The stats actually show a very even second half- the fact we feel we almost lost it just shows what a come down from an excellent first half it was! ...and yes I believe we play Bolton when they will be five players light for the African Nations Cup. I'd still expect a typically Big Sam inspired performance though.

jim on the wind-up again. Nelsen caught the ball with an amazing chest dip although the way he executed I can understand the ref giving handball and the free kick which Pompey scored from. First half we were sublime- chasing everything and brilliant passing. MGP had his best all round half I've seen from him, Savage caused them all kinds of problems, their defence will sleep on the coach back with Dickov nightmares and Reid was supreme- on the first half a valid replacement for Tugay. Two things stuck out second half apart from the Rovers' lack of appetite for more goals: Kuqi was the cause of many move break downs with poor control, wrong passes and bad decisions- Sutton would have had a field day out there tonight. O'Neil of Pompey is an amazing player. He simply neutralised Reid and Savage and not many midfielders will do that. Zura had a particularly effective game and he was badly needed in that second half. Emo's attempt at scoring from that set-up from Bellamy at the end was woeful- no awareness that he had to meet the ball and change the angle. As it was, had it not been blocked, Emo was passing the ball to Westerfeld with an empty net looking. Good three points and the table looks sweet!

Well the deal has been done and the Russian is buying Portsmouth according to the BBC. Probably will have a motivating effect on the Pompey players tonight unfortunately.

That Guardian "report" has the look and feel of a fit up job by a reporter who: a) I haven't seen a by-line for before, knows diddly squat about Rovers but an awful lot about MGP and Spurs, and c) has been touched up by someone with an agenda.

Ask a philosopher!

Some positive vibes about how Rovers have prospered as a wake is preepared for you-know-who. David Pleat does the autopsy. Souness has been so lucky at Newcastle with results when he needed them that Shearer is just certain to score today to get Millburn's record.

I would rate Jewell above 'Arry and Boro's squad above Pompey's... but Pompey are a Premiership outfit and like any Premiership outfit, well capable of beating us if we don't get our mindset and tactics right. On that basis, Hughes isn't like Souness so whilst I'd hardly say I've reached the point of expecting a win from every game, I've certainly reached the point of expecting a good performance every game and tonight that should be enough for three points. Here's hoping!

The home page news article by Alan says it all- Jansen is a Rovers' hero. Not to build hopes or prolong the agony but the following is worth considering: - Matt always has excellent PR (his brother-in-law has very good links) but even so its needed the dramatic image of him ripping up a £500K contract to get the story placed in the media. - no doubt that amount is what he would have been earning in the next six months had he been playing. As he's not, he isn't earning. - the PR story puts Matty firmly in the shop window at the start of the January transfer window; note he specifies wanting to go on loan to a Premiership club (loan from whom? - the Rovers obviously) to get a contract for next season. - I am absolutely certain Matty would have gone in for training with the lads today and will continue to do so until something is sorted out. I had wondered whether Matty would get a chance against QPR in the same way MGP kicked started his Rovers career at Cardiff last year.

There's an asian Rovers fan on the official board who confirmed that they were singing about a "town full of pakkies". Whilst he did not seem particularly bothered about it and nobody has made a media issue out of it, I hope the Wigan Club get it sorted out.

Interesting stats Ricky. I was looking at it a different way and coming to a similar conclusion. Villa, Fulham, Everton and West Brom are grouped together just above the relegation places. They've all got around 20 points at the half way stage of the campaign which suggests 17th place and survival could well be around 40 points this season following the last two seaon's survival number being around the mid-30s. On that basis BIG CLUB need 27 points from the next 19 games- double their current haul- or 7 wins and 6 draws from the next 19 games. Possible but unlikely with their current squad plus injuries and Jarosik rumoured to want away back to Chelsea or somewhere better on loan.

Just been announced that Owen is to have surgery which means he's out until April. Nothing on Given's hand yet- they have to wait for the bruising to go down before they can X-ray. Rammage limped off with a hamstring as well. Other than Birmingham or Burnley, couldn't happen to a better bunch.

Rovers and Bolton subject to Premier League inquiry. Undersoil heating is a Premiership requirement so we could be in bother. That said, for a Premier League spokesman to describe trying to avoid long journeys for fans then saying of Newcastle v Charlton "we got it a bit wrong..." No doubt, if Rovers and Bolton connected the caterers' fridges to the undersoil pipework, saying "we got it a bit wrong" wouldn't be accepted! Talking of long journeys, Ross County postponed their game yesterday one day before it was due to take place as there was a risk it would not be playable. Their reason- the visitors were Stranraer (average home gate 500) and the Dingwall-based club thought it would be unfair on the visiting supporters not to call it off if there was a risk of postponement! Well done to the SFA fixture boys for coming up with that one on 31 December then. The English Leagues resisted Carlisle v Torquay over the festive period so what prompted the Scots to schedule the longest journey in their leagues...

Injured again unfortunately. I'd like to see him get a run for Brum so we can assess whether he'll be worth picking up- Brum relegation is looking increasingly probable.

Great win and the ref's decisions went for us today! Really pleased that Reid finally got a howitzer on target.

The bet is safe- crowd of 20,000 at Wigan and Rovers took well over 5,000! Gibson out! (before Vinjay says anything)

He's scored the second for them as well!

Another opening goal for Jon Douglas for Leeds. Perhaps Leeds will make the move permanent?

Surely the postponement is proof positive of Ewood Park's microclimate. Well, here's a little twist- RFW as good as accusing Bolton of nobbling their own undersoil heating. Hope Big Sam sticks that on the training room door and the Trotters follow in the footsteps of their more illustrious neighbours and turn over the Mancs at OT.

Official site says sell out now.

Over 5,000 tickets sold, less than 200 left according to the official site which has Todd definitely out and unlikely to be back for Pompey but MGP, Neill, Dickov, Bellamy all fit and raring to go. Got a sneaky feeling we are going to miss Tugay's extra class very badly. Not anywhere near as confident now he's not available. This game will come down to who wants it the most. We should prevail on that basis. If it turns into the Graham Poll show, we've had it! Its also worth adding that if we lose, we will reach the halfway point in our season looking at a 13 point gap to Wigan and the possibility of European qualification through our league position will be very faint.

Excellent preview and that table of Lawro's predictions is priceless! I wonder if Sky or the Guardian would carry it? Back to the Pompey game. 'arry is doing a great job of looking after 'arry at Fratton Park. Onto the media he goes and slags off the squad he has inherited (erm, who was the manager at Pompey until very recently and then went on a transfer raid of his old club?) as "unbalanced". Then he unashamedly put a reserve team onto the pitch at Arsenal so he kept his best players booking and injury free for the Everton game. The prediction for the Rovers' game has to be somewhat dependent on whether he sees it as one which can get some points from. With only an FA Cup game coming up after they play us and the January transfer window to play with, he's bound to put his strongest side out which of course with a little help from the ref will have the capability of beating us. Thankfully that capability is unlikely to be realised and I expect Rovers to slog out a hard-fought 2-1 win.

I have Australia as the only non-traditional World Cup nation to survive the Group stage. Croatia are very poor from what I've seen of them and I would guess that Japan and Australia are about the same level but the Aussies will make physical strength tell. It is possible one of the other two will get lucky against Brasil and nick a point changing the second place qualification if its tight but the Aussies should be very disappointed with themselves if they don't make the last sixteen.

The howl will go up about unfair allocation of tickets come Saturday!

Here's an interesting one- Wigan's five defeats on the run were against the top five sides. So if we beat them, does that make us top six? I agree that Wigan looked very dangerous at West Ham. However, I would back our defence over the Hammers' injury-hit back line. All this is adding up to a cracker on the JJB's undersoil heated surface. Here's hoping the failure of such systems in small Lancastrian towns don't run in threes!

Steve Patrick and his team have repeatedly produced a pitch which has been adjudged the best in the Premiership. I think you are stuck in the dark ages with a comment like that!