Post by a more piratey game on Apr 22, 2017 18:41:20 GMT
we went in the Posh stand and had a beer at the bar. Took their pub really. After about 15 minutes a steward spotted my friend's gas top and asked us why we were there, and then asked for us to be escorted to gasland. Odd really, we'd just gone where several people had told us to go. Stewards and everyone were all relaxed and sensible about it though. And we didn't really take their pub at all, obvs, though with little else good to report we'll probably blow it into some sort of story over the coming years
there were lots of stewards in the ground and police outside. I couldn't really see any reason for so many, apart maybe from the fact that it was the last game of the season
it looked from the team like DC was taking it very seriously - no wildcard selections at all. Except maybe asking Easter to start and maybe run for 90 minutes, which in the end he sort of did
James Clarke was the pick of the gas for me, though he went off injured with about 20 minutes left. Gaffers missed a good opportunity when he'd just come on due to poor first touch/him not being in the game yet - I know which one I blamed. But he then scored 2 in 20 minutes, the second of which was a great move where he asked Easter to head it into a space for him and he then buried it, and we can't really ask for more than that
the left side didn't work very well at all. Whispering Bob looks like he can defend but not much else. Byron Moore has an un-Gaffneyesque first touch, and then always passes backwards. Sincs worked hard as usual, and had some effect. Linesey was, as my friend put it, 'playing with his flip-flops on' and was again pretty awful until his pass for Easter to head for Gaffney to score. Linesey hasn't been the same since Ollie C got injured/Linesey signed his new contract - you decide which
Lumley may have been at fault for the 3rd goal, but we really could see at all well. Other than that, and the fact that we conceded 4, he looked solid again. Sweeney had a mare - gifting them a chance early doors when trying to dribble his way out of defence, doing a soft header that allowed them their second etc etc. He's not the messiah after all. I suppose he's had a good run though
Locks didn't look his usual reliable self - like Sweeney he dribbled sometimes when it was too risky
Ellis didn't have a good game, and missed his penalty to boot. He went round the team giving people a hug before the match started, and I wondered what that was about
Our forwards don't seem to link up/play off each other well, which at least Gaffers' introduction managed to change. Broom came on for 20 minutes or so but didn't make a huge impression either way
Ellis ballooned a shot over the top of the stand so that it was a 'can we have our ball back mister?'. If you're going to miss, it might as well be by a mile. Another Rovers player took out a section of advertising hoarding, and didn't seem to be injured so it made for a bit of entertainment
they didn't look all that, although their movement in front of goal was much tighter and more effective than our 'stroking the ball around the park'. The blondie bloke would give Tom Daley a run for his money for diving, but old man Mackail Smith looked to still have some quality about him. Their goalie, McGee (unpromising name) seemed to chat a bit cockily to some youngish 'uns in our crowd - although my friend pointed out that at times he didn't have much else to do
we weren't terrible, but we were a bit porous at the back and a bit laboured at the front without too much in the middle. There was, though, a lot of passing. There were chances at both ends and if we had scored our penalty it could have ended up a much different game
some peeps in our crowd seemed relentlessly negative irrespective of what the team did. When news filtered through that Millwall were getting tonked and Sarfend were losing, our scoreline seemed a lot more important than it did at kick-off
I was happy for Gaffers. He's a confidence player and a grafter, so I can only see that getting us 2 goals back will help. Although not as far as the table is concerned