[Archived] Fa Cup Semi-final .

[cletus]

I said to my mate at half-time " i don`t care if we lose, if we at least 'have a go' at them". We certainly did that. Chelsea were rocking from the Blackburn onslaught for almost the entire 2nd half. A proud day to be a Rovers fan.

great weather

great performance

great support

wrong result

.

.

.

Meh!

[Cheshireblue]

Fantastic atmosphere at the game. We really made a lot of noise and that seemed to translate to the players.

First half refereeing was a joke. Biggest cheer of the half was just before half time when Wiley actually gave us a decision!

Second half we were fantastic. Out played them in every area and deserved to win it. Pedersens missed header just keeps getting worse every time I see it.

Once it went to extra time, I always felt we were up against it.

Dunn was fantastic all game. Covered every blade of grass like Savage would and then also had a couple of maisy runs to keep Chelsea on their toes. IF he can replicate that form, then he is a welcome addition to the team.

I though Mokoena was steady, but no more, with Bentley and Pedersen both having very poor first halves. I was disappointed with McCarthy and thought perhaps Derbyshire should have come on sooner, but Benni is always likely to nick a goal so I can see why he was left on.

On the whole though, we gave them a good game and can count ourselves unfortunate not to go through.

Heading practice for Morten all week though!

[rover6]

a bad first half a great second half. Has for blaming nelsen for the first goal,its very hard to defend against a midfield player who is running at you in the box, also sambi failed to win the first ball however we win or lose as a team.

And a midfield player, probably Mokoena, should've have followed Lampard - but he was free to break forward without challenge.

[thenodrog]

Roberts was an inspirational pick by Hughes. I've never seen anyone beat Terry as much in the air or give him a constant problem.

No it wasn't ... it just proves that he reads this mboard when he needs a bit of advice.

Half way down page

http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?showto...293&st=200#

I thank you.

Anyway anyone care to speculate why so few Chelsea fans know the words to '500 miles'?

[CAPT KAYOS]

What a day what a performance- lived up to what a SF should be for me- from Rovers Fans anyway

Enjoyed the game and the whole experience and certainly gave Chelski a game which if we where to get beat was what I hoped we would do.

Now the downs ....

Conceding first, as Rev says and I was saying before the matchm, a mountain for us which is what happened however we did far better than any of us could have imagined.

Hughes substitutes or lack of them - and taking Dunn off was a huge mistake. Matty should have been on for McCarthy at least at the beginning of extra time and Tugay should have been on for Mokoena

McCarthy again - how anybody can say he did anything is beyond a joke -Roberts put him to shame.

Pedersen header - reminded me of the volley against Krakow and acouple of other chances this season where he tried to be flash rather than making sure- that went in game over for Chelski.

Cech - better than I thought

Considering Chelski's exertions in Europe they still looked far fitter than us.

Anyway its over now so need an extra determined effort to try and snatch something from this season -what we need to make sure is that we keep Hughes and rebuild as next season we may just spring a few surprises if we just had that little bit of more confidence in ourselves.

[Daremz]

Ofcourse it's a shame we've lost. And that's a feeling that will stay, because we were so close. But still, when I put all things together, I feel proud. Proud to have watched a match in an pub here in Holland, being the only Rovers-fan. Proud to see the lads battling the second half. PROUD OF YOU GUYS, AT THE STANDS, MAKING THE NOISE. Proud. No hard feelings to any player, they've all battled 'til the end. We were so close.

[only2garners]

Mr Whiley was consistantly bad, he made some awful decisions against both sides. His use of his cards left much to be desired, seems someone told him that he couldn't book chelsea players for taking players out when they may break but he could for anything rovers players did. A different ref wouldn't have helped, it was just the lack of an extra on form striker to play with roberts.

You only have to look at the card count, which we won as usual 4-2 (although I thought Roberts was booked as well). We were well into extra time before any Chelsea player was booked and the second one was only for Ballack taking his shirt off after he'd scored. Yet I can recall at least 4 times when Joe Cole alone could have been booked and the entire defensive wall should have been booked for blatantly ignoring Wiley's demands to get back 10 years in extra time. In the end he just let them get away with it and surprise, surprise the free kick hit the wall.

[Wolverine]

Put some pics (4) up in my gallery, not great but they are there anyway.

Some vids is here too:

[mike at picture]

What a day what a performance- lived up to what a SF should be for me- from Rovers Fans anyway

Enjoyed the game and the whole experience and certainly gave Chelski a game which if we where to get beat was what I hoped we would do.

Now the downs ....

Conceding first, as Rev says and I was saying before the matchm, a mountain for us which is what happened however we did far better than any of us could have imagined.

Hughes substitutes or lack of them - and taking Dunn off was a huge mistake. Matty should have been on for McCarthy at least at the beginning of extra time and Tugay should have been on for Mokoena

McCarthy again - how anybody can say he did anything is beyond a joke -Roberts put him to shame.

Pedersen header - reminded me of the volley against Krakow and acouple of other chances this season where he tried to be flash rather than making sure- that went in game over for Chelski.

Cech - better than I thought

Considering Chelski's exertions in Europe they still looked far fitter than us.

Anyway its over now so need an extra determined effort to try and snatch something from this season -what we need to make sure is that we keep Hughes and rebuild as next season we may just spring a few surprises if we just had that little bit of more confidence in ourselves.

Dont see how Chelsea looked fitter than Rovers Capt. Went toe to toe with them for 120mins imo.

Agree about McCarthy though. Getting fed up of him.

[Blueboy Downunder]

how can you be getting fed up of mcarthy, when he has scored 19 goals in all comps this season, and yet none of his team mates come even close to his goalscoring!!

[Walls]

Know what you mean Colin. The hair on my neck started to tingle to

And I would walk 500 more

Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles

To fall down at your door

da da da (da da da)

da da da (da da da)

da da da (da da da)

da da da (da da da)

da da da (da da da)

da da da (da da da)

Da Da Da Dun Diddle Un Diddle Un Diddle Uh Da Da

da da da (da da da)

da da da (da da da)

Or replace the da da das by We love Rovers as most the fans around me were doing.

I was all goose pimply I was!

[mike at picture]

how can you be getting fed up of mcarthy, when he has scored 19 goals in all comps this season, and yet none of his team mates come even close to his goalscoring!!

lazy

[Eddie]

Do you really think he was lazy yesterday?

[den]

Can't believe anyone coming on here and concentrating on the "downs"! What a fantastic day for rovers and their fans. The league is full of players and supporters who would swap places with our club over the past fifteen or so, years [they might not admit it, but very few clubs come even close to our successes].

That's the noisiest I've ever heard Old Trafford and probably the noisiest ever at a Rovers game, for me. JW was on Radio Lancs this morning, proud of the fact that we outsold Chelsea and proud of the team and supporters. Of course Tony Livesey was trying to concentrate on the "Hughes to Man City" stories circulating at the weekend, but he [JW] wasn't being drawn into that speculation.

More fodder for the memory bank. Beats the 70's and 80's memories - any day. Just concentrate on how lucky we've been over the past 15 yrs guys.

[benhben]

I think we could see Samba getting afew goals off set pieces next season! Roberts should start next game.

[waggy]

that 500 miles is a burnley song

i thought the team,the fans were brilliant,

why roberts was in the team before matt,confused me.

why tugay was not on the pitch confounded me.

but we drew 1-1 after ninty minutes with the champions of england.

surely now toogs and matt would appear.

no sorry to say 5/10 for sparky yesterday

[ABBEY]

gutted..what a bunch of sour faced miserable gits chelsea were.we were singing after the game to them youull never take our hughsie....one said why would we want him ?hes not even connected to chelsea,i was gobbedsmacked.

im ill today hungover big time,the big white phone to god has been used.man im deflated.

[mike at picture]

Do you really think he was lazy yesterday?

pretty anonymous for me apart from a couple of very irritating flicks that cost possesion.

[OhmiBRFC]

Was anyone in San Platts before game?

Was a class atmosphere in there

[Cocker]

that 500 miles is a burnley song

i thought the team,the fans were brilliant,

why roberts was in the team before matt,confused me.

why tugay was not on the pitch confounded me.

but we drew 1-1 after ninty minutes with the champions of england.

surely now toogs and matt would appear.

no sorry to say 5/10 for sparky yesterday

SNAP - I just logged on to say the same thing.

So glad I took today off work because I am soooooo hung over. Felt like a right tit at full time cos I started crying - all the beer could have played a part in that of course.

Ah well, our season finished yesterday so onto next season I guess when we will have Ronaldinho and Kaka at our disposal - yes, I do still feel a bit drunk

[Threepenny Bit Foot]

Well done Rovers - one header from beating Chelsea and going Wembley.

I said at the game that Dunny had probably his best game since his return. He seemed to be there for every tackle in midfield. One positive has got to be that when everyone is back fit next year our squad looks good throughout. If Hughesy can add 2/3 more in the Summmer next year we should be on for Europe qualification and maybe a cup Semi again.

(Still don't understand why the subs weren't on earlier though)

[Walls]

Ah well, our season finished yesterday

I don't think it did. If we can get up to 8th place thats enough for intertoto now. The key is going to be how deflated we are for Wednesday. Oh and whether we can put that damn jinx to rest as well...

[Cocker]

I have only just seen this - CLICK

I cant remember him ever coming out praising the other team - fair play

[Eddie]

I don't think it did. If we can get up to 8th place thats enough for intertoto now. The key is going to be how deflated we are for Wednesday. Oh and whether we can put that damn jinx to rest as well...

Shouldn't 9th be good enough? I though two English sides could go into the intertoto?

[Cocker]

No, 8th is where we need to be for the inter toto - we are quite a bit off that too.

I just have a feeling that our boys will be looking to their summer holidays now