1. Fleetwood are a good team. Tight defensively and with a couple of aggressive, speedy forwards.
2. The Granada Fish and Chip shop, about a mile north of the ground, was excellent, as it was on my previous two visits.
3. Fleetwood's first goal was a snapshot finish; a perfect execution into the corner of the goal by Hunter, giving Will Puddy no chance. We had enough players back, but they all dropped too deep, so no-one picked up the scorer who was hanging back a bit.
4. The referee failed to give a handball against Fleetwood in the flow of attacks that led to their first goal.
5. The second goal came direct from a corner that was whipped straight into the six yard box, not far from the goal line. Will Puddy went as if to punch or flip it away, but couldn't reach it. The first Fleetwood contact seemed to be cleared off the line, but Bolger followed up to crash it in.
6. Rovers created a few decent chances, notably for Billy Bodin (who stung the plans of the Fleetwood keeper) and Matty Taylor. Ellis had done well to nod a deep cross back across goal, and Matty headed towards the top corner. Unfortunately for us, the keeper saved.
7. The referee continued to annoy. Their forward Ball ran into the back of McChrystal, and complained to the ref, and the ref just waved his arms. He should have given us a free kick for a foul on McChrystal! Then, a bit later, the same player went down holding his face. The ref didn't have a clue, but the linesmen seemed to communicate that Locks had committed a foul. The ref then booked Lockyer! What gets me is that you might just draw the conclusion that we have a fussy ref who clamps down hard on fouls...but then in the second half, Moore was about to go past his full back, which would have left a 3 Rovers v 2 Fleetwood scenario. The full back fouled Moore, the ref gave the free kick, but no booking!!
8. DC subbed Lee Brown and Mark McChrystal, bringing on Jermaine Easter and Tom Partington. I think you'd describe the formation as 3-4-1-2, with Partington playing right back, James Clarke switching to left back, leaving only Tom Lockyer in the middle. Jermaine played just behind Matty and Ellis.
9. Long high ball forward...Ellis chased it with Nathan Pond. As the ball came down, Pond (under pressure from Ellis) clashed with a colleague and the ball fell nicely for the timely arrival of Billy Bodin. Billy still had work to do, but he took his time and belted the ball past the keeper.
10. Kitchen sink time. It's what Darrell would call "having a right good go!". Lots of aggressive, productive attacking football from Rovers. Lines and Ollie Clarke kept their recent good form. Rovers definitely on top, and we're looking to equalise.
11. The managers provided an interesting side show as the ref had to speak to them both (separately). I saw Rösler making "lobster-claw" signs to Darrell i.e. "you're all talk". I'm glad DC managed to cool it, as I think we maintained the moral high ground.
12. A baptism of fire for Partington, as part of a back 3! He did a decent job, joining in attacks and tidying up at the back after Fleetwood's by now rare attacks. But he could probably do with more time on the training field with his new chums.
13. Ollie Clarke whizzed a shot just left of goal, and Luke James (a late sub for Matty Taylor) sent a hopeful dipper towards underside of the crossbar, but the keeper again saved the day for Fleetwood. For all Rovers' attacking approach, we didn't really create that many more clear chances.
14. Fleetwood broke away and scored a third. It looked like a slip or a missed challenge in our defence, but you have to credit the Fleetwood striker with the precision and deadliness of his finishing. Remember the way they put away their early goal at the Memorial Stadium in November? It was like that.
15. We'd had two half-hearted appeals for a penalty earlier in the match, but Luke James certainly looked to have been tripped in the box. Of course, the ref (Darren England - we've had him a few times in recent years) waved our claims away...then booked Luke James. Was it something he said?!
16. It was not to be, today. I think if we'd played that game 10 times, Fleetwood would have won five, we'd have won three and there would have been two draws. The End.
