theAnticlough

Another easy one I think...although it was a poor game overall, Jatta's might be the best individual performance of the season so far. His general play and battling was really good. He was our best defender for all the set pieces we defended. And then he won the game with a couple of Jatta specials that not too many others could've scored.

December was always going to be a pig of a month... But with Cheltenham (a) Harrogate (h) and Colchester (h) coming next we could be going into that month in a really lofty position A bit like the PON prediction league, only 5 pts cover the top 13 places in L2 tonight

Goodness me, what a terrible game. As the home team, there's more onus on us to make things happen. We need more urgency and quality from the defenders. And better play from the No.10 positions - a missing section of the team today. Not so much Grant, but Hall has been a liability I'm sorry to say. You just can't get a start and be that bad. Hoping for more from him straight after the break or he's going to get Halled off ;)

Blackburn 0-1 Southampton Millwall 1-2 Leicester City Barnsley 1-1 Rotherham United Reading 2-0 Doncaster Rovers Barrow 1-2 Barnet Harrogate Town 2-0 Newport Joker FGR 1-2 Boreham Wood Hartlepool 2-0 Solihull

Unchanged! The continuity is good (although I think Bennetts can consider himself a little unlucky). It's important that Grant was given the shirt he earned on Tuesday. Pato continues to run the team fairly as opposed to all the gimmicky stuff last season. C'mon u Pieeeeeeeeees

Really looking forward to today. I wonder if the 1981 team veterans will speak to the team or at least inspire them a bit by their presence.

I think a combination of the a) the competition for starting shirts b) Pato setting the expectations is leading to very few non-performances The midfield duo is a large part of this. It's very nicely balanced and they make sure we're always in games. Matty and Robbo are even doing well with pass and move when they're tightly marked.

Sad. Yes, that club is too big to fail. But it seems like administration is an unavoidable and necessary stage in any survival. You'd think that the EFL would give them every chance to right the ship

Like many of us oldish ones, I suppose mine would have to concentrate on the team that finished mid-table in the top flight a couple of times (before the relegation season). Level matters. Ruben is my favourite player, but I cannot allow him in. But Kaspar I can, he was just a cut above Schmeichel Benjamin Richards Short O'Brien Draper Masson Harkouk Mair McCulloch Johnson

@Robbie good observations. Yeah, Pato's established a good level of performance in all departments and we were a very good match for them. The healthy level of competition is there for sure. It's great though that Pato's picks seem to tally with what you see with your own eyes on the pitch. We didn't always get that with Burchnall or Maynard Talking of competition for places, as we didn't win maybe one more change could be in the offing for Saturday. Bennetts has done well whenever he's come on and did well starting in the cup game. I love Tsaroulla but he was our worst player at Swindon. Perhaps Bennetts has earned a shot, and maybe Jodi can surprise Cambridge from the other side. I can see it being unchanged, but I'd get it if he gave Bennetts a run out.

That was a tight deadline! Never mind, my vote goes to Conor Grant anyway. I really hope he uses this to push on and hit a higher level with more consistency. The injury to Luker and Iorpenda falling off has opened up a spot for the taking, so it's down to Conor. At Swindon, it wasn't only his key goal and assist contributions, he maintained a positive involvement for the whole 90. Before, we've seen him fade away for long periods, but there was none of that on Tuesday. I'd say 2 players pushed him close - Jatta, also involved in both goals and solid throughout, including in his own box. And then Macari...the pick of the defenders for me, especially in the 2nd half. Both goals came from his side, but none his fault. Their equaliser was a fluke. They couldn't have played the ball down the line, if it wasn't for a poor ball hitting their player's back and ending up in the perfect place for them.

Stanway must have had a hell of a game

I would too. And hopefully be embarrassed by it this time tomorrow 😃

So many takeaways. Don't underestimate Martin Paterson. He's not the smoothest talker but he's an astute reader of the game - his shape adjustments and substitutions were excellent, which is becoming a regular feature. Tyrese Hall, 5 in 5, can score a winner away from home in the 94th minute. This guy is now one of the very first names on the teamsheet. And taking him off at any time would be a big deal - you'd be taking off one of your only match winners. Back to Pato, saying he will not hesitate to take off his wingbacks at any time and replace them with fresher players. Brilliant - letting players know pitch time cannot be taken for granted. Is McDonald's form this season better than Platt's last year? It's the same level IMO but not yet, because Platt sustained it over a longer time. But more important than that..... it's this season that counts and RodMac is in possession of the shirt now. No coach in his right mind would go away from a CB playing as well as he's playing right now.

That's quite a photo. I know it's just a coincidence that RodMac and Robbo are the next two to the pile on...but it captures the warrior mentality of those two players. It's fanciful, but for anyone who knows one of my favourite movies Apocalypto that's Zero Wolf (RodMac) and Hanging Moss right there (we don't have a Middle Eye, thankfully). I think Rod McDonald has not only played brilliantly this season, he's also proving himself to be a real leader of the team.

I wouldn't go that far @McPie. It's awful when teams spoil, time waste, camp in a low block, but when they stop you through a strong man-on-man press in your territory and launch attacks from there I don't think you can have any complaints. Brennan had a great game plan yesterday. In his post-match he kind of conceded that we got back into the game by changing shape. Good on Pato for doing that twice. For games like that there's a case for changing the shape from the start because coaches like Brennan are ready for you with what you usually do. And Pato's interview was excellent I thought. The game was poor(ish) because too many of our players were off it in terms of pass and move and retaining the ball. I think it was about half the team - Jones and Tsaroulla, Macari, Hall and Iorpenda, RodMac in the 1st half, Robbo in the 2nd. All of those were hard-working and combative, but none had their best games on the ball. So lots of room for improvement and optimism, starting at the County Ground on Tuesday.

I never look at X or places like that @liampie. I thought it was bad enough on here and on podcasts, so I can well imagine how terrible it was elsewhere. Yes, he made a slow and shaky start to a new job, but he stabilised and turned it around. I keep on repeating this but I love the mentality when he receives the ball. He's in sync with most fans in looking for ways to start a new attack, even if it's a quick roll-out short. Other keepers we've had in recent years had different, old-fashioned instincts - I have the ball, safely safely, look all around, keep hold of it, let the lads push up. To me Roos is more like Kaspar, you can see he wants to be positive and start something.

I was hoping we'd get him straight after we were promoted. Now the moment's gone I think. He's already on a level with us. Is he usually as wasteful with the ball as he was yesterday? If so, that'd be really frustrating. Pass.

He dropped a couple of high balls in his first match or two. Hardly ever have I seen so much angst and despair over so little :) But to help those struggling to move on, and judge him on his excellent last half dozen games instead, maybe he changed his gloves

I think I know who's going to win this one....well done Kelle Roos, what an answer to those slagging him off all the time. Mentions for the usual MoM contenders Palmer and McDonald, Bedeau as well ,and the matchwinner Tyrese Hall. And Kouhyah keeps coming off the bench and impresssing - it'll be interesting to see him get a start one day.

Classic away smash n grab. Credit to Grant and Kouhyar for their roles in the goal. And with that winner Hall's confidence is going to shoot even higher. He'll soon be favourite for top scorer Suberb rearguard action, led by RodMac and the brilliant Roos

He was outstanding today

Good resistance, great save by Roos. We need Tsaroulla and Jones to do better in the match-ups out wide. And for Iorpenda and Hall to get up fast to support Jatta. I think they'll run out of steam a bit and give us a chance to have more of the ball and territory. This game is probably going to come down to who can be clinical and take a chance.

True, so it annoys me that the only time I've been to the Hive, under Nolan, they beat us with a really late goal 1-0 Team as expected, 'never change a winning team'. I suppose it's a good sign that..a minor injury, a unnecessary penalty giveaway, and suddenly our top scorer is a reserve. That's the kind of competition we want.

An even more difficult set than usual this week, here are my 8 stabs in the dark Birmingham 1-1 Hull WBA 1-0 PNE Blackpool 0-1 Wycombe Doncaster 1-0 Northampton Grimsby 2-1 Gillingham Joker Newport 0-2 Cheltenham Altrincham 1-1 Woking Brackley 1-2 Gateshead