Today's Performance | Vital Football

Today's Performance

T

Therealwaldo

Vital Squad Member
What a pleasure to be able to report on a decent performance and a home win. However, it might have been different if Rovers had scored from their chance from the kick off. We were defensively shaky for the first 15 minutes but we generally controlled this game. There were some excellent individual performances and I'd pick out Byrne, O'Neill, Parker, WGstaff and Nugent. What was astounding was the difference in confidence in the side after we went two goals up. Let's hope this is the start of better things at home.

Holy 7 nice and confident all afternoon and a couple of really important saves right at the start.

O'Neill 8 constant problem to Rovers with his strong runs down the wing and excellent crosses.

Ehmer 7 not very cultured but strong and resolute when necessary.

Nugent 8 I'm liking this guy more and more. So strong in the air and nice ball control.

Lacey 7 caught out of position at the start but sorted it out with Martin as the game went on. Really well worked goal.

Clare 7 mostly very good. Still a bit inconsistent with his decision making. It worked well as a partnership with Byrne.

Byrne 8 excellent midfield performance topped off with an outstanding goal. Not sure he should be the regular penalty taker !

Martin 7 was one of the players that looked so much more confident when we went 2 up. Really pressed like he meant it.

Wagstaff 8 showed what a class act he can be. If he's going to carry this form forward, then the team should really benefit.

Parker 8 showed all his best attributes today. Fast, strong, clever touches and sniffed out a goal.

Eaves 7 great front running performance but not at his sharpest in front of goal although it took one great save to keep him out.

Subs

Hessenthaler 7 all action when he came on making sure we didn't get on the back foot.

Wilkinson 7 did well to win a few challenges and to keep our momentum.

Garmston 7 difficult to judge over a short period but didnt do anything wrong.

It's difficult to draw too many conclusions because Rovers let us play and we showed we can. Will be more difficult against teams who do often come to park the bus. UTG
 
Agree with that Waldo. I did notice Clare offering advice to Byrne as he prepared to take the penalty. Not sure if that put him off but it was a shame he didn't blast it down the middle to secure a memorable hat trick.
 
Agree. Fuck me I was disappointed to go into half time 2-0 up but for the first 20-30 mins I thought we could be 2-1 or 3-1 down by half time.

I thought Lacey struggled a lot in that first part of the first half, showed he's not a fullback. Cracking goal for a centreback though! Six for me.

Outrageous outfield goal by Byrne. The evil part of me wanted another penalty for him to miss and score on the rebound - a hattrick of both goals and missed penalties in one game from a midfielder.

I would've happily taken off the likes of Eaves on 60-65 minutes. Good also to see Wilkinson win three decent battles in a row at one time in the second half, ranging from key defensive challenges to his hold-up play.
 
I liken us to Man City. Won 4 1, missed a pen and a late consolation for the opposition.

I blame Pennock for us not being 14 points clear at the top.
:17:
 
Its often been said we have had no luck in past games - today we had some luck and the score flattered us, could easily have been a draw.

Good result which will bring confidence at a defining time in the season.
 
Agree with the general feel good team effort .But has to be added that even though Rovers had a better side in my view once they went behind they really imploded .I would love to read their scores .A Rovers fan said to a mate of mine they had a dodgy left back .Well I would have given him a two one of those for putting on a shirt the right way round .
 
Pretty fair summary as ever Waldo.

Wagstaff proved a number of us wrong this afternoon, as he has flattered to deceive in the last 12 months. He was the standout player on the pitch, and finally looked like the player we were meant to have signed from Bristol City.

Despite a dexent home performance, Clare was fairly annoymous in a more advanced role.

Sorry Durham, but you must have been watching a different game if you felt that could have easily been a draw. We dominated for 75 minutes, and required no luck at all.
 
Angry Dick - 16/12/2017 19:46

Sorry Durham, but you must have been watching a different game if you felt that could have easily been a draw. We dominated for 75 minutes, and required no luck at all.
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I agree that we dominated for most of the game, but I do think there was one bit of luck we needed, with that chance they had in the first minute. You could see the confidence flowing through the team once we'd gone ahead - if instead of that we'd gone 1 down inside about 30 seconds, I suspect we may have seen a few heads drop, and it could all have been very different.
 
Cheers Waldo :2:

My Sunday is gonna be a whole lot better now. Agree with your opening sentiment. It is nice to be able to read about a decent home win. When was the last time we had a comfortable 3 or 4 goal win at home coupled with what sounds like a good performance? Anyone remember?

And the OneFootball site gave Tom Eaves as MOTM. I expected him to have got one or two of the goals. They are usually lazy and just pick out the goalsxorers as motm. Did they get this one wrong or did he lead the line well?
 
A massive filip to our season. The first first half home goal of the season in the league. The first 3 points at home since September, a comfortable win and the best goal for a very long time. It is only possible to be positive after that game. Some may say what if they had gone ahead in the first seconds. What if Eaves and Parker had pout away straightforward chances? What if Byrne had scored the second penalty. We were clearly better than them.

Wagstaffe was as good as others have said and it is worth recording that he is enjoying his longest unbroken spell of appearances since he joined us. That said his injury record has been awful since he joined us and at earlier stages in his career. It's the first time I've seen a full 90 minutes from him without a spell on the floor nursing his ankle. If he can put a good long spell together it will be a massive boost for performances and points.

Eaves is developing hold up skills to go with his work rate and enthusiasm and looks stronger with every game. Luke O'Neill deserves mention because he has been solid from the moment he joined us, definitely better than we might have expected. He's as comfortable on the ball as Joe Martin with more pace.

After 15 minutes I thought Rovers were a good attacking team but before half time they had revealed their defensive frailties. At full time they looked a limited team on the end of a whipping. Judged on that game alone they are certainly candidates for the drop. That's not a judgement, or prediction but it does show how better performances from us can show up the weakness of others. So often before we have not given ourselves the chance to do that.

All in all that was a near perfect start to an intensive period of games. The manager will need to earn his corn over the next fortnight but he must be feeling a whole lot better about the challenge.

 
We're only eleven points off the play-offs; will we get there? Yes, if we keep playing like that and, surely, that has kick-sarted our home form, at last. If SL can get that out of a bunch of players, who couldn't string two passes together early on, there's no saying what he could do with a couple of new signings. Onwards and upwards!
 
Wayne.Kerr - 16/12/2017 20:49

We're only eleven points off the play-offs; will we get there? Yes, if we keep playing like that and, surely, that has kick-sarted our home form, at last. If SL can get that out of a bunch of players, who couldn't string two passes together early on, there's no saying what he could do with a couple of new signings. Onwards and upwards!
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Not sure if this is a woosh, but are you serious?? :19:
 
I actually thought the performance was fairly typical of how we?ve played at home under Lovell.

There was the usual mixture of good and bad spells. The two biggest factors in us winning the match were:
- our right hand side. Excellent performances from O?Neil and Wagstaff.
- that bit of luck that?s been missing .
We didn?t get punished during our bad spells and made the most of our good spells. The first twenty minutes were worryingly poor with seemingly no left back for 15 minutes. Credit to Lovell he identified the issue and tinkered with the shape to good effect - one of his strengths.

I thought we played better in the first half against Northampton, a half we lost 1-0. As others have said the shift in confidence of the two teams was dramatic after the first goal today and we ended the half playing some good stuff. Bristol Rovers response was certainly a poor one. After we went 4-0 up I thought the match was pretty poor again. Not going to judge too much as the match was won at this point and that?s not an uncommon consequence of one team going comfortably ahead.

In terms of marks out of ten:

Holy 7: good handling. One incident where he didn?t catch cleanly but think he was being fouled. Kicking not up to usual standard but when the ball came in our box I was confident he would deal with it appropriately.

O?Neil 8: excellent delivery and link up with Wagstaff. Keeping these two fit would be a big boost for us.

Nugent 7: dominant in the air but could do better with directing his headers IMO.

Ehmer 6: seemed happy to let Nugent be the dominant one. Didn?t really notice him which isn?t necessarily a bad thing for a centre back.

Lacey 6: nice goal but struggled more than most in them first 20. Grew into the match.

Wagstaff 8: two penalties won and used the ball well. Best game since signing for us and the sort of performance I was expecting to see when he first signed.

Byrne 7: missed two penalties but did score a rebound and a worldy. Passed the ball well.

Clare 5: disappointingly anonymous in a more central and more advanced role.

Martin 7: two assists, tried hard, got in some decent blocks as well as some poor tackles

Jackson 7: great composure for his goal. Did well running with the ball and finding a blue shirt.

Eaves 6: okay. Has been better but decent enough. Needs to make the most of Wagstaff?s play down the right.
 
It?s the first time this season where I?ve expected us to score from every attack. That was largely down to the presence of Wagstaff. He got forward and made a lot of runs into space, something we?ve not done a great deal of this season. He won us two penalties from similar runs but it did that so many times during the game.

For me, O?Neill had his best game in a Gill?s shirt. I didn?t pay much attention to their formation but Rovers can?t have played anyone on the left as O?Neill and Wagstaff were pretty destructive down that side throughout the game.

I thought Eaves? goal last week would win our goal of the season but Byrne?s goal today was the best goal I can actually remember. Capped off a top performance from Byrne who was still chasing players down in the 90th minute.
 
If only Byrne scores that second penalty, when was the last time a Gills player scored a hat-trick, Nobby do you know?
 
Wagstaff man of the match for me - involved in so much and as others have said, looked like the player we thought we had signed from Bristol City.

Good to see Gills going forward and running into space, some simple but very effective passing led to so many chances.

First assist for Holy as well :-)


 
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