Albino Rover Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Of course I hope our Cup heroes give it their best shot once again. I'm just mindful of the effect last year's last 32 victory had on the league season- we split our eggs and dropped both baskets. In any case, it's a very pleasant situation to find ourselves in, although how we handle the pressure of three games in eight days promises to be another nerve-wracking challenge. If I was to design a "banana skin" fixture right now, it would be a Tuesday night game at Annan... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvy Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Bit of a stalemate, one goal was going to be enough and you got it. Bizarre referee. Bookings for both sides unwarranted, and what's with the baby steps for 10 yards? Thought binos fell over awful easily, Enjoyed the banter between clark and qp fan re passing game. Fair play to clark for joining in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Snuffleupagus Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 after watching you 2 in the past 2 weeks Albion look a much tougher side I reckon we're mentally tougher, purely as we have a bit of a hex over them this season. However, the QP boys certainly weren't lacking on the physical side of things today. It was another hard-fought victory for us, on a day where we didn't create much. The goal was a peach, with a really patient build-up followed by a great cross and magic header. Similar to Scotland last Friday, it was going to take something like that to separate two very evenly matched sides. Pressure should be off a bit next week in the Cup and I'd like to see the team freshened up a little. Phillips and McGuigan would be my first choices for a wee rest, with Cusack and Love due a chance my favoured replacements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albino Rover Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I'll second those changes, and would add Mullin for McKenzie, and perhaps Pollock for Chaplain. The idea of Marc and Scott coming on as impact subs to run at tired defenders interests me greatly. I wonder if Ross Davidson will be permitted to play. Also- great comparison with the Scotland-Ireland game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bold Rover Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I actually enjoyed it. Good contest if lacking in finesse. We'll surely finish above Queens - do we get to keep them after 3 wins before November is out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_Rovers Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Another spirited showing from the Rovers against tricky opposition. At the halfway point it seemed to me like a stalemate was on the cards, and there's a case to be made that Queen's Park edged the first half, but while some of their individuals played very well, the better team deservedly won. Queen's were threatening for most of the match but wasted a great number of chances- and on that basis they didn't deserve anything. Former-Spider Neil Parry had an excellent game keeping goal, including another phenomenal wonder-save, low to his left at 0-0, and although Queen's created plenty of good chances, Parry's back four were all first rate. Every member of our midfield worked very hard for the win, and although John Gemmell's afternoon wasn't as electric as a week ago, as Bold rightly pointed out post-match- even when he's not performing, everyone else plays better when Gemmell's in the team. My favourite thing about this Rovers side is that they score brilliant goals, and today's winner was no exception- step forward the outstanding Mr. Chaplain, who's hitting his prime form, and Marc McKenzie on another vital contribution to the title challenge. Once again I'm full of praise to our manager, who in 5 months in the job has put together a professional, motivated and well-organised Rovers side with character and team spirit (and plays my favourite formation). We're playing like a bunch of winners. Congrats also to Airdrieonian Sandy Clark, whom I credit for three wins at Broomfield in the space of 4 months. Next week's game is interesting- the Cup performance last year was a huge thing for us but it's safe to say it put two bullets in our league campaign. While two last-16 cup runs would no doubt grab the headlines, I'm going to be philosophical and say that next weekend would be an acceptable time for our unbeaten run to come to an end. A few extra midweek Winter league fixtures could be the difference between legendary, history-making Champions and play-off also-rans. Great post Albino, I agree with it all! That's the 2nd week in a row I've agreed with you....STOP IT! Haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bold Rover Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Yes, there's little to grumble about in Roversland at the moment. Minor concerns about the form of Phillips and McGuigan are outweighed by the winning formula the manager is using. I think the lad Davidson adds a bit of quality alongside Chappie in the middle. This could be decided on the last Saturday in April when the Lichties come to Cliftonhill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_Rovers Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Yes, there's little to grumble about in Roversland at the moment. Minor concerns about the form of Phillips and McGuigan are outweighed by the winning formula the manager is using. I think the lad Davidson adds a bit of quality alongside Chappie in the middle. This could be decided on the last Saturday in April when the Lichties come to Cliftonhill. Phillips improved later in the game but we need him to be giving us big performances for 90mins rather than the 10-15mins we are currently getting! I really like the looks of Davidson, he has been very good in both games he's played...Is he only with us until January? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliftonphil Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 Yes, there's little to grumble about in Roversland at the moment. Minor concerns about the form of Phillips and McGuigan are outweighed by the winning formula the manager is using. I think the lad Davidson adds a bit of quality alongside Chappie in the middle. This could be decided on the last Saturday in April when the Lichties come to Cliftonhill. we certainly look stronger, more resilient and better organised than we have for some time. Good options in majority of positions and a maturity in management decision making that was lacking at crucial times last season. The decision to bring in Young & Clark (as the experienced mentor)in the summer ( controversial though it was at the time) looks to have been a wise and timely switch. I recall speaking to the then Chairman after an away defeat to Clyde at the end of last season and I couldn't help but feel that there was a genuine though unstated concern that we risked falling into the trapdoor positions unless something radical occurred. The progress on and off the pitch in the last 18 months is very evident to see. Long may it continue. Onwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Player Posted November 23, 2014 Author Share Posted November 23, 2014 Bit of a stalemate, one goal was going to be enough and you got it. Bizarre referee. Bookings for both sides unwarranted, and what's with the baby steps for 10 yards? Thought binos fell over awful easily, Enjoyed the banter between clark and qp fan re passing game. Fair play to clark for joining in. Agree on all of that and had parry not been so sharp, we could have had a couple of goals,one off loss for queens,heads up no disgrace,we can beat all of the teams in this league and although we have not done this team as yet,we can and will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Compliment Sandwich Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Smashing win again. Hopefully we can avoid dropping the silly points over the winter period and this really could be a Championship winning season. Agree that a loss next weekend wouldn't be a disaster, but we appear to have a larger and better quality squad this year to help cope with additional fixtures, and another cup run would just add to the buzz around the club at the moment. PS: Rovers' website says this game took place at a cold Cliftonhill - was there a last minute change of venue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bold Rover Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 To paraphrase some wise guy from the past: the Rovers' website is just about worth the paper it's written on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albino Rover Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Your second sentence is the major worry, CS- in a season all teams will have spells of bad form, but champions limit theirs to a few games maximum. When was the last time the Rovers had a good January? (In the interest of statistics, it was probably 2009, 6 points out of 9. Also, in January 2007 we took 13 points from a possible 15. But you get my point- it doesn't happen often.) I agree that the squad is much better- but only in midfield (the best position of all of our outfield subs yesterday!) The back-up in every other area could be better, although the back five have been very consistent and we do have back-up forwards scoring for fun in the Juniors. I've stopped checking the 'fishul site- the amateurs did a lot better with albionrovers.com (R.I.P.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pastmaster Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Rovers current website is just rubbish - long overdue a revamp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bairnito Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 PS: Rovers' website says this game took place at a cold Cliftonhill - was there a last minute change of venue? Well the two grounds look so similar - it's an easy mistake to confuse one with the other Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wasps1 Posted November 23, 2014 Share Posted November 23, 2014 Do the Rovers fans think Darren has taken alot of Paul Hartleys tactics into his Management career Hard to beat clean sheet mentality .good shape etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albino Rover Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Do the Rovers fans think Darren has taken alot of Paul Hartleys tactics into his Management career Hard to beat clean sheet mentality .good shape etc An interesting thought. Hartley's tiki-taka Alloa team were as good a part-time side as I can remember seeing, and while there are some similarities in style with our lot, we're certainly not a tactical carbon copy. Darren played under a number of managers at different levels and I'm sure he'll have been influenced by more than one of them. Anyway, I attribute Alloa's success to Paul's eye for good players- something he's proven again at Dundee. If he wasn't a manager he could be the world's best scout. It's also worth considering that Alloa have the perfect surface for their passing game- we categorically do not. And he certainly doesn't do any rubbish with elastic tethers before games- we can worry about the "elite fitness" part once we've mastered the football bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hampden Diehard Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 We probably deserved a draw, however Rovers are probably the one team that Gus hasn't quite got to grips with this season. They're a turgid mob to watch, very solid at the back and banging everything towards big Gemmell. But it works...certainly against us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Convenor Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 So that’s 3 narrow defeats in all competitions since the end of August and all against Rovers. Safe to say I’d have taken that after last season’s shitfest when just about every other team was humping us at this stage Saturday was definitely the best we’ve played against them in the 3 games and I was pretty confident that if we’d taken the lead then we would have won but Parry had other ideas. One of his weaknesses for me - certainly when he was at Queen's - was getting down low to his left but he more than made up for that when he clawed out that header from Fraser. Burns should have scored for us not long after that but he took too many touches with the goal gaping. Great cross and header for their goal but we had a bit of a defensive balls up just before it between Muir and Wharton but I won’t be too critical as both have been stars this season. Rovers are a tough side to break down when they have a lead and apart from the Dunlop brothers, Reid at right back is a great player. Also not sure how the defender managed to clear that header off the line up and over the bar in the second half Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Pastmaster Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Excellent video coverage again. Looks like Rovers rode their luck a bit but the goal was fit to win any game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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