v Bristol City (a) - 10/04/2024

[Upside Down]

Two decent results on the trott and the teams below us are totally gash.

If the soft lads can get another win here then we'll be safe.

[philipl]

Although not a relegation 6 pointer, this is in the MUST NOT LOSE category. Lose this and momentum and a sense of invincibility in defence we are beginning to build will be lost with just two automatic promotion contenders, a play off contender and Wednesday left to come.

Bristol City are a menace.

They are well capable of soundly beating any team in this division and equally can play like absolute dross. This could be an absolute chasing for us or a three point Ashton Gate benevolent evening and there is no predicting which it will be.

Will Eustace rotate some tired legs knowing we are facing Leeds at lunchtime on Saturday after Leeds have the luxury of a Tuesday night gimme at home to Sunderland? Finally, in the availability of Carter, McFadzean, Chriene, Ayari and Buckley- perhaps even Moran- we have squad back-ups the equal of many members of the 11 who finished the game against Southampton.

The other 8 clubs in the Casino not-Royale for the two relegation slots have the following midweek games:

Tuesday:

Millwall v Leicester

Plymouth v QPR

Preston v Huddersfield (and we know PNE will roll over for that one)

Sheffield Wednesday v Norwich

Wednesday:

Birmingham v Cardiff

Swansea v Stoke (which kicks off 15 minutes after us)

The Robbins' current form is W3 D1 L1 so this is going to be a serious test for Eustace's men.

 

[Michael123458]

This is one of them unpredictable games it’s such a 50/50 place away at Bristol city for any team in the league. I’m going to say 0 0 we’re solid defensively but equally not as sharp up front barring Sunderland last week in general this season a point and we’re well on way to safety oh and fuck Leeds scum 😀

 

RTID 

[roversfan99]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

Although not a relegation 6 pointer, this is in the MUST NOT LOSE category. Lose this and momentum and a sense of invincibility in defence we are beginning to build will be lost with just two automatic promotion contenders, a play off contender and Wednesday left to come.

Bristol City are a menace.

They are well capable of soundly beating any team in this division and equally can play like absolute dross. This could be an absolute chasing for us or a three point Ashton Gate benevolent evening and there is no predicting which it will be.

Will Eustace rotate some tired legs knowing we are facing Leeds at lunchtime on Saturday after Leeds have the luxury of a Tuesday night gimme at home to Sunderland? Finally, in the availability of Carter, McFadzean, Chriene, Ayari and Buckley- perhaps even Moran- we have squad back-ups the equal of many members of the 11 who finished the game against Southampton.

The other 8 clubs in the Casino not-Royale for the two relegation slots have the following midweek games:

Tuesday:

Millwall v Leicester

Plymouth v QPR

Preston v Huddersfield (and we know PNE will roll over for that one)

Sheffield Wednesday v Norwich

Wednesday:

Birmingham v Cardiff

Swansea v Stoke (which kicks off 15 minutes after us)

The Robbins' current form is W3 D1 L1 so this is going to be a serious test for Eustace's men.

 

Those backups bar Carter are not the equal of our starters.

Why will Preston roll over? Are they in the conspiracy that sees referees biased against us.

Failure to win plus assuming we lose at Leeds could see us dangerously close come Saturday evening next week with only 3 games to go.

[rigger]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Those backups bar Carter are not the equal of our starters.

Why will Preston roll over? Are they in the conspiracy that sees referees biased against us.

Failure to win plus assuming we lose at Leeds could see us dangerously close come Saturday evening next week with only 3 games to go.

Or we could be in a similar position to what we are now, but with two games less to play. Why always the doom and gloom ?

[MarkBRFC]

Game too far I think after the efforts since Good Friday.

No real options to freshen things up will see us lose this 2-0 I reckon.

[roversfan99]

2 minutes ago, rigger said:

Or we could be in a similar position to what we are now, but with two games less to play. Why always the doom and gloom ?

I am saying that a point in a game described as "must not lose" coupled with a very hard game at Leeds that I think will be a struggle could see other teams make serious ground on us.

[philipl]

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I am saying that a point in a game described as "must not lose" coupled with a very hard game at Leeds that I think will be a struggle could see other teams make serious ground on us.

Some certainty would but seeing as there are games between fellow strugglers mid week and at the weekend, some certainty wouldn't.

We are 16th so we can afford 5 clubs overtaking us to stay up.

[Blue blood]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

 

Bristol City are a menace.

They are well capable of soundly beating any team in this division and equally can play like absolute dross. This could be an absolute chasing for us or a three point Ashton Gate benevolent evening and there is no predicting which it will be.

Agree one of the hardest games to predict because they are such an inconsistent team. Reckon a draw is the most likely result as we've limited teams of late and unless Bristol are having one of their better days that should be enough to nullify them. But they could be gash and a repeat of Sunderland or they could batter us. Must be interesting being a Bristol fan.

 

2 hours ago, philipl said:

The other 8 clubs in the Casino not-Royale for the two relegation slots have the following midweek games:

Tuesday:

Millwall v Leicester

Plymouth v QPR

Preston v Huddersfield (and we know PNE will roll over for that one)

Sheffield Wednesday v Norwich

Wednesday:

Birmingham v Cardiff

Swansea v Stoke (which kicks off 15 minutes after us)

The Robbins' current form is W3 D1 L1 so this is going to be a serious test for Eustace's men.

 

That's a good set of fixtures for us. Leicester will beat Millwall. We win whatever the result of QPR/Plymouth. Preston and Norwich should beat Hudds and Sheff Weds. 

The Wedneaday games are trickier for us as both Brum and Stoke could pick up points. But given Stoke are grinding out points I dont see them as going down so that's less worrying. Huge opportunity for Brum though, a very winnable game. Lose this and I think they will be sunk. 

[M_B]

It's delicately poised going into the final furlong, but there are 8 teams who would swap positions with Rovers. Parity at 10 o'clock on Wednesday night and we'd be in a strong position to stay up. 

A tough one at Bristol,like yesterday it's very important we don't pick up early yellows and see out the first 15 minutes. 

 

[tomphil]

I'd be trying to win this and have that mentality going into it.

One more win should see us safe and the sooner it comes the better so lets have a big push and get the job done.

[jim mk2]

Never been to Ashton Gate so considering going as it might be my last opportunity to see a game this season. Does anyone know if we can pay on the gate? 

[joey_big_nose]

2 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Game too far I think after the efforts since Good Friday.

No real options to freshen things up will see us lose this 2-0 I reckon.

Couple of things make me more optimistic 

1- Since Eustace has come in we have only conceded two goals twice (Swansea, PNE) limiting very good attacking Ipswich and Southampton sides recently to very few chances.

2- The way we are playing under Eustace is much less energy intensive than JDT. So I expect the performance drop off to be less for a midweek game.

Think we should be targeting another point.

[NeilInBristol]

2 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Never been to Ashton Gate so considering going as it might be my last opportunity to see a game this season. Does anyone know if we can pay on the gate? 

Good question! 

It's a great stadium. The owners have done a good job in preparation for a eventual premier league status. 

You can pay on the day for home fans but away end has limited tickets so best to check with the rovers site or box office? Still plenty of tickets left when I got mine. Going to be a great game. It's a really good atmosphere down here and the walk across the bridge to the stadium is fun 

[NeilInBristol]

2 hours ago, tomphil said:

I'd be trying to win this and have that mentality going into it.

One more win should see us safe and the sooner it comes the better so lets have a big push and get the job done.

Yeh definitely. 

Hope the players see it that way. Would be a great result for us. I've got banter rights to be delivered Thurs morning if so!

[Exiled_Rover]

33 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Couple of things make me more optimistic 

1- Since Eustace has come in we have only conceded two goals twice (Swansea, PNE) limiting very good attacking Ipswich and Southampton sides recently to very few chances.

2- The way we are playing under Eustace is much less energy intensive than JDT. So I expect the performance drop off to be less for a midweek game.

Think we should be targeting another point.

The performance used to drop off after 20 minutes under JDT.

Games followed a remarkably similar pattern under the Dane - we'd fly out of the blocks for the first 20 minutes, trying to get an early goal and on top in the game. We'd then fade after 70 minutes and hang on for dear life (or watch the game peter out if we weren't in the lead) with no impact subs to bring on. 

Those first 20 minutes for JDT were absolutely crucial - a bit like watching Emerton play for us, you knew within 20 minutes how our (and his) game was going to go. 

[wilsdenrover]

3 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Never been to Ashton Gate so considering going as it might be my last opportunity to see a game this season. Does anyone know if we can pay on the gate? 

It would appear not.

’Our initial allocation for this fixture is 1000 tickets. Supporters should note that this is an ALL-TICKET fixture – there will no sales on the day’

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/march/20/ticket-news--bristol-city-v-rovers/

Edited April 7 by wilsdenrover

[jim mk2]

9 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

It would appear not.

’Our initial allocation for this fixture is 1000 tickets. Supporters should note that this is an ALL-TICKET fixture – there will no sales on the day’

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/march/20/ticket-news--bristol-city-v-rovers/

 

Thanks. 

[Waggy76]

4 hours ago, Blue blood said:

Agree one of the hardest games to predict because they are such an inconsistent team. Reckon a draw is the most likely result as we've limited teams of late and unless Bristol are having one of their better days that should be enough to nullify them. But they could be gash and a repeat of Sunderland or they could batter us. Must be interesting being a Bristol fan.

 

That's a good set of fixtures for us. Leicester will beat Millwall. We win whatever the result of QPR/Plymouth. Preston and Norwich should beat Hudds and Sheff Weds. 

The Wedneaday games are trickier for us as both Brum and Stoke could pick up points. But given Stoke are grinding out points I dont see them as going down so that's less worrying. Huge opportunity for Brum though, a very winnable game. Lose this and I think they will be sunk. 

Preston very rarely do Rovers a favour !

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I’m not over confident but I think we’ll get something out of this game. We are hard working and as a result we’ve become hard to beat. I no longer hide behind the sofa when we are playing away.

Edited April 7 by Tyrone Shoelaces

[tomphil]

Why are clubs so set against pay on the day these days ?

Not like it'll be a sell out in either end and what is so difficult about making tickets available for a handful who might turn up on the night ?

Another sad state of affairs in the present era and there must be some nonsenical driving factor as usual like many other things.

[Mattyblue]

Another post Covid phenomenon.

Will probably save a nominal amount on staff/admin on the day, so feck the fans that can only make a late decision to come.

Edited April 7 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

I recall us turning up at WBA one Sat afternoon without tickets after deciding to go at lunch time and there was no pay on the day turnstile of away ticket office.

So we spoke to a steward there and he just said go into the ticket office to the far window and they'll sort you out, they did, no aggro no problems.

Of course that was a few years ago and now it would be way too much bother in the post covid digital reset world, what a load of bollocks.

[NeilInBristol]

7 hours ago, tomphil said:

I recall us turning up at WBA one Sat afternoon without tickets after deciding to go at lunch time and there was no pay on the day turnstile of away ticket office.

So we spoke to a steward there and he just said go into the ticket office to the far window and they'll sort you out, they did, no aggro no problems.

Of course that was a few years ago and now it would be way too much bother in the post covid digital reset world, what a load of bollocks.

they do that here in bristol when you go and see 'the gas' aka bristol rovers -they dont mind if you havent got a ticket, theyll sort you out until around 10mins before k/o when the staff in the cabin (box office) want to get their seat. 

sadly bristol city dont behave the same way...like many championship clubs

7 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Another post Covid phenomenon.

Will probably save a nominal amount on staff/admin on the day, so feck the fans that can only make a late decision to come.

think you are spot on there mate, such a shame!

 

anyway whos coming down to bristol!!

[Torgeir]

Should look to win this. Bristol City with nothing left to play for this season. We're up for it, we don't look a nervous bunch at the moment.