Scunthorpe v Barrow Match thread

[Jim]

Oldham will likely stay up - Stevenage for me are the team to drop.

Agree Adam. Have thought Stevenage were the most likely fall guys for a while now. Their performances under Revell at the end of his reign were dreadful. Tisdale achieved the usual dead cat bounce and his reputation convinced many that they were going to be fine. But they've been on the decline again and this seems to be getting worse, Cant recruit and cant change the manager again, so its going to be a real struggle with what they've got to reverse the trend.

I know people say you make your own luck, but that home game against Stevenage was arguably the game we were most unlucky not to win. From what I remember, there was a controversial red card for Holloway, at least two good penalty appeals for us and I think we hit the post twice.

I thought at the time that the result, and the ref's influence on it, could turn out to be crucial.

[Matty]

Oldham will likely stay up - Stevenage for me are the team to drop.

Agree Adam. Have thought Stevenage were the most likely fall guys for a while now. Their performances under Revell at the end of his reign were dreadful. Tisdale achieved the usual dead cat bounce and his reputation convinced many that they were going to be fine. But they've been on the decline again and this seems to be getting worse, Cant recruit and cant change the manager again, so its going to be a real struggle with what they've got to reverse the trend.

Oldham have Sheridan and anything can happen under Sheridan. He truly inspired them when he took over in the way that only he can do. However all their wins did was to propel them back into the relegation fight. Their results have also started to deteriorate again though their performances remain competitive. I believe they also have four consecutive home games coming up. So you wouldn't pin your hopes on a collapse.

As for the finishing line well clearly there will be one but I'm not sure what it will be. If you dont believe it will be us in 23rd place then you have to assess what that team will get. If you think its going to be Stevenage then you could assume that a reasonable (actually pretty good) haul from their last 9 games would be a 50% haul and this would put them in the 47 point range. That is significantly better than they are currently delivering though. Even if Oldham do pick up again it statistically unlikely that both they and Stevenage will make a break at this stage.

Also whilst wins are precious I dont believe they will be easy to come by for any team in the bottom 7-8. We have half a dozen teams who have 8 wins or less so you may well see the 22nd team escaping with no more than 10 wins. In that sense MCs mantra is correct - If you cant win dont lose".

Wouldn't be so sure on that, rumours circulating Tisdale has been given the boot.

[mall]

Agree Adam. Have thought Stevenage were the most likely fall guys for a while now. Their performances under Revell at the end of his reign were dreadful. Tisdale achieved the usual dead cat bounce and his reputation convinced many that they were going to be fine. But they've been on the decline again and this seems to be getting worse, Cant recruit and cant change the manager again, so its going to be a real struggle with what they've got to reverse the trend.

Oldham have Sheridan and anything can happen under Sheridan. He truly inspired them when he took over in the way that only he can do. However all their wins did was to propel them back into the relegation fight. Their results have also started to deteriorate again though their performances remain competitive. I believe they also have four consecutive home games coming up. So you wouldn't pin your hopes on a collapse.

As for the finishing line well clearly there will be one but I'm not sure what it will be. If you dont believe it will be us in 23rd place then you have to assess what that team will get. If you think its going to be Stevenage then you could assume that a reasonable (actually pretty good) haul from their last 9 games would be a 50% haul and this would put them in the 47 point range. That is significantly better than they are currently delivering though. Even if Oldham do pick up again it statistically unlikely that both they and Stevenage will make a break at this stage.

Also whilst wins are precious I dont believe they will be easy to come by for any team in the bottom 7-8. We have half a dozen teams who have 8 wins or less so you may well see the 22nd team escaping with no more than 10 wins. In that sense MCs mantra is correct - If you cant win dont lose".

Wouldn't be so sure on that, rumours circulating Tisdale has been given the boot.

and Orient will have a new man in by the time we go there.

[Van Der Nipper]

Wouldn't be so sure on that, rumours circulating Tisdale has been given the boot.

and Orient will have a new man in by the time we go there.

Do keep up Mall they appointed a manager a week ago.

[Suffolk Blue]

Yes Matty. Should've checked with the Borochat forum and saved myself the analysis. Word is that Tisdale may have gone yesterday (to be confirmed). Wallace the owner is apparently desperately trying to sell the club. Word on the forum is Steve Evans being lined up with a large brown paper bag for the last nine games. If true then strike the above. Stevenage will move into Stingray mode ie. to paraphrase "Anything can happen in the next nine games".

[Suffolk Blue]

and Orient will have a new man in by the time we go there.

Do keep up Mall they appointed a manager a week ago.

Richie Wellens. Has started with two draws. I believe the O's have not won in 14.

[xerxes]

Very relieved to win that, even though we should have scored more. A few random thoughts -

- Gordon was definitely offside for the disallowed goal
- Surprised that some people don't rate Glennon. I think he's done well. And he knows how to cross a ball.
- Only Scunthorpe and Carlisle have scored fewer goals than us. But only eight clubs have conceded fewer than us. Hopefully that will save us. But don't expect a goalfest on Saturday!

[liverpoolann]

Sorry Adam but that is weak management at its best and a total cop out. We could all see he needed to be withdrawn.

We won tonight and thank goodness but Cooper needs to step up to the plate and make the hard decisions when they need to be made and stop blaming everyone else.

If you listen to Coopers interview he did blame himself for leaving Beadling on. He actually says “ my mistake”

Well pointed out Adam the anti Cooper brigade don’t always listen enough to what said.Part of problem is he has not got the charisma of Managers Evatt and Kelly and comes across on media as dour at times.However painful sometimes is too watch he is grinding out results and the players giving their all for him which speaks volumes for what he say in dressing room.It not pretty at times and I hate sideways and back play too much like others but can remember this complaint was also laid at Evatts door at times.Survive the season replace zinzala with more succesful striker and other signings the next season then judge the form.I think the training problems were a valid complaint.For now am in the COOPER in camp.

[Holkerbird]

Very relieved to win that, even though we should have scored more. A few random thoughts -

- But don't expect a goalfest on Saturday!

We won't.
Please please please prove me wrong.
I would be delighted with a 2-0 win---or even 1---0.
Cartwheels across the pitch if we score 2 goals.

[Bigfathoss]

Very relieved to win that, even though we should have scored more. A few random thoughts -

- Gordon was definitely offside for the disallowed goal
- Surprised that some people don't rate Glennon. I think he's done well. And he knows how to cross a ball.
- Only Scunthorpe and Carlisle have scored fewer goals than us. But only eight clubs have conceded fewer than us. Hopefully that will save us. But don't expect a goalfest on Saturday!

This...I think he is a level above what we have and if we had a striker who knew how to play with him then the goals would be coming in from someone else than Rooney. Let's not play down to the lowest common denominator. Let's lift the team to deal with the class.

[Hitthebar22]

Agreed. If they do nothing else in the close season, the club will have to focus all their attention and resources on bringing a couple of proven strikers into the squad. It would be madness to go into another season with the pitiful lack of firepower demonstrated this season. For all their huffing and puffing, none of our current forwards are up to the job unfortunately so maybe they could be off-loaded to offset the necessary outlay.

You are right in identifying that we need some firepower up front, but much easier said than done, particularly in this league. The defences are much more capable than the attacks in L2. Anyone doing well is like gold dust, and usually moves up a league. Telford and Stevens, top of L2 goal scorers haven’t done anything before this season. Quigley came to us with no pedigree, his career reputation was made at Barrow and he deserted us for the mighty dollar. There are repeated calls on here for a “proven striker” (lesson one in the obvious) but no one really goes the extra mile and says how we go about getting one or more. Because know one knows, they pass the responsibility on to the manager and the board, which is their remit. We knew that anyway. If we stay up (and it is far from a given yet) it’s obviously a priority next season, and we all hope we get someone decent.

[Bingo]

It's in our hands but for me I can see Oldham going down. They have now lost the last two, toxic owner and manager it's all about to go very wrong.

[russell_anderson]

Totally deserved 3 points, dominated the worst team I've seen this season. How anyone can say that was a poor performance is beyond me, poor finishing yeah but not a poor performance. Why Beadling was left on after his yellow was ridiculous.

It was dreadful, seriously dreadful. We went 1-0 up against 10 men and then somehow created 4 absolute sitters whilst playing at walking pace against one of the worst sides the football league has seen for some years. Then contrived to miss them all and gave them a sniff that they might get something in the last 10 mins.

It was an embarrassment of a game of professional football, including from the referee who wants striking off for that first Beadling booking.

All that said, it's a massive result and I'll take it all night long.

The most accurate summing up of this match I've seen.

It is difficult to believe that there is a team almost 10 points worse than any other in this incredibly poor league but Scunthorpe showed just why. I've never seen a team in the EFL as bad as they are and we couldn't manage to score more than 1 goal against them even playing against 10 for 3/4 of the match. I've watched Barrow on and off for 65 years and I've never seen 2 so-called strikers with less ability to finish than Holloway and Gordon. I wouldn't give either more than 50% chance of scoring if they were allowed to run at a goalkeeper without any defenders to beat!

Goodness knows what Rooney must be thinking about returning. So much for the clueless who didn't realise just how much we lost when he left. He's in a different class to any of our other players and IMO he's only half the player he was when he left. Quigley is currently warming the Stockport bench so maybe we can get him back next season if we survive although, based on last night, how we will score a goal against any other team is going to be problematical.

[walneyroad]

Well pointed out Adam the anti Cooper brigade don’t always listen enough to what said.

I heard that interview and thought that he must have been reading this forum, as it's the first time I've EVER heard him blame himself, despite his obvious shortcomings.

[Hadrian]

I wouldn't know as I have no knowledge of who any of the backroom staff are. Does anyone?
The days are gone when we knew who was who and what their specific roles were.

They were all listed on page three of the programme, which had 48 pages last season. This season, that page of club information has been dropped and the programme is a slimmer 32 pages but still a credit to those involved in its research and production.

I can understand that section of the page which also contained a contents list, also dropped, becoming a casualty as it is essentially the same week after week (Well, maybe not so much last season... ) and the information is listed on the Who's Who page of the website. Similarly, a contents page is unnecessary.