Bristol Rovers away | Page 3 | Vital Football

Bristol Rovers away

Great game to watch. Bristol looked really sharp, with quite a few decent players.

In the first half, with the advantage of the slope and the wind, they were definitely the better side (woodwork & Waltz did their job) ......... that said, we could easily have gone in level, as Dunks had done the hard part in getting to his header and keeping it down.

2nd half was more even and end to end. They hit the post again and had other chances, but besides our equaliser, we had (a valid) one disallowed, and 2 decent shouts for penalties.

For me, no-one looked like they were suffering from the effects of Saturday night (though Gary Roberts couldn't quite match his performance against Fleetwood).......... Bristol were a decent team.

Also, credit to the (tight fisted !) fans stood out in the open.
 
Miserable conditions last night and awful, awful traffic! Me and my lad were 10 minutes late for kick off and drenched by the time we got there. Even if we had been on song last night we still would have struggled in those conditions. That we kept going and got a point was great credit to the boys. Cooky went mental at Roberts at one point in the second half for wasting a chance, he didn’t have a great game. I saw at least one sub (Jamie Jones) nip to the portable toilet next to us during the second half. Think Will did too! Shocking facilities but as I said to my son, I don’t think that stadium has changed in 30 years. It does have a certain old school charm just a shame we couldn’t enjoy it more on a sunny spring evening. Still onwards and upwards. Last night was the first time I’ve seen Cole. I liked what I saw.
 
I could never enjoy going back to that dump no matter when it is on the calendar. Horrible place right in the backwaters of Bristol. Bristol City next season will feel like Wembley in comparison.
 
A touch condescending of you there C_Latic ......... that stand behind the Managers' dugouts wasn't a million miles away from the Phoenix stand. As as for the portaloos ....... better than a brick wall !

I've worked down in Filton quite a bit. There's a lot worse than that around Bristol. .
 
It’s 2018 and they’re a third tier football club not a non league one. And if their are worse areas than that around Bristol then christ I’d hate to see them. Walking to the ground from that dumpy cul-de-sac I was only focused on two things. Not getting mugged and not getting dog s***e on my shoes.
 
C_Latic said:
Christian Walton outstanding. I cannot express enough how important it will be to lock him in for next season. He won us that point by keeping us in the game and will do the same many more times in the Championship if we can get him. His only weakness in terms of shot stopping are low shots in the corner such as Bristol’s goal tonight and MK’s goal at the DW. Because he’s so tall it takes a quarter of a second longer for him to dive down than a smaller keeper which makes goals like tonight more difficult for him to keep out. But that double save was outstanding. Subs changed it thankfully. I don’t know if mentioned before but mark my words Vaughan is going to become public enemy number one in the fans eyes next season when we find life harder in the Championship. He’s one of those strikers than when played up front his own puts himself about and works his socks off. But he won’t score many goals, very Fortune like.
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I can't agree with this at all.
Bristols goal was a shot that was nearer the centre of the goal than the post. It was dreadful goalkeeping!
Let's look at the double save. It came from a cross that Walton demonstrated another common problem, he failed miserably to deal with it. The resulting shot was straight at him yet he managed to show us another fault that we've seen many times, he pushed the ball back into the danger area but the follow up shot produced the one terrific save he made the other night.
He's a Young keeper and has lots to learn. He may well go on to be a top keeper, but right now I'm not sure we should be trusting our position in the championship with this lad to be honest.
 
To be fair to Walton when that corner came in that he missed the rain and wind was probably at it's absolute worst of the evening. When they got that set piece i thought to myself they had a very good chance of getting a goal as it was virtually raining sideways straight in Walton and the defenders faces and it was was going to affect their vision. So in that instance i can't blame him too much for losing the flight of the ball in the conditions. Maybe he'd have missed it if the weather wasn't so horrendous but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. Regarding pushing the ball back into danger, it's inevitably going to happen now and again as a keeper, but i don't think he's done that too often this year has he?

I think Walton has shown he's not the finished article yet but he's also shown a lot of potential too. While he's certainly been protected by an outstanding defence he's certainly played his part in keeping so many clean sheets. He's largely untested at Championship level and wouldn't get the same level of protection in against better teams as he's enjoyed this year but I think he's done more than enough to suggest we should keep him if we can.
 
He's pushed the ball into the danger area far too often, he's been lucky and it hasn't been punished in this division. It will be next season.
He has made some great saves and undoubtably has potential.
I am not a fan of teams having several loan players every season. I worry that if we were to be relegated would the loan player really be that bothered. So to entrust our goals to such a player is arguably the worst position on the pitch for that. In Waltons case, he is far from the finished article and it is a risk I would rather not take.
 
how many clean sheets and you want to talk about luck? come off it. luck is co-morbid with quality in high level sport. everyone had a flawed game on Tuesday and Walton did his job, under pressure from the elements in the first half and with a crowd giving him shit in the second. look how their keeper handled the one decent shot at him.
 
henski said:
I am not a fan of teams having several loan players every season. I worry that if we were to be relegated would the loan player really be that bothered. So to entrust our goals to such a player is arguably the worst position on the pitch for that. In Waltons case, he is far from the finished article and it is a risk I would rather not take.
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While you may have that issue with some loan players you can have similar attitudes from players you sign permanently. I think loan players are a massive benefit to clubs like ours assuming you are bringing in the right players.

Perfect example is Huddersfield last year they had a small budget and were looking at a likely lower bottom half finish but recruited 5 quality players they had no chance of signing permanently in Ward, Palmer, Mooy, Katchunga and Brown and it transformed them. Without them they simply wouldn't have been promoted.

For every Leon Clarke or Haugaard we had on loan there was a Yanic or Al Habsi. It's just about getting your recruitment right and next season if we can get 5 good players on loan we should use all 5 loan spots.
 
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