Bolton 1-1 Portsmouth

Our next game is against current in form league leaders Portsmouth.

The reverse fixture gave Portsmouth the 3 points after their 2 nil win against Bolton.

With Baxter back in the starting line up and hopefully Dion Charles back just in time, can we get the 3 points and carry on our good run and have a bit of luck against them?

Derby are away to Wycombe on Wednesday evening and I think that they will be feeling the pressure a bit with only being one point ahead of Bolton.

Their last fixture at Pride Park resulted in a 1-1 draw.

If they draw again on Wednesday and we get a win on Saturday then we will be back in 2nd place by a point.

What do you guys think?

I think we should focus on improving our performance level after that poor showing at Bristol , including tightening up our defence and creating more up top - the results will take care of themselves. And we should hope we don't get any more injuries.

I wasn't greatly impressed by Portsmouth against Derby. They seemed to be behaving the same as we are currently, i.e. they have the skill but seemed to lack the inventiveness needed at crucial times. 
Our lot haven't quite realised that we can't score whilst we are kicking it back and fore in defence. Also, we need someone to drive and direct the team and its efforts. Our current captain seems to have lost some of his magic since his return. No doubt it will return, but we need someone further upfield to take hold of the play.
We have the skill, but need the direction.

gloswhite wrote:I wasn't greatly impressed by Portsmouth against Derby. They seemed to be behaving the same as we are currently, i.e. they have the skill but seemed to lack the inventiveness needed at crucial times. 
Our lot haven't quite realised that we can't score whilst we are kicking it back and fore in defence. Also, we need someone to drive and direct the team and its efforts. Our current captain seems to have lost some of his magic since his return. No doubt it will return, but we need someone further upfield to take hold of the play.
We have the skill, but need the direction.

To me it seems that we're trying to address the problem of packed defences by moving it quicker than we did and playing Maghoma who can beat a player and mess with their system - which is an improvement on Santos standing on the ball trying to draw them out but having to hoof it when there are no options.
Tactically we've evolved but we're still stuck with the final ball issue and having Ogbeta and Cogley getting into good positions and then hitting high crosses to the far post isn't really working enough. I'm for driving into the box and/or hitting low hard crosses because in this league we tend to get big CBs who eat high crosses for breakfast. Just a few tweaks here and there and we'll have got the most out of these players IMO and we're not a million miles off getting it right. But we have to stay focused and disciplined.

Good points there Wander. One thing I would like to see more of, and thats taking pot-shots from all angles. Nothing worse than seeing them get up to the goal and then trying to walk it in before its taken off them. And as you say, with so many packed defences, you never know your luck.

I quite agree Glos. I would like to see them take shots from all angles too.

This walking the ball into the back of the net seems far too easy for the opposition to get the ball off one of our players especially when you have all the defence there!

Unbelievable that Derby have given us another lifeline. Blackett-Taylor's open goal miss just about summed up their night - they were shit.
Looking at the final few games, we have the toughest fixtures - and I think we have to win all 4 - but as it stands it is back in our hands.
If we beat Pompey on Saturday I'll start to believe we have a chance and if we do it could set up a final day "winner takes all" game at the Posh.
But one step at a time.
No excuses now - we're back in the box seat.

wanderlust wrote:Unbelievable that Derby have given us another lifeline. Blackett-Taylor's open goal miss just about summed up their night - they were shit.
Looking at the final few games, we have the toughest fixtures - and I think we have to win all 4 - but as it stands it is back in our hands.
If we beat Pompey on Saturday I'll start to believe we have a chance and if we do it could set up a final day "winner takes all" game at the Posh.
But one step at a time.
No excuses now - we're back in the box seat.

Yes, it's in our own hands now, and my inner nervous Nellie has returned.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

boltonbonce wrote:

wanderlust wrote:Unbelievable that Derby have given us another lifeline. Blackett-Taylor's open goal miss just about summed up their night - they were shit.
Looking at the final few games, we have the toughest fixtures - and I think we have to win all 4 - but as it stands it is back in our hands.
If we beat Pompey on Saturday I'll start to believe we have a chance and if we do it could set up a final day "winner takes all" game at the Posh.
But one step at a time.
No excuses now - we're back in the box seat.

Yes, it's in our own hands now, and my inner nervous Nellie has returned.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Yes we need to win on Saturday no if’s or but’s

It's the hope that.....

It's all very very scary.

Cajunboy wrote:It's all very very scary.

Ah!

That explains your current avatar then...

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Ah well - it wasn't our day. Conceded a poor goal with Toal showing the left footer the inside and Baxter flat-footed, but after that we were the better team - scored 1, missed some sitters (Bod!) and hit the pot twice. Cause wasn't helped by some random refereeing.

I agree with you, Wanderlust, but we did suffer from poor refereeing again. 
I suppose every teams’ supporters think that, and I know it’s difficult to be objective, but we had two good shouts for a penalty towards the end. One where the defender brought JC down and another where the defender controlled the ball with his hand. How some of the Portsmouth players weren’t carded for either bad fouls or time wasting is beyond me. 
But, fundamentally, we failed to score a second goal despite dominating.

I agree Barry, the referee was a tosser.

The goals

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Bottom line is that we were the better team on the day. Unfortunately, that counts for nowt. 
We are still in with a shout, but I believe those three games in hand that we had has done us in.
Still, we have to go out a play to win until mathematically out of it - then run hog wild in the playoffs if need be. We can still do it if we keep our heads up.
Just one observation about Ian's subs - he takes of both Sheehan and Mags but leaves GT on - I believe two games in a row now. So, take off your most likely creative two when you need a goal? 
Anyway Onwards.

BarrygoestoBolton wrote:I agree with you, Wanderlust, but we did suffer from poor refereeing again. 
I suppose every teams’ supporters think that, and I know it’s difficult to be objective, but we had two good shouts for a penalty towards the end. One where the defender brought JC down and another where the defender controlled the ball with his hand. How some of the Portsmouth players weren’t carded for either bad fouls or time wasting is beyond me. 
But, fundamentally, we failed to score a second goal despite dominating.

There was another where Santos was quite clearly rugby-tackled at a corner right in front of the ref. We've had some useless refs but this one was right up there with the most useless from start to finish.