Donaldo, As always, a very thoughtful intro to the game. We certainly did not do well against Fleetwood last season, and they have strengthened their team in addition to Andrew. Based on the tele-type and reports such as the DFP, we left our scoring boots at home against Grimsby. Of big concern for me was Whiteman. In the iFollow interview he said he likes he could go forward more (as I liked in his early time with us) but seemed to have put most of his shots over the bar. I like him going forward more, but does that weaken his key holding role?
I never like predicting a loss, but I'll say 2-1 to Fleetwood with Whiteman finally finding his scoring boots.
Also, Donaldo, your analysis of USA sport was pretty spot-on. Soccer is the number one women's team sport, overtaking baseball (the only other professional women's sport I can think of). At the high school and college level they have softball, but this is not professional. I must admit it had not dawned on me about what is played at schools. Certainly here in Oregon, there are competitive leagues for high school and university girls' and boys' teams.
Megan Rapinoe (who I'd fire from the USA team for not respecting the flag and being the only team member who did not sing during the national anthem during the World Cup) was a star at the University of Portland Pilots when they won the national championship with Clive Charles, a much younger half-brother of the Welsh International, their coach. Rapinoe is now leading the push for equal pay for women and men at the national level. The details are complex, and some treatment in the past was disgraceful (men flew business class, women were in coach), but they have to remember it is a business. The Portland Thorns (women) are very successful, but the last game was the first they sold out, whereas the men have sold out every league game since they joined the MLS. As most things, just follow the money!

Yes it still seems like we are in pre season mode and far from a settled side. Doesnt look good for us today at least. At least we now have a trainee striker! Against the odds Im going for our first win 2-1. Sterling or Aderson.

The one certainty is that Joey Barton will not assault Darren Moore in the tunnel. Where he foolish enough to do so I suspect he would find one of his arms being used as a toothpick.

Rovers1 Fleetwood3 may/sterling/sadler

1-1 sadler/copps

ROVERS 2 nil victory.
Whiteman/sadlier.
It mist be the Tramadol or codine

Fleetwood 3-1 Whiteman

2-1 Rovers. Whiteman.

0-2 Hope that I'm wrong

Glad we were wrong 😂😂

It was hardly surprising that in the first twenty minutes Rovers were less than fluent. Every week new players are coming in. Nevertheless it wasn't an easy watch and it looked as if Fleetwood were going to hammer us. The goal seemed to go into the net in slow motion from the speculative over the shoulder shot. I suspect that everyone thought it would clear the bar. It didn't. Cameron John was excellent throughout and he popped in the equaliser from a loose ballin their box following some decent pressure from Rovers. The second from Copps was a beauty, swept in from the left touchline across the goalie into the top corner. The equaliser from Madden was a typical poacher's goal. Lawlor palmed out the first shot but Madden snapped up the second chance. The winner, just into injury time was an own goal from Burns who was, arguably Fleetwood's best player over the ninety minutes. Ennis was full of running until he faded in the second half to be replaced by Sterling, but neither of them got the better of the Fleetwood defence or could hold up the ball. If that wasn't enough on four occasions we gave the ball away in incredibly dangerous positions. Lawlor, May, Coppinger and Sheaf all dawdled or passed to the opposition. That we weren't punished isn't far short of miraculous. Sadlier showed flashes of amazing skill and Copps got MoM but the best player for me was Cameron John playing on the left of centre at the back. He defends with aplomb and plays the ball out from the back brilliantly. Not tall, but he looks like a real find. May gave maximum effort and had a screamer saved. Sheaf and Whiteman didn't shine but, to be fair, they had their hands full in from of the back four. We need one of the new forwards to provide more of a threat or at least make chances for the likes of Sadlier.

A really up and down game - like Albi, after about 18 minutes I thought we were going to get hammered. In the end we scored two good goals, but gave away two with absolutely dreadful defending. Again as Albi said, it could have been much worse. Lawlor had two howlers and got away with it, and there were too many errant passes that could have resulted in goals in addition to the ones Albi specifically mentioned.
We tend to concentrate on needing a striker, but today the defence gave me nervous breakdowns. Cameron John was very good, but both full backs make me nervous (although James is improving), and too many of Anderson’s clearance went straight to a Fleetwood player. Sheaf shows touches of class, but had too many poor passes, and Whiteman seems to be trying to reduce his market value! OK, we could not do without him, but this season he is not as dominant as last.
Of the attack, I really like Sadlier and he was unlucky not to score. May is playing better this season, but is not really League One although the screamer that was saved was a very good effort, and Copps was Copps, producing a wonder goal. The two young strikers got so little service that it is hard to really judge them.
Tuesday game chould be another victory - if it is played.

Rumour has it Herbie Kane was at the game.

Great reports lads thank you

I've seen a picture of Herbie in the stands. Apparently he came to watch Copps. Big fan allegedly.

Thanks for the excellent reports.

It was an unexpectedly promising display, perhaps imbued with more confidence than in earlier games. Fleetwood are likely to be a powerful force and we got the better of them.

The extended highlights seem to feature Rovers far more than Fleetwood - probably unfairly - and the pace of the attacking football was impressive. What was not so encouraging was the defensive coordination with Lawlor
behaving like a spectator in the goalmouth anxious to get a close up view of what was going on, but not permitted to touch the ball.

The way John took his goal makes me wonder whether he might be a good replacement for Marquis, John.

Goalkeeper prejudices apart, the young players do provide speed which is a quality that can provide a developmental base, borne out by some imaginative moves, the antithesis of so much that we see in the lower leagues.

I am so glad I was wrong.

Maybe Darren's building a Championship side after all!

iFollow problems again! The match coverage was fine, but the pre-game and after-game interviews kept stopping for a couple of seconds about every minute. Did anyone else experience this?

Micky - yes, I did, but when I checked my internet download speed in the second half it was abysmal, often less than 1 Mbps which is 7 Mbps below the minimum expectation.

I have been in correspondence with luke.thornhill@clubdoncaster.co.uk at the DRFC media department about this and last week's broadcast and they tell me that they were actively monitoring the output on Saturday. They somewhat reluctantly accepted that last week it was unsatisfactory, but my complaints this time have been rather discredited as a result of my internet download problem and the fact that their feed, certainly in the 2nd half, was apparently uninterrupted. I did mention your problems when I wrote to Luke last week in support of my complaint - I referred to the US video stream I think, but it would be helpful if you could write separately, because there is a danger that they will think they are out of the woods otherwise.

I also have much greater difficulty logging in this season - I have had to try it numerous times often with no response until eventually it connects; last night I must have tried 10-20 times and there was no response at all. I am no expert, but I suspect that they save money by restricting the processing capacity of their system when there are no live events; it does not crash when it reaches a certain load, but just ignores further attempts to log on.

When I were a lad Id think nothing of playing 3 times over a weekend and give my right arm to play in the EFL. Whats wrong with these Bolton boys? Seems a little unfair that the teams they've played previously get to keep their points but we have to wait until they're a bit stronger.

He Kane and went Im afriad

A fry up rather than a friad

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Comment deleted by Article Creator

I suspect it is something to do with their players not being paid. If you turn out once out of loyalty it rather sets a precedent.

The administrators may choose to keep the business running which one assumes is the plan. Of course wages owed rank as debts, but are often not paid in full and the contracts will have lapsed. The PFA have contributed funds to ensure players were paid at the start of this season, so that they could begin their fixtures, but one assumes given the team fielded at Tranmere the arrangement has ended.

Coventry and Tranmere will keep their points, but the club’s future must be in doubt and the EFL have taken a much tougher line on owners whose financial bona fides have previous proved questionable bas has been suggested in relation to one of the suitors.