angieram

Great to see a separation of safe standing and designated SEATING at Portsmouth with a warning it WILL be implemented. We will see.

Not sure where to put this as we haven't got a heritage thread, but it looks like we have been gifted the Watney Cup by Bristol Rovers. Maybe it's just our turn to look after it for a few years?

1Wildsmith 7 Good handling and positioning; drove their forward wide when through without giving him the chance to go down. Better. 35Nelson 7 Solid, struggled to find Sibley with the long balls! Kept Martin quiet, no easy feat. 5Bradley 7 Solid, was getting fouled on set pieces by their number 22 but didn't reciprocate and kept the ball in play. Seems more settled. 23Ward 7.5 Such high energy, a few crosses a bit too strong, but impressive and defended well when he had to. 6Cashin 8 Solid defensively, plus great long-range distribution. Classy. 4Hourihane 7 Looked fresher than recently, I thought a bit casual with some of his distribution first half but grew into the game and read their attacks well second half, cutting out several dangerous moves. 32Adams 7 Great cover, tackled well and didn't get involved in any argy bargy. Still gassing out too early - might only be fixed next season. 27Blacket-Taylor 6 little time to impress. 12Smith 8 Thought he was great when he came on - strong and quick. Looks determined to stake his claim on a place. Unlucky with the shot that nearly knocked the defender over. 17Sibley 7.5 Wingback suits Sibbo and he was strong both offensively and defensively. Would have benefitted from better service of the ball in front of him on occasions. Some good tackles that ref got wrong! 😉 11Méndez-Laing 8 Surprised to hear some criticism of him around me at the game yesterday - I thought he was at the heart of all our good creative play. 10Waghorn 7 Worked hard, missed a good chance but made amends with his sitter. 16Thompson 6 No time to impress. 25Gayle 7.5 What an intelligent footballer we have, but works hard too. His link up play is excellent and he's settled in so quickly. A poacher's goal too. 2Wilson 7 Thought he added a bit of unpredictability when he came on and plays with a smile on his face. 7Barkhuizen 8.5 His best game in a Derby shirt? Certainly his second half was excellent and created the situation that led to the first goal as well as scoring the second. Warne - well done, I thought he might have snook in an extra midfielder and gone two up top yesterday, glad he had the courage not to. If I'm being picky, could maybe have got Smith and Waghorn on a smidgeon earlier. ATG

Dajaune has strength and power. I always felt he was a little reluctant to use it. If this loan allows him to feel more comfortable doing so, he's going to be some player.

Stewards definitely bottled it today!

Great atmosphere, the new stand is still a bit rubbish, with posts in the way, but much better than last year's! And not a cup of tea to be had in the ground. What's that all about? Strangely there were a lot of empty seats on our row, I think because some fans chose to "double up" at the end of rows, spending all their time and energy goading the home fans in the same stand. Their behaviour climbing across the divide after we scored the second goal was downright embarrassing and the sooner they are banned from away games the better, imo. Anyway, when I could actually concentrate on the game (they were right in my eyeline for the net at our end) I thought that first half we looked sharp and incisive up to the final ball, then didn't quite get it right. It actually helped us second half when they came at us as we had room to play on the break. A comfortable win where we could have won by an even greater margin, apart from a big miss by Waggy and some unintentional heroics from one of their defenders when Smith's shot was bound for the net. We started in fine voice, got a bit distracted by the stupid baiting of their fans and then picked it up again once the goals started going in. Nice to learn the words to some of the newer songs, everyone seemed to get a tune today. Good bouncing, will that stand hold was my biggest worry! 😟 😉

Bristol Rovers 2 - 3 Rams FRGS Mendez-Laing

Here we go again. Accounts just come out showing our losses but we want media training for our players! Louie will have had exactly the same training as Bird and Cashin, both of whom are articulate and calm when interviewed. Louie is obviously not comfortable in front of the camera and just says obviously instead of er.... it's hardly a biggie, is it? P.S. Has anybody noticed how many times Richie Barker used the same word in his interview? Co-incidence? Obviously!

No, it's the second one next season. We did have the players on the pitch at a game for the first. Anyway, I am sure Mr Clowes will be all over the celebrations for 74-5 next season.

Blimey, you've been busy @loweman2! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thank you for the link. I much prefer to read the report than other people's interpretations of the report.

I was asking the question. For those of us attending the games, home and away, I would rather see us being competitive than getting tanked every week. If it takes us a season or two more so we can build a team to go up like Ipswich with a fighting chance, then so be it. Look at Plymouth and how they are now struggling after their bright start. The pundits' take on here is that Warne can't manage in the Championship. Plus we've half our players out of contract again. There isn't a magic money tree that will fix all that.

I know. And I just wanted to get to the Prem again in my lifetime. Damn Mel!

I was just thinking this. Given thar we probably won't have the money to compete with most clubs at championship level (how times change), is it better to be in and around it in League One than being in that tedious race to get to 50 points and breathe a sigh of relief? That's Nigel territory!

Interesting article, not just about the turmoil caused by transfer deadline days, but also regarding the culture at the club and his relationship with Warne. Perhaps he hoped he'd be going west across A50 to M6 north instead!

Given that's it's being talked about in at least three other threads I'd say "definitely!" 😂

That's lovely. Let us know when it's there, we'll go and find it.

Not pink, though!

My husband missed it, too. We were on holiday. I didn't have a season ticket in those days as I was working weekends.

1Wildsmith 6.5 35Nelson 7 5Bradley 6.5 6Cashin 7 23Ward 8.5 8Bird 7 32Adams 7 4Hourihane 6 17Sibley 8.5 11Méndez-Laing 7 27Blackett-Taylor 6.5 25Gayle 7 10Waghorn 6 7Barkhuizen 6.5 12Smith 6.5 ATG Management team 8 - spot on this week.