Player Ratings: Bristol Rovers vs York City

Nicholls 5 Didn't have to do much and had no chance with the goal- though he did get a touch on it.

J. Clarke 6. Solid.
Lockyer 6. Solid. Fantastic goal line clearance for York to prevent Parkes scoring early 2nd half.
Parkes 6. Solid enough, few iffy moments.
Brown 6. Mr consistent.

Cowan-Hall 4. Out of his depth send him back please.
Mansell 7 MOM. Didn't really put a foot wrong.
Sinclair 6.5 Running around winning the ball as usual.
Bodin 5.5 Not one of his best games.

Taylor 6.5 Great winning goal. His first touch fantastic as usual.
Gaffney 6. Very good at holding up the ball and creates lots of space for Taylor. Need to keep him.

Subs: Leadbitter 6
Gosling 6
Easter 6.5 Changed the game IMO.

Crowd 5
Ref 0 Knob.
York 4. Their keeper was a Fool. Loved his distraught face when Taylor scored

Nicholls 5 I would like to see him command his box more instead of being rooted to his line.
Clarke 6 Fashioned another solid display,what a great signing he has turned out to be.
Parkes 6 Gutsy,no nonsense brawn.
Lockyer 6 made some timely interceptions.
Brown 6 Solid as usual but would love to see him take on his full back.
Cowan Hall 4 Tried hard but got out muscled far too easily.
Mansell 6.5 Hard working display.
Sinclair 6 Non stop running and endless tidying up.
Bodin 5.5 Very talented player but needs to believe in himself more.
Taylor 7 Fox in the box.
Gaffney 6 Worked hard but needs to concentrate more on getting into the box and attacking the ball instead of getting pulled out wide.


Subs Leadbitter 6.5  Gave us a lift when he came on with his pure pace,one excellent & well timed tackle tracking back.
Gosling 6 Blows hot & cold but lovely little dink cross for Taylor's goal.
Easter 6 scored with his first touch and caused their tiring back line real problems.


Ref 4  
Crowd 6
York 4 Big,physical spoilers who will do well to stay up.

Nicholls 6.5
J. Clarke 6.
Lockyer 6.5.
Parkes 7
Brown 6.5
Cowan-Hall 4.
Mansell 8 MOM.
Sinclair 7
Bodin 5.5
Taylor 7.5
Gaffney 6.

Subs:
Leadbitter 6
Gosling 6
Easter 6.5

Crowd 5
Trouble with scoring so late all time and often going one down is that there is not enough to cheer. Today was another case of this where too often our attacks took one pass too many.
Ref 4 Another poor one. League Two seem to be able to roll these out almost without trying!!
York 4.They are where they are for a reason and on todays form will stay around where they are for a long time.Very good left back. Plenty of time wasting and it was sweet to beat them in injury time.

Nichols 6

Clarke 6
Lockyer 7.5
Parkes 7
Brown 7

Cowan Hall 5
Mansell 8.5
Sinclair 7.5
Boden 5

Taylor 7
Gaffney 7

Easter 6
Gosling 6.5
Lead bitter 7

Crowd 5
Ref 4
York 4

Nicholls 6 Good game, hope we get him back in Jan

J. Clarke 5.5 Very steady game
Lockyer 6 usual solid game
Parkes 7.5 Excellent solid game back to his best, except for a few wayward passes
Brown 6 Good game, very consistent

Cowan-Hall 3 Not his day, did not impress
Mansell 7 Excellnt game should be permanent captain
Sinclair 6.5 Mr. Duracells usual non stop game
Bodin 5 Offers a lot but gets nowhere

Taylor 8 MoM His all round contribution was very good
Gaffney 6 Reasonable game, holds the ball up well, wasted a lot of his time out wide.

Subs: Leadbitter 6 Should have started the game
Gosling 4 Good cross for goal otherwise bottled out a few times
Easter 5 Steadied the game when he came on.

Crowd 4 Very quiet for most of the game, but to be fair the game was dire at times
Ref 4 Back to the National League for him.
York 3 Not very good

Nicholls :6

J. Clarke :6
Lockyer :6.5
Parkes :6.5
Brown 6.5

Cowan-Hall :3
Mansell :7
Sinclair :8 motm
Bodin: 5

Taylor :7.5
Gaffney :7

Subs: Leadbitter :7
Gosling :6.5
Easter :6

Crowd: 6
Ref: 1
York:1

Nicholls 6 a pretty good game for me, was very vocal, reasonable variety with his throwing/kicking.

J. Clarke 5 from the West enclosure difficult to see, but seemed to allow the cross for their goal too easily. Was interested to see him come on after half time and take a couple of big puffs from a inhaler, perhaps he was suffering a bit?
Lockyer 7 a couple of great tackles, really developing into a good player.
Parkes 6 Steady, lucky not to be booked for a crazy shoulder barge when hopelessly out of position, but got away with it and so was able to get back - good professionalism?
Brown 7 he is a good full back, made some great runs down the wing, but unfortunately rarely got the service those runs deserved.

Cowan-Hall 4 struggled, on both wings. Always seemed to want three goes at beating a player rather than looking for an early cross. These delays allowed the York defence to get back into position and facing the right way before any cross, if it ever came, was delivered.
Mansell 8 Good controlling performance, especially second half. If I have a criticism, both Mansell and Sinclair were too deep in the first half, allowing York easy possession - perhaps down to the conditions?
Sinclair 8 MOTM for me, he is everywhere tackling, battling, taking the game to the opposition.
Bodin 6 showed a lot of skill at times, but a bit like Cowan -Hall, delayed the final ball far too long.

Taylor 7.5 great control for the goal, and has an excellent first touch to be able to instantly control, turn and run at the opposition, or play a good pass.
Gaffney 6.5 a good foil for Taylor, worked hard and so created space for Taylor.

Subs: Leadbitter 6 York struggled with his speed and direct running
Gosling 6 similar to Leadbitter
Easter 7 great first touch!

Crowd 5 very quiet at times, too much slagging off of our own players at times too
Ref 5 I didn't think he was too bad, booked their keeper for time wasting, and should have warned him more forcefully when he did it again, but overall was OKish.
York 5 First half they looked OK, their full backs kept the ball in play to deny us attacking throw ins, and overall were far more direct and were much better than us at getting the ball in early, especially for the goal. Second half they started to tire and were much poorer, probably because we closed the gap between the front line and midfield and didn't give them the space they had in the first.