Potts was just barging a few people around and putting in some solid tackles, it's not like he was squaring up to players and scything them down. If the referee had booked him early on when he blatantly barged Moran into the advertising boards, as he should have, it would have stopped. The leniency of the ref allowed Preston to bully us as they knew they had plenty of leeway. We obviously need to be able to stand up to that, but the ref played a big part in letting Preston play the way they did last night.

If JDT had been given the same backing as McKenna at Ipswich (which, for the record, is not a huge amount) I think we'd be right up there with them. Unfortunately instead he's been given less than nothing to work with.

Never met Birdy but it's obvious he was Rovers' to his core and dearly loved the club. Great tribute last night.

We had some performances last season that I felt were below-par, and where the team weren't putting in 100% (for example Burnley at mordor, or when Preston dicked us 4-1 at Ewood), but I haven't seen any evidence of that this season. The lads are giving their all and trying to implement the manager's vision as best they can within their abilities - we're just hamstrung by lack of investment and injuries. The fact we're desperately waiting for Gallagher and Hedges to return says it all, really.

Think that model might be dead after receiving £0 for Brereton, and absolutely no hope of making profit on Gallagher even if he was sold.

I'd like for them to explain why at this point. Not interested in hearing empty platitudes about caring about the club or the fans, because we know they don't, and truthfully there's no reason for them to. They never have. They bought it as an investment on bad advice, at best, and if we take this entire nightmare on surface level as being nothing more than that then said investment hasn't worked out. So what's the real reason they are so intent on holding our club hostage? Because there's nothing to suggest it has anything to do with genuinely caring. Paying the bills (the bare minimum expectation as an owner) isn't enough to prove that they do. Nor is claiming this to be true in the odd soulless statement we get. Give us a practical reason. A logical reason. Just one. Why are you here?

He came to us injured and didn't have a preseason, which obviously doesn't help. Regardless of his ability it's been far from an ideal transition into the Championship for him, which is a demanding league physically. Such is the situation the owners have put us in though. We've had to take punts on risky players because we have no real money to spend, aside from the £800k for Leo which was presumably taken from the amount we got for Kaminski as an absolute needs must, although truthfully I'm surprised we weren't tasked with finding a free replacement there too, or just told to use Hilton as backup. Maybe JDT put his foot down there.

He'd been carrying a knock since the first half. Surprised he wasn't taken off earlier, but I suppose it speaks to our total lack of suitable replacements on the bench.

We won't because we have a massively underfunded team and shit owners. JDT is doing the best he can steering a broken down ship full of holes through the storm. At best we'll finish mid-table, but for Rovers in this division that can never be considered a 'good season'.

Feels like we'd have more chance of scrambling the ball home if we put it into the box, as what we currently do seems to always result in losing possession which is never good. I am sure the reluctance to put the ball into the box comes from the fact we have nobody who is a threat from a cross, but this alternative isn't working either. If we're going to do short corners then fine, but it doesn't feel like there's a purpose to ours. We keep passing it as if the corner came from open play, but the box is massively congested so there's little chance of getting through. I really hope you're right, of course. I've seen glimpses from him to suggest he has something about him, too, but tonight the introduction of him and Markanday felt like it reduced us to ten men. Markanday kept losing the ball and Leonard didn't seem to get into the game at all. Telalovic too. I appreciate he was a desperation signing, but you wonder why we even bothered as he seems completely unfancied. This is a 23 year old lad as well, not an 18 year old with a bit of potential. If he's worse than Markanday then it was a waste of a wage. Can only hope it's a case of him still settling in, but it's concerning.

It would be nice to know what we're trying to do with our set pieces, because I can't really work it out. For corners we basically take them as if we had passed it to the corner flag, yet we have players jostling for position in the box for a cross that rarely ever comes. I assume there's a method to the madness and I could make some guesses, but whatever it is doesn't seem to work at all.

Weak is being kind, honestly. Our squad depth is practically non-existent as soon as we get any injuries. The bench tonight was emblematic of the severe lack of investment in the team. Literally not a single person you'd have any realistic hope of making a difference.

Think the commentator said 11 of our 25 goals against have been conceded in the last 15 minutes (I assume 12 out of 26 now, if I'm recalling correctly). I believe one of the stats showed we're the worst in the division for conceding late goals. It's definitely a huge problem.

That's really why we needed to keep Dolan on. He was the one player in the team who actually had the motivation to keep battling right to the end. Unless he was injured or seemed to be completely exhausted (didn't seem to be either, but maybe one of those is true) he needed to stay on. Without his drive up top we lost a lot of momentum.

We just have absolutely zero from the bench to help us when we need to make changes. Markanday was useless, Leonard barely involved. Ennis apparently still not even fit enough for a handful of minutes. Dolan coming off took so much out of our attacking impetus, and there was no improvement on Siggy. He was at least trying to contribute even if it wasn't coming off. We play some lovely football but a weak defence ravanged by injuries and a lack of consistent goalscorer beyond Sammie leaves us in a difficult position. Venky's have left us without a squad capable of winning games where we need something extra towards the end. You can see that we're close to being a very good team in this division, but without actual investment (not just keeping the lights on) or a cohensive long-term plan we don't have a hope of progressing - regardless of manager.

Been absolutely shocking defensively tonight. Combine that with a frontline that only has one proper goalscorer in Szmodics and here we are. Summer budget slashing has completely wrecked our season.

I guess he still isn't fit enough... that or he's not impressing in training.

A lot of barging from Preston that has gone unpunished tonight. Poor from the ref. Sammie just four goals from equalling BBD's league tally from last season. First player in the Champ to get to double figures.

Well, now we aren't the only team who can claim bad luck with the woodwork.

Glad that was flagged offside, as it would have been another huge miss otherwise.

Exactly what we needed at the start of the half. Needed Sammie to step up and there it is. Brilliant pass from Moran.

Think this is unfair. We haven't been outplayed, we should have scored at least one and possibly two, whilst their goal and their other big chance earlier in the game came from a couple of defensive lapses. Overall we've been in the game and the better team, just lacked some luck and have been punished for a defensive mistake.

Didn't say he hasn't had any effect tbf, as a whole we've been trying to pass the ball into the net and often resorted to taking shots from outside the box out of frustration. When we have broken through though we've made good chances... we just haven't finished them.

Sammie has looked really leggy in this game. He's our fulcrum and you can see how much it hurts our attacking play when he's struggling to make an impact. Doesn't help that Siggy is both carrying a knock and off form as well. Dolan been trying too hard to make things happen without having much of an effect. Moran unlucky hitting the bar, has been trying to make an impact but often let down by poor touches and passes. Think we've been largely solid in the middle and Tronstad in particular has been doing very well. Wharton has been tidy and made some good passes around the final third. Trav has engineered a lot of our attacking moves and been further forward than you'd assume he would be, but perhaps as a result has been suspect defensively. We've struggled to defend whenever Preston have come forward - we were seriously rattled after they scored, but managed to pen them back for the last five minutes or so of the half which helped ease the pressure. With that said Preston haven't looked too threatening other than a couple of early chances and Browne's goal which was taken very well. Still think we can come back into this one, but we need to be a lot more clinical. One shot on target out of ten isn't good enough, regardless of how many times we hit the bar. Not much on the bench that will realistically change things in any meaningful way, so I think we need to hope Sammie has a revitalised second half alongside Dolan. Judging by Siggy's limping throughout the half I don't know how much longer he'll be on. Moran has the potential to make a difference, but he needs to improve his composure.

We are all at sea at the back, this is worrying. Need to get to HT without letting them score again.