Hull (A)

[Roverinbelfast]

What a brilliant result. Fantastic. Travis, Williams, Downing all superb. 

Del Maldini at the back 

[AllRoverAsia]

Great result! Williams my MoM, never ever thought I'd say that but fair do he's a decent CB.

Lots of Rovers played well tonight.

[Ewood Ace]

As well as Downing played, I thought Travis was superb tonight and should have been man of the match.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Ewood Ace

[WacoRover]

Excellence all over the pitch by Rovers today.

any need to worry about Dack?

[LDRover]

A great win and a thoroughly enjoyable performance to watch. I thought we looked a good side.

[G Somerset Rover]

Think I owe Williams a huge apology - he’s been a revelation at centre half. Fair play to the lad. Other positives were Downing, Lenihan and Johnson (mainly second half). Only real negatives for me were Gallagher and Arma - neither are wingers and the former should be playing up top or not at all.

Anyway, onwards and upwards - let’s make it 3 from 3 at the weekend. 

Edit: missed Bennett as a negative at RB! Duh!

Edited August 20, 2019 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Reedy You're A Star]

Good result. Downing, Williams and Cunningham all had great games. Bennett and Johnson less so, but couldn't have asked for much more. 2 wins, 2 clean sheets. Much better. That tackle at the end, fantastic. Looks like the performances at the end of the season wasn't just because they were dead rubbers. Long may it continue.

Only negatives for me are Armstrong and Bennett. Neither look good enough right now. Nyambe and Rothwell need to be given their chance.

[des]

Watch the match a good win and performance.at times we gave the ball away a bit too much in dangerous places however the new way of giving the ball seems to be working a treat

[Mercer]

Very good performance and deserved win.

Confidence and momentum all important in this league.

IMO, Bennett still a big liability, Gallagher a big waste of money and Armstrong showed again, no football brain and very limited skill.

Big plusses tonight, Williams and Downing whilst Cunningham a big upgrade on Bell.

Now for a glass or two or three to celebrate.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Mercer

[G Somerset Rover]

Just now, imy9 said:

Brilliant, just brilliant. 

Saturday we need to play Williams at LB, Bell should be nowhere that first 11.

Eh?! You mean Cunningham? Williams needs to never play LB ever again!

[rovers11]

Second half was as good as Ive seen Rovers in possession for quite some time. Downing was a class apart from everyone on the pitch, and Johnson/Cunningham have also added some real quality to that team. Williams was superb at CB. 

Mowbray out! 

[neophox]

Great win! Downing is a player and Cunningham solid at left back but Williams best player tonight and Travis againg having a really good game.

[Ewood Ace]

Just now, BankEnd Rover said:

Hull were awful in that second half.

I thought they were the worst side that we played last season and they weren't much better this season.

[Roverinbelfast]

Just now, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Eh?! You mean Cunningham? Williams needs to never play LB ever again!

Cunningham cant play on sat 

[danger19_80]

Greg Cunningham is some player. Messi-esque run into their box one minute, back in his own box to block a shot at point blank range the next.

Edited August 20, 2019 by danger19_80

[Pedro]

Just now, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Eh?! You mean Cunningham? Williams needs to never play LB ever again!

He'll have to play on Saturday ?

[CambridgeRover]

Just now, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

Eh?! You mean Cunningham? Williams needs to never play LB ever again!

Cunningham can't play against Cardiff, loan conditions

[BigUts]

I personally thought Johnson was tremendous. What an astute signing that guy is turning out to be. He and Travis in that deeper lying middle of the park must be up there with the best in the division. Cunningham and William's coming back in to the side has made us very solid. Obviously delighted with Walton too. Always looks good to save a pen but his height really helped towards the end to take the hanging crosses and pumps forward.

The corner appears to have been turned and looks like the way weve played in the past couple of games we look like steely with our preferred defensive 7 

[OldEwoodBlue]

 

THIS IS HOW WE WANT TO FEEL TONY

3 POINTS OFF TOP

NEXT MATCH - MUST WIN !

Edited August 20, 2019 by OldEwoodBlue

[Ossydave]

Well that was far from perfect, and perhaps a bit fortunate in parts but many positives to take.

Thank christ Del told Mowbray he wants to play centre half because he's just ten times the player he is at left back. There was one incident when he had to cover for Cunningham and he got skinned!

The pressing play was brilliant, how many times did we force them to pass it to one of our men?

Some big claims by Walton which I'm pretty certain that little Spaniard would have slapped at.

Bennett the obvious weak link again today but I don't want to dwell on that too much after the result. If Cunningham had a brother who could play right back we would be in dreamland though!

3 wins in a row if we count the cup, things are slowly looking up.

[DE.]

Great result, another clean sheet too. 

Walton - 8/10 - very important penalty save and looked solid throughout
Bennett - 3/10 - poor performance again. Needs to be dropped and/or replaced as soon as possible.
Lenihan - 7/10 - solid enough.
Williams - 10/10 - scored the goal and made a superb tackle at the end. Brilliant performance.
Cunningham - 9/10 - great player, huge, huge upgrade on Bell.
Gallagher - 5/10 - struggled on the wing, no real impact. Needs to be played centrally if he's on the pitch.
Johnson - 7/10 - silly tackle to give away the penalty and wasn't always tracking back, but was all over the pitch and made a lot of interceptions.
Travis - 8/10 - tracked back well to deal with threats and used his engine well in the centre.
Downing - 10/10 - rolled back the years with an incredible performance, our biggest threat by far.
Dack - 7/10 - some good play but not yet at his best. Hopefully the injury isn't too serious.
Armstrong - 4/10 - caught offside repeatedly and was offside and fouling the Hull goalie for our goal, lucky to get away with it. Was better when shifted out wide.

Graham - 6/10 - did fine, no major impact
Rothwell - 7/10 - looked good when he came on
Buckley - N/A

We're still struggling with scoring from open play but that's largely down to the manager not putting our best personnel in their correct positions. We had a few scares at the back but overall look much more solid defensively with the Lenihan/Williams partnership and Cunningham on the left. Bennett is a massive problem and now that he's been named captain I don't see that going away.

Nonetheless, a superb result and especially pleasing as we don't tend to do well in midweek matches. Fingers crossed we can keep building this momentum on Saturday, although the LB position is going to be a concern. Hopefully Tosin is back and we'll see Lenihan/Tosin with Williams at LB. Obviously not Del's best position but he's confident at the moment and Bell is simply not Championship standard.

Edited August 20, 2019 by DE.

[briansol]

Just now, WacoRover said:

Excellence all over the pitch by Rovers today.

any need to worry about Dack?

Clash of knees. Sore for a couple of days but should be allright.

Amazing game management today. Johnson, Downing and Cunningham bring so much intelligence.

Williams amazing, but Downing was so classy. He is still very mobile and pick up such good positions. Good decision making and great passes. What an upgrade on Conway, to be fair he deserved to start ahead of Rothwell on current form.

[G Somerset Rover]

Just now, CambridgeRover said:

Cunningham can't play against Cardiff, loan conditions

Oh feck. Can’t break up the Williams/Lenihan combo I’m afraid. Bell will have to suffice for one game!

[bluebruce]

Great result! End to end game but we deserved the win. I thought I never wanted to see Williams wear our shirt again at one point last season but he's showing what a disservice he's been done by being played at LB for so long. Tosin is going to have to wait for his chance now. Several fine performances. Good team showing.

We still look a bit prone to being pulled apart when teams counter us but I wouldn't say any of the defensive unit played poorly. I think we just have some work to do on shape. But in fairness Hull have some very good attacking players. So much more solid for having Cunningham at LB. Can't afford him to get injured for long at any point this season.

Commentators a bit annoying. From saying Hull dominated the first half (nonsense) that Arma was fouling the keeper (nonsense, he was in his way but neither pushing nor pulling him) and that they thought Hull should have had a pen out of Cunningham (arguable, seen them given but would've been harsh).

End to end, entertaining game that could've ended something like 4-3.

Edited August 20, 2019 by bluebruce

[oldjamfan1]

Just now, Ewood Ace said:

I must say and it is not something that you say very often in English football but the ref tonight was excellent.

Indeed he was