Positives for the Shrimpers

[mehewmagic]

gashead in peace. been to Roots Hall a few times and have nothing bad to say about you, except we rarely get much from you and I endured the coldest match ever there (made the mistake of 'making a day of it' in Southend on a january evening match many years ago!!).

I've had a read of the forum and think you lot are a pretty sensible and intelligent bunch. Makes a nice change.


You may not be in the mood for the positives from yesterday but I thought 607 Shrimpers on that long journey was really good. Well done.

I thought you were the fittest team I've seen at Rovers this season (I haven't seen all the matches though). Nearly all the other teams visibly tire against us as one thing Darrell Clarke really emphasises is fitness and work rate (not just headless chicken mode, but general workrate and looking out for your team mates). Your lot never tired or gave up.

You had a lot of possession, pressure and corners. I was pretty impressed with your team, although no-one around me could quite understand why Fortune was hooked off when he looked a real handful (and was replaced by a very similar player in Ranger).

Having read your threads I now understand a little about your no.4 - Wordsworth. When I saw him I was confused because he has the number of a centre back and the physique of a centre back, but was clearly playing MF. I guess he's one of those modern-ish big midfielders who gets forward quite a lot / gets goals, but sometimes gets criticised for what he doesn't do...

Oh, must add a caveat though - from the home terrace (behind the goal) we can't see a lot - LOL - we just go there for the atmosphere, not the view!

Our defence has improved dramatically since January. If you'd met us earlier in the season that could have been 2-2.


Finally, thanks for that nailbiting win at Wembley against Wycombe. made us laugh so much. We have a strange history with the Choirboys (as I call them...) and love it when they don't get what they want.

 

[Barling Magna]

Thanks mehewmagic. I was there and like everyone else cannot understand why Fortune was taken off when he was turning your defenders regularly and seemed a real handful. We were awful in the first half, Fortune excluded, and your first goal made me think we owed you one and had decided to let you have a 1-0 start by allowing you to walk the ball in without tackling you!!

The referee was wierd. I don't think I've ever been able to say that a ref regularly awarded us free kicks for no reason whatsoever (it's usually the other way around), but Mr Kettle did just that. Why he didn't send off both Lines and Cox for their set-to is a mystery too.

In the second half you seemed to retreat into your shell and rarely got out of your half while we kept pumping balls up to Ranger or crossing over everyone's heads. On another day we'd have scored at least two on that half's performance but we didn't deserve to because our first half showing was SO poor.

Normally I'd wish a friendly opposition fan all the best for the rest of the season but since we'll be competing for that last play-off place with you, Millwall and Scunthorpe I can't do so I'm afraid.

 

[LBBlue]

I have a feeling that Brown blames Fortune for the first goal - thinks he should have not stopped tracking back.

 

[Floval Flyer]

Good post, thanks for the positive vibes.

Our season started very badly, we only picked up after 12 games in, however the purple patch seems to have eluded us of late, and with the exception of the 4-1 battering of Peterborough we have failed of late. Always a hard game against your boys.

Rovers have shown great resilience since losing Matty Taylor to City, but that must have been a blow...

I expect us to be battling away in league 1 next season, so hopefully it will be a nice spring day when we next meet at Roots Hall rather than winter.

Thanks for mentioning the Wycombe final, one of the best days i had in nearly 40 years of supporting the blues :smile:

 

[AndyT]

Welcome aboard 'mehewmagic'.

How has the Matt Taylor switch to Bristol City gone down. I guess it's riled a few, but seems an odd move for him, considering they are likely to get relegated back to League 1?

 

[Kevin Hogg]

Thank you for a positive post mehewmagic! It took a Gashead..
I will continue on a positive note.

In all honesty promotion this season has always been an unlikely scenario. Even when on our long unbeaten run and amid the play-Off zone - we all knew we had an unbalanced sequence of away games to come. I feared for the challenge.
Having said that...we are still in the mix - albeit with probably too much to do now.

HOWEVER...if PB can keep the nucleas of a very strong and well balanced squad ...perhaps add just a touch more quality?? I think we will challenge from THE START next season. We have been playing catch-up this season.
Is still all about IF but I believe we can achieve automatic promotion in 2017/18.

 

[mehewmagic]

Re Matty taylor

lead balloon isn't the word!!!

Biggest ruck for many years. We genuinely hate them (City fans set fire to Twerton park when we played there - that's not just a rumour - they were convicted in court) and the whole think utterly stank, but not a lot we could do about it.

taylor was assuming he would get some tasty offers in the summer when he was out of contract - apparently he got offers from many Lge 1 teams (and Appleton even says he did a handshake on a deal with Oxford Utd, his hometown club) but none from Championship clubs, which is what he wanted. Personally I find it bizarre no Champ club came in for him on a free, but football is bizarre.

Anyway, so he signed a contract late with us and scored loads of goals in Lge 1. Surely every champ club would now be in for him???! Nope. apparently not.

Rumours started in Dec that he had a £300k release clause in his contract. If he hadn't had it he wouldn't have signed a new contract. fair enough. he could have gone for free in last summer.

BUT the issue is allegedly City were the only Champ club to come in for him, at the last minute, and bid exactly the figure of the 'secret' release clause. Ho hum. Obviously there is no chance of 'insider trading' or agents talking? surely not...

he has acted like a complete chump, the ONLY club we would have not wanted him to join. And they could be relegated.

The good news - well he left us mid-table and in no relegation danger, so that was nice. if he hadn't scored those goals maybe our season would have been different. And of course the guy came to professional football late so TBH he's never had a big pay day in his life.

 

[mehewmagic]

very happy to mention the Wyc final. we laughed our socks off.

Re MT - more info on post above - we can;t score for toffee without him (Gaffney's goal vs you was first by a striker since he left!), BUT our manager strengthened the defence in the transfer window so at least we don't ship in goals anymore. The prob with Taylor leaving late was obviously we didn't have time to get in a replacement.

Good post, thanks for the positive vibes.

Our season started very badly, we only picked up after 12 games in, however the purple patch seems to have eluded us of late, and with the exception of the 4-1 battering of Peterborough we have failed of late. Always a hard game against your boys.

Rovers have shown great resilience since losing Matty Taylor to City, but that must have been a blow...

I expect us to be battling away in league 1 next season, so hopefully it will be a nice spring day when we next meet at Roots Hall rather than winter.

Thanks for mentioning the Wycombe final, one of the best days i had in nearly 40 years of supporting the blues :smile:

 

[mehewmagic]

i got that feeling as well.

and he had a decent chance not that long after. Even though he created that chance with his trickery the fact he didn't scored probably went against him in Brown's eyes.

I have a feeling that Brown blames Fortune for the first goal - thinks he should have not stopped tracking back.

 

[mehewmagic]

All very true, and emphasises the sensible nature of this forum (wish our was like it -ha)

I think you would have scored on another day and you should be proud your players never gave up. many do. we've had some awful teams come to the Mem.

It's no disgrace to be on the end of a Bodin blaster. the guy is a genius. Not sure how we'll keep hold of him. Amazing feet and a great shot. All his goals are special. On second thoughts... nothing to see here, move along people!

Thanks mehewmagic. I was there and like everyone else cannot understand why Fortune was taken off when he was turning your defenders regularly and seemed a real handful. We were awful in the first half, Fortune excluded, and your first goal made me think we owed you one and had decided to let you have a 1-0 start by allowing you to walk the ball in without tackling you!!

The referee was wierd. I don't think I've ever been able to say that a ref regularly awarded us free kicks for no reason whatsoever (it's usually the other way around), but Mr Kettle did just that. Why he didn't send off both Lines and Cox for their set-to is a mystery too.

In the second half you seemed to retreat into your shell and rarely got out of your half while we kept pumping balls up to Ranger or crossing over everyone's heads. On another day we'd have scored at least two on that half's performance but we didn't deserve to because our first half showing was SO poor.

Normally I'd wish a friendly opposition fan all the best for the rest of the season but since we'll be competing for that last play-off place with you, Millwall and Scunthorpe I can't do so I'm afraid.

 

[AndyT]

^
I hope everyone's reading these comments!

Just a bit of old nostalgia. I guess you might have a similar thread going, but here's a classic old match between us from our thread. I think it's the last time we beat Bristol Rovers! :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26ffgV-kQY8

Noticed there's some other old Rovers matches on there, as well.

 

[Supa Shrimpa]

"I've had a read of the forum and think you lot are a pretty sensible and intelligent bunch. Makes a nice change"...

Really ! They're a bunch of losers, way from their keyboards :smile:

 

[RHB]

"I've had a read of the forum and think you lot are a pretty sensible and intelligent bunch. Makes a nice change"...

Really ! They're a bunch of losers, way from their keyboards :smile:

This from a poster that used to be a box of fags:winking:

 

[mehewmagic]

I wish I hadn't been so kind to you lot now :smile::winking:

Shows how none of us can judge a season on one defeat. or one win.

you've done well since meeting us whereas we are very erratic away, not helped by some truly awful reffing and meeeting teams with new manager bounce.

 

[RHB]

I wish I hadn't been so kind to you lot now :smile::winking:

Shows how none of us can judge a season on one defeat. or one win.

you've done well since meeting us whereas we are very erratic away, not helped by some truly awful reffing and meeeting teams with new manager bounce.

The way we are playing at the moment the play-offs are definitely on. You're welcome to be a honorary Shrimper for the day at Wembley, we specialise in last minute excitement there.:smiles: