Northampton do have the top scorer in the division and we will be without Anderson. So it will be an experimental defence. I was reminiscing this week and suddenly Vivian Nicholson sprang to mind. She won £153000 on Littlewoods pools in 1961. Famous for her Spend spend spend attitude. My mum used to do the pools each week and her method for predicting draws was to select teams with the third letter in their name being an r. Obviously we never won much. So Saturday is a team with a 3rd letter r. So it's going to be a Desmond result. 2-2 Tomlin, Miller.

If you are thinking of going to the game there's a guide in Popular Stand worth a read.
https://popularstandfanzine.com/category/features/go-away/

I suppose that as the top-scoring team in the league it is not entirely surprising that they have the top-scoring individual. Only two teams have conceded more goals - Stockport are one(!) and only one more at that, which illustrates their vulnerability - 2+ goals per game.

Just read the ground guide which made me smile. It must be quite a release to be able to write a piece which has more than 250 words!

I did think about going, but Northampton is over 100 miles away from where I live and 3 hours or so, not including getting lost.

I also enjoyed the ground guide - especially the "lighthouse" in Northampton!
I'm trying to be as optimistic as Donaldo, but a little worried about whom in going to be for in our defence.
A clean sheet will be hard, but I think our attack will click and we will win 3-1. The first goal from Miller from a great cross from Hurst. If Miller de not start for some reason, Tomlin.

Will be a good test today but I'm predicting a 2-1 win to the Rovers. Miller / Hurst.

1-1 Rowe with the goal

1-1
Miller to score ⚽

Looking forward to seeing the highlights. From the stats, it looks like a pretty even game but a really good away win. Was it a bit of class from Tomlin that made the difference? Keen to see the build up play to the penalty decision. Great to be in the automatic promotion spots but admittedly still very early days!

Although McS describes the win as "comfortable", I'm not sure I did watching it. I never thought we would lose, but we missed some great chances, and Hylton should have equalised for them late in the game when he headed wide from a wide open position.
Tomlin was good, but missed the best chance of the match. After just about the best move of the match the ball came to him about 12 yards out with a clear look at goal. He hit the ball hard, but it was straight at their GK. Later Miller was through on goal but somehow let a defender come back and rob him before he fired. I'll say it was great from the Northampton defender to do that, but Miller should not have given him the opportunity to recover as he did.
Overall.I'm encouraged as we seem to be able to grind out games when we are not raelly playing to our full potential
Bobby Faulkner again showed us what great potential he has. OK, some of his tackles may be considered pushing the margin, but at least we have someone not frightened by tackling.
Mitchell had little to do, and claimed any high balls into the box very well, but he has to improve his distribuion. Twice he nearly gave me a heart attack by careless short passes out the back, but his kicking is poor. Maybe he should watch videos of Man Cuty's Emerson.

I've just watched the extended highlights, and to me they did not really represent the game, On iFollow the commentary was Bitcliffe (or whatever his name is) from Radio Sheffield and I'll always felt he is no fan of the Rovers. Is it Radio Sheffield that edit the highlights? Maybe I'm getting paranoid, but he drives me mad with some of his comments during a game.

Biltcliffe was the in-house Rovers commentator when it was “Rovers Player” and he was very excitable in his early days, but by the time he went to the BBC I was sorry to see him go. However he seems to have lost much of his passion now and sounds as though he is only mildly supportive of the team. Perhaps the BBC’s paranoia caused by political criticism about being balanced/unbiased even extends to local sports which seems crazy yet possible. He sometimes uses rather flowery self-indulgent language which is irritating, but I suppose I can put up with it as long as we get Robbie who is much more detailed in his descriptions of the play, for most of the games.

As for the performance, having seen the full match replay, it is difficult to pinpoint the key to success. But, in a match when they seemed matched for skill, perhaps there was more purpose about them. They are also well practised in the art of getting fouls without being obviously histrionic. Northampton did seem to have as much drive and there was not a Rovers playing who looked less than 100% committed. In Tomlin we have a most skilful ball-player who is extremely economical in what he does with the ball as well. Copps could do similar things, but it took him much longer with the risk of losing the ball in the process. And Tomlin he is now a 90-minute player with a useful turn of speed over short distances.

I agree that it was not entirely comfortable and for the home team, Northampton were rather cautious.

Comment deleted by Article Creator

“Northampton did NOT seem to have as much drive…”

Some interesting comments. Let's not forget Northampton had the best scoring record before this game. To neuter them and pose them problems was a very good result and perhaps the reason they appeared less energetic and more cautious than us. Tomlin has the ability to mesmerise defenders and occupy at least three. His is an invaluable contribution even though he didn't score. Faulkner seems to have added much needed back bone to the defense. Amazing he's only just turned 18. You even have the feeling there's more to come at some point if everything clicks. Molyneux still not at his best. Hurst gaining confidence and Miller too. Biggins and Clayton beginning to form a solid midfield too. It won't last. 😂

https://popularstandfanzine.com/2022/08/28/northampton-town-0-1-doncaster-rovers-250-word-match-report/

It seems more exciting to take part in this now we are doing better.

Does anyone think that bringing back the crowd prediction would enhance the competition?
Rovers 2 (Hurst) : Salford C 1
>>>>>>> Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 14 >>>>>> 14
PDXMickey> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 3 >>>>> 19 >>>>>> 22
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>>>> 0
Crazy>>>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 7 >>>>> 9 >>>>>>> 16
Mooligan>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 29 >>>>>> 29
Nookie>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 14 >>>>>> 17
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 3 >>>>>>>> 6
>>>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>> 12 >>>> 0 >>>>> 16 >>>>> 88 >>>>> 104
Northampton T 0 : Rovers 1 (Miller)
>>>>>>> Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 7 >>>>> 14 >>>>>> 21
PDXMickey> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 7 >>>>> 22 >>>>>> 29
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>>>> 0
Crazy>>>>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 7 >>>>> 16 >>>>>> 23
Mooligan>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 29 >>>>>> 33
Nookie>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 17 >>>>>> 17
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 6 >>>>>>>> 6
>>>>>>>>> 16 >>>>> 0 >>>> 9 >>>> 0 >>>>> 25 >>>>> 104 >>>>> 129

I know when we did crowds before, I did quite well. I did not use a WAG, but did some research, Not sure I want to do that again, especially as it is does not seem as easy to get away fan counts in attendances as it was then - even the Rovers do not always publish numbers. So, I'm not a fan of doing crowds again.

Donaldo, It is the first time I've really looked at our prediction scores. As always, thanks for all the work, especially after saying I do not want to work to predict crowds! However, I did predict 2-1 for the Salford game.

Yes you did Micky - it will be corrected next time with your total now reading 33 - the joint leader - and the overall total, 133. Sorry.

Crowd prediction is ok with me, it just adds to the fun. It probably makes more work for you though Donaldo ⚽

We could have the number of times Lee Tomlin falls over and draws a foul!

If we did want something extra then may be our shots on goal, fouls or %possession might be something to consider.

Just seen the team for tonight - could be Jones will get plenty of opportunity to show how good he is!!!
Not sure who is going to play the roles of Clayton and Tomlin.
If it is a disaster by halftime, I may switch over to a Premier League game. Just received a special offer to stream some games for $1.99 a month for a limited time. I thought if I watch one game a month it was worth it. However on Saturday it will always be Rovers for the 15:00 games.

Watched the whole game - not very exciting. Could have been different if Kuleya, or Taylor on the rebound. and scored early on.
I thought Jones' shot stopping and coming quickly off his line when needed was good, but one crazy roll-out and one poor short pass out, could have been disastrous.
Way too many mistakes in defence that would be bad in a league game. Seaman and Maxwell made several early on, but improved during the game. I thought when Hurst and Molyneaux came on at halftime we would win easily, but it made little difference.
Anyway, still in with a good chance to progress.