Today's game

Thank you 80sglory - a very comprehensive summary and lots of positive signs, after the disappointment of losing Connell this week.

Church stood out for me with his ability to get up and down with ease and he likes to get stuck in he is vocal as well .......

If we sign a back up left mid and a winger or two as well as a worthy replacement for Connell, then I'll be happy .

An ok game today, not one were you thought we would storm the league after it, but not disappointing either, a decentish first pre season game against a better team

Arthur -  played the full 90 mins, not at fault for any goal, though shouldn't be beaten at his near post for the second. Rushed out his area well, even if like last season a few kicks were wayward, but defence had the confidence to pass it back to him under pressure.

Marshall - First half did ok at right back, was better going foward than defensively, and overlapped well with coulson, second goal came from his side. Second half when he rejoined, was largely ineffective at left back, and was at fault for third goal due to being out of position, mainly because he looked tired towards the end. Unsure whether hes worth a contract, may be ok as right back cover, but then so his wood, so would prefer we got left back cover in.

Garner - played the full 90 mins and carried on where he left off last season, very solid, and didn't really do anything wrong, probably be first choice for me.

I'Anson -1st half  again played well with Garner, solid the odd wayward pass nothing to worry about. Impressed how quickly he gets back from attacking corners, a couple of times Rotherham were counter attacking from the corner and I'Anson got back very quick to deal with them.

Wood -  about 65mins Similar to last season, runs all over, aggressive, had a few complications with Rotherham players, ok, but not convinced hes a left back, could do with keeping him as right back/cover.

Eagle - First half - Similar to last season, run about plenty but nothing special, the odd pass that went to nobody.

Disley - First half - Very impressed, did very well as the holding midfielder, kept the ball well and every pass went to a town player.

Church - full 90 mins, had a good game, ran for the full 90 mins full of effort which is good considering he was part time last season and only just come back, the odd pass that was wayward but no complaints so far.

Coulson - First half - disappointing as we no he is better than that, hopefully just not fit enough yet. Having said that our best opportunties in the first half came from him.

Spencer - Big guy, won all his headers most went to somebody, you could see he wasn't as fit as the others due to his illness, but a much better Duffy, would like to see him and Hearn at the head of a 4-4-2.

Mulready - Very disappointing, obviously the bosses arn't fully convinced on him yet with only a 6 month contract, but as hes small and lightweight he needs pace to be his strength which he hasn't got. Reminded me of an Andy Taylor without the pace. Not going to be good enough am afraid.

Pearson - Second half, didn't do anything wrong apart from his long balls were similar to Watt last season in that they didn't go to anyone. Defensively sound though, and very good at attacking set pieces, caused no end of problems at corners and hit the bar late on.

Silk - Didn't really have anything to do so can't comment too much, need to see more of him.

Thanoj - Ran around alot but when had the ball lacked the experience to do anything, nothing more than a squad player based on Artus, Disley and Church being better.

Artus - Similar to disley in that you could see he's ex league had more quality about him than Church, and played a few good passes. Would like to see a Church, Disley, Artus middle three.

Makofo - Worked and tried hard bless him, still lacks any control, if he can work on his ball skills he might have something about him with his pace, but at the moment not good enough for a promotion chasing team.

Duffy - Much better than last season in that he worked very hard, closed down defenders alot and won a few headers, not as good as Spencer but looked better than last season. Even he couldn't miss his goal

Hearn - Looks a handful, unlucky not to score when he hit the post for Duffy to score. Looks quick and strong, reminded me of Reddy when balls came over the top to him.

First half we played 4-4-2 looked better for us attacking wise, but Mulready not good enough for us to do anything with. Best attacks came from the wings. Second half we played 4-3-3 which turned into 4-5-1 when defending. Problem with this was when we won the ball back Duffy was up on his own and we lacked the attacking outlet, until later in the game when Hearn didn't go back to far right and stayed left with Artus knocking some good balls over the top for him to run onto. Would like to see this system with Spencer, Hearn, Coulson as the front three and Disley, Church and Artus in the middle, might work well with them.

Pleased with the effort, like I said we closed down all the time, and restricted Rotherham to the three chances which unfortunately they scored from, until the last 10 mins when the game opened up more. Attacking wise we seem to be lacking right now.

On today we need a proper left back to cover Ridley, and one or two more strikers to replace Connell, and something better than Duffy/Mulready. Prehaps more wing option if were going to go 4-4-2.

Sorry to put a damper on it but I came away from today's game feeling GRUMPY.
Have high hopes, but disappointed with what I saw.
Hope I'm proved wrong.
Sure, I saw more energy in the midfield and the centre defence (all of them) looked solid.
It's the last third of the pitch that we lacked it.
So look forward to a few 0-0 1-0's (hopefully at home, Pearson header from a corner)?
Here's hoping we can spend some or all of Alan,s money on a JACK IN THE BOX!!

on seeing todays performance I've definitely changed my opinion on the starting 11, and formation. I was very impressed with Artus, although I couldn't see him being very effective in a 2 man midfield as he was pretty poor defensively. Spencer, when he's fit will be decent. He looked a bit overweight and struggled to run (which is a little worrying!) but thought Hearn looked a bit of a handful and had an eye for goal. Duffy did well when he came on but as for the poster who said Makofo excited the crowd, I think I'd describe him as entertaining the crowd (for the wrong reasons). I took my Mrs to the game today (as a treat!) and she certainly found Makofo quite entertaining as a neutral. Disley looks class and exactly what we need in the middle of the park, also think he'd be a great captain. Pearson, Brilliant in the air but less than convincing on the floor. Silk, Steady but isn't that all we need from a right back? Church looked like he's more than capable of stepping up. Technically perhaps not the best, but compared to leary he was Kaka. Broke up the play well, worked very hard and played the simple ball to the more talented members of the team.

So, judging by that, and the fact that Connell's gone I'd probably go with:

                                                                                   Arthur

                                     Silk                  Kempson                     Garner/Pearson                Ridley

                                                                                  Church

                                                            Disley                            Artus


                                           Coulson                                                   Hearn

                                                                     Spencer/Duffy              

Quoted from barralass

Sorry to put a damper on it but I came away from today's game feeling GRUMPY.
Have high hopes, but disappointed with what I saw.
Hope I'm proved wrong.
Sure, I saw more energy in the midfield and the centre defence (all of them) looked solid.
It's the last third of the pitch that we lacked it.
So look forward to a few 0-0 1-0's (hopefully at home, Pearson header from a corner)?
Here's hoping we can spend some or all of Alan,s money on a JACK IN THE BOX!!

You must be crazy to read so much into a first work out 4 weeks before the season starts. No work has been done on shape or formation. Today was about additional fitness.

We  MAY have an awful season or we MAY be champions. Wherever we finish wont be decided by what we saw at BP today

I don't post too often but i had to say that Chris is spot on.

Pre-season has been all fitness work up to now.

Early signs are good, nothing to get over excited about.

The work ethic, commitment, effort and also flashes of ability from all of the players means overall it was a good day.

Plus new players on the way to add to the great bunch we already have !

80,s Glory, do you need specs or me?
You put in a good post match post but from where I was sitting Kenny Arthur was GK for the full 90 minutes, so where did you get McKeown from, unless you were looking at Rotherham's 2nd half goalie?

Quoted from cod.gtfc

Mulready - Very disappointing, obviously the bosses arn't fully convinced on him yet with only a 6 month contract, but as hes small and lightweight he needs pace to be his strength which he hasn't got. Reminded me of an Andy Taylor without the pace. Not going to be good enough am afraid.


On today we need a proper left back to cover Ridley, and one or two more strikers to replace Connell, and something better than Duffy/Mulready. Prehaps more wing option if were going to go 4-4-2.

You're not really writing off Mulready after 45 minutes of our first friendly are you? A bit harsh. His first ever start in a senior match as well. I do think he struggled but I wouldn't write him off.

Agree we definitely need left back cover though.