Well that was all jolly good fun tasting beers I haven't tried before. Cracking game of the plucky under dogs win a draw but get stuffed for 6 in the replay variety. Boro not going up for all the excellence of Randolph and Wing. Edit, if Boro are going up, Rovers have no excuse for not going up with them. Luton need to find three clubs worse than themselves PDQ or they are going down. Sluga's near post vulnerability just been beamed into 22 Championship Managers' TVs.

Ok Luton relegation certs. They won't live in this league. Came up too fast.

Championship refs haven't improved

Yes, sadly the big issue discouraging the Asian communities.

Having written that, the Luton keeper's Boro Benevolence Society strikes...

If anyone thinks this will be a walk in the park, have a look at what Luton are doing to Boro at the moment.

Smallbone to come on in the 75th for a valedictory 15 minutes.

Got my iFollow ticket for tomorrow. Really looking forward.

Sorry I had no enthusiasm at all in 2014 knowing the absolute unfolding disaster one step off the pitch inevitably would poison on field. This season is the first since Hughes I am completely happily anticipating.

During the Kean time when a lot of us were screaming about EVERYTHING falling apart, I observed that those who were backing Kean would eventually become trigger happy against a Rovers manager who didn't deserve the stick. I think eight years on this is where we have arrived. Let's face it with his nose, chin and accent, Mowbray doesn't look or sound the epitome of a Championship Manager coach but I believe we are fortunate in having a gem in Tony in very many ways. I will also state this and stand up to be counted: Rovers have played a blinder in this window this far. There have been kite flying enquiries about our stars but such is Mowbray's rapport with the players and persuasive vision for the club that they have been kicked back definitively before causing us any problems. We are now so late in the window that it is either £30m for Dack (sod people saying he's not worth it- would you pay over £80m for Maguire?) or time is short enough for us to sit it out and Pune to lose the key to their compound for a day or two... And on this thread this time, looking player for player our incomings have now strengthened us over every corresponding outgoing: Walton at least equal of Raya without as many cock ups Tosin over Downing Gallagher over Nuttall Downing over the Scottish winger I am currently blanking on Johnson grit over Rodwell artistry Proof will be on the pitch but on past records these are no brainer statements. We have kept within budget and structures which has meant protracted negotiations but is the difference between a healthy club going into the 2020s and being Bolton. And the signings are not closing opportunities to our great crop of youngsters coming through. Making it tougher yes but if we have designs on the Premier League it will be tougher but numerically we are all square. Finally we have done our essential transactions yet have cash and players available to trade as we go into the bear pit at the end of the window when who knows what goodies at doable deals will become available.

For what it's worth, Nuttall has the ability to get in the right place which contributes to his high offside count but also makes him a natural goal scorer. Don't know if Blackpool have enough ability to get the ball into the right place for him. Other than that precious ability, Nuttall always struck me as fairly ordinary. Compared with Danny Graham whom he most closely resembles, he is simply not remotely good enough and it appears he was rated behind Dominic Samuel. Good luck to him at Blackpool.

Well Jo, no more, no less than any other club.

Nice position to be in going into the transfer window ending panic with funds and players available for trading.

Less than two days from big kick off so the boss can hardly say he is bricking it about the defence.

What is football support other than sentimentality?

If I were either Bolton or Bury, I'd just be grateful if I saw a football team take the pitch a week on Saturday and be philosophical about points deductions.

We are having a heated debate about Tosin being played or not and presuming we register him before 5pm today, we still won't know until 2pm Saturday. My guess is he won't play more because he is rather different to the centre backs we have already so not a straight plug and play. I would be concerned if he appears at right back against Charlton...

Yes you are right again- Burnley had used their sub so Kindon was allowed back on after quite a few minutes to a cacophony of derision and yes it was him missing it. Quickest resurrection since Lazarus. He was seriously pacey though.

They hope it will be. It could be over after one game.

'And for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green.' Whispering Ted Lowe's finest snooker commentary...

The boundaries of the County Palatine of Lancaster and the old Lancashire County Council until 1974 in red. The new fangled Lancashire in green including the bits nicked from Yorkshire

Of course- Kindon putting it wide was earlier than extra time but some other Dingle missed a very late chance in front of the Cricket Field End.

7 minutes. Jim Smith raced onto the pitch at the final whistle watch in hand to confront the ref. Steve Kindon had raced through our defence (again) in the 6th minute of injury time and put it wide- the dingles had started celebrating their equaliser when he missed and the combination of relief and mocking let loose from the Rovers in the Longside was an extraordinary sound. Who missed the penalty which would have made it 4 in the first minute of the second half?

I haven't looked forward to a new football season with such anticipation and pleasure since Mark Hughes was our manager. I know that the odds are that I am destined to be disappointed and frustrated but sitting here without a ball being kicked, I believe that Rovers are sitting very pretty indeed. For a start, there is no reason to have any realistic fear of relegation. We had bad runs last season but the causes of those runs are being addressed and we forget that we also went on some very good runs as well and were rarely comprehensively out-played while in some matches out-performing form teams and promotion challengers. There is also every reason to expect progress over last season and looking around the rest of the league, there really aren't any clubs that we need to unduly fear. Certainly there are stronger clubs than Rovers but nobody we should regard in the same way that Burnley will “look forward” to playing Manchester City or Liverpool for example. Notwithstanding the possibility of a nightmare transfer window ending, we have had no sleepless nights over losing key players II's which is quite a novelty as a Rovers fan and a very pleasant experience at that. In-Comings have not been spectacular but man for man there is every prospect of the new signings being without exception improvements over the players who have left in each position. I was sad to see Raya go but need to remind myself of Birmingham City at home as only the worst example for all the stunning saves he produced. I like the way we have added players in the twilight of their careers bearing in mind we have so many tremendous prospects coming through from the Academy. If Downing and Johnson in combination with Mulgrew and Graham give us a fabulous last year in this season only, Rovers will undoubtedly be there or thereabouts. Last season, we had the second youngest squad in the championship. Inevitably, young players on average improve so we should should be stronger by the simple passage of time and accretion of experience. What I have also come round to is liking the season start, probably facing the league's bottom Club on the opening day two seasons running followed by Fulham away before they have got back into the habit of winning again. I am not predicting a playoff place, but I would not be surprised to see Rovers and Brentford both upsetting a few apple carts by finishing in the top 6.

Corrected for you. Warnock was on his way to Rovers but something hijacked the position for Coyle. Warnock was mightily angry and gave the Rovers a piece of his ming in private with edited highlights for public consumption. So no way would Warnock ever come here when Coyle was sacked or indeed ever- he's 71 by the way...