Bristol Rovers Vs Fleetwood Town, Memorial Stadium, Bristol, Sky Bet League 2, Saturday 5th October 2013, Kick Off 3:00pm please log in to view this image Vs please log in to view this image
Right I will add info on Fleetwood and the match each day threw the week. So starting off today is there season so (league only) please log in to view this image Dagenham & Redbridge Att. 2,511 H 3-1 W please log in to view this image Plymouth Argyle Att. 7,280 A 0 - 2 W please log in to view this image Burton Albion Att. 2,611 H 2 - 3 L please log in to view this image Hartlepool United Att. 3,297 A 0 - 1 W please log in to view this image AFC Wimbledon Att. 3,744 A 2 - 0 L please log in to view this image Torquay United Att. 2,426 H 4 - 1 W please log in to view this image Bury Att. 3,520 H 2 - 1 W please log in to view this image Portsmouth Att. 15,809 A 0 - 1 W please log in to view this image Exeter City Att. 2,557 H 1 - 2 L Current League Position 4th PLD 9 W 6 D L 3 GD 6 PTS 18 Current Form (last five league games) L W W W L
Early Bird For The Match Save £2 on normal match day prices Fans are being reminded that they have until 5pm on Friday to get their Early Bird tickets for Saturday's League Two fixture against Fleetwood. Supporters can save £2 on normal match day prices by buying their tickets in advance. Tickets are still available from either of the clubs' two retail outlets - Pirate Leisure at the Memorial Stadium and the Supporters Club shop in Kingswood.
Last Meetings Saturday 22nd September 2013 Bristol Rovers 0 - 0 Fleetwood Town Saturday 12th January 2013 Fleetwood Town 0 - 3 Bristol Rovers
Some Fleetwood highlights [video=youtube;w0ocUBqDEV4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ocUBqDEV4[/video] [video=youtube;caKw-T9XMkk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caKw-T9XMkk[/video]
seamge good work as always i noticed last 2 games against them we have kept clean sheets. lets go for 3 on the bounce. i predict 2-0 home win. harrold with both goals.
Bristol Rovers striker Matt Harrold is a doubt after the reoccurrence of a groin strain which kept him out at the start of the season. Fellow frontman Ryan Brunt managed 55 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Southend but his recent ankle problem will be monitored before the game. Fleetwood team news to follow. VIEW FROM THE TRAINING GROUND Bristol Rovers captain Tom Parkes told BBC Radio Bristol: "Our team spirit is amazing, even with the results we've had in the last five or six games when it's not come off. "We always come in and work hard to bounce back. "You look at the table and think we should have more points but we don't want to look at it too much. "It's still early days so hopefully we can start now. We got a good point against Southend and now we've got to bounce off that."
Manager on Saturday's game John Ward is looking for his team to push on after being encouraged by the last two performances. Rovers have a run of tough games coming up, starting with the visit of Fleetwood on Saturday. John said: “I have been patient, and the supporters have been patient, but we want a bit more now. “We want to push it on and see if we can take it on. Four of the next five games are against teams who are already in the top eight or top ten of our league, so they will be pretty tough fixtures. “But like last year we were able to raise our game against the Fleetwoods and the Rotherhams, and we have to do that now. “We are improving steadily bit by bit, and now is a great time to progress. It is a big period for us and hopefully the supporters will get behind us, and the team respond together.” Rovers picked up a shock win against Fleetwood last season, despite not being able to fill the bench and the manager is looking for his side to raise their game once again. He said: “I remember going there last year with 14 players, and they had 32 to select from, and I think it is a similar situation now. “We have a bigger group now, but a lot of them are young, and they have still got a group of senior players, and three wins out of four away from home reflects that. “It will be a tough fixture for us, but I think we are about ready now. The last couple of games have been good for us, and I am looking forward to seeing how my team responds at the weekend. “Fleetwood pass and move and have good forwards, and will play forward football well. So we have to be of that nature ourselves, so I think there is a good game in prospect.” John is also having to manager the fitness of Matt Harrold and Ryan Brunt. He said: “Matt Harrold has got a bit of a groin strain, which has kept him out for the week, but we are hopeful that come the weekend we will get him fit. “Ryan Brunt is still nursing an ankle injury that he had previously, but that is an ongoing thing. Apart from that, we should be at a reasonable strength.” And the manager is looking at the possibility of bringing in a new faces, but will have to move a few people around first. He said: “I am looking now to stablise things, maybe switch things around a little bit, see if we can get a new face in, but I have got to move one or two people around to do that. “Situations are happening, but they are not going to happen over night, we have got to be patient, but at the same time we have to try and improve the league position.”
A look ahead to tomorrow's game Bristol Rovers entertain high flying Fleetwood Town this weekend, looking to get back to winning ways. Graham Alexander’s Cod Army have got themselves off to a great start to the season by winning six of their nine games to date. The Lancashire team have been on a fine run a form. Last weekend however they found that Exeter City were just as determined and it was the west country team who took all three points back down the M5. Fleetwood dominated the first half and Town should have been well ahead before the Grecians had a sniff, Steven Schumacher forcing a good save from Artur Krysiac in the first half and Gareth Evans wasting a chance early in the second. It was 71 minutes before Town took the lead with Matty Blair's strike. It took visitors Exeter just five minutes to cancel that lead when central defender Scot Bennett moved up to striker and hammered the ball home. Three minutes later things got worse for Alexander’s men as Bennett got his second with a neat volley to earn the Grecians all three points. A late rally saw Jon Parkin’s header almost hand Town a share of the spoils but it wasn’t to be. Speaking after the game Alexander said, "It was a frustrating afternoon. We played some good football but not quite quick enough. Exeter nullified the space. “At half-time we recharged thought processes to do things quicker but after we scored we took a backward step and lost our mentality of going forward. Half a yard back is all the difference. Exeter's approach was probably a precursor of what to expect if we stay near the top." Alexander, who was disappointed to see his team surrender their lead for the first time this season, warned visiting sides may use Paul Tisdale’s strategy as a blueprint for success. “It’s a lesson for us, you don’t crack football, you have to work hard every day. You can’t take your foot off the pedal. It was an odd atmosphere around the game but that’s partly because you need two teams to attack. Fair play to Exeter, they came here and got three points from a tough away game. Meanwhile, midfielder Steven Schumacher, has called on the team to rally following the loss to Exeter. “We created chances and we said at half-time we were the better team,” said the former Bury skipper. “We ended up being a little bit sloppy and there were probably a few players who weren’t at the game. At this level you can’t afford to be carrying anybody. If you do, you are going to struggle. A few little sloppy passes have ended up getting the better of us.” “To lose any game is disappointing, but from going a goal in front we should have done better to take the three points. I think teams are going to come to our place and make it hard for us. Nobody is going to come here and attack us because of where we are in the league." Aside from the Exeter result the Lancashire team have had a very impressive September beating Torquay 4-1, Bury 2-1 and winning 1-0 at Portsmouth, a result which took them up to second in the table. Last season’s game at the Mem saw the teams fight out a steely 0-0 draw and Rovers came out on top in Lancashire as they returned victorious from Highbury Stadium with a 3-0 win, with goals by Danny Woodards, Eliot Richards and John-Joe O’Toole.
Leaving it till the last minute today cos I'm staying away from the pub, got a house full of family tonight to entertain Be the first time I've been completely sober watching a game for ages
bet you wish you didnt now! however, it wasnt a bad performance by us. 1st half wasnt great for either side. both looked good at the back and poor attacking. had 0-0 all over it. 2nd half we started the better. after tehy scored i thought our heads would drop but they didnt! if anything it gave the players a right kick up the arse! we got a goal back i have no idea how we didnt score a 2nd straight after when we have a shot cleared off the line! and didnt we hit the post soon after too? i thought throughout the whole 2nd half we were the better team. i have no idea why we dont start games and play throughout the game like we played in the 2nd half. when we attack with purpose we are dangerous. we just dont do it enough. we usually counter attack and then run out of options and ideas. but 2nd half we went direct and had purpose. wish we started games this way. fleetwoods 2nd goal killed us so late. we have conceded a lot of late goals this season. thats not good enough. i think overall today we performed better than recent games. i think we were the better team. fleetwood didnt look like a side who are 2nd and we didnt look like a side 1 point off relegation. however what is clear, the reason why fleetwood are 2nd is because they took their chances when the limited chances came along. the reason why were only 1 point off relegation is because we didnt take our chances when the limited chances came along. improvement for sure and positives are there but something needs to happen quick. kenneth and gill leaving cant come soon enough for me. money freed up to get in a winger and a proper goal scorer is needed.
Personally I don't think we played well at all except the 10 mins after we scored (and I don't know how we didn't score again in that period). Otherwise it was another dreadful performance, full of hopeful balls aimed at Brunt. Admittedly Fleetwood were no better although they were first to nearly every ball. I didn't see their second goal coming to be honest, and after that we pretty much waved the white flag. What I'm totally sick of though is the players and the manager promising an improvement and then not delivering it on the pitch. I'll only believe it when I see it. I was also surprised to see that no-one (me included) went for a Fleetwood win in the poll considering the players they have and their position in the table. Perhaps it's because of our good home record, or simply because we're all biased! And why isn't Clarkson getting on the pitch, what's he done wrong? At the moment he'd do a better job than Harrison I'm sure.
I don't usually disagree with you CJS, but I thought we were poor yesterday. My heart sank when I saw the teamsheet. Yet again it looked as though were were trying not to lose and hoping that we'd win. For some reason I was expecting to see Harrison up front with Brunt. I'm fed up with the opposition looking as though they want to win more than we do. We have too many MF all cast from the same mould. Although JJ scored he looked uncertain as to what his role was. Ward is getting more and more tetchy. In today's paper he is quoted as not liking how Parkes hurt his hip and made sure everyone knew it. The Kenneth saga could turn unpleasant. Storm clouds gathering?!
considering we were playing fleetwood who are big spenders in our league, who are high up the table, in good form and cant stop scoring, we limited fleetwood to hardly any chances. i think we defended well. clucas was my man of the match. he was quality i thought just in front of the defence. my last comment i did say both teams were poor the 1st half so going by AMOT & P49's comments - we are all in agreement . but my opinion we were the better team in the 2nd half. to be able to limit fleetwoods chances and have a period in the game where we were dominating and could have got 3 goals in that period, to me, it was a better performance when compared to previous games. therefore there are positives to take from the game, which was the point that i was trying to make. of course the line up is worrying when you have bond LW and norburn RW and the negative tactics still being used along with other negative points but 3-1 defeat was definately a harsh final score against us!
We don't look quite so **** after a good few beers. Normal drinking will resume at the next home game.
