Wigan Athletic vs Bristol Rovers matchday thread.

Wouldn’t you take that as a given against a side like Wigan who are in more disarray than we are? About as much as I can take from it is that at least we showed some heart from the sound of it. Without that we’re definitely screwed against the stronger teams.

There were some positives and negatives to take away from that.

I’ll start with positives, we came away with a long overdue clean sheet, always a good thing in the league regardless of who you play. We had some nice passages of play and looked far more likely to score than the opposition on the night.

Some individual performances were particularly good tonight, Oztumer and McCormick both had their best games so far in a Rovers shirt and were unlucky to be taken off.

It was also great to see Barrett involved again and Tisdale handing a chance to Zain Walker, who looks to have a bright future ahead of him.

Now onto the negatives, I think it’s got to be regarded as a disappointment not to win against what was essentially a team of kids with a few old pros added in there for good measure. They are bottom of the league for good reason and in some regards it does feel like two points dropped.

I was a bit disappointed with the second half display, I thought at half time Wigan were there for the taking but other than the Upson volley, we really didn’t create too many good chances to score in the last 45.
The lack of strikers remains an issue, hopefully Daly and Hanlan will be back for the FA Cup game against Darlington on Sunday.

Not really no. There was a lot more intensity tonight than under any Garner game I've seen this season. It's by no means a good result but we'd have lost that game two weeks ago as we'd have just sat back until Wigan scored.

Thought barrett when he came on played well.Wanted the ball was prepared to take on players and had nice one touches. With game time I can see him being a asset to the squad. You dont have to look like a model to be a footballer.its what you do with the ball. Gascoigne Maradona and molby proved that at the highest level.

But the project..........relegation project. It’s not a bloody project, it’s a game, and it’s about winning games, quite simple really.
Sorry I wasn’t brainwashed.

You realise, no matter how we play, however good our run is, a lot of people love to pick fault more than anything else. It's their thing, it makes them feel important, and a forum is the only place where anyone will ever listen to them.

Having said this, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and things have not been good enough at the club for some time. I do feel we are heading in the right direction though, although with so many young players, it won't improve over night.

Haven’t read the thread but fwiw:
Ultimately we played a poor team and won every aspect except we couldn’t score. Actually we didn’t even threaten their keeper so that’s worrying. But overall it was a hundred times better to watch than Saturday.
We were up for tonight. We played with far more determination and belief.
Although it was an awful miss by Sam N he played very well and as wider player he will be good, if we’ve got a striker to take advantage of him.
McCormick played well and gives us a lot of energy and was unlucky, imo, to get taken off.
Oztumer carries the ball on the run and commits defenders and he had a better first half than second.
Ehmer and Baldwin played as well as they’ve played, not that the opposition tested them, but kept their concentration with no careless mistakes so helped keep a clean sheet. They both looked better in a back 4. And I thought they looked better than Jaakola who looked a bit jittery after his mistake on Saturday. A clean sheet will also do him good.
I know Upson isn’t the most popular on here but I like the guy. We always look more solid with him in the team. I thought Grant played well in a different position but we looked steadier with Upson in front of the defence.
Barrett is a fair old unit but he has a good pass in him and plays it quickly and faster than Westbrooke. Barrett had a chance to play it through to Walker but went for the glory himself. I’m still waiting for one of our midfielders to play a through ball. Had he done that I’m sure Walker would have scored. But it was good to see him play. He should get better.
We didn’t win, so I’m sure there will be some unhappy gasheads but overall I thought the system was better, players looked happier and the players played with pace and urgency. But another lost opportunity after Rochdale, Swindon and now Wigan. But there are positives to take out from tonight, and we all know what Tis will be looking for in January.
Move on to Darlington now. A win and a good draw for the 3rd round should raise spirits.
UTG!

Well I rather enjoyed that. After the despair of Swindon, tonight every player worked their socks off. Maybe Upson isnt great but I couldnt fault his committment. Darlington will be confident of turning us over but Tisdale will have the a few more sessions to tweek the line up along with the return of our strikers we will progress to next round and earn a few more £'s to strengthen our squad in January

Green shoots of improvement.

I too don't understand the overly harsh and negative reaction of some on here.

Opinions eh?