It could be an entertaining game. Brum to give them their due can play pretty stuff in which case tonight's game could be surprisingly open which would suit us perfectly so long as Neill remembers his positional sense and we don't leave Gray too isolated against Pennant. However, Hughes is probably debating with himself how inspirational "lets do it for Sav" he can dare be. Brum have shown remarkably little apetite for the scrap (Sutton apart and he looks like he's given up) and our biggest threat could well be the ref's cards. Need to watch out for Johnson injuring our guys though- he is a bit dirty at times.

SuperStella, drop Savage for BIG CLUB fixture????

So this is where the Southend players sit? when shown the away dressing room. Where does Dunny put his Rovers shirt? Ah the mega casino if you see any sort of dispensing machine. "I thought it was bigger than this" at any and every opportunity.

Of course, if Neill had scythed through Cisse to get at the ball, it wouldn't have been a penalty as Cisse wasn't interfering....

On average, half as many as he did in the three best seasons with us.

In reality, he has been in a footballer's rest home these last ten years.

The one fact nobody has discussed is this: THE BALL WAS PASSED TO CISSE. It was going directly to him. He had to get out of the way of it. If the passer had not intended Cisse to be interfering with play why did he pass it to him? When he releases the ball he can only guess that Morientes is behind him running in from an onside position- as Morientes is out of the passer's vision when the ball is released. That alone means Cisse was interfering.

I saw the Half times between meetings so the full time results with Charlton and Newcastle reversing the HT arrears was a bit of a bow. Never mind, 6th is still our's to lose. Four straight wins and who knows where we can end up!

Brum were an absolute disgrace against their other pet hates, Villa. Rovers should win this one but I am worried that a lot of clubs in the Prem seem to be putting long sequences together and just hope that we haven't started on a non-winning sequence. How Villa beat Brum. On this basis, Bellamy will enjoy himself on Wednesday- for Brum only a win will do. We just have to make sure we don't fall behind but even then that Brum defence is vulnerable.

At last a reason that makes sense and an explanation of the off-side rule I can understand why the ref allowed that goal to stand.

The TV replay of the offside given against us less than a minute into the second half clearly showed Dickov onside when the ball was played through to him. Liverpool hadn't settled and there was space in the box for just about the only time all game.

Bruce and Dunn have both said Dunny is playing when he's not fully ready. How many games would Bellars have got in this season if we had done that to him? It's the medics who will decide if this move becomes a possibilty.

For the first time all season, Rovers are in front! Quite a bit depends on Rovers not blowing it on their visits to Brum and Charlton but surely the attractions of Chelski Champions and Citeh will bring 25,000+ gates to both games?

Got a feeling the whirlwind will come from the Rovers as we virtually condemn them to the second division. Rovers will be mad after today and Sparky will channel it.

Why don't the officials simply give Liverpool 6 points and forget about playing a game of football? There was another stinker right at the start of the second half- Dickov called offside when he wasn't and pinged a peach of a ball towards Bellamy who was pulling away from his marker. Overall, ignoring the officials we were a well matched 9 against 11. The Rovers passing and ball control were overall better than their's and the stats bear that out. However, two little'uns up front didn't have a prayer against those monsters at the back for Liverpool. Unlike the previous two games, Dickov wasn't bad this time but he was just totally ineffective. I'll exempt Bellars from any criticism but first half Bentley was awful but excellent second half. Savage was good first half but went totally off his game second half. One big plus were MGP's deliveries- a long time since he got so many good crosses and corners in. The TV close-ups of the stopping singing "you'll never walk..." when drowned out by three sides' booing and whistling was a treat.

Helps to have Charlton away and Sunderland home as their next two fixtures as well. BIG CLUB will be absolutely desperate when they are playing us.

Forgotten about the FA Cup semi-final. Beat Chelski and the Reds should get a trophy this year. Our game is small bananas for them by comparison.

Scroll up- rovernik is desperate for tickets as the ticket office was not open when it said it would be.

Exactly den. Sure we would have to beat a giant over two legs to get into the Group stages but we'd love to have the chance. Our record against clubs in the CL so far this season has been W3 D1 L4 with two home legs to come. 1) Next season, Arse, Mancs, Liverpool and Chelski will not be any weaker. Spuds will spend with a good manager, Newcastle might not appoint another Souness whilst Boro will be strengthened by McLaren going to England, Wigan will kick on as will West Ham. We could improve significantly and still go backwards (and I haven't mentioned Everton or Man City) 2) The Bellamy clause must be focussing managerial minds at Ewood if it exists 3) Surely better to get the money from CL now rather than wait til we are ready whenever that might be. I still think 4th is a chimera as I believe Arsenal's name is on the CL trophy this season. Rovers need 15 out of 15 to get 4th- 13 out of 15 if we are lucky.

I suspect that one out of W Ham, Bolton, Wigan and Newcastle will have a good end of season run so we've got to keep going to protect that 6th place. Spuds not falling over against Everton and the Mancs suddenly looking vulnerable for their visit to WHL looks very bad news for any hopes of 4th. Very soon we will be able to cheer on the Arse unashamedly in the CL in anticipation of them usurping Spuds in next year's competition!

Yes well done Accy. Can't wait until they get to play Burnley.

West Brom should have had a penalty. Now Bergkamp has scored a beauty to make it 3-1. Not a bad day in terms of what is happening below us but not good looking upwards.

You just know that as soon as we are being taken seriously as contenders for 4th, it is all going to fall apart for Rovers. We are bound to get reffed out of it against Liverpool. Liverpool might be good enough to do it without any help- that Manc draw with Sunderland means the scousers can dreamof second again and Spuds will be fancying their chances against the Mancs on Monday. It will still be an interesting afternoon today- I expect that 4th will look a long way away when all the games have been played but Bolton and Wigan will both lose to make 6th more within reach provided we don't blow up on the run in.

In 2002 we had a 26,000 average gate and ticket discounts produced above average crowds. In 2006 we have a 20,000 average crowd and ticket discounts have not produced an above average crowd in any of the four games they have been tried in. I don't understand it either.

Excellent post Tris. At the end of the day, there is a breach of copyright committed by the Pubs. They legally bought an illegal product but my recollection of the law is that the illegal product is returnable to its rightful owner. As BSkyB have established the apetite for Prem games around the World, they will steadily up the price to foreign broadcasters. It is like a promotional sale to introduce Argentinian wine at the moment- wait 'til we get the taste and watch the price rise. Clough got it right- in time real prices for live attendance will drop to near to nothing and as the Mancs et al HAVE to bump their prices up, Rovers will start winning new audiences on price competition. Of course, this depends on the Prem hanging together collectively but it is such a life and death issue that apart from the kamikazes at Newcastle, most Prem clubs are now in the hands of the most professional management they have ever had. In my view, Rovers are very fortunate not to have redeveloped the Riverside. In a few years they will HAVE to redevelop it to provide a massive behind the scenes pleasant supporter environment which is superior to the pubs and clubs. The ticket price will have fallen but Rovers will make their money out of hosting thousands of people for hours and hours outside of match times- it will cut traffic congestion as well. At present, nobody in their right mind would prefer the concourses to being in a pub- that is going to have to change.