Sunderland are grinding out results when it matters, and Rovers have wobbled after a decent spell doing the same. We really need Yuki and Big Mak to step up, forget the nerves and bang in some lovely goals over the festive period, with the same resolve across the rest of the team that has brought us the clean sheets of recent weeks. A good result would be a 'good result'! Boxing Clever - Rovers 2 Mackems 0 Boxed in and Bamboozled - Rovers 1 Wearsiders 2 Box me Backwards and Bend me Black & Blue - Rovers 3 Faux Geordies 1 COYB!! Merry Christmas to one and all!

Oh my word, what a lovely Christmas Present that is! Thank you Rog of the Rovers, Ian and all who keep the BRFCS forums alive and kicking with the hope of more amazing memories in Blue and White to come! Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all, and may it rain on the Turd till hell freezes over 😉 COYB!!

I used to see a few Rovers shirts around Eyre Square, and very occasionally around Quay Street and the super-pubs.. Ancient history now, of course!

Makes me pine for my days in Galway, 20 years ago 😉 This country is fecked! Except for our beloved blue and white obsession 🙂 COYB!

Always the possibility that the outstanding form of recent games might stutter to a halt, but hopefully it will continue as we trudge to the home of Harry the Dog on Saturday. The JE mantra of one game at a time seems to get the best from this bunch of players, so we can go there full of confidence, and with the capability to mix things up and still get a result, as happened on Saturday. Once again a draw would be a worthy result, and three points more than enough icing for the Christmas cake. If we could maintain the clean sheet run, that would give a strong platform to kick on, especially if our largely misfiring strikeforce somehow hit form. Still, I'm a bit nervous about this one, as there are no easy games in this division. Dogged Determination - Harry's baying mob 0 Resilient Rovers 0 Woof on the Nerves - Barking Boys 2 Ragged Rovers 1 Howl at the Moon - Millwall 0 Rovers 4 COYB!

Well I love it, Billy! In this day and age of everything AI and electronic, I have one phrase I use all the time especially when I'm at work (as a lecturer in a NW University), which is, "What happens if the power goes off?" Analogue is so much more personal, potentially much more enduring, and certainly much more endearing than a soulless app that is probably just stealing any data you put into it. We seem obsessed these days with everything having a digital footprint, and only being of value if it can be instantly switched on (or off) and controlled. I'm chewing over whether to buy one, for someone I know follows the Rovers all over the place - it would be a great thing to leaf through over a pint or two in the summer, once the football has finished for a while. Fair play to ye!

Nothing new under the sun, and money is not an indicator of anything other than an interest in money. Football is bigger and better than money. Always was and always will be, regardless of the relentless and moronic drive to buy success. Having said that, Rovers ought to have a better set up than under the loons, given their undoubted wealth. Instead we are simply treated as some kind of weird and slightly embarrassing anomaly in their hormone-fuelled franken-portfolio of death peddling businesses. COYB and FOYV!

Does anyone think Wolves might come knocking for Eustace, now they've potted O'Neill?

785 according to the commentator - not bad for a shite town near London...

This is looking nice now... Nice and Green all the way across for Rovers 🙂

Still no Harry Leonard ???

Hedges and Buckley for Cosier Duberry and...Yuki

Oh my word! Yuki and Big Mak on the pitch together for the first competitive time since their arrival.. and Beck apparently deployed in an attacking role. This sounds like a creative solution to the challenge posed by the Luton Lumpers, and is more evidence perhaps of the gaffer's ability to focus on one opponent at a time - much harder for opposing teams to figure out our 'system' methinks! Hopefully the experiment will work, and we won't suffer a 'Frankensteinian' out of body experience this afternoon, where individual parts just don't gel together. Was looking at Yuki and Mak's interactions after the win the other night, and Yuki kept holding his head and saying something to the Mak.. I wonder if they have a secret side bet on about who is likely to score most headed goals this season 😉 Anyway, it is an attacking line up, and a statement of intent. Let's hope it turns into cracking pre-Christmas entertainment at the home of football 🙂 COYB!!

I think it is telling that JE approaches each game on its merits and thinks in terms of what is in front of the team in the now, rather than extrapolating form into some sort of predictive indicator of our next result. To me this is the most level-headed and rational approach we have had at the helm for some time, and a very sensible tactic given the relative lack of difference between most teams in this league - I mean, Derby thumped Portsmouth 4-0 last night, despite their recent 'form' suggesting a more predictable outcome might be a low scoring draw... So let's just plod along as best we can, focus on the positives, play to our strengths and exploit our opposition's weaknesses where we can, and if that builds us a points tally that rewards us with a crack at a return to the higher echelons, let's enjoy the ride when the opportunity presents. Today's game is as winnable as any we have faced in recent weeks, but that doesn't automatically mean we will win - we just seem to want to win more these days under JE than we have as a team in other times up till quite recently. Football is inherently unpredictable, which is why it is so inherently interesting and frustrating at the same time. Whilst we are punching above our weight, I will very happily concede the odds to any opposition in return for a 'shock result' in our favour. What is frustrating for this afternoon is that having established an effective winning formula and a settled team whose elements and personalities blend and work together so well, we are forced to make changes to this due to a lapse in concentration from one of the catalysts of our cohesiveness. JE knows what he has in the tank, and will have done his homework about what the opposition can do to hurt us, so I expect we will be well set up (or at least as well set up as we can be in the circumstances). Another clean sheet would be fantastic. Another win would be amazing! But an untimely reverse wouldn't be the end of the world and I'd still feel confident that this group under JE would bounce back when it mattered. COYB!!

That was one of my favourite Rovers sides of all time, from the dependability of Big Brad, the shithousery of Savage, the guile of Gamst and the silky skills of Bently at his best, there was something for everyone. That game was an amazing spectacle, and Rovers more than deserved to win. Oh for the days when local rivalry was measured against the likes of Man U!! Happy Days, indeed!

It is another difficult one to call. Luton (ffs) have recent experience at the higher level, the financial cushion and clout of the parachute, are a big physical and aggressive outfit and are managed by a seasoned and tactically savvy gaffer. On paper they have the ammunition to come to Ewood and dominate us, and perhaps they might even do that.. We, on the other hand, have a squad that is clearly pulling together and working for the team, the confidence that comes from grinding out successive wins against the odds and home advantage, despite being down our star man and firing mostly blanks up front. I am hoping that Yuki gets on the score sheet once again, and that Big Mak gets the chance to push on too. Home Heroes - Rovers 2 Luton 0 Home Horrible Rovers 0 Luton 0 Home is where the Heart Is - Rovers 3 Luton 0 COYB!

It is nice to be in a position where we can mix it with teams at either end of a very vanilla table (Argyle being perhaps just a bad day at the office I guess) and the resolve to get bodies in the way in front of our own goal is a wonderful thing to see. It is also brilliant to see what appears to be a very united and together squad, as evidenced by the very comfortable and charismatic after-game approach to the travelling fans. Of course it is easier to look relaxed and happy having ground out another win, but something seems to have clicked for our boys and so long may it continue. Acid tests coming up without the golden boy after his silly booking, and I wonder if we might struggle against a physical Luton side on Saturday without his talent at the heart of our attack? Travis and Tronstad are absolute rocks for me, and the pairing of Baath and Hyam fills me with the kind of confidence that Keeley and Fazackerley used to give back in the day - something about experienced older heads at the heart of a defence just feels right. I'd very much like to see Harry Leonard get a run out at some point too - maybe use his youth and eye for goal for a few games for 60 minutes or so before bringing on Yuki to chase down tired defenders and hunt his goals as a super sub? As much as I like the lad, he isn't really hurting the opposition at the moment, so something has to change. JRC was solid enough this evening, but I think he is capable of so much more. However, it was his tenacity and willingness to get forward that secured our victory, something he has demonstrated he can do before, so perhaps he just needs a longer run to find his niche again? Something about keepers here - we all know that a) confidence is everything and b) keepers tend to get better as they get older and more experienced (up to a point), but Pears seems to have the support of his defenders now, and feels much more reliable than last season (just watch him have a stinker on Saturday now!). There wasn't really much for him to do this evening at all, but what he did, he did well. Opposition shout out - Barry Bannon - dare I say he was Tugay-esque? Something about older players and their ability to deliver killer passes and sweep the ball about with aplomb. He stood out in the Wednesday side as a very polished and capable player, despite his bald pate and advanced years. I don't think you can go much wrong with a player of that calibre.. We still have Andi Weimman to come back in of course, and Siggurdsson, if he ever gets off the treatment table - VInce Grella the second, I guess. Being a Rovers fan is a happy place at the moment - long may that continue for us all, especially as the fixtures come thick and fast - none thicker than the appointment with the old enemy on 4th January. Let's hope JE can keep the momentum going, but as the man says, let's also just take it one game at a time. Sensible stuff, for we only really remember the highs 😉 COYB!!

That is an amazing result. Complete lack of football on the night, except for when it mattered. Spot on!

PAPE GUEYE YOU BEAUT!

JRC is having a stinker. Most are, to be fair. Gueye has Gallager's Leap syndrome 😞

And we look like a pub team who has been out on the lash the night before..

Don't get behind him in the stands 😉 Gueye doesn't get into enough goal scoring positions to increase convert chances, slightly reminiscent of a previous incumbent named Gallager...I wonder if we should consider the reverse of the Sutton switch, and convert him into a centre half? Either way, there needs to be some rub of the green at some point for either Mak or Yuki, which might see an upswing in their confidence in front of goal, which would be very timely going into the fixture congestion over the next few weeks. I'm hoping that Rovers form will be maintained, and the recent momentum extended, but am aware we may also suffer the seasonal blues as in previous years. That said, why should a different manager and a largely different group of players do anything other than plan for each game as it comes, and ignore what other Rovers sides have delivered in the past? I always want us to win at Wednesday, ever since the kicking me and my family took in the Leppings Lane end years ago, when we were 3-0 up by half time courtesy of Bob (the flapper) Bolder.. COYB!

Or since...

If Yuki plays, someone needs to lay him a couple of chances on a plate, rather than him having to battle away to create his own. The sooner he breaks his barren streak the better the rest of the season for the lad and for Rovers too. It will be calmer conditions than Saturday, and plenty of pitch to go at for our players to run at theirs. Not expecting anything but our arse handed to us from this one, for no other reason than all good things come to an end eventually. Having said that, it also means that anything we do get from the game is a bonus. Its the Championship, it's a Tuesday evening, it is Yarkshire. What could possibly go wrong? COYB!

The Owls had a hard game against the Nobbers yesterday too, so I'm not too fussed about the short gap between games. It is a big pitch at Hillsborough, and there will be ample room for players going forward and pressing the opposition on both sides. I'd be more confident if our strikers were finding the net than I am with goals coming from elsewhere in the team. We do look vulnerable at times at the back, which someone is going to exploit at some point, but then again we also look quite threatening when moving the ball forward.. Time for someone with the quality of Cantwell to tee up a few sitters for Yuki, so he can get his confidence back (he's going all Ciccio Grabbi at the moment in my view) and once he does, I'm sure he will go on to have a great season. Hoping for: Owls 0 Rovers 2 Hillsborough Hoodoo: Yarkshire 1 Lancashire firing blanks Hooray for Tuesday: Hooters 0 Rampant Roverites 3 COYB!