Thought we were excellent tonight, everyone was clearly playing for their place and the shirt and none of them left anything on the pitch which was well noticed by us fans. We made a full strength Rovers side look quite ordinary and there was a much better balance between experience and youth. For me Ludwig, Hess and Craig were phenomenal and I thought Mazeed was very good in the first half particularly with his forward play. Addai again had a terrific game and looks a very good keeper. There were still a few heart in mouth moments playing around the back but overall the decision making seemed vastly improved. I am still very unsure on Conroy and personally don’t rate him from what I’ve seen so far, Kwesi was also not at his best tonight and gave the ball away too much.
Onto Harrogate and if we play like that…then we win! Let’s hope we build on this… COYR
They must have done some work on how to use possession in training since Saturday as there just seemed to be way more purpose whenever we had the ball last night. Mazeed Ogungbo showed why Kevin rates him a lot too as he was miles, miles better than vs Leyton O. Addai looks to be a great find, he has great command of his area (managed to catch nearly all crosses pretty comfortably) and his distribution is pretty good too. I bet that we won't end up missing Glenn Morris much at all if he keeps it up
Thought we were excellent tonight, everyone was clearly playing for their place and the shirt and none of them left anything on the pitch which was well noticed by us fans. We made a full strength Rovers side look quite ordinary and there was a much better balance between experience and youth. For me Ludwig, Hess and Craig were phenomenal and I thought Mazeed was very good in the first half particularly with his forward play. Addai again had a terrific game and looks a very good keeper. There were still a few heart in mouth moments playing around the back but overall the decision making seemed vastly improved. I am still very unsure on Conroy and personally don’t rate him from what I’ve seen so far, Kwesi was also not at his best tonight and gave the ball away too much.
Onto Harrogate and if we play like that…then we win! Let’s hope we build on this… COYR
They must have done some work on how to use possession in training since Saturday as there just seemed to be way more purpose whenever we had the ball last night. Mazeed Ogungbo showed why Kevin rates him a lot too as he was miles, miles better than vs Leyton O. Addai looks to be a great find, he has great command of his area (managed to catch nearly all crosses pretty comfortably) and his distribution is pretty good too. I bet that we won't end up missing Glenn Morris much at all if he keeps it up
Yes Mazeed was very good, I don't think he gave the ball away more than onece or twice, his passing was good, but I'd like to see our players take more risks with the ball, what I mean by that is play more through balls and more forward balls. Tony Craig played a great ball over the top for Hess to run onto which created a chance for Francombe that was narrowly wide. Just playing forward passes constantly will naturally increase our sucess rate going forward if we're not waiting for the perfect opening every time.
It was a low crowd only 1800 odd , not sure why so low ?
Any ideas?
While we know Bristol Rovers are a good team, I reckon Joe Public thinks Orient were the bigger name and just prioritised Saturday. We're in a middle of a cost of living crisis so people may deprioritise the extra payment games. Here's hoping for a mega name next round as people will probably make the effort then. Fans also remain the best marketing agents of the club so we also have a job to do to promote Crawley games as a positive and enjoyable place to be
Few points about the game for me. I was struck that, although we had a little shake-up in selection, our best players last night were those that have been involved up to now - there is nothing like getting a few games under you belt and playing your way into form. Nichols looked fairly inert on Saturday but was everywhere last night running the show. Appiah unusually struggled with his first touch last night and Nadders was also a bit hit and miss, but those guys will improve the more they play, particularly Kwesi who didn't look match-fit and explains why our most proven goal-scorer has only had cameos so far. Oteh looked worth his place when he came on and was unlucky not to score.
Challenging Nichols as MOTM for me were 3 guys - Mazeed, Corey and Francomb. Our young Arsenal guy was superb in everything he did and I think in him and Omole we have scouted some good young 'uns along with Balagizi. Very excited about the potential of these 3 guys once they have a bit of game-time.
We were incredibly under the cosh for about a 20 minute spell in the second half when shots were raining in. In truth we have to be honest that Bristol had better chances to score here than Orient did, but while we got lucky with a few skewed shots, Corey Addai was a colossus for us during this time, constantly using his height to dominate the box and pluck high balls that were being bombed constantly in. While we know Morris is a genius at those one-on-one saves, Addai I feel gives us a little bit more here in terms of that height and domination. And Bris fans afterwards in the bar were incredibly impressed with his kicking too.
Finally a big word for Francomb too. A bit anonymous so far ths season, he was back to his authoritative best and obviously had the key job to do to reorganise the defence once we lost Conroy.
My point about game time was also relevant for Powell too, a bit careless in possession in the first half, in the second he became Nichols' main man in threading those challenging balls into the danger areas, something we've obviously struggled to do in our league games so far. Ludwig has also give Betsy a good selection headache for Saturday, one early bit of play from him when he ran down two attackers clean through showed he has as much potential for us as the Premier League loanees.
Whether we go with the mantra of not changing a winning team or realise that Harrogate away may cause different problems, we'll see. I personally wouldn't leave Telford out. But there were some good rumours floating around Redz beforehand that we are looking at a tall attacker to best bring the potential out of both Telford and Nichols.
Sorry Steve but for me Nichol kept getting caught in possession and missed an easy chance early on and was lucky to get a second chance from a rebound to score the winner and for me Francillette and Craig were immense last night but overall a good team effort just when we needed it.
I thought we missed Powell against Orient, he’s very good at threading passes through channels and passing the ball forward rather than backwards.
Too handy at passing the ball to the opposition and out of play as well though for me
Very hit and miss. We need to get Lewis Young back at wing back, now he was one of our top assisters when he was here. I think John the gas would love that!
Few points about the game for me. I was struck that, although we had a little shake-up in selection, our best players last night were those that have been involved up to now - there is nothing like getting a few games under you belt and playing your way into form. Nichols looked fairly inert on Saturday but was everywhere last night running the show. Appiah unusually struggled with his first touch last night and Nadders was also a bit hit and miss, but those guys will improve the more they play, particularly Kwesi who didn't look match-fit and explains why our most proven goal-scorer has only had cameos so far. Oteh looked worth his place when he came on and was unlucky not to score.
Challenging Nichols as MOTM for me were 3 guys - Mazeed, Corey and Francomb. Our young Arsenal guy was superb in everything he did and I think in him and Omole we have scouted some good young 'uns along with Balagizi. Very excited about the potential of these 3 guys once they have a bit of game-time.
We were incredibly under the cosh for about a 20 minute spell in the second half when shots were raining in. In truth we have to be honest that Bristol had better chances to score here than Orient did, but while we got lucky with a few skewed shots, Corey Addai was a colossus for us during this time, constantly using his height to dominate the box and pluck high balls that were being bombed constantly in. While we know Morris is a genius at those one-on-one saves, Addai I feel gives us a little bit more here in terms of that height and domination. And Bris fans afterwards in the bar were incredibly impressed with his kicking too.
Finally a big word for Francomb too. A bit anonymous so far ths season, he was back to his authoritative best and obviously had the key job to do to reorganise the defence once we lost Conroy.
My point about game time was also relevant for Powell too, a bit careless in possession in the first half, in the second he became Nichols' main man in threading those challenging balls into the danger areas, something we've obviously struggled to do in our league games so far. Ludwig has also give Betsy a good selection headache for Saturday, one early bit of play from him when he ran down two attackers clean through showed he has as much potential for us as the Premier League loanees.
Whether we go with the mantra of not changing a winning team or realise that Harrogate away may cause different problems, we'll see. I personally wouldn't leave Telford out. But there were some good rumours floating around Redz beforehand that we are looking at a tall attacker to best bring the potential out of both Telford and Nichols.
Craig stood out for me - a super performance. 57aways mum even voted for him !
LF and TC stood out for me.....along with the playing surface,wow. If are trying to play possession based football then you need a good surface and we most definitely have it. Seems like I was lucky missing Saturday(holiday) but reckon it could be a bit up and down until he finds his best 11. Optimistic.
Too handy at passing the ball to the opposition and out of play as well though for me
Very hit and miss. We need to get Lewis Young back at wing back, now he was one of our top assisters when he was here. I think John the gas would love that!