We're still a long way from the finished article, but today was one of those real heroic performances where, despite the opposition cheating and the ref being very much a "homer", we came away with a very creditable point.
The Virgo sending off incident was right in front of me, and their man (Hughes) made a complete meal of Virgo's challenge with the sole intention of getting Virgs sent off. OK, it was a touch late, but the contact was actually fairly minimal. It was galling in the extreme to watch Hughes writhing around in feigned agony, just long enough to ensure the ref showed Virgo the second yellow. To be honest, I was very unimpressed with Rovers' general attempts to play to the ref all the time, with their toss-pot of a manager in hysterics every time we tackled one of their players.
To secure a point in those circumstances was a fantastic effort, with Tunnicliffe and Elphick in particular doing a great job. I'd also pick out Dicker and Forster - the latter's great shot led to the corner from which we scored (storming header by Tunnicliffe). Forster was also very unlucky to be given off-side shortly afterwards when he was about to storm through on goal.
Rovers are a decent side, and their movement upfront was definitely superior to ours - Kuffour and Dickson make a good partnership, and much as I tried not to admire him, Hughes was at the heart of much of Rovers' best play.
Towards the end we got lucky on a few occasions, with Rovers firstly hitting the post, then missing an absolute sitter at the back post with Kuipers stranded.
Wright came on in the second half, with El Abd reverting to right back - and to be honest looked rather dodgy. Harty and Cox also made appearances, but neither had enough time to make a real impact. It was one of those games where the sending off meant the balance of the game was completely changed, with one team having little option but to defend in depth.
All in all, a very good point.
The Virgo sending off incident was right in front of me, and their man (Hughes) made a complete meal of Virgo's challenge with the sole intention of getting Virgs sent off. OK, it was a touch late, but the contact was actually fairly minimal. It was galling in the extreme to watch Hughes writhing around in feigned agony, just long enough to ensure the ref showed Virgo the second yellow. To be honest, I was very unimpressed with Rovers' general attempts to play to the ref all the time, with their toss-pot of a manager in hysterics every time we tackled one of their players.
To secure a point in those circumstances was a fantastic effort, with Tunnicliffe and Elphick in particular doing a great job. I'd also pick out Dicker and Forster - the latter's great shot led to the corner from which we scored (storming header by Tunnicliffe). Forster was also very unlucky to be given off-side shortly afterwards when he was about to storm through on goal.
Rovers are a decent side, and their movement upfront was definitely superior to ours - Kuffour and Dickson make a good partnership, and much as I tried not to admire him, Hughes was at the heart of much of Rovers' best play.
Towards the end we got lucky on a few occasions, with Rovers firstly hitting the post, then missing an absolute sitter at the back post with Kuipers stranded.
Wright came on in the second half, with El Abd reverting to right back - and to be honest looked rather dodgy. Harty and Cox also made appearances, but neither had enough time to make a real impact. It was one of those games where the sending off meant the balance of the game was completely changed, with one team having little option but to defend in depth.
All in all, a very good point.
Spot on.
