EtoileSportiveDeDerby

30th in ours

Daniel (B4) always predicted a score of 3-0 to Derby. There’s obviously a bit of B4 magic happening ✨ 

Shouldn’t be listening to the wives and girlfriends either. They just need to nip out for a pint of milk and get more training in 😂

3 goals, some nice passages of play, a clean sheet, two wins on the bounce, equalled our away record(?), results going our way elsewhere, what’s not to love?! 
 

I have and will always want the best for my club, it’s the county I love and it will always have my loyalty but now I want it for the Clowes family, to repay their efforts and sacrifices. 

What he did to save our club and what he’s continuing to do, I will always be immensely grateful for. 
It’ll be a long road back for us but we’re in the safest of hands.

God ?

Bristol Rovers vs Derby County
Saturday 9th March KO 3pm
Memorial Stadium (BS7 0BF)
 
Opponents Form: Decent recently with three wins in their last four matches including their last two. They currently sit 11th in the table albeit with no realistic playoff aspirations or relegation concerns. Whilst their home record in L1 this season is a reasonable W7-D5-L5 it should be noted that they have lost four of their most recent six matches on their own patch with wins over Carlisle (2-1) and Oxford (3-1) dampened by defeats to Blackpool (1-2), Exeter (0-1), Fleetwood (0-2) and Burton (1-2).
Opponents Bio: Rovers are managed by Matt Taylor who is in his third managerial role. After an impressive four years at Exeter he was the man chosen by Rotherham to take over the reins after the departure of our own Paul Warne to Pride Park. Taylor's spell there lasted 13 months before he parted company with the Yorkshire club in November 2023 as the Millers were struggling in 22nd place. Within three weeks, however, he found himself in the Bristol Rovers hotseat replacing the ever-delightful Joseph Barton. 
The club have played their home matches at the 11,000 capacity (3,000 seated) Memorial Stadium since 1996 after leaving their previous home in Eastville. They are officially known as the 'Pirates', reflecting Bristol's maritime history. Or because they just arrrr. Or maybe because their form is historically patchy. They are of course also known as the 'Gas', a nickname which was given them by opposition fans originally but was cheerfully adopted by the Rovers' followers who refer to themselves as 'Gasheads'. The name came about apparently due to their former stadium being sited next to a gasworks which produced a distinct aroma which would waft over the ground. Anybody who sits near a few of our more dedicated drinkers at Pride Park will no doubt relate to that.
Opponents Player Watch: Only one place to start here as the Rams go up against our former beau, Christopher Hugh Martin. The Wardrobe has scored 15 goals this season and is joint fifth in the top scorers chart for the division. Second top scorer after CM9 is Anthony Evans with half a dozen goals. Other notable players are ex-Rams youngster Luke Thomas, experienced former Swansea, Celtic and Preston man Scott Sinclair and Chelsea loanee Harvey Vale who I think we were linked with during the summer. I'm not sure if he's their number one or not but they also have a goalkeeper called Jed Ward who you can only sympathise with.
Rams Record vs Opponents: There have been three FA Cup ties between the two clubs but we'll focus on the 27 league matches there have been between Bristol Rovers and Derby County. The first meeting was on 29th August 1953 at Bristol so hats off to any Ram or Rover who remembers that match over 70 years ago. During the early years of the fixture it was Bristol Rovers who held sway with the Pirates winning the first three encounters, four of the first five and six of the first nine overall. Since then though it is the Rams who have had much the better of it. The overall league record for Derby against Saturday's opponents is as follows:
P27: W12-D7-L8
Away at Bristol Rovers our record  is: P13: W3-D4-L6   Whilst that isn't impressive it should be pointed out that we lost on our first five visits and since then we've gone W3-D3-L1 on their turf and are unbeaten in our last four visits.
Since our relegation to L1 for the 2022/23 season the Rams have recorded home wins against Rovers in both fixtures at Pride Park (4-2 and 2-1) whilst last season we conceded a debateable late penalty in a 1-1 draw at their place.
Other Saturday Fixtures Of Note: We will either be second or third going into the match depending on the outcome of Barnsley vs Bolton on Tuesday night. Peterborough are at home to Northampton on the same evening. On Saturday our priority is of course to earn three points in the south-west but we will be hoping for favourable results in at least one of the following games:
Blackpool vs Portsmouth
Exeter vs Bolton
Barnsley vs Lincoln
Burton vs Peterborough
Expected Team: My guess is that Derby will be unchanged from the 3-0 win against a desperately struggling Port Vale. With fit full-back options rarer than a salad in the City Ground boardroom I suspect it'll be a back three plus the two wing-backs who played well yesterday. 
 
Safe journey to those who make the trip and COYR.

I see under depreciation that the coat below could be taken into account 👍

 
 

Doesn't sit right with me Quant taking £13m from a club on the brink, and with the Kirchner stuff not worth 13p.

He’d still beat Alpine

As an aside from the borefest of modern F1, I thought it was worth posting this:
 

Check the first letter of the lines of paragraphs 4, 5 and 6. 
There's no way that's an accident and not some excellent sneaky swearing.

Obviously at our humble level…but the mentality for the remaining games has got to be similar to Citeh and Liverpool, home or away, whatever the opposition they go for the 3 points. don’t start thinking a draw away at Portsmouth is a good result we play for a win every game remaining. Shackles off, ducking go for it PW

Obviously at our humble level…but the mentality for the remaining games has got to be similar to Citeh and Liverpool, home or away, whatever the opposition they go for the 3 points. don’t start thinking a draw away at Portsmouth is a good result we play for a win every game remaining. Shackles off, ducking go for it PW

Obviously at our humble level…but the mentality for the remaining games has got to be similar to Citeh and Liverpool, home or away, whatever the opposition they go for the 3 points. don’t start thinking a draw away at Portsmouth is a good result we play for a win every game remaining. Shackles off, ducking go for it PW

We need automatic, nothing less. As much as I Love London, our latest trips to Wembley have not been a bundle of fun, the  play offs are too much of a lottery for my liking

We need automatic, nothing less. As much as I Love London, our latest trips to Wembley have not been a bundle of fun, the  play offs are too much of a lottery for my liking

We need automatic, nothing less. As much as I Love London, our latest trips to Wembley have not been a bundle of fun, the  play offs are too much of a lottery for my liking

We need automatic, nothing less. As much as I Love London, our latest trips to Wembley have not been a bundle of fun, the  play offs are too much of a lottery for my liking

We need automatic, nothing less. As much as I Love London, our latest trips to Wembley have not been a bundle of fun, the  play offs are too much of a lottery for my liking

I should really just be a black and white flag with the word Flange written across the front. Maybe in pink. That would be perfect.

Managers are so quick to blame the poor ref, yet their so called stars who are paid thousands a week can miss sitters and nothing is said