Doing this introduction, which I am not sure anyone reads anyway since very few express opinions in advance of matches, is quite time-consuming, but when the opposition's local newspaper deny you access unless you register, it adds frustration.
I will therefore be brief. Portsmouth have been very active in the transfer window, so active that you wonder why in their position and how thorough their research has been. The local headlines make no mention of the match against us, so perhaps they do not expect anything more than a routine win.
Their recent form puts them well below the half-way point in the table. They could only manage a FA Cup draw against mid-table Championship QPR and lost to Luton last week, so you would have thought that there might be more visible effort and published desire to turn things around. Sunderland were notorious for buying themselves out of trouble years ago, not always successfully, and of course more recently Portsmouth have a record of spending a lot of money without receiving full value.
However, perhaps attention has not been completely drawn away from tomorrow's match and they will be suitably prepared.
I will go for a 2--0 win with WIlks/Marquis/May the scorer and 19500
DPL vs Portsmouth
posted on 2/2/19
I'm going to go for a 2-1 win for the Rovers. Marquis with the first goal. Crowd of 18234
posted on 2/2/19
Sorry for the duplications. Issue with my phone.
posted on 2/2/19
go for 2-2 may,marquis attendance 17999
posted on 2/2/19
I always read your intros Donaldo and appreciate the time and commitment that goes into running the DPL.
Today I'm apprehensive.
Pompey 2-1 Rovers
Marquis to score,
Crowd 18,200
Hope I get the result wrong.
posted on 2/2/19
2-1 Whiteman 18765
posted on 3/2/19
I wasn’t sure what to make of the commentary, so I have just watched the whole of the first half. Pompey play/played a very cautious game, not committing too many to attack and were either well suppressed or lack the individual talent to look really dangerous. They seemed to focus on trying to go down the left side and Lewis, Blair and Downing were very busy, especially Lewis who put in a very effective performance.
In contrast Rovers, were more aggressive in their attacks, but, given the Pompey focus on defence, usually found themselves in a more crowded space, but nevertheless seemed to be more dangerously close to finding the net than the home side.
It is difficult to know whether all this showed Rovers are true promotion contenders or whether their opponents are slipping. Certainly Rovers looked the more dangerous in the first 45 as a team whereas Pompey were hoping for some individual to produce a clinical finish.
The second half brought more offensive attitude from Portsmouth and the game seemed to move faster with both sides pursuing goals and although the equaliser was put down to defensive error which there was initially with Marosi and Downing going for the same ball, there was a good attempt by Marosi to recover by throwing himself at the player who put the ball across the goal and then only great skill or luck by Bogle enabled him to put it past probably Downing and another defender into the net at very close range. On another day it would not have got through the cover.
Smith looks a bit slow to adjust his movements and touch and seemed somewhat invisible compared with say Marquis who is usually there even though he may fail to win the ball more often than not. Kane contributed some skilful and telling touches in the second half as the pace increased. When Crawford came on he was very effective in breaking up opposition attacks, but almost always let himself down with his ambitious through balls which usually went astray. May had some good chances to test the goalkeeper, but fails so often to get his head over the ball as it sails into the stands.
I had to give up on the video owing to technical failure by iFollow as the action stuttered between slow-mo and stop.
So, Crawford needs to work on his passing, Wilks needs to be forced to use his right boot because he is becoming very one-footed as he tries to control the ball and Smith needs to sharpen up and move around a bit more. Rovers can play better I think, but perhaps Portsmouth could and both may need to do so at least some of the time to remain in the top 6.
posted on 3/2/19
Thanks Don
posted on 3/2/19
Having watched the game and now have watched the "Extended Highlights", I wonder who edits the highlights! In the "EH" it seems we were totally dominant in the first half, and while we were the better team, it was not by this much and was a rather scrappy half. The second half was not as much all Pompey as the "EH" shows as we had an excellent period just after they scored. To a neutral it would have been a very entertaining half, and a good advert for League One.
The "EH" showed Marosi's very good save, but not the two made by their GK - one from Marquis, and one from May which was right at the end of the game at could have won it for us.
I agree with most of what Donaldo said, especially about May, but it was a very good first time strike near the end. I thought Crawford added a spark when he came on, and made some excellent passes, but some were a little over ambitious.
Considering it was his first real professional start, Lewis was amazingly calm and played really well. Andrew was again somewhat disappointing and was given a tough time by Lowe. He does not seem to have reached the level he was before injury last season. However his attacking contribution was good, and I do not know how Marquis failed to connect with a great low cross that would have made it 2-0.
Other than the mix-up with Marosi for the goal, Downing was very good - will Buts get his place back? That is not the first occasion of any apparent lack of communication between Marosi and the defence since he came back. I know it was only his second game with Downing, but a shout of "mine" or some equivalent would have prevented the goal.
I think a draw was a fair result, and I'm still confident of a top six finish - if we beat Fergie and Peterborough next week!
posted on 8/2/19
Considering how difficult large crowds are to estimate this was a good collective performance. Marquis let people down for once and only two put realism above optimism by going for a draw and Nookie even got the score right. The scoring system meant that Nookie was pipped by both Uthred and Micky who chalked up 4s with the crowd as well as the result but Mooli remains ahead.
Portsmouth 1 : Rovers 1 (Wilks) 17800
………………..….Crowd Scorer Score Result Bonus Total Pts B/F Cumltve
Donaldo ………… 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 … 3 … 109 …….. 112
PDXMickey ……. 4 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 7 … 114 …….. 121
Yorks Lad ……... 2 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 2 … 119 …….. 121
BVZ. ……..…….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 130 …….. 130
Crazy …….……… 1 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 1 … 130 …….. 131
Uthred …….…… 4 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 7 … 109 …….. 116
Mooligan …..…. 1 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 1 … 139 …….. 140
King Chmprr …. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 ….. 83 …….. 83
Small Azza ……. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 …. 0 …….... 0
Stantonrover … 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 …. 0 …….... 0
Azza ……..…..… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 88 …….. 88
Cheltenham …. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 ….. 0 …….. 0
Nookie ……….… 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 6 … 121 …….. 127
Selby …….……… 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 3 …….. 0 …. 3 …. 55 …….. 58
Lanza …….….…. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …….. 0 …. 0 … 82 …….. 82
……………..……… 12 ……. 3 …….. 3 …… 12 …….. 0 .. 30 .. 1279 …… 1309
posted on 8/2/19
Many thanks Don for all your work and comments. Looking forward to you Fergie time preview later?