City 0 v Bristol Rovers 2 (5m, 77m) full time att 1102

Usual names in big City squad plus Harry Hamblin who is on Southamptons books.

Ignore the score, Tyler hit the post twice and had a goal disallowed, and generally we were the better side. I think Bristol Rovers fans ought to be a bit worried because there was not three divisions difference in class.
We played with a back five and it seemed to work quite well with Bower, Batten and Hartridge all happy to carry the ball out of defence. Joe Raynes was terrific. Tom Smith again started brightly but tired quickly. He should have scored from one of Tylers rebounds but didn't put his foot through the ball and it was cleared.
Hamblin looked decent but also tired before half time.
I suppose it's quite a big step going up against league players when you are only just back in training. But overall the squad is encouraging.

Why was the exit at the Bath end of the ground closed after the match ?

I assume it was because of the failure of the floodlights in that corner - is that right? - I couldn't see from the stand but it was darker in that corner towards the end of the match. If so it would have been a health and safety decision.

Much better game than Friday. We looked more of a cohesive unit. Agree that the back 5 looked good. One little issue was that the second goal was caused by a ball bouncing over Bower's head when he could have jumped for it. He's a massive bloke but I hope he isn't a Jan Koller. Aside from that, he looked good. Two other issues are that Ryan Clarke has conceded all the goals and Harvey none (although that is almost certainly a statistical fluke). However, I am not sure that Brunt has had anything approaching a shot on goal. We really do have to find someone to play off him.

There was smoke coming out of the bottom of the floodlight tower after it failed so fans were routed away from it. Hope it isn't going to cost too much to fix.
Brunt had two decent efforts on goal - one a strong header and the other a powerful shot from the edge of the area both of which went straight at the keeper.
Agree Clarkey won't be happy with conceding five goals but not sure he could do much about them.

Marc Monitor wrote:Two other issues are that Ryan Clarke has conceded all the goals and Harvey none (although that is almost certainly a statistical fluke)..

You’ve answered yourself in the bracket. I can barely remember Harvey touching the ball Tuesday and last week our defence had tightened itself up massively second half.

I’m not really concerned about anything. We’ve lost 3-0 and 2-0 to strong league opponents who, on paper, we wouldn’t beat in one-off games. Last year we played too many weak teams pre-season. If we lose four or five this but give a good account of ourselves, we will be pleasantly surprised on day one when we suddenly have more time on the ball against non FL opponents. No injuries and competition for places looks good.

I try and not over analyse these games really. If we had lost both 10-0 I might have been fretting, but I’m pretty content with how things are.

stillmanjunior wrote:No injuries and competition for places looks good.

Apart from Frankie who went of injured on Tuesday, and Dan Ball who got injured in training

comrade powell wrote:I assume it was because of the failure of the floodlights in that corner - is that right? - I couldn't see from the stand but it was darker in that corner towards the end of the match. If so it would have been a health and safety decision.

CORRECT

Marc Monitor wrote:One little issue was that the second goal was caused by a ball bouncing over Bower's head when he could have jumped for it. He's a massive bloke but I hope he isn't a Jan Koller.

Are you getting muddled up with another player? Koller was one of my all time favourites - very strong and excellent in the air. Of course he was a striker, not a defender, but did a fantastic job for the Czechs and various clubs.

If you are looking for a tall player who couldn't jump then look no further than Chas Hemmings.

kermit wrote:

stillmanjunior wrote:No injuries and competition for places looks good.

Apart from Frankie who went of injured on Tuesday, and Dan Ball who got injured in training

I could have worded it better - neither are serious, I’m sure they’ll be back for Melksham. No Ali Gibb stretcher ones, basically.