Match Day thread.Gas V Addicks

C'mon Rovers! Results seem to be going our way to keep those slim playoff hopes alive, just need a late winner.

FT: 1-1

(Att. 9,336)

I wish Gaffney wouldn’t take so long on the ball every time.

Just short of a quality striker 20 - 25 goals a season. It would make all the difference, touted Ricky miller before the season started nobody agreed. Somebody like him would have got us in the playoff positions. Gaffer thought Nichols was the real deal shame he was wrong.

Hi and just got back..

Another brilliant crowd attendance. Fair play, Charlton made some noise sporadically.

I'm still baffled....?.....Lockyer has now played three positions in two matches. It appears he'll play regardless of form or mistakes made. I thoroughly expect him to pick up the keeper's gloves head of smith or slocombe such is his undroppability (new word invented)! I thought ineffective in central mid. Why couldn't Ollie Clarke play defensively?


Positives..
Craig. My m o m. Made at least two last ditch covering tackles, one of which we got a goal kick instead of what looked like corner to them.

Bennett. Brilliant anticipated goal, a real bag of tricks, brilliant performance.

Slocombe. Very confident display and top drawer saves. Only beaten by deflected shot on half time. Tbh, any of the three could be regarded as m o m.

Broadbent. Broadly brilliant. Kept their no27 - a man mountain - quiet and brought ball out in assured way.

Ellis. Again ran his heart out. Brilliant defensive performance and double clearance....why is it he can get his head on anything in our box and clear decently, yet hardly get header in let alone on target in other box?! (seriously confused!).

Moore. More, please. Such a shame we haven't seen more contributions like today.

Lee Brown. Legend can now play right back. Nichols should be left back from now on....left back in Peterborough, Legend is now right back in form.

Michael Kelly. Whom? New to me. Competent as left sided defence and got forward to support.



Negatives...
Referee. Baffling decisions at times. A half shout for penalty hand ball that sparked something in Thatchers End.

Injuries. Sercombe? Mensah? We now know Sinclair and Partington won't feature rest of season. James Clarke put in a shift, fair play, I hope he hasn't tweaked anything.



A good result against a very decent team. I thought their 29 and Reeves very accomplished players, you can tell Charlton are technically a gifted team. Well done us for competing, especially with a depleted squad.

Always wondering what if?
What if we can grab some results v Blackburn and Wigan....?

 Michael Kelly.  Biography
DATE OF BIRTH
03/11/1997
.Signed
01/07/2017

COUNTRY
Scotland

The young Scot signed for Rovers last summer after impressing on a trial with the club.

Michael has previously been on the books at Aberdeen and Leicester City beforing dropping out of pro football and playing for Scottish junior side Hurlford Town.

The full-back then made the move to the Mem in July last year.

First time I've been able to see us since the Doncaster game which in Roversland is a lifetime ago really.  Here's some thoughts;

-Enjoyed the match a lot.  Was impressed with both how we played and the effort shown given there's not much left in our season.  One aspect of having injuries I suppose is that it gives a chance to those who are playing for contracts so I didn't feel anyone was mailing it in.  We also played a nice open style with good width which I thought created a decent game of football.
-First time I've seen Bennett - very impressed.  I assume he won't always influence the game as much as he did today but I liked the way he played.  There's good skill but there's also a battling quality about him which I like. Everything we did positively went through him today.
-I also liked the look of Craig.  He seemed composed and his distribution was good. Covered ground well.
-Injuries killed us a bit  -with Sercombe off out midfied was bound to be unbalanced and lacking quality. Before he went off I thought we were controlling the pace of the game - after that they seemed to in general although we still played some very nice stuff in the last 3rd throughout.
-Mensah on the right was interesting - the awkward physical quality about his game definitely adds something but I'm not sure he has the pace to stick there in the long term.
-Thought Ollie Clarke played well today.  So did Ellis as always.
-Main negatives were Byron Moore and Gaffney.  Both worked hard but looked devoid of confidence.  Very hesitant in decision making which cost us several attacking opportunties.  I thought Moore played pretty well first half but struggled when not having the easier outlets of Sercombe and Bennett once we were forced to switch formation.  Second half he just looked lacking in end product.  Gaffney is more baffling - I've seen him play well in most games I've been to this year away.  Didn't look the same player today. Hesitant, tentative etc.  Slight odd in fact.
-I don't really understand the criticism DC is getting for putting Lockyer into midfield.  I can't see he had any other choice given the players we had available.  There were no centre midfield options and somebody had to play there - Lockyer has at least done it before and we had the defensive depth to fill in for him which wasn't available elsewhere on the pitch.

Probably the last time I'll get to see Rovers this year and came away pretty positive.  I think there are some key pieces in place that make me quite optimistic about next season at this stage.

We could have had a like for like swap with russe. I just thought Locks was ineffective in that role.

Dc kinda justified it in post match comment with Ollie Locks familiar before, but I wrote that piece before I heard it.

I agree it's not Locks fault, but my point still stands, for better or worse Locks picks (!) himself, and I don't understand the love in with a player whom has had a poor season by his standards, yet still plays anywhere, it seems.. ?

Don't understand the knocking of playing Tom in front of the central defenders, I thought it worked well, we looked better as a defensive unit than we do with Lines +1 in central midfield.