To be fair I think JB deserves to take a lot of credit for our climb from bottom to near top of the table. I know a lot of people are reluctant to give him any praise whatsoever and didn't want him at the club in the first place but he hasn't done too bad a job and he should be judged on what he has done at Rovers and not past misdemeanors. He did say at the start of the season (much to some peoples amusement) that we would get promotion this season and whilst that may not happen, he wasn't too far off in that prediction
I didn't want him for 2 reasons. 1, I dislike the guy. 2, I don't think he is a good manager. Now... I just don't like the guy. He proved me right as a poor manager last season. BUT he is proving me wrong this season. I am actually shocked about the turn around. He has got a great spine to the squad and excitement and flair out wide. And Harries is nowhere to be seen in that starting 11.
I to admit I don't like the guy, but he does appear to have given us a team to be proud of , if he is found Guilty in June the the new manager, after all with our links to different groups we could not keep him on would at least have a good basic squad to work with 5 loanee's and several other players who should be shown the door he will have plenty of manoeuvering room to improve the squad
Four lge 2 games tonight, just had a look at the best outcome for us, still think it was a shame that Colchester couldn't put a dent in FGR last night, but that's in the past now. Tonight we have Harrogate v Orient (doesn't affect us whatever happens), Oldham v Sutton (Definitely need a home win here), Port Vale v Exeter ( Think a home win or a draw would be best outcome for us), and finally Rochdale v Mansfield (Definitely need a home win here). Be interesting to see if the Gods shine on us later!!
Could have been worse - Orient won at Harrogate, who cares, Sutton won at Oldham, not a total shock, Port Vale and Exeter drew 0-0, good result for us, Mansfield scored in the 86th min at Rochdale, a draw would have been better for us but as long as we win at Carlisle on Sat, doesn't really matter.
Harrogate 0 - 3 Orient Oldham 1 - 3 Sutton P37 59points Port Vale 0 - 0 Exeter PL p36 Points 59 Exeter PL 36 points 64 Rochdale 0 - 1 Mansfield Mansfield PL34 points 56
Elliott Anderson has not linked up with Scottish U23s and is available for Saturdays match v Carlisle, Luca Hole and James Connolly are also available and James Belshaw has extended his stay by signing a new contract until the end of the 2023 / 2024 season
So it's Carlisle away today, and I personally think we've got enough in the team to bring 3 points home. Yes their recent form is good, but if you separate their home and away stats, they are good away but pretty poor at home, so hopefully, that will continue today. From the other fixtures that are taking place today, I'm expecting Newport to win at Bradford, I feel Tranmere could struggle at Colchester, Exeter should beat Stevenage, Northampton could well drop points at home to Hartlepool, as could Mansfield at Oldham. I'd be surprised if Port Vale don't beat Sutton and if all the above works out, we'll be in 3rd place on 66 points by 5.00pm. Easy this football lark, don't know why some make such a fuss about it!!
So hard to determine what will happen elsewhere. You would think our form should make us the easiest to predict. But....
1 - 0 defeat at Carlisle dropped down to 6th our early season defeats are costing us dear now with our goal difference inferior to most of our rivals
And that my friends, is why I haven't made a fortune predicting football results!! At least it wasn't just us that cocked it up today - Newport dropped 2 points at Bradford and Tranmere dropped all 3 at Colchester. The other 4 did ok today with Exeter, Northampton, Mansfield and Port Vale all winning. We still have 21 points to play for and although we lost today, we didn't play that badly and a draw would have probably been a fair result, despite our 65% possession or thereabouts, so anything is still possible. Just got to put this blip behind us and start a winning run again.
We've got one of the tougher run ins, but I think Carlisle was probably the one we were going to lose, because they're on a roll, and we've now got some opportunities to win some of the six pointers against our rivals.
I’m a bit nervous about this one. Evans and Anderton are a big miss. Hopefully we can bounce back from last week’s disappointing result.
Todays line up v Bradford 4-2-3-1 formation Belshaw, Hoole, T Clarke, Taylor, Connolly, Finley, H Anderson Coutts, E Anderson, NIcholson, Collins Subs Ward, Harries, Thomas, Whelan L Clarke, Loft, Saunders. Port Vale 0 - 1, Tranmere 1 - 0, Mansfield 1 - 0 30th minute Hendrie yellow carded 1st of the afternoon 0 - 0 HT
According to BBC stats we’ve had 15 shots but zero on target. The lads need to get their shooting boots on for the second half!
