DPL vs Shrewsbury

1-1
Marquis to score
Crowd 5050

We are not such a good side that we can expect to win by just putting in a proper effort for 45 minutes. Nor can the manager send out players who do not exert themselves sufficiently to participate even on a small scale for an entire half as was the case with Smith. He may have had the ball a couple of times, but either gave it away or just had an inconsequential touch.

They obviously had a good talking to at half time and Smith was quite rightly given another 45 minutes rest. Copps, who replaced him, had one of the best games I have seen from him. Having lost Kane, it was bad judgment on McCann’s part not to include our other real play-maker right from the start. Lewis was one of the few who gave Shrewsbury something to think about before the break, but a lot of them seemed to imagine that they could give them space with the inevitable consequences. Fortunately Marosi kept it to just 2.

The second half may not have been deliberate Keystone Cops. As I say, 26 was outstanding and the rest seemed to start concentrating and applying themselves provoking some amazing goalmouth scares and scrapes for the shrews. Marquis did another scoop-over from impossibly close and perhaps we have been fortunate not come up against this kind of last-ditch successful defending much before this season.

The team really must become committed to competing for a full 90 minutes. Apart from picking one player who just did not put in an acceptable effort, McCann could quite rightly criticise the majority of the rest for lack of effort. Drifting along as they did is unforgivable.

I can foresee a serious slide in the offing if the players carry on like this. It was a real let-down.

Very poor in the first half - top slow doing anything. Often they waited for passes, even accurate ones, to reach them and most were intercepted by a Shrews player. Other than Wilks there seemed to be no energy, and even when they did get passes going forward, the final pass was usually poor or a poor choice. Smith had probably had the best chance and should have got the ball on target. It was unfortunate that Anderson was off the field for the corner which led to the first goal. Their second goal was a little lucky as I thought Wilks was fouled, but the Rovers should not stop and appeal for offside. On iFollow you could not tell as both ends of the through pass were not visible at the same time. He certainly looked offside when he collected the ball. Both full backs had a rough time, and once again Andrew's deliveries were poor. I'm not sure what has gone wrong with him.
At times in the second half the Rovers played some lovely football - except for the finishing. One has to credit the Shrews for all the blocking they managed to do (three off the line), but we created enough chances to win the game. Just about everyone missed good chances, but Sadlier and Marquis (twice) had chances that should have been goals if we consider ourselves a promotion team.
I think in the end, 2-0 flattered the Shrews a little, but we did not really deserve to win after that first half when we were lucky to be only 2-0 down.

I was composing my entry when Donaldo's went on line. While I think Lewis was better going forward in the first half than Andrew, he was having a hard time defending, often back tracking and not daring to tackle. In the second half he was very good.
I was very disappointed with this Rovers' performance, but let us go forward and beat Charlton on Saturday!

The one thing that stands out from last night is that Coppinger has to play as much as possible if we are to retain our top six spot.

First half was possibly one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a rovers team in nearly 50yrs, it was an embarrassment.
Second half, Copps changed the game and that's what worries me. Life without no Copps, unthinkable on last night's showing.
Marquis missed 4 chances in the 6yrd box, should of had a hat-trick, something not working in his head since the 2mill offer from Sunderland came in.
Danny Andrews needs to think about if he wants to be a footballer or just a passenger, his passing, tackling was woeful.
Wilks, if he ever learns to pass, he could be a premier league player.
Marosi was amazing, pulled off 2 saves he had no right to save. My Mom, has to be Copps, only played 45 mins but did more in those minutes that all other players in 90.

So.
Shrewsbury Town 2
Doncaster Rovers 0.
Or 2 nil
2 0.
Shame Mason did what he did.
His deliveries into the box where excellent.
Butler would always play for me.
Well done 25b true pro.
Thanks for report's lads.

Lanza,
I'm glad you are getting some warm on the islands. Here on the Left Coast, after a warm start to the winter, we have had a very cold February. Since about last Thursday, and forecast until early next week, all our over night temperature have been below zero (C that is - I'm a European!) The highs are not forecast to be above about 7C whereas we should be about at 12-14C!
C'est la vie!

I've just watched the Extended Highlights and I still think Wilks was tripped leading to the second goal - and the final pass to the scorer does look offside. Even without this goal, we would have still lost because of the inability to put the ball into the net.
I agree that Copps should start on Saturday, and hopefully can last the 90 minutes (I'm sure he can, but maybe GM does not think so),
The question is, what do we do about our full backs? Lewis has potential, but I just do not know what has happened to Andrew. As Lanza said, it is a pity about Mason. I think he, and the unlucky Joe Wright, were the most improved players earlier this season.

Amos came on for 25 minutes at Southend, the first time I had seen him and he certainly seemed competent. Since moving to Hartlepool on loan he has played regularly, so he might be expected to develop, but perhaps not yet.

The DPL results reflect our collective disappointment about how the last 2 games turned out.

We met two teams well below us which most of us expected to beat fairly comfortably and both produced one half of good football against a corresponding bad 45 minutes on our part. Or it just might have been that we were not that bad and they were better than we are giving them credit for. In Shrewsbury's case their fans might say "Why did we not attack in the 2nd half, instead of parking the bus?"

However Nookie and Uthred got the Scunthorpe result and score right and Yorkshire Lad is the crowd expert. The rest of us may wonder whether our optimism is getting the better of us.

Scunthorpe 1 : Rovers 1 (Wilks) (6255) Total
>>>>>>>> Crowd > Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 2 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 2 >>> 144 >>> 146
PDXMickey> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>> 127 >>> 131
Yorks Lad>> 5 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 5 >>> 133 >>> 138
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>> 136 >>> 136
Crazy>>>>>> 3 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>> 137 >>> 140
Uthred>>>>> 3 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 9 >>> 122 >>> 131
Mooligan>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>> 150 >>> 150
King Chmprr 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 83 >>>> 83
Small Azza> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 3
Stantonrover 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0
Azza>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 91 >>>> 91
Cheltenham 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0
Nookie>>>> 1 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 7 >>> 139 >>> 146
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 58 >>>> 58
Lanza>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 91 >>>> 91
>>>>>>>>>> 18 >>>> 0 >>>>> 6 >>>> 6 >>>>> 0 >>>> 30 >> 1414 >>> 1444

Shrewsbury2 : Rovers 0 (5394) Total
>>>>>>>> Crowd > Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 1 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 1 >>> 146 >>> 147
PDXMickey> 3 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>> 131 >>> 134
Yorks Lad>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>> 138 >>> 142
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>> 136 >>> 136
Crazy>>>>>> 2 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 2 >>> 140 >>> 142
Uthred>>>>> 3 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>> 131 >>> 134
Mooligan>>> 2 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 2 >>> 150 >>> 152
King Chmprr 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 83 >>>> 83
Small Azza> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 3
Stantonrover 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0
Azza>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 91 >>>> 91
Cheltenham 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0
Nookie>>>> 2 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 2 >>> 146 >>> 148
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 58 >>>> 58
Lanza>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 91 >>>> 91
>>>>>>>>>> 17 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 17 >> 1444 >>> 1461