Half way through the window with a couple of el cheapo cover players signed and some evidence we are trying to do something up front. Problem is a variant of Groucho Marx "I wouldn't want to join a club that would have me in it." Supporters are so cheesed off with how the club is run we wouldn't want a player we could reasonably sign.

Josh Maja out at West Brom for 12 weeks for surgery on a lower leg injury. Dikes out for the foreseeable with a second hamstring injury too. Not going to be much left if they also need to sell to balance the books.

I presume our two new signings are available tonight. What about Pompey's new trio of Atkinson, Isaac Hayden and Waddingham for them?

Rovers first team kicks off at home to Pompey 45 minutes after the women kick off at home to Pompey. Going to be fun seeing 44 players on the same pitch in the first half...

I'd hope we would be hovering around West Brom- they have some very good players who have under performed this season. Josh Maja who we tracked for an eternity is single handedly keeping them in the hunt.

I had a good record attending in person at the Manor- one defeat (3-0 I think) and the rest were wins. I listened to that FA Cup tie on the Radio lying ill in bed with tonsilitis. Didn't get any better! We should have a decent chance of getting all 3 points but we should have beaten Hull at Ewood...

Leonard hit woodwork four times last week and missed that easy chance straight after we scored at Boro. So he has the ability to get in the right place at the right time. Have to hope he gets his barings a bit better when he is there. Oh and beef up a bit so he doesn't lose out 100% of the time for aerial balls when competing with a central defender. With Ohashi out for six more weeks and an attacker likely to be a sweating on Pune job at the last minute of transfer deadline day, we have no option but to continue with Harry.

Pompey have two very different but very effective wingers but the rest of the team is ordinary and the defence can be got at. I am less concerned than I was at the time of the original fixture because Pompey were in the run lifting themselves out of relegation places then but have stuttered since including a couple of humiliations. That said, our record of blowing the opportunity presented by playing our game in hand at home is horrendous.

On BBD, if he gets his self belief back, we have seen him scoring at better than a goal every other game in the Championship.

BBD is a question of can JE sort out his mental issues. One thing Ben didn't do was down tools at Ewood as someone has erroneously posted. Mowbray was extremely clear about that. Even if there was £20m on the table to spend, we'd still be buying flawed goods so whoever we sign will be a big risk. I'd far rather blow some money on an expensive loan which can make promotion a bit more than a pipe dream than buy a solid Championship player who will keep us where we are.

I increasingly suspect we are looking at PL level loans both here and abroad.

Waiting for...

Absolutely deflating nothing draw when it came out of the hat but we can only play each game for a win. The quality of our defending was outstanding and Toth looks a proper keeper even though he got away with two horror pass outs at the end of the first half. The second was miscontrolled by the Boro player and nicked by Beck to set up the excellent move from which Leonard made it 4 woodwork hits in a week (3 for the under 21s against Preston I believe). Harry matched that foursome with 4 offsides in the first half too. Tronstad was as excellent as Buckle was, shall we say, frustrating. That said, Cantwell for me looked easily the best outfield player (even ahead of Beck who had some dodgy moments early on) and I would really like to see him alongside some seriously capable forwards as I think he would thrive and shine. Gueye was very good when he came on and the ball started being touched if not won when he came on whereas Leonard had no stickability whatsoever. Some of Gueye's ground work was exceptional. So it's off to the dingles in Round 4 I foresee ..

I think they have got Wicky haven't they?

Adam Wharton should have added to that list for us... Also significant Chelsea and City only overtook us last year.

So a Plymouth reject is coming to rescue our season. I was dead set against Marker coming to us from Plymouth after he broke Ardiles' leg but in fairness he did OK for us.

That hurt too much to post before now. A poor clearance and a player not followed cost us what should have been a 0-0 draw. Shame there was no Ohashi to have given the Dingles a hurry up at the back.

Toth, JRC, Buckley, Leonard and McFadzean are must starts in this one. Sadly the game comes at a time when the squad depth is tested by injuries so other players ordinarily we'd want to see given a run out are either already filling first team slots or in the treatment room.

Seems this Farsi loan with a view to permanent move has legs. It might mean the rumour a PL club is tracking Britain is true.

Eustace isn't the Yes man many feared he would be but equally I don't think he is JDT style bucket kicker either. So when every interview he gives currently includes JE talking about two or three signings to strengthen the squad, I am pretty certain the headless 8 in the Recruitment Department are working their socks off to deliver. Issues are budget for wages and fees and typical January non-availability. Almost certainly we will be in a chain or two of "you can't sign him until we have a replacement" and "let's see what injuries and suspensions we have on 30 January before deciding who can be loaned out"

Confident that despite 9 out of contention we have the best chance of beating the dingles since the last time we beat them 10/10. Confident we will have beaten them come the final whistle in the 100th minute... 5/10 Confident that Papa Gueye becomes a derby pantomime villain 10/10 - for us 5/10, for the dingles 5/10

Swag is reported as saying he is keen to follow the Brentford model. As a Championship side Brentford sold Watkins for 20m then bought Toney for 12m from Peterborough. Go on then... Oh and Brentford built a new stadium while they were about it.

Magnificent organisation by John Eustace carried out nearly flawlessly by the lads. It was poetry in motion watching Rovers move in unison holding our lines. A very proud point gained.

Ok so the posts elsewhere about Callum Britain being sold and BBD arriving on loan are wind ups. The Burnley signing from Denmark is apparently suspended for the game against us.

Donis certainly could shift. In that 5-0 debacle at Coventry he flew past everyone when we were only 1 down and Sutton only needed a simple lay-off and he was in. Unfortunately, Sutty was caught completely by surprise and didn't pass. Donis was crestfallen.