[Archived] ROVERS v Portsmouth

[yellowsubmarine]

Just now, Exiled in Toronto said:

What a difference a few days makes, I thought we looked the real deal today. Key was having Dawson back, no need to protect Nyambe so Chapman comes in. Fight and spirit all over the field, three great goals and Raya had nothing to save all afternoon.

Raya did make an goood save in the first half.

[briansol]

Maybe our best performance of the season. The lineup was spot on, great balance both defensively and attacking. Downing was excellent again, and such an improvement on Ward. He wins headers and is very good on the ball, threading through the lines to Dack on several occasions. Graham is certainly back to his best. Work rate top notch and very intelligent in all his involments. Took the goal very well which he deserved. I also got a lot of time for Whittingham who uses the ball so well. Evans and Smallwood is a bit one-dimensional passing-wise, but Whittingham will ping it wherever needed. 

Portsmouth never looked like scoring and a great goal from Convway to seal the game. Rovers Fan today

[Tom]

Some things really fell into place together 

Really understated but classy performance from Whittingham today him and Smallwood work really well together.

Dack and Chapman on together will be too much for any defence, they can't double up on both of them.

Graham playing like he should be.

Nyambe and Williams both contributing from full back.

Bennett not his best on the ball but superb work rate and that alone played a huge part in the last two goals, the third particularly pleasing due to it being a cruncher on their centre half.

Samuel was an idiot but if it gives Nuttall a chance to get on the bench it may not be too bad. 

Line up was well balanced but felt the subs took the sting out of the game then Conway popped up with a beauty!

That walk up Livesey Branch Road in the torrential rain is easier after a good win!

[rovers11]

Chapman starts. We score three goals.

Downing starts. Clean sheet.

Two very key players for us. The starting 11 looked like a good line up before the match and proved to be the case on the pitch. A good mix of skill, pace, and muscle. 

Top 6 with 2 games in hand. The only downside is the form of Wigan and Shrewsbury. The latter will start to lose some games at some point, we need to be in a good position to pounce when they do. Wigan will be a very tough game next week but we've got more than enough to beat them. 

 

[RoverCanada]

39 minutes ago, Swanson said:

Is it another clean sheet for Downing? No coincidence maybe..

That signing was never in doubt 

[islander200]

Excellent performance. Fair play to Mowbray today.Please keep the same 11 v Fleetwood.Thought Dack was excellent.Chapman should be starting especially at home.

I critized the Downing signing but our back four looks so much more assured with him in the side. To be fair haven't seen him have a bad game for us yet.We look a lot better with Nyambe at right back in place of Caddis,offers a lot more going forward. Another 3 points on Tuesday please lads

My bad it's Tuesday week we play Fleetwood. Would still keep the same 11 v Wigan.We should just be concentrating on ourselves and not worrying about the opposition

[tugayislegend]

27 minutes ago, Lihamylly said:

Now TM, keep this starting lineup and replace Samuel (while suspended) with Nutall and we just might have a decent season ahead of us after all.

Hope mowbray doesnt overthink next game and drop chapman just because we are playing wigan. Overthinking like conway is more experienced to play there and chapman may not be able to drop back and defend....

[West Yorks Rover]

Just now, rovers11 said:

Chapman starts. We score three goals.

Downing starts. Clean sheet.

Two very key players for us. The starting 11 looked like a good line up before the match and proved to be the case on the pitch. A good mix of skill, pace, and muscle. 

Top 6 with 2 games in hand. The only downside is the form of Wigan and Shrewsbury. The latter will start to lose some games at some point, we need to be in a good position to pounce when they do. Wigan will be a very tough game next week but we've got more than enough to beat them. 

 

Wigan dominating games home and away, we need to go and get a result next week.

Shrewsbury definitely not fluking anything, may have only beat Fleetwood 1-0 today but Fleetwood had only 1 chance and that wasn't on target.

[RevidgeBlue]

You start with your best players, (Dack and Chapman) and you win the game! Remarkable, who'd have thought it!

In all seriousness though I thought the attitude and workrate of the players was absolutely exemplary today in the most atrocious of conditions. Unbelievable how they can look so up for it today and so off the pace at Oldham. Not  like watching the same set of players.

The only slight downside for me was the 3 completely unnecessary substitutions, which ultimately resulted in Samuel being sent off. Silly boy. As it happened the monsoon set in thereafter and the changes didn't affect the result but on another day needlessly trying to shut up shop with 20 mins to go may prove costly.

Mowbray still worries me greatly but if he continues to start with Dack and Chapman and integrates a few youngsters into the squad then we might yet force our way back into the automatic promotion reckoning.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

You start with your best players, (Dack and Chapman) and you win the game! Remarkable, who'd have thought it!

In all seriousness though I thought the attitude and workrate of the players was absolutely exemplary today in the most atrocious of conditions. Unbelievable how they can look so up for it today and so off the pace at Oldham. Not  like watching the same set of players.

The only slight downside for me was the 3 completely unnecessary substitutions, which ultimately resulted in Samuel being sent off. Silly boy. As it happened the monsoon set in thereafter and the changes didn't affect the result but on another day needlessly trying to shut up shop with 20 mins to go may prove costly.

Mowbray still worries me greatly but if he continues to start with Dack and Chapman and integrates a few youngsters into the squad then we might yet force our way back into the automatic promotion reckoning.

Good to hear re attitude and workrate. Delighted we won and with a few goals too...

[rovers11]

3 minutes ago, West Yorks Rover said:

Wigan dominating games home and away, we need to go and get a result next week.

Shrewsbury definitely not fluking anything, may have only beat Fleetwood 1-0 today but Fleetwood had only 1 chance and that wasn't on target.

I don't think we'll catch Wigan, they are very strong. However, I do feel Shrewsbury may start to falter as the season goes on. Injuries to one or two key players and their squad may be stretched. The only question is, will they be too far ahead by that stage for us to catch then?

[Guest]

54 minutes ago, Swanson said:

Is it another clean sheet for Downing? No coincidence maybe..

Paul took Pompey to Downing Street today.

[Skiptonrover]

As predicted ching ching, good solid win & performance. Can't think of many negatives apart from the weather & sending off.

[darrenrover]

Just now, rovers11 said:

I don't think we'll catch Wigan, they are very strong. However, I do feel Shrewsbury may start to falter as the season goes on. Injuries to one or two key players and their squad may be stretched. The only question is, will they be too far ahead by that stage for us to catch then?

Wining a few on the bounce now is imperative I feel. 2 between now and teatime next Saturday would be fantastic.

Of course we can catch Wigan but we need to play consistently like today.

After all we've faltered in the past when it looked as if we'd sewn it up!

COYB!

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, Swanson said:

Is it another clean sheet for Downing? No coincidence maybe..

He’s been a real success story so far.

[Mercer]

Well, Rovers did what they should do against most teams in this league and that's win comfortably.

A bit of context though.  Portsmouth were very, very poor and looked every inch a League 2 team.  They were slow and ponderous at the back, looking error prone and a disaster waiting to happen.  Going forward, they did not carry much of a threat.  It was clear from the early minutes there was only going to be one winner.

As for Rovers, Chapman and Dack were the shining lights.  They MUST start every match and what has been in Mowbray's thinking for previous games is anyone's guess. 

At this level, Chapman carries a real threat and will terrorise a lot of defences - at Championship level, where defenders are far more savvy, I am not too sure as the lad is not really quick.  You can actually understand M'boro letting the lad out on loan.

Dack is bright and inventive and a threat in this league.  Again, you would question if he would pose a similar threat in the Championship.

Defensively, God help us if we lose Mulgrew for any length of time.  Downing is an agricultural League 1 player whilst I continue to scratch my head over Williams - I would play Doyle every time.

Still don't know what Whittingham is doing out there.  He just does not effect the game.

Up front, Graham is still head and shoulders above Samuel and Antonnson.  Moves likes he's in treacle now but at least he has a bit of guile and craft and took his goal superbly.

As for Samuel, seriously has the lad a brain?  Deserved to be sent off for his petulant kick at the Pompey lad irrespective of any provocation.

Still far from convinced but much better than last Saturday's horror show at Oldham.

Don't know how many were in the JW as hard to gauge when you are sat there but I reckon there were no more than 4,500 in the other stands including the vocal 1,200 or so from Pompey.

[West Yorks Rover]

Just now, darrenrover said:

Wining a few on the bounce now is imperative I feel. 2 between now and teatime next Saturday would be fantastic.

Of course we can catch Wigan but we need to play consistently like today.

After all we've faltered in the past when it looked as if we'd sewn it up!

COYB!

We don't play Fleetwood this coming Tuesday, it's the following Tuesday.

[JAL]

16 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

You start with your best players, (Dack and Chapman) and you win the game! Remarkable, who'd have thought it!

In all seriousness though I thought the attitude and workrate of the players was absolutely exemplary today in the most atrocious of conditions. Unbelievable how they can look so up for it today and so off the pace at Oldham. Not  like watching the same set of players.

The only slight downside for me was the 3 completely unnecessary substitutions, which ultimately resulted in Samuel being sent off. Silly boy. As it happened the monsoon set in thereafter and the changes didn't affect the result but on another day needlessly trying to shut up shop with 20 mins to go may prove costly.

Mowbray still worries me greatly but if he continues to start with Dack and Chapman and integrates a few youngsters into the squad then we might yet force our way back into the automatic promotion reckoning.

The substitution's were very odd indeed and definitely not positive ones even though Craig Conway showed top class determination and finishing to ease any doubts.

Pompey dint look to have the quality to cause Rovers any problems though their crowd certainly made some noise to keep it interesting.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Sounds like we have found our best 11

[JAL]

Samuel is a disgrace today !

Unprofessional !

He's got a lot of ground to make up after booting the opponent to the ground unecessarily

[Skiptonrover]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Sounds like we have found our best 11

That's the blueprint.

[Dreams of 1995]

I wasn't able to attend today - could the people that were perhaps supply a break down of who played well and who didn't?

Interesting to see that with Downing back in the game we keep another clean sheet. He seems like a million times the player that Ward is. Will he continue to get games when Lenihan is fit?

Nice to see Dack bag another. From the few reports I've had so far it worked well between him & Dack because they couldn't just crowd Dack out. Any manager worth his salt would have figured that out long ago so let's hope Tony finally has the proof that Chapman can, rather remarkably, start a game.

How did Williams & Nyambe do today?

Whittingham seems to be finding his feet and Smallwood, Mulgrew & Bennett all put in performances we can now expect from them. 3 fantastic players to have in the squad.

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, rovers11 said:

I don't think we'll catch Wigan, they are very strong. However, I do feel Shrewsbury may start to falter as the season goes on. Injuries to one or two key players and their squad may be stretched. The only question is, will they be too far ahead by that stage for us to catch then?

3 points at Wigan would make a world of difcerence. Hope TM doesnt drop Dack and Chapman and go there hoping to grind out a point.

As regards Shrewsbury they've done fantastically well so far but there's only so long you can go hardly scoring any goals and conceding virtually none surely?

[Dreams of 1995]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

3 points at Wigan would make a world of difcerence. Hope TM doesnt drop Dack and Chapman and go there hoping to grind out a point.

As regards Shrewsbury they've done fantastically well so far but there's only so long you can go hardly scoring any goals and conceding virtually none surely?

Leicester won the premier league doing just that Revidge!!

[Rover_Shaun]

Catching the top 2? Leave it out