[Archived] Bolton V Rovers

[Mr. E]

great indeed, let's keep it rolling.

[tonygreenbank]

Well done Rovers on a great win. Well deserved. Ricketts by name and rickett by nature! Goalie though was at fault.Never in danger of losing that. McCann cleared 2 off the line and Di Santo had a great chance. Dunny was brilliant from start to his substitution.Great to hear the fans in full voice.

[Iceman]

Bloody hell, only 6 points behind Villa who are in 4th and we have a game in hand. Win against Fulham, then we are looking like we could yet get a Europa spot come the end of the season. Still early days, but things are looking up.

[Rovermatt]

Best showing of the season so far. We were utterly dominant from beginning to end. As for Dunn's goal...wow.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Well,well well!!

Nice first goal by Dunny and a commanding second half performance by Rovers....were there any Bolton fans at the game btw?

[Exiled in Toronto]

Really enjoyed the 2nd half. 2 up front the whole time and much more variety to our play. Am I alone in thinking that not having MGP doing his ludicrous 'long' throws made us look better? We kept possession much more and Samba looked more focused (apart from one late slip) without having to lumber up and down the pitch every time we got a throw in. Also good, late cameo from Grella who looked like a proper midfielder while he was on. Just need to get the useless Diouf out of the team now.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Great win, excellent clean sheet as well.

Overall i thought the team played well, especially in the second half. Playing the diamond allows Dunny to play his game plus allows 2 strikers up front to add more attacking options. Dunny is a class act, always had the talent just had trouble keeping fit. If he keeps fit i can see him getting 10 goals at least this season, i hope we offer him a new contract soon.

Bring on Fulham!

[PAFELL]

Bloody hell, only 6 points behind Villa who are in 4th and we have a game in hand. Win against Fulham, then we are looking like we could yet get a Europa spot come the end of the season. Still early days, but things are looking up.

I think Fulham will be a hard game - but one Rovers are capable of getting a win from. Be nice just to have the points in the bag and distance from the relegation zone - then think of further progress - europe etc. We could do with a pompey win this afternoon - doubt that will happen though.

Well,well well!!

Nice first goal by Dunny and a commanding second half performance by Rovers....were there any Bolton fans at the game btw?

Yep in tears

[Flopsy]

There was a period in this game when Bolton were competitive, but when you're at home and you're – with due respect – playing Blackburn, that won't really do. They're 18th now, and they did nothing here to suggest that they're in a false position. They had left-footers on the right and right-footers on the left, and none of them could deliver the ball reliably well, and fast. Elmander wants to go back to France, or Sweden, or home to mummy. Davies didn't have anything to work with. They did give us all a gloriously inept own-goal to enjoy though. Blackburn's away form has been dismal, and they shouldn't get too carried away. There won't face many sides as bad as Bolton.

Simon Burnton from his guardian commentary

[Kai]

Dunn was great today but I also thought that Emerton was very very good too - didn't shirk out of any challenges and ran all game long. He also put in some great crosses.

Givet's substitution was a blessing in disguise - he was a bit out of sorts from the get go in my opinion.

[Presty On Tour]

Well done Neil Mcdonald, deserves credit today.

Clean sheet and a victory away from home which could have been much more than 2-0 with the chances we created in the 2nd half.

Belting own goal and a class finish from Dunny. If he keeps the goals flowing, he must deserve an England call up.

[Claytons Left Boot]

Well done the Rovers! Sounds like a decent performance and a nice jump up the league.

Back in Blighty for the Liverpool game - can't wait!

4-4-2..............the way forward!

Keep it up.

Speedy recovery Sam.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

In the name of God the almighty give Dunn a new contract Rovers!!

21,777 with reduced prices AND some 3,500 Rovers fans?......Gartside must be a worried man

[Blue blood]

Great result for the rovers!

Am I the only one who wasn't too impressed with the first half performance? A beautiful move for Dunny's goal and Dunn pouncing on a Bolton defensive error aside I thought we were pretty uninspiring, if not poor. We didn't create much, and let a woeful Bolton side have far too much possession. Taylor in particular should've scored from a corner. A better team would have done us.

Second half however was much better. In fact it was excellent. We defended well. We played some good attacking stuff and passed it about nicely. Even when there were a couple of blips players covered for each other - like the Samba error/Jacobsen clearance - and everyone seemed to work their socks off.

Second half it could've been far more. Aside from the two cleared off the line Jacobsen made a couple of good saves and there were a couple of times where having a player a bit better positioned they'd have poked it home. In the end a shocking own goal made the game safe, but to be honest in the second half there was only one team in it.

Pretty much all the players impressed. Especially the defence, though it's a blow to loose Givet to injury. Di Santo is very much an almost player - he should have scored, and perhaps with a better touch he'd have done more in several situations, but the guys puts in so much effort and work that even when it doesn't come off he still has a positive impact on the team. Dunn as usual was awsome.

Two other players of note for different reasons are Emerton and Diouf. Emerton had one of the best games I've seen him have for a long time on the right. Defensively he worked so hard, and offensively he made some good runs and got in a few good crosses. I wish he'd be a bit more aggressive going forward at times, but overall a very good display at right mid, which shows playing him there is far from a disaster (although I still think his best positions are elsewhere).

As for Diouf - disappointed. One good thing about the guy is he rarely gives the ball away, but goign forward he seems to lack the pace or guile to really hurt the opposition. A wide midfielder should be a threat to the opposition and I don't think he provides much of this. His versatility is a bonus, but I really think we should be looking at a better class of player for the wings regardless of the financial situation.

On a final note I was worried not having Sam around would damage a run of very winnable games. This was not the case, and the second half performance was one of the best I'bve seen this season. Breaking the utterly awful away record is also another massive bonus, and psychologically must be a relief to all connected with the club.

Happy days.

[Tom]

What a great outing. Boltons fans were poor but we were great.

Dunny and emerton were both superb, Franco was good but should have scored. Diouf was our weak link no real effort from him.

Credit to robbo for the first goal great throw although inthought we'd conceded moments before

grella looked good when he came on as well

[RibbleValleyRover]

Did anyone else hear the "Megson for Scotland" chants?

[Steve Moss]

Does Diouf really have to pass it backwards every time he gets the ball?

I cheer when he moves it backward as he mostly gives it up when he's going forward.

Jacobsen is a good replacement for Givet - he's been unfairly frozen out recently.

I don't think he's been frozen out. I hope it has more to do with giving him time with his newborn child.

In the name of God the almighty give Dunn a new contract Rovers!!

Amen.

[Kelbo]

I thought our ball retention was far better without Andrews in midfield, hopefully that will keep him on the bench now!!

As for Diouf, I thought he did well today, kept the ball and brought people into play allowing Chimbonda to bomb on, Chimbonda had a great game, Warnock was not better than that performance,odd moments apart, we looked solid and the margin should have been greater!!

good to see how Neil McDonald was out there encouraging and driving them on!!

All over the park I thought we were decent and committed, Emerton did well and our tactics late on of keeping the ball and hitting the flags were spot on, everyone was working!! a similar performance at Fulham would leave us in an interesting position and if we can move one or three players on and bring in a little more quality, who knows where we can go!!

[CrazyIvan]

First half was naff until we scored and then we bossed the game. Diouf was poor first half and that's being kind, he was much better second half though. Probably it helped that he switched to the wing in the second half. Totally dominant in the second half and we should and could have buried them 4 or 5. Another day and we would have. I don't mind because it was a great win and a great away day.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Wigan just got hit for 9 against Spurs....

Great day. Emerton, Chimbonda, Dunn, Samba were brilliant. No one had a poor game, although Roberts was outshone by Di Santo.

[DE.]

Great result for us today, finally broken the away curse, created some serious distance between ourselves and 18th, and are catching up with Bumley!

[Guest Kamy100]

Superb result and performance.

Both teams were poor in the first half, although Rovers were more threatening, superb goal by Dunny. Second half was all Rovers, missed so many chances that I began to wonder whether we would pay for it, in the end the comedy own goal eased the nerves. I thought that Dunn, Samba, Nelsen, N'Zonzi (he is improving all the time) and Emerton played really well. Credit our fans who were brilliant, you could not hear the Bolton fans.

[Fife Rover]

First of all:- A superb result to at last break our "away duck", but having said that it was definitely a game of two halves.

The first half I was on edge the whole time that Bolton had the ball going forward; our entire back line and Robbo as well looked nervy and lacking in confidence, and there were several opportunities for Bolton to score which a better side most certainly would have done. The number of guilt-edged opportunities that Bolton scorned were quite unbelievable, and it seemed as if our entire defence were a bag of nerves. Luckily for us we held out and just after they had missed their umpteenth opportunity to go in front we were given a superb break away chance with a great throw out from Robbo, picked up by Di Santo and threaded through quickly to Roberts who immediately laid it off to Dunny coming in from the left. Superb strike from Dunny giving their keeper no chance. This goal seemed to give our players a bit of self-belief at last, and and the rest of the 1st half was better but still Bolton had more chances than us and should have scored.

The second half however was a completely different story. Rovers played throughout with much more confidence from back to front. We were passing the ball around, and creating far more chances going forward. Bert and Diuof on the wings were getting in some decent crosses and Di Santo was running at them, and with Dunny playing a sort of deeper roaming MF role we were really causing problems for Bolton. There were several good strikes on target from Rovers and a few others just wide of the mark as well. Two or three goal-line clearences from McCann saved Bolton further embarassment as Rovers continued to pressure their defence. Just when it looked like Rovers were never going to get the second goal that they needed to give them some margin and ability to relax and play a more calm and considered game came the break we needed in the classic mix-up between Jaskalinen and Ricketts. It was definitely the keepers error in rushing out beyond his area and not even giving his defenders a shout. I felt almost sorry for Ricketts who had made what he thought was a pressure removing safe pass-back, only to find to his horror that he had succeeded in scoring the goal that Rovers so badly needed to kill the game.

The rest was all Rovers playing with confidence at last, and with a bit more effort and luck they could have had another two or three goals. All in all a good display and one that hopefully will give Sam the chance to relax a little before his operation. Well done to all the players; a very good result and a decent performance in the second half. Dunny being the stand-out perfomance, but no really poor perfomances from anyone, other than the understandable nervy start.

[The Harwood Yankee]

Note to Big Sam:

2 up front + no Andrews or Pedersen = 3 points away from home

Took our stand-in manager all of one game to work out what Sam has failed to see for 8 months!

[brfcshabba]

Note to Big Sam:

2 up front + no Andrews or Pedersen = 3 points away from home

Took our stand-in manager all of one game to work out what Sam has failed to see for 8 months!

Allardyce picked the team.

Incidentally we are the only away team to have won this weekend