I'll play I've got 3 players.

Bentley had a great chance, he has shown he could shoot and there was no reason to at least force the keeper into the save, but he should have scored really. I don't care who is in goal but at this level and with his ability there's no reason. The fact that he showed he could then challenge the keeper from 30 yards not too long later showed it shouldn't have been too tough for him. He had time, space, was in the middle of the goal and wasn't too far out. Having said that, I also thought people made too much of Robinson's save from Bentley. Yes, it was a good save but you'd expect every keeper in the premiership to save it. He had a lot of time to see the shot, it moved a little but wasn't too far away from him and it wasn't hit with absolutely blistering pace. I'm not saying it wasn't a great effort that it didn't go in, but I didn't feel "oh what a save if only Robinson hadn't been in goal we would have scored". I agree with you Philip, there should be optimism all round after that performance, I can't wait for what is to come.

Better than nothing isn't it?

It's great for us that wigan lost. Also made me feel a bit better after sunday's result, to see someone else not getting what they deserved. Don't know why, but just did.

I was just taking a look at the OPTA statistics and I noticed a slightly worrying trend when looking at our goals against. We've let in 35 goals and that in itself isn't a problem, but I found the breakdown of when they are conceded quite interesting: 0-15 - 7 16-30 - 1 31-45 - 9 46-60 - 3 61-75 - 11 76-90 - 3 Now that shows me we are poor starters, end halfs well and then have seem to also let ourselves down in the middle period of the second half. Obviously that is a simple way of looking at it, but for me it holds true. I'm not sure exactly what can be done about it but we have to start making sure that e get out of the blocks well and that we don't let the intensity drop for that middle period of the second half. The back end of the first half doesn't worry me as much as it is when a lot of goals are scored anyway and we have also only scored one less during this period, whereas in the other two we have a relatively large negative goal difference for this period of play, especially considering that overall our goal difference is positive.

How can you have a go at Emerton's work rate? You can't say anything about the work rate of any of the players today, that is for sure. Emerton played well. He kept the ball well, linked up well and helped to create a couple of openings. He was a bit rusty at the start until he fell on his ass but after that point he seemed to get a grip and was a major part of a midfield that played so well.

One of the major differences between the two is that we absolutely dominated this game whereas Newcastle can at best say they deserved a scrappy draw. We were the better side at Newcastle as well and "earned" our luck. Having said that, I think over the course of the season these things will hopefully balance themselves out, but today we can feel hard done by, it is what football fan's do. We aren't supposed to remember when things went our way.

Under the old definition of the word in the rules, yes. However, that was when a professional foul was "denying a clear goalscoring opportunity", but it is now a term more generally used for a foul committed intentionally and is punishable with a yellow or red card depending on the severity. True, but in a year if you throw in an extra striker (or two), another midfielder (or two) and then perhaps a better left back and I think you could say the same. When you then think we were missing our top league goalscorer then it isn't too bad.

The thing we have to consider is that the end of season is always more complicated then it looks on paper. Who knows where teams are going to pick up points or drop points. Teams tend to pick up fewer points than you expect so whoever puts that run together will probably get the 4th spot, 4 or 5 teams are in it.

Une blague? Tu jeste, non? It was a professional foul that deserved a booking. I agree with you TND, that is exactly how I feel at the moment, the next game can't come soon enough.

I wouldn't mind intertoto to be honest with you and part of the reason I feel so happy about things at the moment is because I feel that no matter what we will be seeing UEFA cup football next year. If we miss out on in it in the league, which I don't think we will (I have us down for 6th), then we'll do the business in the summer.

I really don't want to predict where we will finish now. I was so encouraged by how we went out and played even if I am really disapointed with the result. If we keep playing like that then you never know. All the other sides have some tricky fixtures, but we then also have a fair few that we tend to struggle with. I just don't know anymore.

Did you add an extra 0 on there? You could make yourself a fantastic computer for 5000-8000USD let alone 12600.

Losing is crap but we can take heart from the fact that we totally outplayed them and that if we continue to play that way we'll win many more than we lose. Sometimes fate is against you, I think it was today.

How anyone in our team could be given a 5 I don't know. I really enjoyed that and I'm really devastated that we didn't come away with a point, or even the win. We missed a real opportunity given how well we played to pull it off and it was criminal to let them score so quickly after we had fought and played so well to come back into it. Gray and Neill were a major reason for our ability to keep up the pressure and flow forward as we did, he was caught out by the raw pace of Lennon and there isn't too much you could do about that. Maybe his positioning could have been better but other than that he either had to take his man down or the play had to be stopped earlier. Where I thought that goal could have been stopped was when the ball was played in I think Todd and Neill just stood back when they should have seen it coming (I'm sure we all did) and got across to at least be able to challenge but really could have got in front of Mido and got rid of the danger. I can't fault the team really. I'm damn proud of them and that was one of the finest performances I've seen from us or anyone this season. We didn't get the rub of the green but we made Spurs look like a second division side in the way they had to chase the ball. We created opportunities and we also took chances. Pongolle and Bellamy seemed to link up beautifully and I think we know who our first choice pairing up front is now. Savage and Reid, and later Bentley when he moved inside, dominated the midfield and made Carrick and Davids look like out of place and off of the pace. Emerton and Bentley were decent and it was a shame that Bentley produced a wonderful shot from miles out when he couldn't do the same when Emerton put it on a plate for him just before half-time. Neill and Todd were good and so was Friedel. He possibly should have done better when saving the free-kick though certainly made up for it with his save from Mido at the end. The only player in that Spurs team who looked like he could touch our boys was Keane. If we play like that for the rest of the season then I don't doubt we can make Europe. As for today, it happens in football and it's cruel because we certainly didn't deserve it.

I think you're talking about when I was having that little back and forth posting with one post? I'm not sure specifically what I said but I was probably getting at home games, which are tough for me to get to. If I didn't, then my mistake.

Yeah, results went our way today as far as we could have seen them really, no surprises that Arsenal won.

I can't imagine I'll have a great time going home if we don't come away with at least a draw. Just hope I don't get myself into trouble if we score.

I will be, yes. Unfortunately I will be sat in the home sections because of who I am going with.

I have admitted to being wrong in the past and I'm sure I'll do so again, probably in the not so distant future. However, I do think that had we lost both of these games we still would have had a chance of UEFA cup football as long as United won the league cup, which they have done, and especially if the FA Cup final worked in our favour. Our chances of Champions League football would have been dead, which I believe I did say and I think our chances will be dead if we lose tomorrow, regardless of what we did last Saturday. If you want to take that as me changing my tune then fine and if you also seem to think that I specifically target you and simply disagree with you for the fun of it then by all means go ahead.

Yes, but now with us only being three points off of the champions league spot I have set my sights elsewhere. Sorry, just had to fulfill the pathological need.

I think we need to win. There are some teams around us like Spurs, Arsenal and Bolton to worry about and then there is the odd team down below us like City, West Ham and Newcastle who I'd keep a close eye on. It's the money end of the season now, none of this "happy with an away draw", we're good enough to win and we should be going for the win. If we shut up shop tomorrow to try and get a 0-0 I think we will have shot ourselves in the foot, especially as I don't think that we could do it and I don't think that it is the best way to deal with the threat that spurs pose.

I would always be interested to see what would happen if English players were given the time and space that they are here on the continent. Teams like Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United would thrive from that week-in-week-out. I think Spain is the only league that can seriously claim to challenge the Premiership for best league, Italy isn't great on quality when you look at the teams lower down. Very sound at the back but I don't think they'd really challenge their Spanish or English equivalents. Part of the reason I'd love us to make Europe is the fact that I could see us doing very well in European competition. I feel our style would be difficult for the opposition to handle and we have enough skill (especially if we improve over the summer as we most certainly would on the back of European football) to beat a lot of sides.

Sounds very nice.

I can tell you our next home game, our remaining fixtures for the season and the results for all the games my memory will allow since I started supporting the club as a 10 year old. Yes, I've never owned a season ticket and I'm sure the number of games I've attended pales in comparison to the number you have, but who exactly do you think you are to go and make those sort of statements about foreign supporters? I know that there are plenty of foreign supporters on here and others who I have met who do the club proud and are some of the best supporters we have. It kills me that I sit in another country on a Saturday and the best I can hope for is the chance to see it on TV. I'm sure most on here could vouch for the fact that my support for the rovers is unquestioned and dedicated, just as I could say the same for the other foreign supporters on this site. You are fairly new to the messageboard and I don't know if you haven't come across foreign supporters of the club before, but you couldn't be further from the mark in the way that you see it. Not only do you know nothing about the group of supporters on here but your attitude will do nothing but harm to the club. We need all the supporters we can get, foreign or otherwise, so I don't care if you couldn't tell us what our colours are if you support the team and maybe get your money to the club through the odd kit or game or whatever it is then you are all that I can ask for. I'm very happy for you that you have a seaon ticket and that you probably always have, I wish I could somehow justify buying one and in the past I have actually considered doing so just to do my bit for the club. Don't question my support though, or that of others on here, and don't get on your high horse about the fact that you have the pleasure of regularly attending matches of the club we all support.