Elite_pie

I think Rose tends to be underrated because his main attribute is doing the 'dirty work' in midfield. By that I mean winning tackles and headers and stopping the opposition playing. It won't get you on the edge of your seat, but it's something all teams need and I thought he fulfilled his role adequately yesterday, which few others managed to do. His passing can be poor and he is sometimes indecisive when on the ball, but if he leaves us I predict it will be to go to a higher rather than lower level.

Decided I wouldn't bother with these because it's too painful, but now there's a topic here goes: Slocombe 6 - no saves of note, but couldn't be faulted for their goals. Brindley 5 - started slowly, and didn't speed up much. Lacey 6 - nothing too bad, but only average. Turner 5 - looked off the pace from the start. Bagan 6 - a bit mixed, but a promising kid who will play above this level. Roberts 6.5 -anonymous for large parts, but showed his quality with the goal and the shot that nearly got us level. Rose 6.5* - competed well and played some of our best forward passes. Doyle 6 - always available but his passing was generally poor. O'Brien 5 - not often Jim has an off day, but today was one of them. Wootton 6 - held the ball up well but no real goal threat. Dennis 5 - one effort first half, but that was it. Enzio 5.5 - started well but faded with the rest of the team. Thomas 6 - looked livelier than Dennis when he came on. Kelly-Evans 6 - did as much as could be expected in his short time on the pitch. Really disappointing. We started half asleep, and only woke up for 15 minutes after half time. The best team definitely won, so congratulations to Harrogate. On the positive side I think we have really good owners and the basis of a good squad at this level if we can retain most of the players. The doubt I have is whether we have the right manager in place to make the most of the squad.

Hard to give ratings from a computer screen, but this is what I saw: Slocombe 7 - only one save to make, but it was a good one. Brindley 7 - got into some good forward positions and solid defensively. Lacey 7.5 - looks a class above this level. Turner 7 - the Turner we saw before his injury. Just does his job well. Bagan 7 - a potent forward threat first half, good defensively in the second. Roberts 7 - took a while to get into the game, but when he did he showed his class. Rose 7.5 - showed his value today. Won loads of challenges and helped us win the midfield battle. Doyle 7 - used his experience to the max. Nothing spectacular, but just what we needed. O'Brien 7.5* - always involved, created the first and just about shaded MOM. Wootton - 6.5 - led the line well but didn't make the most of his chances on goal. Dennis 6.5 - a bit out of the game for spells, but did what he's best at in poaching a goal. Enzio 6 - struggled to get involved, but a great option to bring off the bench at this level. Thomas 6 - no time to make an impact, but looked lively. Good to be able to do these ratings again even if it is only via the telly. A good all round team performance, and credit to the manager for getting his selection and formation right. Let's just hope that everyone can repeat it next weekend.

McDonnell 6 - hard to mark high or low because he only had one routine save to make. Brindley 6.5 - had a fair game but on current form DKE looks the best option at right back. Rawlinson 7 - another good, solid performance. Lacey 7- see above. Bagan 6.5 - not a lot between him and McCrory at left back, a good example of the squad depth we have. Roberts 7.5 - sometimes takes the wrong option and not everything worked today, but what a player! I love it that his first instinct is always to go forward, there's a real sense of expectation whenever he gets the ball. Doyle 7.5 - showed what he offers today, always involved and a calm head. He did nothing spectacular, but I can see why Ardley will always see him as one of the first names on the teamsheet. Rose 6 - I maybe being a bit generous here with a 6, but he did show his usual commitment and provided a very intelligent pass for Wootton's second. The downside is that he was indecisive on the ball and his passing was poor Boldewijn 6.5 - I don't get why people call him lazy, because his best work was done defensively, pity he left his shooting boots at home. Wootton 7.5 - much better, although he seemed to have done something to upset the ref who gave him nothing all afternoon. Two good finishes and led the line to good effect. Dennis 8* - how did we manage to send a player of his ability out on loan when we were so cr@p last season? A constant threat throughout, and another good goal. Crawford 7 - again looked the part when he came on. Surely he offers more than Rose at home. Thomas 6 - not much time to impress but good to see him make the effort to get a starting place. Wilson 6 - see above. Apart from the obvious huge negative hanging over us all, we can only take positives from events on the pitch. It was one of those rare occasions at Notts - an enjoyable and comprehensive win with no nervy moments. At last we are looking like a pretty formidable football team. It may count for nothing in the grand scheme of things, but at least we went out on a high.

Silly kick off times. I like 3pm on a Saturday or 7.45pm on a Tuesday.

It doesn't matter, because there was no recall option in Tyson's loan to Chesterfield.

Slocombe...6 - Let down by his defence for the goal, nothing to do otherwise. Brindley.....5.5 - poor game defensively and going forward. He is better than this. Bakayogo...6 - Average game, unlucky to be taken off. McCrory.....6 - gave their forward too much space for the cross the led to the winner, otherwise ok. Turner.......6.5* - basically did his job well, my MOTM award is more down to the lack of opposition. Rose..........5 - again dithered on the ball and too many poor passes. Doyle........6.5 - always available for a pass, but offered nothing creatively. Dennis......5 - far less lively than of late, missed our best chance. Boldewijn...6 - looked our best chance of creating something. Wootton....5.5 - a couple of good bits but overall he was disappointing. Shields.....5 - didn't beat his full back and his crosses were catching practice for their keeper. Subs All of them 5 - they did nothing to change the game. Overall a poor performance against a team who offered very little. We looked good until the final third where they defended with ease. Getting nothing from a game like this is something that Ardley needs to address quickly.

Interesting discussion to be had on the subject of exactly what means what regarding match ratings. If you make the scale 0-10 then that gives 11 possible ratings, so it could be argued that 5.5 is the mid point. To be honest, my ratings conform to the Sunday paper ratings I grew up with in the 70s, when a zero rating wasn't an option. I always try and keep it rational, so my ratings are usually between 4 and 8, which gives a bit of leeway for an exceptionally good or bad performance. I love these ratings threads for two reasons - firstly it gives me an idea if people saw the game as I saw it, and more importantly it gives those who couldn't attend a general idea of how the players performed. On that basis, the more ratings offered the clearer the picture becomes. There is no right or wrong answer on this because we all have different opinions, so have a go!

I think your mean of 5 is a bit mean, so here are my ratings with a mean of 6: Slocombe 6 - the only reason he gets an average mark is because he had very little to do, apart from a bit of catching practice! Brindley 7.5 - not only solid defensively, but a world class strike for the opener. Rawlinson 8* - really committed performance. To say he outshone Turner says all that needs saying. Turner 7.5 - what we have come to expect, wins far more challenges than he loses. Bakayogo 7.5 - best game I've seen him play. Sound at both ends on the left, fortunately his injury seems minor. Shields 7 - decent going forward and played his part defensively. Rose 6.5 - better in the challenge than when on the ball, but had a decent game. Doyle 7.5 - gave the back four great protection, always available for a pass, showed what an asset he can be. Enzio 6.5 - most of his best work was done defensively, still caused them a few problems going forward. Wootton 7 - did exactly what a target man should do, and has a fair bit of skill for a big man. Dennis 7 - missed a sitter but scored a goal from nothing. Always looked lively. Kelly-Evans 6.5 - probably more at home on the right, but a good option to bring on from the bench. Booty 6 - did his job when he came on. Thomas 6 - no real involvement but helped us see out the last few minutes. A really good, committed performance against a decent team. The fact they were only good up to the final third is more down to our defensive shape than their failings. We actually looked like a team that is hard to beat. I'm still not quite ready to join the Ardley fan club, but he can be given nothing but credit for the last few games. Keep it going Neal and please make me apologise at the end of the season.

Consider me goaded! I'm amazed so many prefer Jorge Grant over Ryan Yates. Grant was good up until Christmas but a waste of a shirt after it. Yates is twice the player Grant will ever be.

We were reasonable with 11 men, and superb with 10 men. When Doyle saw red I expected the rest of the game would see us penned in our own half desperately booting it anywhere and trying to cling on for the point. It was just the opposite, we restricted Halifax to one half chance and created far better ones ourselves. We were so comfortable we could easily have won by two or three. Full marks to Ardley today, the formation we played with 10 men was spot on. For the first time this season we had a genuine shape and a pattern of play. Wootton did a great job up front on his own, and O'Brien controlled the midfield. For me, those two should share the MOM award. Halifax didn't know how to cope with it, because playing it around didn't work for them and playing long didn't work either. I was surprised how easily we kept them at bay, I don't think Slocombe had anything to do in the second half. We now have to make sure this isn't yet another false dawn because if they were second in the league on merit, we don't have a lot to fear.

For anyone looking at the scoreline and thinking that we outclassed Chorley, think again. For 30 minutes we were absolutely clueless, we were being completely played off the park by a team of part-timers and should have been at least two goals down. Then, with our first meaningful attack O'Brien had the awareness to set up Tyson (who's only contribution until then had been to tackle himself in their box) finished well. The rest of the half was uneventful, but we were very lucky to go in at half time on level terms. Even in the second half we didn't create a lot, but three of the goals were real quality strikes from outside the box, the sort we are lucky to see 3 times in 3 months, let alone 3 times in 20 odd minutes. The plus point is that this result should have given confidence a big boost, especially with all the strikers getting on the scoresheet. We now have to make sure this is a turning point, because the table is such that two wins may well see us in the playoff places, while two defeats will see us close to the drop zone. One final thing, it was good to see the Chorley players get generous applause from the main stand on leaving the pitch, because they were far better than the scoreline suggests.

You know how the Leave campaign said that we shouldn't be forced to live under horrible EU laws, and we should 'take control of our own destiny' and live under UK laws, here's an example of one of those horrible EU laws in action. My youngest daughter and her boyfriend paid £760 each to go on an all-inclusive holiday to Mexico in June. They loved every minute, but on the last day their incoming flight was forced to turn back to Manchester causing a six hour delay for their return. The hotel they were in allowed them to keep their all-inclusive wristbands for an extra six hours, so basically they got an extended holiday. When they got home I told her to look into claiming delay compensation even though they didn't really suffer. This morning she got a letter telling her that under EU laws they were entitled to 600 euros (£540) each in compensation. She has just finished her first year at uni training to be a nurse (£9,000 per annum course fees under the Tories), so the money is very welcome. If we had left on 29th March as planned, they probably wouldn't have got a penny!

Great work as always on this thread Piethagoram, as a fervent remainer I love reading it. Have a look at this, because this is the sad reality of what the grand phrase "taking control of our own destiny" has ultimately amounted to: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49021081

If either play at Meadow Lane in black and white stripes I'd give it a go. Although "Come on you sausages" would take a bit of getting used to.