. Reidy on form, Bellas scoring, MGP playing well, Nelsen the rock in defence, 3 straight wins.

370758[/snapback]

I don't want to pick apart too much, but half of that sentence is completely fictional. Reid wasn't doing very well at Wigan until his thunderbolt (the first that has actually gone in for us since he came to the club) which he made his name for at Millwall. He then got a grip on the game when Wigan abandoned having a midfield in order to throw Connolly on up front.

Likewise, MGP is not playing well as of late. Since the double at Old Trafford he has looked poor. He's worth keeping in the side for his great goalscoring record but he certainly isn't "playing well" in the way that Wayne Rooney plays well or Ryan Nelsen plays well.

Bit worried about tonight. Today could well be a massive day in the life of Portsmouth Football Club with this investment. We have to hope our players have the character to bring them down because they will be on a high tonight. I trust in Hughes to say the right things and play the right team.

[Rovers_4_life]

I think we will win, it won't be easy but i think we would win. i would bring Bellers and Tugay back into the side but who to leave out? It's a tough call to make lets hope Sparky get's it right.