Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th January

[Si Robin]

The postponement is looking a bit premature now they should have done the 8am inspection this morning as planned.

It would have made no difference - once the bit in front of the away end gets frozen it doesn't defrost easily. A 3:00 kick-off, it may have been ok, but certainly not 12:30. I was walking in the park about a mile from the ground at around 2:00 and parts of the that were still frozen, so I have no doubt up to the 18 yard box in front of the away end would have been.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Aye. You're second in the table. Chin up!

I wish. Happy with 5th.

 

[クレイグ]

I wish. Happy with 5th.

I've already given you the three points from when you visit us. Second.

 

[Jimmy Anderson]

Salford have really come from nowhere to get to that spot. Neville and co might start suddenly remembering they’re involved with them at this rate.

I think it's 6 wins and 6 clean sheets in a row for Salford. There away followings will still be crap though.

 

[RavenBish]

I like Martins display today but I think Tsaroulla is better, especially on the left, Austin looks better and better at right wing back, the thought of Tsaroulla on the left and Jones right makes me feel like I'm chewing an opal fruit

Martin and Austin’s form has been a very pleasant surprise. Austin still has clear deficiencies and I wouldn’t be giving him a new contract in the Summer but no doubt he’s had a really good month on the right for us. Martin still doesn’t look that comfortable at wing-back but there’s clearly a player there (I do wonder if he’s just a slightly worse version of Grant though rather than something different).

Jones and Tsaroulla are firmly first choice for me, I think we’ll bring a wide player in as well this month as it sounds like the position we were desperately trying to fill at the deadline. Kellan Gordon firmly out of favour now, could see him going out on loan (I think he’s been fine when he’s played tbh, so not sure what’s going on there).

I have sympathy for Jevani Brown given he’s never had a run of games and it’s hard to come off the bench and have an impact in games where we’re losing or winning comfortably but - he’s clearly not a player I want to be relying on for the second half of the season.

 

[Stocky]

What a player that Sarcevic is btw. Sorry Stocky mate.

No worries pal. Needs a run of games sometimes and needs his mates to understand his intelligence and how he finds space.

 

[Kauto Star]

No worries pal. Needs a run of games sometimes and needs his mates to understand his intelligence and how he finds space.

Was saying to mates at the game today, Sarcevic has a clever knack of finding space with his movement. He was a class act today.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Was saying to mates at the game today, Sarcevic has a clever knack of finding space with his movement. He was a class act today.

He's one I would have loved to have signed. Really intelligent footballer who has always looked good against us.

 

[valefan16]

He's one I would have loved to have signed. Really intelligent footballer who has always looked good against us.

Talking of Stockport though… Ryan Croasdale… what a signing he has been!

 

[leedsvaliant]

Great win today and as others have said, it was a typical Moore fine margins game. But for a couple of poor decisions and a 1 in 50 strike, the Bradford game could have turned out similar. We just haven't done enough in recent games and our game plan goes to shit if we concede.

Thought Donny looked OK first half. They do a lot of that side to side shit that seems in favour with modern coaches and they had a few shots but only really tested our keeper a couple of times. Side to side passing might beat the real shite in this league but the players ultimately aren't good enough and against the better drilled teams they run out of ideas. I think a few teams that are doing OK employ this style and over a season I don't think it works at this level.

Thought we were the better team second half and limited them to pot shots and very few chances and we always looked a threat.

Tolaj looks a much better prospect as a number 9 and looks a bit more like what we thought we had bought. Who'd have thought that playing him in his natural position would reap benefits?

We really need to follow this up with 2 home games now, which will even up our home and away games.

 

[leedsvaliant]

Talking of Stockport though… Ryan Croasdale… what a signing he has been!

Player of the season for me so far. Does all the nitty gritty stuff and has scored more than I thought he would. A great signing.

 

[Stocky]

Talking of Stockport though… Ryan Croasdale… what a signing he has been!

Another great player for us. Different to Sarcevic. Croasdale is more what it says on the tin, hard work all day, every week, gets it and gives it.

It's no wonder we won the league really. Croasdale and Sarcevic were part of our National League winning midfield too by the way. No wonder we won that either.

 

[Cloudy]

Keeper had a decent game for a change and kept us in it, but where was Warren for their goal? criminal that's why Cass is better.

The scorer walked inside McEachran to finish. Not Warrens fault imo

 

[Cloudy]

We were good today and should have won by more. Good to see Sarcevic playing like he has been doing for years but wonder how many more points we would have had if we had been able to keep Pattison fit. Grimsby certainly couldn't hold him in check.

Pattison clear MoM for me. Centre backs were big and strong and as Grimsby had no pace whatsoever, nor height, they could have had a cigar on for most of the game.
Grimsby flattered by 3-1

 

[クレイグ]

Pattison is excellent. Just wish he'd stay fit!

 

[leedsvaliant]

Doncaster fans seemed annoyed with the ref. They kept going over like a sack of shit and every single time their fans were clamouring for a free kick, when it clearly wasn't. Even their manager was encouraging them to dive. Then we drew a couple of fouls that were clearly fouls towards the end and they were doing their nut. I don't think the ref got much wrong.

Biggest mistake was their manager taking off Molyneux....really strange decision as he has the pace and guile to cause our centre backs issues. Street was just a big winging baby when he came on.

 

[loz]

No worries pal. Needs a run of games sometimes and needs his mates to understand his intelligence and how he finds space.

No doubt he is the brains of the team, he just needs legs alongside. he covered so much ground first half, I expected him to be subbed on 70. He maintained the 90 though and I just hope that we are now going to see the player we expected for the rest of the season.

 

[Dan Phillips]

No chance. Frustrated by both at the time. Hackford and Croasdale were in good positions just needed to be strong and we'd have had a chance.

First 5 mins we were good, then until we scored I felt like Donny were in complete control and looked nailed on to score. Unreal save from Amos from Sharp onto the post and a great block from Moleyneuxs attempt straight after. They looked fitter, stronger, faster and we struggled get out.

Then from nowhere Hackford spun the cb, injection of pace and set up Croasdale. Brilliant from Hackford that was. 2nd was a brilliant team goal. Vintage Tolaj. Get to the byline, cut it back to him, one touch, goal. Felt really comfortable after that, we were cruising, cutting them open on both sides and could have been 3 nil before a well hit shot going a yard or two wide deflects into the top corner. Got that sinking feeling and we nearly gifted them an equaliser when Hall let the ball go for a GK only for the lad to reach it. No idea how it stayed out the net.

Other than that our defence was immense all game. Amos, 3 at the back, Croasdale, Garrity, Clarke, Tolaj were colossal today. Massive win. Thorough deserved. Away end in fine voice, and to be fair that section of Doncaster fans behind the goal sang throughout, even when 2 down. The drum though , not for me that.

Did they? Never heard them throughout.

Worst home supporters all season. Thought they were doing a sponsored silence at one point.

They were also dire. Absolutely awful.

Death, taxes and winning away at Doncaster.

 

[codaplenty]

Not sure if the game with the Wombles will go ahead tomorrow. Snow never sticks on the Fylde coast so just have to wait and see how bad it is. Posh have signed Carl Johnson from us for an undisclosed fee, excellent prospect who has graduated from our successful academy. B...hell they now have 3 of our lads, Cian Hayes and Chris Conn Clarke being the others. The good news is we have Shaun Rooney back till the end of the season so a more than adequate replacement
A tough game ahead, Fleetwood too near the basement so a win would be more than welcome - maybe a narrow 1-0 win....

 

[Gladders]

The scorer walked inside McEachran to finish. Not Warrens fault imo

Warren should have been there.

 

[mozzavale]

Did they? Never heard them throughout.

Worst home supporters all season. Thought they were doing a sponsored silence at one point.

They were also dire. Absolutely awful.

Death, taxes and winning away at Doncaster.

That small section behind the goal. There wasn't many of them singing, and it was hardly Galatasary levels, but I heard them giving it a go. The usual kiddy songs though, that putting on a show and ali ali ali o. Was gutted when I heard a section of our lot start off the "putting on a show" song. I thought we'd managed swerve that one. Seriously tinpot that is.

 

[Meadow]

Not sure if the game with the Wombles will go ahead tomorrow. Snow never sticks on the Fylde coast so just have to wait and see how bad it is. Posh have signed Carl Johnson from us for an undisclosed fee, excellent prospect who has graduated from our successful academy. B...hell they now have 3 of our lads, Cian Hayes and Chris Conn Clarke being the others. The good news is we have Shaun Rooney back till the end of the season so a more than adequate replacement
A tough game ahead, Fleetwood too near the basement so a win would be more than welcome - maybe a narrow 1-0 win....

One of my fellow programme sellers is on the 9:47 out of Euston. He's hoping that the news gets out sharpish. I guess your twitter account will have a few more followers tomorrow morning.

 

[codaplenty]

If it's on wish you a safe journey mate, more importantly a decision is made pronto am to avoid any wasted travelling

 

[Meadow]

If it's on wish you a safe journey mate, more importantly a decision is made pronto am to avoid any wasted travelling

I'm not travelling up, I work on Sundays. It's bad enough having to book holiday for Tuesday night home matches.

 

[gary]

Not sure if the game with the Wombles will go ahead tomorrow. Snow never sticks on the Fylde coast so just have to wait and see how bad it is. Posh have signed Carl Johnson from us for an undisclosed fee, excellent prospect who has graduated from our successful academy. B...hell they now have 3 of our lads, Cian Hayes and Chris Conn Clarke being the others. The good news is we have Shaun Rooney back till the end of the season so a more than adequate replacement
A tough game ahead, Fleetwood too near the basement so a win would be more than welcome - maybe a narrow 1-0 win....

I'd be quite happy if it was called off tomorrow. Obviously not for our supporters that have paid for travel etc but I think it could be one game too many for us

 

[leedsvaliant]

Some strange comments on the Doncaster forum, stating they were by far the better team today. How many times does it have to be said that knocking it from side to side along the back to win the possession stats does not equate to being the better team. We often had 70%+ possession under Crosby but we did exactly what Donny did today, knock it from one side to the other and back again and then get to the box and not have a clue what to do with it.

The sooner this 'Man City' style at league 2 level is consigned to the dustbin, the better.

It's giving people a false representation of the game.

We didn't have as much of the ball 2nd half but looked the more likely.

 

[Grimsby Road]

No doubt he is the brains of the team, he just needs legs alongside. he covered so much ground first half, I expected him to be subbed on 70. He maintained the 90 though and I just hope that we are now going to see the player we expected for the rest of the season.

Maybe if you keep him fit you have a chance , he's definitely a big one at this level he bullied us today I thought .

 

[GTFCfish]

Ironically the idea to bring our kick off forward to 1PM to stop any trouble had the opposite effect, the train back from Bradford had to change at Donny so a load of our fans stopped off in a pub in Donny and a load of Donny fans decided to start on them.
Our lot would not back down so there was a mass brawl that was not pretty and did not end well for the Donny fan who decided to pull a knife out as he ended up getting a chair wrapped around his head.
I don’t get the mentality of them trying to start on our fans when we weren’t even playing each other, absolute cretins.

 

[1862]

Some strange comments on the Doncaster forum, stating they were by far the better team today. How many times does it have to be said that knocking it from side to side along the back to win the possession stats does not equate to being the better team. We often had 70%+ possession under Crosby but we did exactly what Donny did today, knock it from one side to the other and back again and then get to the box and not have a clue what to do with it.

The sooner this 'Man City' style at league 2 level is consigned to the dustbin, the better.

It's giving people a false representation of the game.

We didn't have as much of the ball 2nd half but looked the more likely.

I agree. Before Pep took over at City, all football fans agreed which team was better in every game, especially on forums

 

[valefan16]

Some strange comments on the Doncaster forum, stating they were by far the better team today. How many times does it have to be said that knocking it from side to side along the back to win the possession stats does not equate to being the better team. We often had 70%+ possession under Crosby but we did exactly what Donny did today, knock it from one side to the other and back again and then get to the box and not have a clue what to do with it.

The sooner this 'Man City' style at league 2 level is consigned to the dustbin, the better.

It's giving people a false representation of the game.

We didn't have as much of the ball 2nd half but looked the more likely.

This obsession with passing football does me a bit, take Barcelona in their glory years… everyone raved about it but I found it boring to watch… something that could take 50 passes to achieve Real Madrid or say United in their prime would do in 3 or 4 passes.

Since Pep came over it’s become a thing now where even in L2 teams do it, at times yeah fair enough but look at our wins today, MK and especially Notts, didnt Walsall double Notts with 28% possession? Sit in, let teams pass it in front of your back 7-8 knowing they will have to resort to going long or just run the clock down in midfield with no incision. Probably beats the weaker sides like County did today but any organised and solid outfit at this level should feel fairly confident away from home where for instance you can get away with sitting in.

We tried it under Crosby and it worked a bit at the start and was more workable when we had a premier league level midfielder in a league one midfield in Arblaster (he was in the away end today I see!) and Alfie Devine but once they went, the pitches became boggy and injuries meant we had Uche or Ryan Loft at the spearhead that was a mess.