What kind of a free kick was that. Wasted. Commentators getting on my pips making excuses!

Absolute garbage. Worst for a long time. No guile, pathetic passing, Armstrong anonymous.....except for his usual offside. Brereton back to his old self....galloping into nowhere......and did you see Lolley leave him dead when he got his shot away just outside the box? Johnson contributing little and as for Evans.....I never want to see him again; poor in every aspect of play. What was Kaminski doing when Forest hit the bar. Dolan looking like the kid he is. I don’t think the new tactic of playing long high balls to him is working!! Nyambe the only player looking capable of creating anything. Ayala the best player we have so far.

Sadly, I was a youngster in 1969......and this is my last post of the night. Goodnight one and all.

Yes, Johnson needs to give him lessons.

Sorry Howie, I stayed up till 2am to watch this. I deserved more!

But worryingly we didn’t make many chances. Passing was poor all game.

Let’s be fair..........it was very disappointing.

He created nothing today. He has to be better from the edge of the box......a real weakness.

Good grief!

Back to reality. Shoulda known! Where did the devastating attacking force go? Rothwell can be infuriating. Holtby fairly ineffective. Not much magic from Dolan. Armstrong offside again and missed a great chance. Brereton disappointing.

Blimey! You’re right: possession 62.6% to our 37.4% pass success 81% to our 78% Hard to believe.

Championship Trivia Quiz Johnson (8.61) and Armstrong (8.36) are rated the best two players in the Championship right now on whoscored.com. We have a third player in the top 10. Who is he? Unsurprisingly BJ and AA make the “team of the week” but who are the other two Rovers to make the team? Of the 335 players rated by whoscored.com, 4 of the bottom 6 come from the same team….which team? Our current, worst player (of the regular outfield players) comes in 101st on whoscored.com, Who is he? As an aside, this is a far better overall team rating than I have ever seen. We top the table for the highest average rating per player this season at 7.26. Just for fun, who was our worst rated (regular) player last season at 351/360 players. Here are some other notable stats for last season: David Nugent 346th, Todd Kane 345th, Joe Garner 334th, Kasey Palmer 335th, Connor Mahoney 315th, Danny Simpson 284th, Bennett 283rd, Rothwell 258th, Charlie Adam 242nd, Tom Ince 240th, Nyambe 237th, Bell 234th. Derby and Wycombe have yet to win a point. Which other team is in the same boat? Which Championship player has (on average) the most shots per game (five) but has also been called for the most offsides too. Which team has both the most possession per match (58%) and the most successful passing percentage (82%)? Hmmmm, I didn’t believe it either! Which Rover has played every game and has a 94% passing success rate? Great hat-trick by Armstrong but which two players have scored two Championship hat-tricks for Rovers fairly recently? (Hint: they played together often). Which former favourite scored our last hat-trick? Answers (data from whoscored.com and LT.) TD (7th with 7.63) 2.TK and JR, 3. Wycombe, 4. Bell (for fun…..DG), 5. NF, 6. Armstrong, 7. Derby! (In comparison Rovers are at 51% and 77%), 8. TD, 9. Rhodes, Gestede, 10. Graham (SW 2018). Tell me how you got on!

I agree. Drawing these past few games is the worst kind of deja vu. But then again, I just looked at the table on the BBC site. If we ignore Leeds and West Brom, our recent results compare very favourably to our neighbours. In positions 3rd to 18th, no other team has earned more points than us over the last 5 games......only QPR has earned the same (9 points). Apart from the top 2, only Wigan in 19th and last placed Luton have earned more points! Somehow I don’t feel too bad now!

You were’nt alone Tom!

You did better than me! I was surprised by the Graham and Travis answers.

Hmmm! 21 views in the hour since I posted. Thank you. But I would welcome some interaction. How about posting your score - if you dare! Remember Santa doesn’t visit if you’re untruthful! Multiple part questions have multiple marks. E.g. Q3 has 3 marks, Q10 has 2 etc. I make that a maximum of 14!

Championship Trivia Quiz 1. Which Swansea player is rated 4th best in the Championship by whoscored.com .......unsurprisingly after watching his performance against us! 2. Who is the highest rated Rover? 3. There are only 3 more Rovers in the top 100; who are they? 4. What is our position in the “form table” (last 6 matches)? 5. Dack and Armstrong lead our goalscoring chart but who is in 3rd place? 6. Who is rated our worst player (has to have played Fairly regularly)? 7. Which 2 Rovers made it into the Championship “team of the week” (based on Bristol performance)? 8. One player made it into the “team of the month”. Who? 9. Which Rover has the highest successful pass rate....84.2%? 10. Which two players have 4 assists to their names? Answers 1. Ayew 7.41, 2. Adarabioyo (41st out of 343) with a rating 7.05, 3. Lenihan 78th, Williams 89th, Downing 94th, 4. Top, 5. Williams with 3 goals, 6. Graham 335th with rating 6.23, 7. Bell and Johnson, 8. Downing, 9. Travis, 10. Downing and Bennett

Indeed. Of the 9 teams above us, only 3 won last time out. That’s gotta be encouraging?

I liked Walton, Holtby and Johnson. But I must hold my hand up, Bell who I’ve criticised heavily had an impressive return and, most of all, Gallagher showed that unceasing endeavour can affect the course of a game in a big way. Time and again he made the Bristol defenders rush their options to force mis-hit passes or win a throw in. Great stuff. Bristol did have some big chances in the first half but Walton and Lenihan made great stops. In the second half we looked much the better team. Let’s not stuff it up in the next 2 games!

Absolutely. Not quite Liverpool v Barca but good enough!

Fortunate to get a point. Nyambe was Rovers best player in my opinion; his pace came to the rescue on a couple of occasions and he had some good moments going forward. Dack had half time to get his head together but he let us all down. His tendency to kick out when he’s been dispossessed is pathetic. Yes he should have been subbed as we could all see where it was going. Swansea had so much more time on the ball than we did; many Rovers taking too long to move the ball forward. Gallagher nearly had a goal of the season....I didn’t think he had it in him! Rothwell totally anonymous for the second game on the trot. Armstrong had some wonderful opportunities to set up a goal but fluffed them all.....except in the 3rd minute! Walton made a great save, flying off his line to dive at the feet of the forward when the Swansea man looked favourite. Today Tosin wasn’t the assured, quality distributor we’ve come to expect with sloppy passes putting us in danger several times. Lenihan was back to something like his old self second half thankfully.

Great start but since then we’re definitely second best. Ayew is making a mug of every defender he faces. Outmuscled Lenihan comprehensively on one occasion. The central partnership which has looked so good recently is all at sea. Rothwell is making no positive contribution going forward and none covering back. A complete passenger. Armstrong is little better but he did assist the goal. Nyambe is the biggest threat going forward! Dack close to a red at the end.

Yes, i was going to mention that too. Derby played a lot of poor balls, several of them directly in to touch, when we snapped at their heels. Very pleasing.

I agree with the general consensus. Tosin and Downing were my favourites today but their tight, ultra-casual interplay under pressure, deep in our own half, is sometimes nerve-wracking. But what about the Downing series of wonderful pressure relieving, long clearances/passes over the head of their full back.......with just enough weight to allow Armstrong or Gallagher to put in a serious challenge. Classy stuff, especially in the second half. Buckley’s 6 minutes put the willies up me for sure.....strange sub that. We’re still not generating many chances though. Rothwell is unconvincing for me. Neither he nor Armstrong deliver a consistent end product but Armstrong has improved I think. Gallagher and Brereton seem unlikely to be the answer. So Dack and Danny it is then and we keep searching for the best supply lines. Some problems have been addressed effectively this season, so I remain optimistic. Play-offs here we come!

Well my friends, it's 4 am here so time for bed. Thanks for the banter.