Snookmeister

Well, that was about as disappointing as I've seen us this season. And about as disappointed as I've been after a game this season. After starting off like a house on fire, we seized up and spent the last 70 minutes clinging on. If it wasn't for Amos, we'd have been screwed tonight. We totally surrendered midfield, the front two did not fire at all. I don't think playing with the front two as we did was the way to go, given the performances of the last two games. I'd drop Reid, put Morais just behind Omar, push Taylor out to the wing and bring in Abalimba (who by all accounts looks the real deal) or even Jones to give us that bite in midfield that we're lacking at the moment. Until Stephens is fit again of course. My ratings: Amos - 9 - MOM for me. Pulled of several good saves, punches, clearances etc and one world class save in the first half to keep out their header. Outstanding. Lee - 7 - Was very effective going forward in the 1st, less so in the 2nd but decent at the back as well. Trotman - 6 - Did OK. Not his most commanding. Todd - 5.5 - Started off well, and a nice range of short passes instead of the usual centre-half hooves, but got caught short for pace a few times and nearly cost us in the 1st with an underhit pass. We need Rubes back. Evina - 7 - One of his best games for me. Did everything well. Black won't be back in a hurry. Furman - 5 - Very quiet. Not his usual self. The midfield was anonymous today, and it told. Taylor - 5 - No lack of effort, but headless chicken. NOT A CENTRAL MIDFIELDER. End of. Morais - 6 - Main outlet in the 1st. Thought he was going to have a field day, but as the game wore on, was less and less effective White - 4 - Very poor. The worst I've seen him play since he's been here. No impact, full of fancy flicks which never worked Tounkara - 4 - Started brightly, then nosedived. Poorest game yet. Held nothing up. Wanted too long on the ball. And when it did finally stick to him, tried to do too much with it Reid - 4 - Slightly worse than Omar. Nothing stuck to him. Had a 50p chest/foot/head etc. I'd drop him for the next game. Feeney - 5 - not much time to have an impact, but the team had given up by then anyway Alessandra - 6 - Nearly set up the equaliser with his first touch. Nice to see him back. All in all, supremely disappointed. Was convinced we were going to win this one before kick off, but to be fair, Carlisle did a bit of a number on us. They were organised and dangerous from the set piece. Only Amos' heroics kept them at bay. One of the better teams I've seen at BP this season. The only thing that did get me out of my seat was Gerry Taggart. What a top :censored:ing man. Windmilled into the Carlisle players like a man possessed. Guaranteed touchline ban. Instant legend. A very disappointing evening in front of a great crowd. None of which will be coming back. Why does the team always shoot the club in the foot on days like these??? It was so nice to see BP full again. Will probably be the last time I fear. Finally just a short word for the ref. Gave us pretty much everything, and we still couldn't take advantage. Gutted, gutted, gutted........

Taggart is an absolute ledge. The most passion I saw on the pitch all night. Love that man.

Change.......we fear change......

I've a whole load more confidence in Amos than I have in Brill. I think the back four do too. I'd love us to have him again next season. Don't think it'll happen unless we go up though......

Precisely. If it gets us out of the :censored: and allows us to keep operating, I'd watch us play in the local park. Not arsed in the slightest, for the short term. I can't understand those who say "I'll never watch latics again if we have to play at -insert random place-" Your team is your team, period.

That's a fair enough assessment of the game, I thought the draw was the right result. I wasn't surprised that Hudders lumped it today. We all saw what happened when they played openly at BP, so today's tactics were probably spot on. Although why we decided to match the hoofing I really don't know. We only looked dangerous when we kept it on the floor and used Lee/Morais as the outlet. Other than that, we huffed and puffed really. Desperately missed Stephens in the middle - Chris Taylor may be a good footballer, but he's no centre mid. He also got yet another yellow for mouthing it off and continued to make me cringe with his amateur dramatics. The award for Best actor in a leading role though has to go to Alan Lee. That lad spent so much time on the floor he had a cauliflower arse by the time he got subbed. Surprised he didn't throw himself to the ground as he ran off. And 1900 was about right. Happy with a point, not so happy with the way we didn't play football. P.S. getting REALLY bored with the "I'm a Bastard" song. A dozen times before kick off alone. Change the record lads......

And having seen how we can play this season, throwing away the points against those basement-dwelling, non-league cloggers makes me furious. Yet another lead spunked up the wall. Call me old fashioned, but I'm not happy with that.

Exactly my thoughts too. You'd be able to hear the RAFC boardroom laughter from sheepfoot lane..... No way Dale would move.

I couldn't agree more. I was Going to say that it would be a huge embarrassment to ombc, but, like the rest of the town, they probably wouldn't give a toss anyway. That's why we're where we are at the moment.

I'd love to see ":censored: or bust" on the back of our shirts, instead of "keep the faith"......

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, I know, but it would have been great to see morais have a go at their centre backs from the off. They were pretty poor. Complete thugs who seemed scared of the ball and happier to hack away at anything in a blue shirt. If we'd have been on our game a little more, it would have been a far heavier defeat for them.

They were a horrible team. One of the worst i've seen all season.

Gutted. He was my fave player this season........

We normally do something special when the cameras are in town. Perhaps messrs Corney and Hardy have something up their sleeves.......

They were bigger, stronger and faster. First to everything, even when we had the ball, they either just shrugged us off it, or waited for us to panic and give it away. Which we did. Often. It was like a dads vs lads game. Hulking big blokes against wee little timid boys. Never seen such a gulf. Totally embarrassed. Totally pissed off. What a day to quit smoking!!!!

As good as the PS3 is, I think the browser is appalling. I wouldn't bother with it. If you do, I would avoid the usual suspects and you should be ok......

We won't win at the Gas, because it's the Gas, and we rarely beat them. Especially at their place. Regardless of their manager. However, I'll probably go to this one and give him plenty. I've never seen such dross as he churned out. His tactics have been partly responsible for the terrible attendances we endure today, despite vastly improved performances. He's a tosser.

It's the same "get it forward" brigade who would then moan when a rushed forward ball goes astray. We have to bide our time and be patient. If that means 30 passes sideways/back until the right opportuniuty presents itself, then so be it. At least we have the ball which means we don't become under pressure and conceed. We don't have the calibre of player to launch it forward 40 yards to a forwards feet, so we should cut our cloth accordingly. If only the professional football pundits in the crowd could see it.....

I'll take the odd mis-cued kick out for a throw. That doesn't make us go a goal down. It's Brill's more serious shortcomings that bother me the most. As I've said earlier in the this thread, Brill has well-established form for dropping clangers, and his back four have no confidence in him which affects the way we play. As for those saying we didn't play well today, I'm not so sure that's the case. We played differently today. We ditched the normal gung-ho attacking after we went one up and decided to hit them on the break. How many times this season have we said that we couldn't break a team down at home? The most dangerous we've been at home this season has been against Hudders where we ripped them apart on the counter. We tend to fare well when the oppo comes at us. So despite not taking the game to Swindon, we defended very well whilst still creating chances. I would argue that we DID play well today. Not pretty or exciting, but professional and it worked.

Maybe so, Diego, but Brill has had plenty of time to prove his worth and improve his game. He makes too many mistakes and has cost us too many points since he's been at the club. Amos hasn't. That's why the reactions have been so.

Double post!

Really? I thought we were pretty comfy all day and despite their possession, they created little. Don't know whether or not Dickov told them to sit back and hit them on the counter, but we did it pretty comfortably I thought. Not great to watch, especially at home, but I'd take this performance and this result over the opposite against Dale. Trotters was immense, as was Hazell after last week. Black was as good as I've seen him and Morais was awesome. On the negative side, I thought Stephens was poor. Slowed the counter attack game down, and often chose the wrong option. The midfield was a bit of a non-entity today. Good to get back to winning ways though, especially against a bogey side. Well done boys.

I wouldn't mind one of the Palmer tees. They seemed to go in days!

Thanks Christ for that. See ya Dean....

Just waiting for frothing lefty rants about the mail......