Old Darwen Blue
Prediction Champion 2021, 2022 & 2023
You really really really don’t like Sam do you?
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NEXT GAME:Leicester City FC
Saturday 4th May 2024
Kick off 12.30 pm
Kingpower Stadium
Championship
Rovers v Reading
- Thread starter Wilpshire Blue
- Start date
Wilpshire Blue
Senior Member
Highlights
www.skysports.com
Blackburn 2-0 Reading
Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Blackburn Rovers Reading.
Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
A very poor game apart from 3 or 4 minutes.
My MoTM was Buckley. It was confirmed to me today that both Rothwell and Nyambe are off in January, Leninhan who was a ”probable” new contract is now a “possible”.
My MoTM was Buckley. It was confirmed to me today that both Rothwell and Nyambe are off in January, Leninhan who was a ”probable” new contract is now a “possible”.
OnlyOneTugay
Prediction Champion 2019 & 2020
Rovers will miss the pair of them . Nyambe was outstanding again today before he got injured .
However it was Rothwell who unlocked the defensive door , with another direct run into the opposition’s penalty box . As Steve W said football is now a passing game . almost robotic , Reading passed it to death, but it was boring and got them the square root of not much .
Rothwell is a gem and in the end it was his talent that made the difference , whoever gets him , if they can realise his full potential , we’ll wonder why we didn't push the boat out to keep him .
It was nice that the fans appreciated his contribution with a standing ovation when he was substituted near the end .
A much needed win , looking at the table if we’d had held on at QPR and got a 0-0 draw we’d be 5th !
Oh and a special mention for Tyrhys Dolan, how long can we hold on to him ? A very special player and a special young man.
Agree with BB , Buckley made a good contribution too and filled in for Nyambe at full back with aplomb
Up the Rovers
However it was Rothwell who unlocked the defensive door , with another direct run into the opposition’s penalty box . As Steve W said football is now a passing game . almost robotic , Reading passed it to death, but it was boring and got them the square root of not much .
Rothwell is a gem and in the end it was his talent that made the difference , whoever gets him , if they can realise his full potential , we’ll wonder why we didn't push the boat out to keep him .
It was nice that the fans appreciated his contribution with a standing ovation when he was substituted near the end .
A much needed win , looking at the table if we’d had held on at QPR and got a 0-0 draw we’d be 5th !
Oh and a special mention for Tyrhys Dolan, how long can we hold on to him ? A very special player and a special young man.
Agree with BB , Buckley made a good contribution too and filled in for Nyambe at full back with aplomb
Up the Rovers
Last edited:
tonygreenbank
Senior Member
Good win today always makes my weekend special!
Although the rumours about Nyambe and Rothwell are disappointing but not totally unexpected.
Apart from the 3 relegated sides there’s not much between the rest in the upper half of the league.
I hope the injuries to Nyambe and Ayala are not too serious.
I’m also excited that I shall be in attendance for the next 2 home games against Fulham and Sheffield United as I’m making the Pilgrimage up North in a weeks time.
Although the rumours about Nyambe and Rothwell are disappointing but not totally unexpected.
Apart from the 3 relegated sides there’s not much between the rest in the upper half of the league.
I hope the injuries to Nyambe and Ayala are not too serious.
I’m also excited that I shall be in attendance for the next 2 home games against Fulham and Sheffield United as I’m making the Pilgrimage up North in a weeks time.
Robin
Senior Member
Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
It looked more like 7k.
Barmitzvah Boy
Global winner of the 2021 Christmas Quiz 👊🤩🤩
Yes a great goal from Dolan but he must learn to pass when there are others in a better position such as 5 minutes later when BB-D was unmarked to his right hand side clear on goal.
Old Darwen Blue
Prediction Champion 2021, 2022 & 2023
Big Ben also set up Van Thingy for a tap in which he sadly squandered. Apart from that miss overall I was impressed when he came on for Ayala. My mind was drawn back to Oijers debut all those years ago where he was awful, I wonder if there’s a good player there? He certainly didn’t pull out of any 50/50s.
I've said it many times.... What a crazy league the Championship is! We've been poor for most of October, we've spewed 4 points after leading 2-0 at Ewood in two matches, we've had the rottenest luck of injuries seriously disrupting our otherwise solid back line after injuries to Lenihan, Nyambe, Carter, Wharton and Van Hecke forced the inclusion of the hapless Magloire whose poor form contributed to giving away at least 4 goals and anything between 4 and 6 points to boot. (I feel sorry for the lad tbh but I feel sorrier for the Rovers and feeling sorry doesn't have any place in professional football). Yet we are in 12th position with the real crazy issue that if we'd managed to get a single body in between Illias Chair and our goal in the 83rd minute on Tuesday night we'd now be lording it in 5th position! Today as last Saturday we've been treated to a fantastic end to end contest which for any neutral must have been a joy to watch.
Compare this to the likes of Norwich, NUFC, Burnley etc and I'm damned glad to be where we are! Just a pity that there are so many glory hunters amongst our number rather than football supporters. I saw a tweet earlier from a Reading fan saying 'Your ground is too big for you' . So it is to be honest but then again with a population of 350,000 and a ground capacity at the Madjeski of over 24000 Reading too are suffering from life in the Championship with an average gate under 13000!
To misquote the Bard "something is rotten in the state of English Football". Reading have some decent players but a wage bill which believe it or not is over twice the amount of ours! Check these figures out from just a couple of years ago.
2019/20 - wage bills
1: £94.2m - Stoke City
2: £92.2m - West Brom
3: £90.7m - Swansea City
4: £62.6m - Huddersfield
5: £54.3m - Fulham
6: £48.7m - Middlesbrough
7: £46.4m - Cardiff City
8: £40.4m - Derby
9: £38.5m - Birmingham
10: £35.3m - Reading
11: £31.3m - Leeds
12: £31.1m - Hull
13: £30.6m - QPR
14: £29.3m - Sheff Wed
15: £27.7m - Nottm Forest
16: £27.2m - Bristol City
17: £17.1m - Brentford
18: £16.7m - Blackburn
19: £15.0m - Preston
20: £13.3m - Millwall
21: £11.7m - Wigan
22: £10.6m - Barnsley
23: £10.2m - Charlton
24: £6.2m - Luton
Just what is going on? As far as I am concerned this is far and away the best League in the country to get our football fix in so who are the Marketing men employed by the Championship? Are there even any? If so they need sacking. It's surely time to market this division much much better. No wonder football is in the financial doo dah is it? No wonder either that Reading are facing a Derby like points deduction for breeching financial rules and no wonder Rothwell, Lenihan and a much more limited talent like Ryan Nyambe can have their heads turned is it?
Anyway rant over, onto the match and with Reading lording it just outside the play off positions and having been embarrassed by Blackpool last time out in losing 2-3 after opening up a 2 goal lead I feared the worst! btw two similar events proving that it's not just Rovers fans that have to suffer from inexplicable lapses in performance. Rovers cold start didn't help either as they continually conceded ground to a rather physical Reading, is it just me or are have most teams in the Championship become more brutal and uncompromising in their play? It wasn't until the 30th minute when Joe Rothwell fed Sam Gallagher down the left channel for the big lad cut inside to send a superbly struck swerving shot crashing off the woodwork that the Rovers woke up. Next John Buckley fuelled the turnaround as he was booked for clattering Chelsea loanee Danny Drinkwater in a dangerous position which appeared to be possibly the result of a little bad feeling between the pair. An obvious booking by Ref Harrington but it should have been his second as Reading's Laurent had already committed at least 3 bookable offences by the 20th minute, the final one being a ridiculous dive in front of the Blackburn End in an obvious attempt to con a penalty out of the Referee. I don't believe Laurent's action was the most positive thing to do to help popularise the BLM movement amongst the Blackburn faithful.
Next up an injury to Danny Ayala in the 39th minute forced him to come off and be replaced by Van Hecke. Ayala didn't appear to be in too much pain so I hope his injury is only a minor one. He's been one of our players of the season up to now imo and although Van Hecke gave a really top performance we can't survive with just 2 injury free centre halves for very long.
HT 0-0 Confession time and in a conversation with a newish member of this mb in the concourse I said that if I was a betting man my money would go on a Reading win. Glass half empty again I have to say.
Second half and the Rovers began much brighter and facing the Blackburn End took the fight to Reading. Unfortunately on 59 minutes lightning appeared to be striking us twice as Nyambe also broke down and had to be taken off. He's turning into a real sick note, is he too muscle bound perhaps? With no replacement defender on the bench John Buckley was despatched to right back and and TM who appeared about to send on Khadra was forced to change his intentions and send on Poveda instead to replace Buckley in the middle.
Now I really did fear the worst.... but only for two minutes! Joe Rothwell again to the rescue as he picked the ball up in the centre circle before taking it on a typical high speed close control run before leaving Scott Dann for dead and poking a shot though the legs of Moore past keeper Southwood and onto the inside of the near post, the ball rebounded along the line to give an easy tap in for Sam Gallagher. 1-0 and much relief from the Ewood crowd. 3 minutes later and Dolan made it 2 after a wonderful solo effort as he cut in from the left, onto his right foot before swerving a shot into the far corner of the goal. I was right behind the line of that shot and it was in all the way from the time it left his boot! Are you watching PNE?
Now it was all Reading attacking in an attempt to get back in the match and the Rovers counter attacking on the break. Mowbray wanting to add bite to the midfield replaced Rothwell with Johnson with Rothwell receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. Rather reminded me of Shearer v Wimbledon many moon ago.
Just time for Van Hecke to become Oh Heck! Charging out of defence he played the ball left to Poveda and rather rashly, given the match situation, continued his run upfield, Poveda slung over a cross to BB on the back post who headed it down for Van Hecke with the goal at his mercy to knock the ball with the wrong foot towards the wrong side only to see it roll the wrong side of the post. Three wrongs not making a right for poor old Jan Paul eh? A massive miss, in fact a miss that he'll remember all his life but one which he can easily be forgiven after we ran out 2-0 winners.
Kaminsky 6 Solid enough but with only two shots on target and poor ones at that it must have been his easiest match of the season.
Nyambe 6 Having a decent match until again having to limp off the pitch.
Lenihan... 7 Solid performance throughout to stifle and limit Reading's attacking options.
Ayala.. 7 Ditto. Unfortunately had to go off injured. I can't rem who asked the question on here 'who thought Ayala would be an ever present after 14 matches? but it did the trick by tempting fate.
Edun.. 7 Decent match and stood in for Pickering well, although he did on occasion look a little under pressure and was unable to venture too far forward.
Travis... 7 Strong performance from a tough guy, all the more remarkable given the way he limped off on Tuesday night. All credit to the medics and physios.
Buckley 8 A terrific midfield performance unfortunately cut short by his having to finish at right back. How TM can think Leighton Clarkson is a better option is baffling. Leighton obviously has promise but he does resemble the Buckley boy of two years ago, that boy is a man now.
Rothwell...8 Are scouts watching or are his trademark lightning runs with the ball tied to his laces delivering the goals because of a change in tactics or teammates? Whatever the reason he is now in devastating form.
Brereton... 6 A quiet game for BB although he was unfortunate not to have an assist to his name when he unselfishly set up Van Heck for his Oh Heck miss.
Gallagher... 7 Four shots one against the bar, one just over, one that he really should have done better with and a tap in to open the scoring. He could have had a hat trick. I hope he's saving em for when they matter. Peter Jackson MoM. I can see why he got it but I would have given it to someone else.
Dolan.. 8 A livewire the entire match. Again he contributed prodigious work rate and effort for the whole match. Befuddled Readings defenders time and again and was rewarded with a superbly taken goal. Almost repeated the goal but for a marvellous save by Southwood. Beaten by the Lashers today and watching Dolan's goal on Quest is sure to make the average PNE supporter's cup of woe runneth over.
Subs
Van Hecke (Ayala 39) 8 A strong and accomplished defensive display almost culminating in what would have been a contender for goal of the season.
Poveda (Nyambe 59) 6 Did have a hand in both goals but otherwise not quite the performance that he gave v Coventry.
Johnson (Rothwell 87) 6 Took a yellow for the cause and quite right too. Other clubs break our attacks down by deliberate professional fouls so it's good to see us adopt point winning tactics too.
Tony Mowbray.. 7 Sent out what most believe is his strongest team and strongest formation. I read that he frequently pays too much to the oppositions strengths than our own, if so then that didn't happen today. We lost Armstrong, THB, Downing and Elliot through no fault of our own from last season's squad so much credit must be given for picking up Edun and Pickering on the cheap and also bringing in Van Hecke, Khadra and Poveda on loan. All three looking like they will have a part to play in our season. Looks like he might have a difficult January but that won't really be his fault when the above table is considered.
Referee Tony Harrington 7 A generally good performance especially in allowing play to continue without his whistle getting in the way of flowing football. Did penalise and book Van Hecke on his linesman's advice. In circumstances like that I can accept a free kick but a booking is harsh if he saw no offence himself. Still it was prob correct as the Rovers players didn't complain too much did they? I do think this chap is one of the better referees.
P.S. Just a note but if anyone thinks it's bad being a Rovers fan spare a though for poor old Reading supporters.
No 1st Div or Premier League title ever. Highest position 7th in the Premier League,
No FA Cup win or even an appearance in an FA Cup final.
No League Cup Win nor ever an appearance in a final
The single success being a win in the Full Members Cup.
Even worse the fans have voted on their all time favourite players. No Shearer, No Duggie, No Tugay, No Bill Eck, Graeme le Saux, Keith Newton etc etc etc . Things are so bad for the Royals that 7th in the list of their all time best players is none other than Jimmy Quinn! Crikey just how far down our list would he be?
Compare this to the likes of Norwich, NUFC, Burnley etc and I'm damned glad to be where we are! Just a pity that there are so many glory hunters amongst our number rather than football supporters. I saw a tweet earlier from a Reading fan saying 'Your ground is too big for you' . So it is to be honest but then again with a population of 350,000 and a ground capacity at the Madjeski of over 24000 Reading too are suffering from life in the Championship with an average gate under 13000!
To misquote the Bard "something is rotten in the state of English Football". Reading have some decent players but a wage bill which believe it or not is over twice the amount of ours! Check these figures out from just a couple of years ago.
2019/20 - wage bills
1: £94.2m - Stoke City
2: £92.2m - West Brom
3: £90.7m - Swansea City
4: £62.6m - Huddersfield
5: £54.3m - Fulham
6: £48.7m - Middlesbrough
7: £46.4m - Cardiff City
8: £40.4m - Derby
9: £38.5m - Birmingham
10: £35.3m - Reading
11: £31.3m - Leeds
12: £31.1m - Hull
13: £30.6m - QPR
14: £29.3m - Sheff Wed
15: £27.7m - Nottm Forest
16: £27.2m - Bristol City
17: £17.1m - Brentford
18: £16.7m - Blackburn
19: £15.0m - Preston
20: £13.3m - Millwall
21: £11.7m - Wigan
22: £10.6m - Barnsley
23: £10.2m - Charlton
24: £6.2m - Luton
Just what is going on? As far as I am concerned this is far and away the best League in the country to get our football fix in so who are the Marketing men employed by the Championship? Are there even any? If so they need sacking. It's surely time to market this division much much better. No wonder football is in the financial doo dah is it? No wonder either that Reading are facing a Derby like points deduction for breeching financial rules and no wonder Rothwell, Lenihan and a much more limited talent like Ryan Nyambe can have their heads turned is it?
Anyway rant over, onto the match and with Reading lording it just outside the play off positions and having been embarrassed by Blackpool last time out in losing 2-3 after opening up a 2 goal lead I feared the worst! btw two similar events proving that it's not just Rovers fans that have to suffer from inexplicable lapses in performance. Rovers cold start didn't help either as they continually conceded ground to a rather physical Reading, is it just me or are have most teams in the Championship become more brutal and uncompromising in their play? It wasn't until the 30th minute when Joe Rothwell fed Sam Gallagher down the left channel for the big lad cut inside to send a superbly struck swerving shot crashing off the woodwork that the Rovers woke up. Next John Buckley fuelled the turnaround as he was booked for clattering Chelsea loanee Danny Drinkwater in a dangerous position which appeared to be possibly the result of a little bad feeling between the pair. An obvious booking by Ref Harrington but it should have been his second as Reading's Laurent had already committed at least 3 bookable offences by the 20th minute, the final one being a ridiculous dive in front of the Blackburn End in an obvious attempt to con a penalty out of the Referee. I don't believe Laurent's action was the most positive thing to do to help popularise the BLM movement amongst the Blackburn faithful.
Next up an injury to Danny Ayala in the 39th minute forced him to come off and be replaced by Van Hecke. Ayala didn't appear to be in too much pain so I hope his injury is only a minor one. He's been one of our players of the season up to now imo and although Van Hecke gave a really top performance we can't survive with just 2 injury free centre halves for very long.
HT 0-0 Confession time and in a conversation with a newish member of this mb in the concourse I said that if I was a betting man my money would go on a Reading win. Glass half empty again I have to say.
Second half and the Rovers began much brighter and facing the Blackburn End took the fight to Reading. Unfortunately on 59 minutes lightning appeared to be striking us twice as Nyambe also broke down and had to be taken off. He's turning into a real sick note, is he too muscle bound perhaps? With no replacement defender on the bench John Buckley was despatched to right back and and TM who appeared about to send on Khadra was forced to change his intentions and send on Poveda instead to replace Buckley in the middle.
Now I really did fear the worst.... but only for two minutes! Joe Rothwell again to the rescue as he picked the ball up in the centre circle before taking it on a typical high speed close control run before leaving Scott Dann for dead and poking a shot though the legs of Moore past keeper Southwood and onto the inside of the near post, the ball rebounded along the line to give an easy tap in for Sam Gallagher. 1-0 and much relief from the Ewood crowd. 3 minutes later and Dolan made it 2 after a wonderful solo effort as he cut in from the left, onto his right foot before swerving a shot into the far corner of the goal. I was right behind the line of that shot and it was in all the way from the time it left his boot! Are you watching PNE?
Now it was all Reading attacking in an attempt to get back in the match and the Rovers counter attacking on the break. Mowbray wanting to add bite to the midfield replaced Rothwell with Johnson with Rothwell receiving a standing ovation from the crowd. Rather reminded me of Shearer v Wimbledon many moon ago.
Just time for Van Hecke to become Oh Heck! Charging out of defence he played the ball left to Poveda and rather rashly, given the match situation, continued his run upfield, Poveda slung over a cross to BB on the back post who headed it down for Van Hecke with the goal at his mercy to knock the ball with the wrong foot towards the wrong side only to see it roll the wrong side of the post. Three wrongs not making a right for poor old Jan Paul eh? A massive miss, in fact a miss that he'll remember all his life but one which he can easily be forgiven after we ran out 2-0 winners.
Kaminsky 6 Solid enough but with only two shots on target and poor ones at that it must have been his easiest match of the season.
Nyambe 6 Having a decent match until again having to limp off the pitch.
Lenihan... 7 Solid performance throughout to stifle and limit Reading's attacking options.
Ayala.. 7 Ditto. Unfortunately had to go off injured. I can't rem who asked the question on here 'who thought Ayala would be an ever present after 14 matches? but it did the trick by tempting fate.
Edun.. 7 Decent match and stood in for Pickering well, although he did on occasion look a little under pressure and was unable to venture too far forward.
Travis... 7 Strong performance from a tough guy, all the more remarkable given the way he limped off on Tuesday night. All credit to the medics and physios.
Buckley 8 A terrific midfield performance unfortunately cut short by his having to finish at right back. How TM can think Leighton Clarkson is a better option is baffling. Leighton obviously has promise but he does resemble the Buckley boy of two years ago, that boy is a man now.
Rothwell...8 Are scouts watching or are his trademark lightning runs with the ball tied to his laces delivering the goals because of a change in tactics or teammates? Whatever the reason he is now in devastating form.
Brereton... 6 A quiet game for BB although he was unfortunate not to have an assist to his name when he unselfishly set up Van Heck for his Oh Heck miss.
Gallagher... 7 Four shots one against the bar, one just over, one that he really should have done better with and a tap in to open the scoring. He could have had a hat trick. I hope he's saving em for when they matter. Peter Jackson MoM. I can see why he got it but I would have given it to someone else.
Dolan.. 8 A livewire the entire match. Again he contributed prodigious work rate and effort for the whole match. Befuddled Readings defenders time and again and was rewarded with a superbly taken goal. Almost repeated the goal but for a marvellous save by Southwood. Beaten by the Lashers today and watching Dolan's goal on Quest is sure to make the average PNE supporter's cup of woe runneth over.
Subs
Van Hecke (Ayala 39) 8 A strong and accomplished defensive display almost culminating in what would have been a contender for goal of the season.
Poveda (Nyambe 59) 6 Did have a hand in both goals but otherwise not quite the performance that he gave v Coventry.
Johnson (Rothwell 87) 6 Took a yellow for the cause and quite right too. Other clubs break our attacks down by deliberate professional fouls so it's good to see us adopt point winning tactics too.
Tony Mowbray.. 7 Sent out what most believe is his strongest team and strongest formation. I read that he frequently pays too much to the oppositions strengths than our own, if so then that didn't happen today. We lost Armstrong, THB, Downing and Elliot through no fault of our own from last season's squad so much credit must be given for picking up Edun and Pickering on the cheap and also bringing in Van Hecke, Khadra and Poveda on loan. All three looking like they will have a part to play in our season. Looks like he might have a difficult January but that won't really be his fault when the above table is considered.
Referee Tony Harrington 7 A generally good performance especially in allowing play to continue without his whistle getting in the way of flowing football. Did penalise and book Van Hecke on his linesman's advice. In circumstances like that I can accept a free kick but a booking is harsh if he saw no offence himself. Still it was prob correct as the Rovers players didn't complain too much did they? I do think this chap is one of the better referees.
P.S. Just a note but if anyone thinks it's bad being a Rovers fan spare a though for poor old Reading supporters.
No 1st Div or Premier League title ever. Highest position 7th in the Premier League,
No FA Cup win or even an appearance in an FA Cup final.
No League Cup Win nor ever an appearance in a final
The single success being a win in the Full Members Cup.
Even worse the fans have voted on their all time favourite players. No Shearer, No Duggie, No Tugay, No Bill Eck, Graeme le Saux, Keith Newton etc etc etc . Things are so bad for the Royals that 7th in the list of their all time best players is none other than Jimmy Quinn!
Crikey just how far down our list would he be?
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Last edited:
khmerblue
Senior Member
Like you say Drog the championship is a great league,look at boro 3 wins in a week have seen them shoot up this league into the play offs. On the Ayala injury TM said he had been feeling his calf for a couple of weeks,unknown to TM. Surely as a elder statesman of our dressing room Ayala should inform management about his injury , youngsters making there way in the game I can understand but seasoned pro's should know better.Just shows this management game is not easy.
Old Darwen Blue
Prediction Champion 2021, 2022 & 2023
Hey, I once saw Jimmy Quinn score three headers at Bramall Lane! I wasn’t drunk, well a little TBH.
Smells Like Kean Spirit
Senior Member
Cheers for the review Theno. Like most, I feared the worst when Armstrong left, but our attack seems to be more dynamic this season. Anyone know how many goals we had scored at this stage last season? Would be interesting to compare!
Smells Like Kean Spirit
Senior Member
Just shy of four goals when Armstrong was knocking them in for fun. Don't think many expected that. Diaz and Dolan have really stepped up to the plate and Gallagher and Rothwell have upped their games too, virtually compensating for the loss of Amrstrong. We need to tighten up the defence, but that should start with the midfield, if you ask me. Maybe too much defensive responsibility is falling to Travis.
That starts with the entire team in my book. MU's forwards hanging Shaw out to dry yesterday proved that. Problem we have is that at the moment Rothwell and Buckley aren't natural defenders but are playing too well at the moment to leave out so Trav has to perform a double shift.
Old Darwen Blue
Prediction Champion 2021, 2022 & 2023
I think JRC will be back pretty soon and with Pickering on the left we are sorted.