Over Hill, Over Dale - Tuesday 14th February (H)

[TANGODANCER]

Mic man and Zico doing a jig in the box and about a few mins left. Scores and....we clear and....some chat about who scored....like I care....and Dale clear. Can we hold it together and....we get a throw as they ,make a double sub. Rathbone? Rafferty..? A real dour battle this but none of that matter, four and a half plus stoppage (which can't be much) Thorpe and Moxey clear, they wallop it back, Beevers returns it. They come at us and...Canavan and...Andrews and Beever and Moxey scramble it clear. Morais announced as our golascorer and mic lads have a chat. Back and forth, to and fro....Madine gets nothing again and.....Wheater challenges and clears. Hold on lads and we'll all be very happy. And now Wheater clears again and then Spearing clears . Moxey, Madine and.....and....ohhhhhh it goes just wide . Was that Long or Madine. We keep it in the corner well and....and....Moxey takes a throw and...three added mins and.....Long can't get in there. Dale come. we clear, Moxey hacks with gusto and...time is ticking.....and....a throw them and....they have it and in and.....and.....a goal kick us. Big ben strikes ten and Zico leads as chant in the mic box. Beevers clears, Zico guffaws, Bevers gets the goal allowed and.....and...we clear and...in it comes and.....out and.....and.....and.....we win 1-0.

[palindromeofbolton]

Gap on Scunny closes to two points with a game in hand.

[bristol_Wanderer3]

Sounded hard work, but a great result. Our destiny depends on our away form now. 16 games left, 10 away...

[Little Green Man]

The rose is red,
The shorts are blue.
Why score more
When one will do?

[TonyDomingos]

Half term / Valentine's Day. In Naples with Mrs Domingos & Domingos Jnr. We beat Rochdale. Which of these things makes me happiest?

[TANGODANCER]

Sounded a dour affair but with another first team full back out injured a win is a great result regardless of the method of getting it. Be interesting to see how the match goers rated the payers. Vela sounded awful quiet out there and Alf didn't seem to get into gear? Any comments?

[BWFC_Insane]

Massive win in a very scrappy game. Absolutely crucial. Really kicks us on especially with the other results.

However, Spearing booting the ball into the stand after we scored earned him a yellow. Which means he misses the next two games. Bradford and Sheffield Utd away. Not a small problem that.

Two games we will be up against it and Spearing is a big big miss.

[TANGODANCER]

Sounds harsh on Spearing, but he should have more sense knowing he was on yellow already. With two full backs and him missing we could really have problems. Got to put our chances away and take the pressure off the defence a bit.

[Harry Genshaw]

Scrappy game, we still look too pedestrian at times but great to grind out 3 points.

Whatever the truth of his season so far, Madine was man of the match by a country mile tonight. I don't think he lost a single header.

[Nicko58]

Sounded a dour affair but with another first team full back out injured a win is a great result regardless of the method of getting it. Be interesting to see how the match goers rated the payers. Vela sounded awful quiet out there and Alf didn't seem to get into gear? Any comments?

We too often looked to hit it long and as a result created very little, with Morais being the only real bright spot. Rochdale settled for a point after an hour and probably deserved one.

Still, we won and other results went for us so I guess that that's the main thing.

[BWFC_Insane]

Scrappy game, we still look too pedestrian at times but great to grind out 3 points.

Whatever the truth of his season so far, Madine was man of the match by a country mile tonight. I don't think he lost a single header.

Aye, Madine was our man of the match, by a long way.

[Bruce Rioja]

Blimey - I'll have the points but please don't ever make me sit through that again. Madine had far and away the best game I've seen him have to date. In fact, that's one decent and one very good game in succession since Clough left. Coincidence?

Who got credited with the goal btw? And how true a reflection was the goal in relation to the rest of the game. Awful stuff but a very welcome three points.

[Nicko58]

Scrappy game, we still look too pedestrian at times but great to grind out 3 points.

Whatever the truth of his season so far, Madine was man of the match by a country mile tonight. I don't think he lost a single header.

Madine put in another good showing but the problem is that we tried to play everything through him, meaning that we spent most of the match hitting long balls up field and into the box in the hope that something would come of it. Granted, he won more in the air tonight than he usually does but it invariably came to nothing and I can't help but think that we're needlessly restricting ourselves by doing that.

[BWFC_Insane]

Scrappy game, we still look too pedestrian at times but great to grind out 3 points.

Whatever the truth of his season so far, Madine was man of the match by a country mile tonight. I don't think he lost a single header.

Madine put in another good showing but the problem is that we tried to play everything through him, meaning that we spent most of the match hitting long balls up field and into the box in the hope that something would come of it. Granted, he's starting to win it in the air more often than he used to but invariably it comes to nothing and I can't help but think that we're needlessly restricting ourselves by doing that.

With our midfield I think we've got little else really. One paced midfield with zero creativity.

[General Mannerheim]

line up?

Unchanged. Long is among the subs.

Is James Henry a victim of the max loan players rule? Also Clayton - injured or out of favour? surely he's preferred to Wilkinson? Dorian on the bench too!

[Bruno3]

Dire match but the sort you have to win if you want to get promoted.
Back three worked well until Taylor went off - Moxey was his usual awful self and was waving his arms around bollocking his team mates when his sh*t passes put them in trouble. If he's our only choice in that position we're in deep poo.
Trotter did what he does - runs around and covers ground but creatively useless.
Morais was good again and Madine was, as others have said, our best player.
Spearing will be a big loss at a time when we need to be getting results away from home.

[TANGODANCER]

line up?

Unchanged. Long is among the subs.

Is James Henry a victim of the max loan players rule? Also Clayton - injured or out of favour? surely he's preferred to Wilkinson? Dorian on the bench too!

Just possible Parky's juggling between his best team and keeping squad spirit up. With so little real depth of strength he has to try and work off what he sees on the training pitch surely? From previous reports I always thought Clayton was a world-beater in the making; maybe he is and just not quite ready. Henry, Devite? what's the injured list right now? With two best full backs out and Spearing banned for two games we might need everybody we have come Saturday and Bradford.

[boltonboris]

Scrappy game, we still look too pedestrian at times but great to grind out 3 points.

Whatever the truth of his season so far, Madine was man of the match by a country mile tonight. I don't think he lost a single header.

Madine put in another good showing but the problem is that we tried to play everything through him, meaning that we spent most of the match hitting long balls up field and into the box in the hope that something would come of it. Granted, he's starting to win it in the air more often than he used to but invariably it comes to nothing and I can't help but think that we're needlessly restricting ourselves by doing that.

With our midfield I think we've got little else really. One paced midfield with zero creativity.

Direct play worked in the second half and Long's introduction really helped - Think we have to find a way to get him into the starting XI - His pace could be a vital, vital outball when we'll be under undoubted pressure for the next fortnight

[boltonboris]

Moxey fills me with dread.. Over commits, flies in and his first touch makes him look like he's got little trampolines on his toes. A red card walking and a real worry at LB/LWB position now

Derik was more than adequate on the right of the 3 and was never exposed by an (yet again) impressive Morais

[BWFC_Insane]

Scrappy game, we still look too pedestrian at times but great to grind out 3 points.

Whatever the truth of his season so far, Madine was man of the match by a country mile tonight. I don't think he lost a single header.

Madine put in another good showing but the problem is that we tried to play everything through him, meaning that we spent most of the match hitting long balls up field and into the box in the hope that something would come of it. Granted, he's starting to win it in the air more often than he used to but invariably it comes to nothing and I can't help but think that we're needlessly restricting ourselves by doing that.

With our midfield I think we've got little else really. One paced midfield with zero creativity.

Direct play worked in the second half and Long's introduction really helped - Think we have to find a way to get him into the starting XI - His pace could be a vital, vital outball when we'll be under undoubted pressure for the next fortnight

Agreed. Though I wonder if he's one who has more impact off the bench against tired defenders?

I cannot see the 3 at the back system working away from home. Even less so without Taylor and Spearing. Think it will need to be a 4-4-2 diamond possibly? Or a 4-3-3 with Long and someone else flanking ALF or Madine?

Personally I'm taking any points at all out of the next two as a complete bonus.