Scunthorpe have pulled up their socks recently and are above us in the 10- match form table and the 3 losses have been vs Luton, Barnsley and Gillingham. The last 4 at home are undefeated and they have certainly picked up recently from being next-to bottom 2 or 3 months ago. They won their first 2 then sunk to 18th, then rose again, then fell to 23rd and they are now up to mid table again despite some tough fixtures.
They do amazingly well, considering their catchment area and relatively small financial resources.
I never seem to forecast an easy match and this will be a true test of the renewal of desire in the bread and butter quest for league points. I have yet to be totally convinced of the solidarity in defence and effectiveness in turning attacking spirit into goal-scoring efficiency. We seem to be able to play exciting football, but it sometimes is more in the style of the Keystone Cops than of Number Twenty-Six & Co in Chorley/Rochdale mode.
I shall be ambitious for them nevertheless and say 3-1 to us and Smith with number one and Marquis if absent with 5900 there.
DPL vs Scunthorpe United
posted on 23/2/19
Just in time! 1-1 , Wilks, Marquis. 5826
posted on 23/2/19
3-1 Wilks 6890
posted on 23/2/19
Good strong performance first half. Non existent after 55mins we were dire. Marquis's miss will take some beating for miss of the season after Wilks effort hit the post and a good cut back. We never got Wilks on the ball in the 2nd half enough to cause them problems as he did in the first half and ultimately was subbed. Didn't think Andrew and Blair again were at the races most of the game Blair was bullied time and time again and a poor shout when Downing could have headed the ball away enabled the Scunny winger to nip in between them and equalise. Andrews set pieces are terrible. His corners are either knee height of sailing over the tops of people's heads.
Marquis as much as I like him should have been subbed and not Wilks. His effort is good yes but his petulance was all to see yet again. 3 times instead of carrying on and keeping the ball in and carry on the attack would just stop turn round and lambast the player who played it for him to run on to.
Overall disappointed and for Marosi making a couple of good saves we could have lost.
Still on the fence as to whether we will make the play offs. Performances and results against a poor side like Scunthorpe don't fill me with much.
Another point another game unbeaten I'd say the Tuesday shrews game and Saturday Charlton ones are must wins.
posted on 23/2/19
Zigger, agreed on the match report.
If Marquis puts that sitter away we would have probably gone on to win comfortably but Scunny grew in confidence after that.
Agreed also that Scunny are not a good side and they rely heavily on the long ball.
To be fair I thought we managed to keep them away from our goal quite well and Anderson in particular had a very good game.
McGahey should have been sent off after the kick to Mallik head when he was on the ground.
I think we will comfortably make the play offs.
I see that Ferguson kept up his good start at Peterbro.
I wonder who he will blame this week.
posted on 23/2/19
iFollow seemed to be on strike and after 3 or 4 minutes we got Radio Sheffield and the familiar voice of Tom Biltcliffe with Mickey Walker as his summariser. Tom was pretty dreadful when he started out on the Rovers broadcasts, but he is possibly the most lyrical of all now, in fact he should perhaps extend his range beyond sport. He made me smile in a match which to him and Micky was very disappointing from a Rovers point of view in the second half.
Marquis does illustrate a lot of what frustrates me with Rovers. The best pure finisher I remember for us was Laurie Sheffield who never seemed to blaze it over from a yard or two out; but perhaps the heavier ball helped.
The lack of keeping control under pressure, retaining "composure" as G McC put it, was there again. Sometimes it seems like more of a lack of concentration, but whatever you call it, we need it in the run-in.
I noticed that Marquis seemed a bit petulant towards his team mates when passes weren't perfect last weekend and Biltcliffe remarked on it again today. He didn't seem to be like this before - and I don't think it suits him. Often the passes are made under pressure and blaming others does not help the esprit de corps.
posted on 24/2/19
Thanks for the reports lads.
Was there any improvement with passing the ball out by the 2 centre backs
posted on 24/2/19
Our centre halves are very good at bringing the ball out Lanza and Downing headed everything all game and blocked similarly. They're developing a very good partnership it's just the 2 either side of them blow hot and cold too much.
posted on 24/2/19
Big Tom is making lots of people eat their words.
When he first came to us he was accused of being Bambi on ice and I remember people at games saying that all he could do was head it out and boot it upfield.
It is great to see how much he has blossomed.
There was one run with the ball he made at Scunny which was marvellous to see when he got the ball as last man and took it forward into a good position before releasing a nice pass to Kane.
posted on 24/2/19
I am pleased that there were encouraging things to see at Scunthorpe and we shall need good defenders if we make it to the Championship. I suppose that they showed value in limiting Scunthorpe to one goal; if Lewis sustains his form and stays and with Wright fit there will be a good base from which to start - possibly better than SOD had at his disposal.
From what was visible from the extended highlights I could see why G McC thought they were better than us in the 2nd half. The consolation is that they are probably in as good form as any team in League 1 at the moment.
Looking at history we probably need another 20 points to be sure of the play-offs unless Peterborough or Fleetwood suddenly take off and with 14 games to go - the other 2 only have 12, Blackpool, 13, - that seems achievable. We need just less than one and a half points a game as against 1.8 by Peterborough and Blackpool and 2 by Fleetwood.
All three would have to start producing form similar to Luton and Barnsley which seems unlikely. From a cursory glance at what's ahead they all appear to have matches against the top teams and play each other too.
So with Portsmouth on the wane, Charlton stuttering and only Sunderland looking solid we might even climb more than one place before early May; the top two would have to wobble very seriously between now and then for us to catch them not forgetting that the 3 other teams still stand in our way.
posted on 25/2/19
The triangle in front of our goal, keeper plus the two centre backs, looked solid getting attacked from the front. The trouble we had on Saturday was our full backs and they targeted Blair especially, don't think he won a header against their winger. He was at fault for their goal too, as he shouted for it but never got there.
The big trouble for me is Marquis, it seems he's got it into his head that he can't be subbed or dropped from the starting line up, not just because of the 2mill bid either. This has and is, affecting him badly. He could easley be on 30 goals by now, but, some of his misses have been embarrassing. Its as if he doesn't concentrate properly, I seen him lately round the keeper twice and miss an empty net, miss simple side foots onto the corners, totally sky shots over the bar, even put them wide fro 2yrds out.
This is not the mark of a top striker, which he is, it's more than that. I believe he needs a couple of games on the bench, not only to give him a bit of a kick up the backside, but to give him a rest. He's played every minute of every game, and now it's caught up with him. He maybe fully fit in the body, but, he's not fully fit in the mind.