Bristol Rovers v Port Vale - Match Day Thread

2 home games. 7 goals.5 of them from wide positions/crosses

Really enjoyed last night's game.

Thought we were comfortable throughout really, even when they had the ball in first half before the second yellow, our GK was never really troubled from memory.

Considering we have lost 3 players since the weekend, Thomas, Finley and Marquis, the team Joey put out did. Great job. Signs that we do have some depth and can rely on player that might usually be on the bench.

Highlight after the 3 well worked goals, was Martin buying a free kick dramatically rolling 20 years holding his knee to getting up once the ref had blown the whistle and running back up the pitch.

A good night for the Gas.

Cant remember the last time we controlled and managed a game for a whole half against ten men like we did last night. Woods and Bogarde are a great unit together in the middle and dictated the play pretty much all game

I believe so and didn’t the club tweet something about there being a possibility of a cancellation? 

Very enjoyable evening on and off the pitch ....

Firstly on the pitch ...

Good game we thought and when teams come to play football and not simply sit back we do look very good at times. Energy levels across the pitch seemed high and we thoroughly deserved the win.

Cox - 7 What little he had to do he did well - very neat and tidy keeper.

Hunt - 7 Great first half again - got forward well and scored a very nice goal.

Taylor - 8 Continues to get better and better - if he can work on his distribution he could potentially be the best bit of business we did this Summer.

Grant - 8 Excellent skipper not because he is forever shouting but because he is calm and collected and makes things look very simple.

Vale - 7 Another very good game from an excellent young player. Cementing his place in the team potentially.

Woods - 7 Joined play well - quietly effective - passing range is superb.

Bogarde - 7 Same as above - very elegant on the ball and happy to get stuck in.

McCormick - 7 I'm not his biggest fan but he has energy and scored a very nice goal with a deft header

Collins - 7 In the thick of most things attacking - missed another 1 on 1 annoyingly.

Martin - 7 When I saw Big John was out I was concerned but no need thought he was very good and will get better with game time.

Brown - 8 Very busy and capped a good night with a superb goal - literally seconds after I had said " We still haven't seen the best of JB"

Subs ... No one stood out to be fair - we just about had enough cover on the bench to see the game out comfortably

Port Vale - 6 ... Came to play football - looked tidy and clearly favoured having a go at Harvey Vale but got little reward for it.

Referee Team - 5 ... Generally ok but missed what we thought was a stonewall penalty when LB was hacked down from behind.

Gaffer - 6 ... Semi apology for his words post may=tch aimed at LT pleased me a little and he says his words have galvanised the group - time will tell.

Worryingly for me the number of injuries we are picking up is mounting .... Crama now back at Brentford for the foreseeable / Wilson has missed more games than he has played / Big John breaks his hand FFS / Friend we knew could have issues / Grant Ward has disappeared somewhere and a whisper last night we might not see Rossiter for a while yet if at all !! / LT out for a good period and Sam Finley out for a few games potentially after Peterborough.

Was good to catch up with some pals who shared some insights into behind the scenes and fair to say it sounds like positive change coming throughout the season and beyond. Our new owners feel that we have a long way to go to catch up with some of the basic standards across the EFL and will drag us up kicking and shouting if needs be. Ground development and improvement firmly on their radar - Thatchers End very much on the agenda as well as personnel changes if needed at all levels of the club!!

Taylor was loving it last night. Playing well, against Stokes rivals. He is looking like the player we hoped to be getting back. Captain in waiting.

Excellent! Jevani Brown has a lot of quality and we’re blessed to have him and Evans in the squad. The type of player that can unlock a defence from a central position, that we have not always had. Those two sharing that role in the team can only be good news. Really pleased for McCormick, who had a frustrating last year but is beginning to show his true form again. Vale and Grant are a massive bonus given our injury problems in defence, stepping up when most needed in unfamiliar roles. Good job we signed Martin when we did, given the injury to Marquis. Things are looking up. Two home wins on the bounce. If we can stay in and around mid table for the next couple of months and get some of those injured players back on the pitch we might be able to push for a play off spot after Christmas.

Just got back..

A crisp night under the floods at Mem, nice to see some of you with trepidation pre match, replaced by smiles post match..

The new build lean to is coming on nicely..

Anyhoos....onto something less important:
Some things I noticed last night, did you?

First of all massive respect to the travelling band of merry men from Burslem, a nice healthy following and made some noise. I ventured on their forum as a lurker, some of their fans think we are average side....but with marquis, martin and collins up front, that could be significant this season.

Second of all their manager.... apparently we were completely dominated first half! ?
Hmmmmm....
Wrapped up with that is our friend Connor Ripley. First spotted having genuine banter away at Salford in '21, then taking control and alerting medical staff when one of our own collapsed in away end ... nice to see the rapport there with our very own new Tote End.

Thirdly, a lot of pre match speculation around the starting line up, most of it didn't appear to ring true, although I saw Harvey Vale (gosh this could get confusing) try his best against his lively opponent, but even though he had a good game against him, a wilier adversary will pick his pocket one day. Good game for HV.

Fourthly, excellent contribution from JG our new skip....I thought he done an admirable job. Amazing few months for him after he was almost forgotten 6 months ago.

Fifthly.....gotta say it, again, CT was magnificent. A captain and skipper and model professional in the waiting. He could do it now! Given m o m by the fans, nice touch, but my personal m o m was Aaza whom just seemed to pick up those empty spaces and run through a like a knife... excellent assist, should've scored 2. Ran around like a gazelle at times, stretched their defence, created space, covered an area larger than an aircraft hangar and still has his wonderful supercilious grin about him - he just loves his football and freedom to express himself. These are the best of times for him!
Second m o m and deserves a mention as Jervani Brown... deserved his goal and assist. Good, solid performance.

Sixthly. Did anyone else see Jack Hunt go up for the port vale huddle on injury, only to be pushed away!? Haha! Hilarious!
We are adopting a cheekiness about us. The game is there for entertainment, the love in pass between 2 players multiples of times, the back heels, the dummies pass and shots.... we're Bristol Rovers, we're taking the p!ss.....not sure it's wholly appropriate though?

Seventhly, on similar issues.....you rarely see a " cheerio " on sending off involving the west stand, boxes and kids running to the tunnel!? Haha! Nice choreography, everyone.

So.....to sum up, a welcome 3 points from a declining PV that we took full advantage of.
They say they don't have enough strikers (no one knows how long Lofty is out), but then I don't understand why they finished the match with more strikers on the pitch with 10 men?

Good night all around.
Nice football played.

And of course it’s why refereeing has become so difficult for officials. Players act up, pretend to be injured when they’re not really and generally try to buy anything to get a small advantage. And when we get a decision against us we will read about the officials being useless. Is it any wonder? Trying to pick out the genuine fouls from the play acting must be really difficult if you’re not standing next to the incident. You just can’t rely on reactions nowadays.

I’m as bad as any and hate being in League 2 because the officials there are poor. But I have sympathy for the officials when the players, the media, everyone just calls them rubbish. 

Great win though.👍👍👍

UTG!