[Archived] Reserves

[nicko]

The kids will miss him. He seems to have been the resident babysitter for years.

Is he house hunting around Yarm?

Boro's interest in him seems to depend on whether they sign St.Ledger or not.

The Preston boy has a knee injury that showed up in the medical...but both sides still want to do it one way or another.

So Zurab's absence is strange...unless he's inured.

There is another Championship side keen, but his wages are surprisingly big. A loan deal is expensive.

[G Somerset Rover]

Boro's interest in him seems to depend on whether they sign St.Ledger or not.

The Preston boy has a knee injury that showed up in the medical...but both sides still want to do it one way or another.

Nicko why are Preston willing to loan St.Ledger to a Championship rival? Are Boro offering a good 'loan package'?

[LeChuck]

I don't think St. Ledger would be a loan deal, everything I've read suggests a £3 million permanent transfer.

[nicko]

I don't think St. Ledger would be a loan deal, everything I've read suggests a £3 million permanent transfer.

It would be a loan with a view to a permanent deal, but it is ultra-complicated because of this knee injury. What is he breaks down during the 'loan' part of the move?

Boro getting Folan from Hull on loan too, by the way.

[hollowsr]

Might make the trip.

Is the stadium easy to find?!

Get directions off Rovers website and it's really easy!

See you there, not that I know who you are!

Teams are very strong also:

Wanderers: Al Habsi, Hunt, Stokes, Basham, O'Brien, Shittu, Lee, McCann, Campbell, Vaz Te, Riga. (Subs from: Sheridan, Lainton, Mooy, Connolly, Ward)

Rovers: Brown, Salgado, Olsson, Jones, GUnning, Reid, Emerton, Van Heerdan, Kalinic, Di Santo, Hoilett. (Subs from: Doran, Fielding, Lowe, Hall, Haworth)

from Bolton website

[Hughesy]

Il be there - never watched the reserves if it hasnt been at ewood so should be something different - very strong team looking at that.

[Hughesy]

1-0 Reid

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Both strong teams there really.

Keep us updated!

[Hughesy]

1-1 Javlon Campbell. Poor defending by Gavin Gunning

Reid took a knock early on but got up and is fine.

Van Herden is looking lively too.

[den]

Good man Hughesy, keep 'em coming.

No updates on official site.

How do Reid and Kalanic look?

[Hughesy]

Reid doing well enough, not holding bk in his challenges.

Kalinic doing ok but gets pushed off quite easy, prob should of had a penalty though.

Startof 2nd half now - Dunny in the stands too. Oh and Oldhams mgr and assistant mgr too.

2-1 bolton, Danny Ward.

Megson in stands too!

[Tris]

Reid has given the ball away far too much which has now cost the second goal. Kalinic does look worryingly lightweight. Impressed with Jones and Gunning at the back. Elrio also looking lively. Di Santo offside too much.

[den]

Thanks to both Hughesy and Tris.

[Hughesy]

Kalinic bustled clean through....taken from behind..... Shittu sent off

Kalinic wanted penalty..... Emerton took it off him.... Al Habsi saved it

Final score 2-1.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Kalinic bustled clean through....taken from behind..... Shittu sent off

Kalinic wanted penalty..... Emerton took it off him.... Al Habsi saved it

Final score 2-1.

Meh they should have let him take it, from what i gather he is a decent penalty taker and the goal would have helped his confidence.

[Iceman]

Kalinic bustled clean through....taken from behind..... Shittu sent off

Kalinic wanted penalty..... Emerton took it off him.... Al Habsi saved it

Final score 2-1.

Emerton should really have let Kalinic take the penalty. It would have built up his confidence.

[thenodrog]

Emerton taking pens? I imagine Emertons overwhelming instinct on his run up was to dummy and do his Cruyff turn thingy away from the keeper. I know it's only the stiffs but Emo has little self belief in his own striking ability so why was he nominated to take it?

[Tris]

He certainly needs a confidence boost imo (edit - meaning Kalinic).

Couple of thoughts on tonight ... Brown needs to work on his kicking (still).

As already mentioned, impressed with Gunning and Jones, Gunning's a good talker and both are solid no nonsense defenders.

Salgado ... well. I don't think he's threatening Jacobsen on tonight's evidence. Struggled to deal with Ricardo Vaz Te in the first half and with Riga in the second ... occasional glimpses of class but too many unforced errors ... I'm worried how long it'll take him to be ready for the Premier League, and when he gets there I think a lot of sky high expectations (esp on his thread on this MB!) are going to have to accept that he's not going to be some awesome revelation in blue and white.

Good to see Reid back, and I do like him. He certainly got his knee tested tonight and will be nursing some bruises tomorrow. He did give the ball away too much though, including 4 or 5 times in the first 10 mins of the 2nd half, and Bolton took advantage of one of those to score. Hopefully with more and more time on the pitch he'll be back to his old self.

Emo didn't do much wrong (I left 5 mins before the end so didn't suffer the penalty miss) ... good to see him get another 90 mins in on the road back to full fitness.

Van Heerden looked the best I've seen him so far although made a couple of very basic errors in defence which he got away with. Hoilett also looked ok, more of the same please from both of them.

The real disappointment was the front pair. Di Santo covers a lot of ground, but was offside too often and his touch deserted him in the second half, he looked like he'd rather be somewhere else to be honest The odd flick on but to no effect. Kalinic's game also seemed to disintegrate as the game wore on and his touch completely went as well - and he had a couple of criminal offsides where he was looking right along the line. I'll give them both plenty more time before writing either off though - but tonight it just didn't happen at all for them.

[hollowsr]

Was not a good performance tonight at all. We had plenty of possession but looked lost of any ideas what to do with it. As already said the two CB of Jones and Gunning played well, the latters spell at Tranmere has done him no harm as he's better than I saw him last year and he was good then.

I thought it was Van Heerden who lost the ball for the 2nd goal but maybe I'm wrong anyhow he lost the ball a lot I thought and broke down many moves for us and was getting a right telling off from some of the other players.

In my view our best 3 players were Gunning, Junior and Emerton

Worst 2: van Heerden and Kalinic.

Junior made something happen almost everytime he had the ball. Poor that with that team out we couldn't beat that Bolton side, their two goals were both from errors by us.

[Tom]

I didn't go tonight so can only judge on previous evidence but Tris would you agree that at this stage the most likely of the young lads to make an impact first is Hoilett?

The re emergence of Dunn as an attacking threat is a blessing for Kalinic as its gives him more time to get up to speed without the pressure as such.

I expect to see nearly half of that team next week a Forest.

[hollowsr]

Emerton taking pens? I imagine Emertons overwhelming instinct on his run up was to dummy and do his Cruyff turn thingy away from the keeper. I know it's only the stiffs but Emo has little self belief in his own striking ability so why was he nominated to take it?

A said before he just grabbed the ball of Kalinic. He didn't try to dummy the keeper just quite a short run up, seemed to be quite near the corner but at a good height for the keeper to get to.

I didn't go tonight so can only judge on previous evidence but Tris would you agree that at this stage the most likely of the young lads to make an impact first is Hoilett?

On tonight's performance definitely, only second time I've seen him but he played very well, Doran did ok when he came on also. Wouldn't surprise if Sam is letting Zurab go because we have Jones and Gunning in the wings should any monumental defensive injuries happen. Both composed and very strong players.

[Plastic Head]

I was shocked at Kalinic's level of performance. He looks a million miles from the first team. Admittedly the team didn't play too well cosidering the players on show and he didn't get great service but nevertheless he was awful.

Di Santo was a little better...but only a little.

Hoillet looked good and Elrio has something. Reid is physically fine but his passing was never the best in his prime and tonight it was terrible.

Salgado looks ready to play when required as does Emerton.

Fielding is a far better keeper than Brown, who was aptly described behind me as a sack of spuds..

The centre halves were not good. Neither was Ollson.

A frustrating and slightly worrying evening.

And the beer and pies were far better at Morecambe.

[hollowsr]

Oh and Oldhams mgr and assistant mgr too.

I didn't see them there but wouldn't have recognised them anyway, they already have two of our players: Marrow and Blackman, how many more do they want??

The centre halves were not good.

Seriously I thought they were good tonight besides the first goal, whose fault I can't remember.

They won so many headers and made as many blocks also.

[AggyBlue]

I thought it was Van Heerden who lost the ball for the 2nd goal

In my view our best 3 players were Gunning, Junior and Emerton

Worst 2: van Heerden and Kalinic.

Junior made something happen almost everytime he had the ball.

Agree with those points.

We were well on top the first half but only scored one for all our possession. Not hoofball but pass and move.

Second half they closed us down a lot quicker and denied us the space. We didn't cope too well with it and they scored twice, We didn't get back on top until the last ten minutes.

Stand out performance - Junior. Always good to watch a player who's prepared to run with the ball.

Kalinic - Deary deary me. I've still not seen anything that resembles a footballer.

[John]

Reid is physically fine but his passing was never the best in his prime and tonight it was terrible.

True, passing has never been his strong point. He can pass it side ways ok, but when trying a through ball, or passing it forward, he was always fairly average. His strengths are getting in the faces of the opposition, closing down, his energy and generally getting stuck in. Occasionally he can put a decent cross in and a thunderbolt shot/free kick!

Can't get carried away with a reserve match, but disappointing to hear about our strikers and also with Emerton taking a penlalty!