Player Ratings: Walsall vs. Bristol Rovers (RESULTS)

Lumley.6.Did all right.Nice and tall.
Leadbitter. 6.Surprise return.Did well until yet another injury
J Clarke.8.MOM.Fouled relentlessly by their no'20 especially from corners but was not found wanting.Brave display.
Lockyer.2.Awful.Summed up when he took a free kick and kicked it straight to a red shirt.At fault for their second.Positional sense poor and passing abysmal.Simply not div one standard.
Brown. 6.Worked hard.
O Clarke.6.Worked hard.Didn't let us down.
Lines .6.provides our only creativity in midfield but gifted them their first goal.
Sinclair.7.Have no ides what position he was playing but battled for everything.Sadly we always seem to lose when he plays.
Bodin .6.Looked good but went off injured.Missed his threat up front.Wish he was more involved.
Gaffney.1 Totally out of his depth,Provides no goal threat whatsoever.Will never score as he never wins headers ,never shoots and plays wide on the left?
Taylor. 6.Not his most involved game,but great header for the goal but should have done better with a much simpler opportunity earlier.
Subs.James. 4Looks skillfull but woefully lightweight.Not good enough for Peterborough.Not good enough for Rovers.
Broom.6Looked promising for a youngster
Byron Moore .3.Doesn't do a lot and gave the third goal away.
Crowd. 8.full of singing.Wonderful until they scored and we seemed to lose heart.
Ref. 7 see officials differently having been on the FL for 12 seasons.This Guy was very fit but allowed their no'20 to stay on the pitch after he repeatedly fouled J Clarke off the ball.Played the advantage rule very well.
Walsall.6.Took full advantage of our defensive frailties.Strong where it mattered.Moved the ball better than us.Well organised but until they scored we were their equal.

Lumley 5 no blame on him with the shower in front of him.

Leadbitter 5 did ok for 44mins still needs to improve end product in final third.
J. Clarke 5 had his hands full with their CF did fine until 44mins.
Lockyer 4 did ok for 44mins then looked terrible and out of form.
Brown 4 assisted goal did ok for 44mins, been struggling for a while

O. Clarke 6 did ok worked hard but didn't get much help.
Lines 4 poor not his day.
Sinclair 7 MOTM ran his heart out, passed and linked up well.

Bodin 6 looked dangerous and skilful, worked Etheridge.
Gaffney 2 Raped by their centre half who wanted it much more than him.
Taylor 4 scored but living off scraps, Bodin going off didn't help.

Subs: James 5 looked lively
Moore 3 shocking mistake for third goal.
Broom 6 started a bit nervous but gained confidence and done ok.

Crowd 9 fantastic numbers being short changed with a lack of defensive knowhow and quality.
Ref 3 let poor fouls go in order to make game flow.
Walsall 5 strong spine unlike us.

Lumley 6
Leadbitter 5
Clarke 4
Lockyer 4
Brown 4
Clarke 5
Lines 6
Sinclair 4
Bodin 6
Gaffney 2
Taylor 5

James 4
Moore 3
Broom 4

Ref 4
Crowd 7
Walsall 6

Results in, and there were joint winners of Man of the Match with both Joe Lumley and Ollie Clarke scoring 5.61.

This was Clarke's fourth game in a row where he was either MotM or runner-up. Only Neal Trotman has ever put together a longer run of games- 6 from Southport to FGR in the Conference. On six other occasions a player had a run of four games- Parkes twice* and McChrystal and Lines once in the Conference and Parkes and Lockyer each last season. 

Lumley became the 4th player to win MotM on his debut. The others were Taylor, James Clarke and Boateng. Roos was on course for MotM in the abandoned Swindon game. Della Verde and Dawson both got MotM in their first start after a single substitute appearance.

This was the worst ever rating for Rory Gaffney (in 45 league appearances) , Byron Moore (13) and Luke James (8). Also technically I guess it was the worst for Lumley and Broom.

The starting XI average was 4.05. This was the second lowest rating of the season, behind Shrewsbury away (2.6), and the fifth lowest rating of the last three seasons (league and cup) behind Alfreton (3.8) and Braintree (3.9) away and Bath City (3.7) at home. 

*Parkes's run was particularly impressive as they came almost back-to-back; he was in the top two for eight out of nine games and missed out by 0.04 in the other. We also won 6 and drew 3 of those 9 games. This run through January and February of 2015 is probably the best run of performances by any Rovers player in the last 3 years.

Lumley 5.6

Leadbitter 5.3
J. Clarke 4.7
Lockyer 3.1
Brown 4.1

O. Clarke 5.6
Lines 4.7
Sinclair 4.6

Bodin 5.4
Gaffney 2.2
Taylor 4.8

Subs: James 4.4
Moore 2.6
Broom 5.0

Crowd 7.8
Ref 3.8
Walsall 5.4