DPL vs Sunderland

I wouldn't have wanted to be the full back facing Gooch but I agree that Danny Andrew isn't as effective as he has been in earlier games and certainly not the player who wowed us at the start of last season. Overall, the first eleven were good in the first half but spurned two great chances. However, as the second half progressed you could see the energy draining out of them leading to the substitutions. The problem is that the players who came on simply didn't have what it would have taken to break down a solid Sunderland defence. As for Anderson J, he has not shown much in previous appearances and tonight was dreadful. When your side is scrambling for an equaliser you don't want a player giving the ball away or whacking it into touch. Crawford would have been a better choice not least because when he came on in the last game every time he got the ball he wanted to pass it forward. We need to keep Wilks and Kane. Anderson, not so much.

The club need to buy a top striker to play with Marquis, provided he's still here come end of January. Lost count of the number of times Wilks passed to his mate in South Stand instead of playing in Marquis, twice, Kane once. Terrible decision making, thought our back four were lost tonight. Mason lost it, could of been sent off, Andrews needs to be dropped, Wright was owned all game by their No.17, Butler could of walked at the end for a couple of very silly tackles.
All this took place because we had a ref who let their players get away with GBH in the first 20mins. Clattermore should of gone, two red card tackles, four yellow card tackles and he only ended up with one yellow. That was the marker for the game. They were not the team I thought they were.

I agree with BVZ that the ref did not clamp down on early Sunderland abusive tackles, but I do not agree our back were lost. Andrew (not Andrews) is not what we thought he could be, and his crosses are mainly too near to any GK. I do not know what has gone wrong, but I'd give Amos a chance. I think Mason is our most improved player this year, and his yellow was for some thing more minor than some Sunderland tackles that got nothing.
Despite the two appalling misses just before half time (Wilks and Blair), I thought we would come out firing on all barrels, but it was not to be. I think we just about deserved a draw.

I forgot to add: "Why J Anderson and not Ali Crawford?" Despite his goal. I've not been impressed by Anderson. Ali shows some classy touches, and has provided some great through balls. But what do I know living over 5000 miles away!

In the first half we more than matched Sunderland, in fact I reckon we were the better side.
We have the two glorious chances just before the break but also fashioned three or four half chances br
before then that on a different day perhaps one of those could have resulted in a goal.
Sunderland only really had a couple of headers, perhaps they could have done better with those.

The goal changed everything though, as it often does.
It allowed them to play in a more controlled way and they reshaped to two banks of four which was hard for us to break down.

Had we scored first then maybe we would have seen the same in reverse.

I agree about the Sunderland players being cynical.
The ref certainly had big club syndrome and allowed them to get away with dangerous stuff which should have resulted in at least one of them being sent off.
Catermole should have gone on a count up of offences and one of their defenders could have gone for fouling Wilks when he looked like being clear.

Yet another poor performance by a ref and almost matched by the west stand linesman.

I don’t agree that their 17 bossed Wright though.
It was a good battle but the sponsors also thought Wright did well and he got their MoM award.
Masons challenge late on was also nowhere near as bad as some that had gone before in the game.

We are in a dodgy run now and need to get something from the Coventry game to stop the rot.

I like your analysis Hound and I all the comments are borne out by evidence. In Anderson vs Crawford, the latter more than edges it. JA is a mate, but it was Crawfòrd who came with a pedigree and perhaps he should start instead of Blair to see how that goes.

Amos is the future and looked competent at Southend, belying his age. McC's tendency to favour his own signings and experienced players is questionable.

Is Taylor an impact sub?

Think most observers have similar views

https://popularstand.wordpress.com/2018/10/24/doncaster-rovers-0-1-sunderland-250-word-match-report/

Thanks lads

Sorry for the delay in getting these up. Uthred was the star of the series with his 100% Sunderland forecast and the consequent bonus. The 0 score-line also proved profitable for one or two others. Mooli hangs onto his lead with several in hot pursuit.

I expect that there may be errors above, so apologies in advance.

I must get on to Coventry's Article now.


Rochdale 2 : Rovers 3 (Crawford) (3600)
………………..….Crowd Scorer Score Result Bonus Total Pts B/F Cumltve
Donaldo ………… 5 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 … 8 … 43 …….. 51
PDXMickey ……. 5 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 8 … 47 …….. 55
Yorks Lad ……... 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 3 … 36 …….. 39
BVZ. ……..…….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 3 … 45 …….. 48
Crazy …….……… 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 6 … 73 …….. 79
Uthred …….…… 4 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 10 … 37 …….. 47
Mooligan …..…. 4 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 7 … 72 …….. 79
King Chmprr …. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 6 … 25 …….. 31
Small Azza ……. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 …. 0 …….. 0
Stantonrover … 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 0 …….. 0
Azza ……..…..… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 3 … 31 …….. 34
Cheltenham …. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 ….. 0 …….. 0
Nookie ……….… 2 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 5 … 57 …….. 62
Selby …….……… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 …. 10 …….. 10
Lanza …….….…. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 3 … 31 …….. 34
……………..……… 29 ……. 3 …….. 0 ……. 30 …….. 0 .. 62 .. 507 …. 569

Rovers 3 (Marquis): Gillingham 3 (6891 )
………………..….Crowd Scorer Score Result Bonus Total Pts B/F Cumltve
Donaldo ………… 4 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 … 4 …. 51 …….. 55
PDXMickey ……. 2 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 5 … 55 …….. 60
Yorks Lad ……... 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 39 …….. 39
BVZ. ……..…….. 1 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 4 … 48 …….. 52
Crazy …….……… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 79 …….. 79
Uthred …….…… 5 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 8 … 47 …….. 55
Mooligan …..…. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 3 … 79 …….. 82
King Chmprr …. 1 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 4 … 31 …….. 35
Small Azza ……. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 …. 0 …….. 0
Stantonrover … 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 ….. 0 …….. 0
Azza ……..…..… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 34 …….. 34
Cheltenham …. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 ….. 0 …….. 0
Nookie ……….… 5 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 5 … 62 …….. 67
Selby …….……… 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 3 …. 10 …….. 13
Lanza …….….…. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 3 … 34 …….. 37
……………..……… 21 ……. 18 …….. 0 …… 0 …….. 0 .. 39 .. 569 ….. 608


Rovers 0 : Sunderland 1 (11,881) Cumltve
………………..….Crowd Scorer Score Result Bonus Total Pts B/F …….. Cumltve
Donaldo ………… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 … 3 …. 55 …….. 58
PDXMickey ……. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 60 …….. 60
Yorks Lad ……... 3 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 6 … 39 …….. 45
BVZ. ……..…….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 52 …….. 52
Crazy …….……… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 79 …….. 79
Uthred …….…… 0 …….. 3 …….. 3 …….. 3 …….. 10 …. 19 … 55 …….. 74
Mooligan …..…. 1 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 1 … 82 …….. 83
King Chmprr …. 4 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 4 … 35 …….. 39
Small Azza ……. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 …. 0 …….. 0
Stantonrover … 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 ….. 0 …….. 0
Azza ……..…..… 5 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 5 … 34 …….. 39
Cheltenham …. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 ….. 0 …….. 0
Nookie ……….… 2 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 5 … 67 …….. 72
Selby …….……… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 …. 13 …….. 13
Lanza …….….…. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 37 …….. 37
……………..……… 15 ……. 9 …….. 3 …… 6 …….. 10 .. 43 .. 608 ….. 651

Thanks for doing the sums Donaldo.