Scunthorpe

I'm struggling to remember us conceding a worse goal than today's. No blame on Lockyer at all but Ellis had an absolute moment.

Overall a draw at as a fair result but to give up a goal like that was galling.

Just got back.

Can I really have any cause for complaint?

DC has put together a squad and team capable of competing with the top six teams, and we did again today.

I thought we rode our luck on occasions, so did they, but apart from an absolute howler of a mistake from Ellis, we would've collected 3points. We dominated in large periods of the match, and played some great football.

My observations:
Sincs put in the kind of performance that classic rovers players from the past would be proud of. Arguably the best game of his career and it's great he's proving his doubters wrong. He's everywhere, opposition just can't pick him up, most notably resulting in him being fouled 3 times in a row first half! Well done Stu, especially in an unfamiliar position.

Leads disappointing, not his best game offensively. Too often didn't make the runs into space and his close control was a bit off. I so like to see him surging forward, but a couple of times in second half he took the wrong option off the ball.

Joanna Lumley absolutely class. Can we acquire him permanently? This is exactly what we've been missing. Ably supported by Mildy (great to see him being applauded), I think a very solid goalkeeping team.

Ollie Clarke. Nuff said. Ok, gave ball away once or twice, but apart from that, another excellent performance. Unsung hero from alot of past matches, but I see him as in undroppable (is that a word?!) form. Took his goal well and has put in brilliant performances with pairing with Lines against the division's finest.

The ref. Possibly one of the best refs we've had. No bookings, but there probably should have been. Sensible and fair.

Scunny, hmmmmm... For me they left the boot in on challenges. They're a good team, but I've seen us more than compete against them in both matches.

A good game between two teams wanting to win. I think they'll be happier with the point, but for all the huff and puff we just couldn't blow their house down.. Well done for trying and coming close though!
UptheGas..

Moronic back pass from Ellis five yards into their half! What an idiot. We were comfortable at one nil. DC must have ripped him a new one. Sincs had strong words as we prepared to re start. Frustrating.

Cheer up

Given it was all Harrison fault Locks could have done better, yes he was unlucky but tye ws a chance to recover the situation

Perhaps DC didn't ask?

Perhaps the players required to improve the team were not interested, available or were too expensive?

The bonus of automatic promotion last year, coupled with having a very positive season this year (mid table or higher, I would guess) with spending £150,000* could be seen as shrewd business to build on next year; exceptional management by DC and terrific performance by the players.

We wouldn't have had the money to invest under Higgs and the current owners have never said they would pump money into the club. "Evolution not revolution" was the soundbite and I quite like that. We have a squad that features a lot of lads that have made at least part of their way through the youth setup and along with the training ground, a plan to continually establish the core of the team on younger, youth-team sourced talent is both financially wise and sustainable.

Or, I guess we could go back to NH (and beyond) where we chop in 10 players each Summer, spend a little of the money we don't have and roll the dice again, eh?

*Corrected by HB.

I'm sure the management team will be identifying players now for next season. We have had a solid return to the third tier and we can definitely build on what we've got. Ellis has been given long enough now and has a golden opportunity to step in now MT has gone. It's up to him whether he wants to take it.

I can only think he didn't see the Scunny player - view blocked by Tom and/or camouflaged by green shirt against the pitch.

Yes, MT was a class player and you never know what you've got until they're gone. But he has gone and we move on. A bit harsh on Ellis and the owners. I suspect had we won today the overall tone of the thread would be very different and we were unfortunate not to win after seeing the best they could throw at us repelled. They were a good team but we dealt with what they threw at us fairly well. Yes, we rode our luck in that 15 minute spell in the second half but so did they and we should have won. Referee was quite good but he let them get away with some bad challenges and seemed more interested in making a joke about everything. Their manager seemed to be their left wing or right back, he was so often encroaching on the pitch and no one did anything!
UTG!