Bolton Wanderers Forum The-Wanderer.co.uk

I had the pleasure of attending a League Two game last night due to a friend of mine playing for one of the clubs.

The match in question was Stockport v Rochdale, two teams battling to make it into the play-offs.

What an absolute shocker. True the conditions were pretty grim last night but christ on a bike it was a poor game. Stockport won 2-0 with their only shots on target, the first a free header from a corner and the second after the Rochdale keeper (ex Stockport) had a rush of blood and came 20 yards out of his area and didn't get within 10 yards of the on-coming striker.

The standard of football was truly appalling. Stockport seemed to rely on hitting the big target man up front....and that was it. Rochdale would pass it around for a while and then hoof it up front to a striker about 5'8 surrounded by two giant centre halves.

The number of times 10 yard passes were misplaced, kicks miscued, crosses shanked was amazing - I thought we were shit!

All of the players on the pitch only 4 looked anything like they could play at a higher level.

1. Ashley Williams - centre half and captain of Stockport. Looked good in the air, athletic and composed. Actually played a few decent balls out from the back.

2. Logan (?) - the Stockport right-back. Good pace, willingness to overlap and whip the ball into the box.

3. Adam Le Fondre - small striker for Rochdale (another ex Stockport player, a crowd fave judging by them chanting his name). Looked to have a good touch and intelligent link up play, skillful. Think he may do better in a more 'football' playing league.

4. Kallum Higginbotham - much-hyped right winger for Rochdale (I think Liverpool had him on trial). Very quick and direct but a little bit head down at times. Obviously has ability but Rochdale appeared to expect him to do everything himself on occasions. Went off with what appeared to be a bad knee injury.

All in all it just makes me appreciate even more the position we are in - I remember being turned over a few times by Stockport back in the days of Kevin Francis. A truly sobering thought in that was the kind of fayre our season tickets would serve.

Idiot Wind wrote: The standard of football was truly appalling. Stockport seemed to rely on hitting the big target man up front....and that was it. Rochdale would pass it around for a while and then hoof it up front to a striker about 5'8 surrounded by two giant centre halves.

The number of times 10 yard passes were misplaced, kicks miscued, crosses shanked was amazing...

So just like watching Bolton then!

Least it'd be moderately cheaper.

I miss hammering Wolves every year too.

In approach yes - in execution about 10 times worse.......if the human mind can comprehend such a thought!

How did Chris Basham do? We've loaned him to Rochdale. I gather he played the last twenty minutes.

Did ok actually. Looked to feed passes on the floor to Le Fondre who perked up a bit when he realised someone with a footballing brain was there.

Looked a bit lightweight and tentative in the tackle but had a decent touch and passing range. That's the positives. Disappointly he didn't see all that interested, appearing very laid back. Not sure if that's just his natural style a la Carrick rather than Hargeaves???

Idiot Wind wrote:Did ok actually. Looked to feed passes on the floor to Le Fondre who perked up a bit when he realised someone with a footballing brain was there.

Looked a bit lightweight and tentative in the tackle but had a decent touch and passing range. That's the positives. Disappointly he didn't see all that interested, appearing very laid back. Not sure if that's just his natural style a la Carrick rather than Hargeaves???

Cheers. Basham needs to get a few pies down him but at 6' 3" at least he's got the height. Funnily enough Newcastle released him when he was 15 as they didn't reckon he was going to big enough. He's a footballer, not a clogger and when those passes come off he can rip a defence to shreds, but he lacks the consistency at the moment. We've signed him on a long contract, so he's going to be around for a while.

As I said he does look to have ability, some of his passes were crisp and intelligent. The problem was that Rochdale only had one player ahead of him with a decent touch so he hardly had many options. Certainly wouldn't criticise him from what I saw but nothing to write home about - he did only play 20 mins of a match that they'd already lost though so difficult to assess.

Idiot Wind wrote:The standard of football was truly appalling. Stockport seemed to rely on hitting the big target man up front....and that was it.

Blimey. A far cry from the days when they had Kevin Francis up front then?

I must be alright at this scouting lark - Le Fondre bagged a hatrick on Saturday!