Bristol Rovers v Cardiff City match day thread

I liked David Tutonda once again this guy can play, in my opinion he is an automatic first choice.
Upson had another excellent game, Ayunga's finishing is erratic but he can move and has a presence, with polishing I think we have a player.
In the first half Zain Westbrook had really good game.
So the upside a lot of really good passing, the downside I am not sure there is a lot of goals in the squad.

excellent 2 x 70 mins from the Gas boys. 2 tough games from the giants of Cardiff.
first 70 mins , we were terrific at the back, kept the ball really well and quality passing. the new players have really raised the level of the team. Westbrooke is Lines at his peak with his sweet passing.
Grant also terrific in the middle. but if I have I have to pick a couple then JML and Little (he has to start as RWB for me -he was class and nearly scored).

second 70, well for a start we should've at least drawn the game - some wasteful finishing. However, Ayunga led the line really well - needs to work on his finishing like Tomlinson. Mehew and Tommo full of promise. Strong mention for Martinez - he's a real find. But the standout player for me was Zain Walker - tricky, surprisingly strong and always on the move - for me has to be on the bench for 1st game.
Amongst senior pros Kilgour, Hare and Upson were strong.
However, probably, only Kilgour will get in the back 3 at the expense of Ehmer, Baldwin or most likely Kelly.
Have we got Garner ball ? Too bloody right ! we outpased Cardiff in 1st game and then the best moment for me was near the end of the second 70 . JVS played a short goal kick to Kilgour and then 3 or 4 passes later Ayunga was set free and was denied a deserved draw by the ever reliable Etheridge !
Great football - we have a real team - why the hell did JCH leave ??
Long live the GAS !!

He realised he isn't good enough for this new style of football?

I watched the game on inPlayer with my headphones on. The commentary was in my left ear and background sounds in my right. Whoever was nearest to the right side constantly yawned the entire game. it must have been a Ted!!

Right I'm gonna be negative to balance this out a little.

I didn't even watch the match so some (maybe quite rightly) will say I don't have much right to comment...

However this sounds like what I am worried about. Try and play good football but ultimately end up being pushover.

We have gone from playing sh** and Winning under GC. To playing sh** and getting sh** results under BG to tonight (by the sounds of it) playing well but not getting the result.

Also we have to remmeber Cardiff at enot a possession based team whatsoever. They had the lowest possession in the championship last season I think? So not having much of the ball and winning is pretty normal to them.

It sounds like an improvement regardless though.

All sounds encouraging apart from the score. As I said when we played bad though, it's only a friendly. Real tests start next weekend. Tough first few games, hopefully we will have a new striker soon.

Excellent performance by both our teams. Some great confident play and some stand out performances by pretty much all 22 of our players. Very exciting times ahead if we can keep up those performance levels.

I think it's fair that there should be a little balance, just as we shouldn't have taken too much out of the Forest Green/ Exeter performance, we shouldn't overstate this one either.

What I would say though is that we were no pushovers tonight. It wasn't a case of pretty football with no edge, we created plenty of chances and carved Cardiff open at times.

It was clear from tonight that we are lacking a goalscorer up front. JML looked a real handful but it's not his natural position, Ayunga looked promising but he's still raw and will need time to adjust to moving up 3 divisions.

Finding that number 9 to replace JCH is the final piece of the jigsaw really now we've signed Tutonda. Do that and I think the Garner side of this year will be a lot better than the Garner side of last.

The final friendly is where you should see something like your team playing how they're going to and in that 1st 70  (a 0 - 0 draw) we saw it in bucket loads against a Championship team who made the playoffs !  Yes, there is a nagging doubt about the goals in the onion bag but we have a quality team, full of promise. Hopefully, 1 quality addition (or 2) in the forward line and we're going town more than we lose.