Im thinking that way too Donaldo. However you did mention confidence the other day. My worry now is the defence. Halliday and Wright will have had nightmares about the Sunderland game. Its really time to rest John at left back. Doesnt look like Anderson will be back tonight either so we could ship 1 or 2 goals. If Taylor ,Sims and Bostock start I think we should still win. Gomes has been a dissappointment on his return but he does have the ability. Richards should be given a full game too. So I guess my prediction is 3-2. Bogle, Oke or Taylor to score.

My feelings about John are the same as yours. I cannot imagine that the rest of them will be as loose in their marking again. Wright has been playing in a wider role until Anderson’s injury, so hopefully he will have been revising his technique in the central job.

Gomes shows some great touches and now plays like a natural footballer, but we do need to see some grit too. Richards is allegedly possessing of insufficient natural energy to do a full 90 minutes!

They will have to work hard and play well to win tonight, but if we want Championship football that will be what it takes in games like this. We need to be confident for Saturday.

If I remember when I was 19.I played 4 games of 90 minutes over the weekend and drank 19 pints!

Rovers 3-1 Stanley
Bogle to score ⚽⚽⚽
C'mon Rovers

With Smith out, Bostock will have to come up with the goods! Why not AJ instead of Robertson?
Hopefully Taylor will show his earlier energy, and perhaps Bogle can add goals.
As we have to stop this poor run , I'll say a 3-1 win with Bogle scoring the first.

2-1 to Rovers. Richards with the first.

1-1 lokilo withgoal

The better team won. Rovers got in each other’s way and tried to play a close passing game that they lacked the skill to execute. The defence play haphazardly without Anderson. Butler’s limitations in constructive play are a liability.

Accrington seemed unable to get into the game to begin with and Rovers seemed in control. Once they were allowed some of the ball they rapidly gained momentum and Rovers seemed largely on the defensive. Bogle was probably the most effective Rovers player in terms of doing his job, holding the ball up better than we ever saw even Marquis manage.

There seemed hope at the end of the first half. But Accrington emerged from the break even more effective in their rather more simple game and we struggled to make an impression. Without Anderson the defence is disorderly with little confidence in passing the ball constructively.

The same complex passing routines kept falling apart because of the degree of precision required. Perhaps we have been given more space by lesser teams, but whatever the cause, the systems just did not work tonight.

The teams we have played during this difficult phase all seemed better than average; if I am wrong, it’s Goodbye Playoffs!

We started brightly, but at about 25 minutes and had not really hit the target, I thought another 1-0 defeat like Shrewsbury. In the end we were somewhat lucky it was only 1-0.
I thought in the first half both Bostock and Bogle showed some potential, but in the second half Bostock certainly seemed tired. The surprise to me was Robertson whom I thought played quite well.
We really miss Anderson, and, of course, Whiteman.
We have to stop this crazy passing around our own area. Balcombe’s choice of pass was poor at times, and as Donaldo says, Butler’s limitations, especially as often passing back again to Balcombe after a goal kick are a liability. Their goal came from a poor interchange after a goal kick. However, when Balcome went for a longer clearance to the wings, he was very poor - unless some of our players grew to about 8 feet tall (Dieng was so good at this). DM has to sort these tactics out as we are not good enough to use the current ones.
Another issue to me is our poor use of throw-ins, often a long throw that often goes to the other team, another thing for DM to sort out. However, we were as bad at this under GM.
I’m not sure DM’s substitutions are that good sometimes. I know he claims he is “protecting” players for the next game, but I’d have taken Simoes off rather than Taylor (I still cannot see what DM saw in Simoes), and in the end poor Sims got no real service. He should have come on earlier.
Richards once again at times kept going for goal himself when a pass to another player in a better position was the right choice. I want people to shoot, but when your way to goal is blocked by several players, look for a better alternative.
I see Wilks got a hat-trick today. I dread what will happen on Saturday. If we do not win, bye-bye play-offs.
Now to open a bottle of wine to rid myself of depression!

It was one those games where you could pull apart Rovers play very extensively; I’ve noticed the frequent throw-in dilemmas too and there seems to be no “policy”. Even when the thrower has 3 options there is still hesitancy.

The playing style was invariable when teams had not worked out how to deal with it and it would be fair to say that well executed it is very effective. However variation and flexibility should be a part of any plan. SOD was very much tied to a particular style and almost all his players including defenders could operate it. DM’s defensive systems are less sophisticated and the reliance on the leadership and direction of Anderson and Whiteman is all too apparent. Balcombe is probably a better goalkeeper - saving shots than either Bursik or Lumley and when all said and done, there aren’t many better at distribution than Dieng. The Accrington goalkeeper was particularly good and his anticipation nullified moves which might otherwise have been productive for us.

The only consolation I can find is that Accrington are a good side with an extremely intelligent experienced manager who skilfully adapted his team’s strategy to beat us.

We must improve if we are to compete at the top again. Some of our players seem incapable of rising to the necessary level. For the manager to imagine that he can rotate more or less randomly assumes the whole squad is competent. It could be an excuse for not knowing what the best 11 are. If some get tired then they can be subbed, but they ought to at least start and relieved that they did not become professional tennis players.

We are not the League 1 equivalent of Man City, so the best 11 needs to start every game.