Just got back from match...

[......and Smith must score. 1,342]

[quote user="Tim Allman"]

A few thoughts on the game

Too much hoofing in the first half, Donny pressed us well, Hoolahan was being man-marked and the back four had few options.

Crofty outstanding again, ran for everything, crossed for the goal. Final ball still very variable

There defence (Doc aside) were very shaky. Semmy had a mare, missed a good chance, and looked half asleep. Grounds, apart from the goal was suspect, and seemed on a different wavelength to Bertrand

Fozzy did well, worked hard, and had one his better games. Sammy was steady.

Maybe it was a good thing that the sub was forced on Gunny (with apols to Rusty - hope he''s ok), we looked more of a threat with Cort on. He was less statue-eque than before, showed some nice touches, but got progressively slower as the match went on. He fell over loads at the end, maybe because the pitch was freezing up. He is still miles away from fitness.

Curo worked hard, but missed a very good chance. Didn''t look very sharp

All in all a fair result, lost the first half, shaded the second.

Great turnout from the Yellow Army, good support. Not a bad new ground, at least it''s the right size for them.

Decent journey home, back at 12.45am. Promised to take the kids to the British Museum today which I am now regretting!

[/quote]

Agree with this Tim.

Like almost all away fans there this was my first visit to Doncaster to watch football. The Keepmoat Stadium is a nice functional stadium along the lines of all modern '' kits '' and the whole area around the ground was a bit like a northern Milton Keynes although there were spookily illuminated grass covered high hills on one side over which I noticed long lines of locals trudging over at the end of the match. Weird.The view inside seemed good from all parts of the ground and the seats behind the goals were well set back but not too far from the action. Sadly the catering facilities weren''t as good ( at least if my rubbery half-time hot dog was anything to go by ).The pitch itself was a mess along the sides with large waterlogged strips down each touchline but I doubt that had much bearing on the result.

Both teams looked poor. Doncaster were perhaps a little better than us - particularly in the first half when I thought we were awful - but Ithink ast least one of the two teams will be playing League One football next term. It seemed that the perhaps accidental introduction of Cort following Russell''s injury did help as we looked brighter with Cort on the field. Cureton''s early second half chance was saved well by Sullivan but Otsemebor''s glaring miss a little later, though at an angle, was less forgiveable.

What never ceases to amaze me is the fantastic support City enjoy. There were close on 1800 mugs like me last night sitting there freezing through a almost totally uninspiring show. I suspect most of us had warmed up pre-match in the nearby heaving Beefeater''s but this Club of ours I believe really does take our support for granted. On last night''s show, whilst not the worst, was not great and the Directors may be in for a rude awakening very soon.

Enjoy your '' quality'' time with the kids, Tim..........I suspect you will find more movement in some of the Museuem exhibits than you did watching our heroes last night.  

 

 

[Nuff Said 5,129]

Have to agree with much of what you say ...and Smith... although I didn''t like Keepmoat much. Very little atmosphere, couldn''t really see much of the action at the other end, catering was crap (sold out of veggie pies and pizza), pitch was obviously struggling with the combination of rugby and football. It was really odd on leaving to see what looked like a lot of Donnie supporters walking off up a hill into the dark moors...No. 1 last night was our support - fantastic!I''m undecided about Cort, he looks like he could be good but isn''t quite there yet, but can we afford to keep playing him until he does warm up? I have to say despite Rusty''s knock and what Gunny said about him keeping their playmaker out of the game (in which case why wasn''t he a problem in the second half?) I think he was anonymous so I would start with Cort against Wolves. Wes was skillful but needs to think more creatively, Croft was energetic as ever, Fozzy was good and terrible in equal measure, Marshall kept us in it again but I thought Doc was a rock. Player of the season again?I thought the first half we were shocking and Donnie weren''t much better. If it was me I would do a straight Lupoli for Cureton swap for Wolves - Arturo didn''t do much although there were a couple of flashes of skill but I can''t help thinking he would have done better with the chance Jamie fluffed (sorry Wiz).

[shefcanary 2,400]

Too much pit-a-pat touches from both sides last night.  Hoolahan should do less of the fancy dan flicks and actually look up and pass to a fellow yellow and he might be a good player.  Semmy actually looked good going forward, but agree he is no man marker,  I''ll give credit to Fozzy for once for his contribution, but why the hell he lost it for his booking - irresponsible!  Clingan and Doc were man of the match jointly, although Doc to be honest didn''t have a hard game.  Give Lupoli more than 9 minutes as well Gunny and he might get a chance converted, which is more than Barn Door will do!  See the Cort thread for my views\on him!

Let''s just hope Wolves usual poor run in continues Tuesday or it could be the same type of performance as the match two seasons ago!

[ellis206 0]

[quote user="Nuff Said"]Have to agree with much of what you say ...and Smith... although I didn''t like Keepmoat much. Very little atmosphere, couldn''t really see much of the action at the other end, catering was crap (sold out of veggie pies and pizza), pitch was obviously struggling with the combination of rugby and football. It was really odd on leaving to see what looked like a lot of Donnie supporters walking off up a hill into the dark moors...No. 1 last night was our support - fantastic!I''m undecided about Cort, he looks like he could be good but isn''t quite there yet, but can we afford to keep playing him until he does warm up? I have to say despite Rusty''s knock and what Gunny said about him keeping their playmaker out of the game (in which case why wasn''t he a problem in the second half?) I think he was anonymous so I would start with Cort against Wolves. Wes was skillful but needs to think more creatively, Croft was energetic as ever, Fozzy was good and terrible in equal measure, Marshall kept us in it again but I thought Doc was a rock. Player of the season again?I thought the first half we were shocking and Donnie weren''t much better. If it was me I would do a straight Lupoli for Cureton swap for Wolves - Arturo didn''t do much although there were a couple of flashes of skill but I can''t help thinking he would have done better with the chance Jamie fluffed (sorry Wiz).[/quote]Haha it really did look like Telly Tubby land didn''t it :)

[ellis206 0]

Seriously Wiz, whilst I do rate Jamie Cureton, it was a sitter he missed last night.

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="ellis206"]Seriously Wiz, whilst I do rate Jamie Cureton, it was a sitter he missed last night.
[/quote]

Sorry ellis, yes, it was a chance, but sitter?.....no way!

[O.T.B.C 0]

JC is crap end off. He will not save us. He has scored something like 1 in 18. Past it, should never have got him and for the stupid money we paid too.

Sorry sounds harsh, but its true. I would rather have Chris Brown than JC.

[ellis206 0]

[quote user="Canaries in Bed"]

JC is crap end off. He will not save us. He has scored something like 1 in 18. Past it, should never have got him and for the stupid money we paid too.

Sorry sounds harsh, but its true. I would rather have Chris Brown than JC.

[/quote]Stats can be misleading, as he has only had 5 minutes here and there, He probably hasn''t played much more than 250 minutes football for Norwich this season.

[First Wizard 0]

[quote user="Canaries in Bed"]

JC is crap end off. He will not save us. He has scored something like 1 in 18. Past it, should never have got him and for the stupid money we paid too.

Sorry sounds harsh, but its true. I would rather have Chris Brown than JC.

[/quote]

Were it not for Jamie''s goals we would already be a league one side!

[grantroederdisaster 0]

I was there and to be honest I fear for us unless Gunn can sign some quality!

 

Yes Grounds scored and battled hard bu hes looks so dodgy every time he gets near the ball and makes trhe team more nervous!

 

Bertrand looks good sometiems but overall we need the better Drury back in his place!

 

Fotheringham - does all the simple short passes that people don''t notice. I agree that Russell should be back in the middle but Fotheringhams a good squad player and is nowhere near as bad as some make out!

 

Russell - Is not good enough up front simple as!

 

Cureton - I still feel would do a job with a decent partner but unfortunately we haven''t that and Lupoli has got more to his game than Jamie so should be starting!

 

Cort - He did do more than Russell for a little while but it soon became evident that hes not quick enough, strong enough, doesn''t win much on the air even doesn''t bother jumping sometimes and his first tocuh is awful. Needs getting rid of to be honest!

 

New decent CB, RB and striker needed ASAP!

[The Fish Seller 0]

[quote user="ellis206"][quote user="Canaries in Bed"]

JC is crap end off. He will not save us. He has scored something like 1 in 18. Past it, should never have got him and for the stupid money we paid too.

Sorry sounds harsh, but its true. I would rather have Chris Brown than JC.

[/quote]Stats can be misleading, as he has only had 5 minutes here and there, He probably hasn''t played much more than 250 minutes football for Norwich this season. [/quote]JC''s career average at this level is approx. one goal in every 3.5 games Looking at around a 13 goal a season striker in the Champs.As a comparison Robert Earnshaws average at this level is approx. 1 goal every 1.5 games. We cannot afford to be without Jamie but without at least one other striker of similar or greater ability and good all round contributions from the team we will never score enough to be competitive.

[Gingerpele 0]

[quote user="shyster"]Thank F*ck Fotheringham is out against Wolves - we might pick up a point or even three without him, especially if Uncle Fester sees sense and fields Cort & Lupoli or Cureton (preferably Lupoli) from the start.[/quote]watch us lose then shall we :D funny we havnt lost without him in last three games.I dont think he should be captain

[Marty 0]

Actually I thought Cureton''s chance was not a sitter, once he''d taken a touch he had run out of space, should have hit it first time. I though Cort was OK, he held it up quite well and should play more, otherwise Cureton is feeding off scraps since Russell was anonymous.

Our fullbacks were poor, half asleep most of the time.

[ron obvious 1,502]

[quote user="crafty canary"][quote user="ron obvious"]

I''m afraid I must take issue with the highlighted bit. Marshall closed down the shot, which the guy then mishit (because of Marshal)l. Doc covered Marshall on the line. The goal was not "set up", Donny just got lucky.Nothing like Grounds'', where Croft teed him up with a lovely little dinked cross.Luck can play a big part in football.

[/quote]

Just seen the goals on SSN and no, I wasn''t seeing things, The Donny player was totally unmarked when he set up the goal.  

[/quote]Yes, he was totally unmarked, mainly because you cannot mark everyone from a mishit shot: or are you trying to say it wasn''t a mishit shot ?- & badly mishit  at that. Setting up a goal implies a degree of intent.

[Tangible Fixed Assets anyone? 0]

[quote user="shyster"]Thank F*ck Fotheringham is out against Wolves - we might pick up a point or even three without him, especially if Uncle Fester sees sense and fields Cort & Lupoli or Cureton (preferably Lupoli) from the start.
[/quote]

''Uncle Fester'' - good one, lol

[Tangible Fixed Assets anyone? 0]

[quote user="ellis206"]Cureton missed a really good chance which I would have put my house on him scoring, [/quote]

I wouldn''t risk anything on Barndoor scoring.

[Robert Ketts Yellow Army 15]

[quote user="Canaries in Bed"]

JC is crap end off. He will not save us. He has scored something like 1 in 18. Past it, should never have got him and for the stupid money we paid too.

Sorry sounds harsh, but its true. I would rather have Chris Brown than JC.

[/quote]

 

I''d prefer  Strihavka. JC is total pants.

[Yellafella 0]

[quote user="1st Wizard"]

[quote user="Ricko"]I was there also and receiving the ball unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box constitutes a clear goal-scoring opportunity to me - he should have hit it first-time which a striker in form would have done.
[/quote]

Oh I give up!

If you indeed went, then you''re talking balls Ricko, try and catch a replay..........then come back and apologise to JC.

[/quote]

 

I kind of agree with both points here. I was at the game, and from where I was sitting I would say it was a good chance to score but the keeper did well to close the angle down. Yes a better player or more in form player might have scored it, but it certainly was NOT a sitter.