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Ratings and reactions: Bristol Rovers 1-3 Villa


limpid

Who was your man of the match?  

105 members have voted

  1. 1. Who was your man of the match?

    • Guzan
      1
    • Hutton
      2
    • Warnock
      2
    • Dunne
      2
    • Collins
      1
    • Ireland
      26
    • Albrighton
      28
    • Petrov
      11
    • Clark
      19
    • Bent
      0
    • Heskey
      2
    • Agbonlahor (for Heskey 46)
      9
    • Gardner (for Collins 74)
      2
    • Bannan (for Petrov 83)
      0


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Just back from watching this turgid encounter, why do i bother ??

Not much to report, we are through, after a tricky game on a potato field.

Bring on Blackburn

Blackburn got knocked out by Newcastle.

Oh, ok, bring on ManUre then

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Just saw the highlights, at least our goals were class! Good to see Guzan stopping a pen again, too. His technique seemed to have changed for the last few he's faced, this save looked more like his old method with the little hop before diving.

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Job done really. No frills, just a typical FA Cup potential banana skin tie.

Would have liked to see NZog today, it could have been the right game for him to bag his first goal. I also think he and SI could develop quite a good understanding, although Ireland had a blinder nonetheless.

The last few minutes provided the usual drama these occasions throw up and showed the best and worst of Villa; Dunnes totally unprofessional lapse and Guzans growing confidence.

Comfortable win, but not convinced we'll be wending our way down to Wembley come May.

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Good result on a terrible pitch that is not fit for League 2 IMO.

Thought our tactic was get it to Albrighton (although it just seemed to be a hoof at first) in the first half which seemed to work well enough.

Dominant throughout without really battering them which was expected for me. All three took their goals well.

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Comfortable win today, 3-2 would really have flattered them if the pen had gone in.

Guzan 7 - Dealt with crosses well, pen save.

Hutton 6 - Tried to get forward when could, not tested defensively.

Dunne 5 - Too much hoofing, bad error for goal.

Collins 6 - Not much better, but didn't make any glaring errors.

Warnock 5 - Looked short of confidence, wasted possession and 1/2 chance to score badly wasted.

Albrighton 7 - Brightest player for us first half, got goal, faded in the second half.

Ireland 7 - Composed in possession, showed good work rate.

Petrov 8 - Captain's display, v impressive assist for first goal.

Clark 7 - Excellent solo goal, kept it simple in possession without standing out.

Bent 6 - Starved of service, didn't really get into it.

Heskey 7 - Unlucky not to score, won headers and held the ball up.

Sub, Agbonlahor 7 - Lively and took goal well.

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Decent result today but the one thing that worries me most (even more than another awful defensive performance) is the lack of service to Bent. I might have been looking for it after hearing a number of times that gabby and bent don't get on but it seemed to me that gabby at times seemed to go out of his way not to play bent in. Apart from one instance late in the game, he always seemed to turn away and switch the play instead of threading a through-ball to bent. Bit worried if its true (although equally happy to accept if it was just my imagination).

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One factor not yet mentioned is that we were intentionally I think, very right sided. We never really had a left wing. Warnock had all sorts of space to push up often, because we had no wing in front of him and therefore no opponent. It's why Warnock was pushed into forward positions much more than Hutton. It's also why albrighton saw quite a bit more of the ball than anyone else in the attack. He did some very nice runs, passes and crosses and some less attractive crosses as well. That's why he got such mixed reviews.

Warnock looked very vulnerable on defense and wasteful on offense (I think some thought he played well because he was so far forward so often, but as I said, I think that was only because nobody played left wing at all in the first half, and gabby only stayed wide part-time in the second half.) I don't know if having so much time and space left Warnock disoriented or what, but my he was wasteful.

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I allowed myself a smirk at the final whistle as anti Villa media clearly thought it was going to be an upset. It was on ESPN and the Radio 5 commentary game and that clown Lawro was banging on about the possibility of cup upsets on Football Focus.

It was a comfortable victory on shit pitch that has always been a rugby pitch, Rovers pinched the stadium off Bristol Rugby Club when they went bust a few years ago. It was a no win for McLeish, vilified if we lost, not won well enough if we won.

As for the teams performance it was not great but how many of those sort of games are. We saw three well worked goals and it could have been more. My only disappointment was the comical mistake from Dunne as I really wanted a clean sheet. Great save from Guzan,

Forget this game, its the nature of the cup, and look forward to the next round.

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Job done and that's it. I am amazed we were able to complete 1 pass on that pitch, complete disgrace. Watching the warm-ups it had me worried, lots of shots were bobbling all over the place for Guzan/Marshall. We're in the hat, that's all that matters.

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Dunne's idiocy cost me a tenner.

Aside from that happy with the result, was never going to be easy on a poor pitch.

Albrighton motm for bossing the first half (lovely assist from Stan for the goal)

Ireland was quality again, even putting in some great challenges.

Gabby was great off the bench.

And I would've loved Gardner's shot to have gone in.

Great pen save from Brad.

In the hat for the 4th round is all that matters, either Sheff side away from a personal point of view but any lower league side at home would also be desirable.

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In the hat for the 4th round is all that matters, either Sheff side away from a personal point of view but any lower league side at home would also be desirable.

Got a feeling it's going to be SHA/Wolves away.

Either that or the statutory tie against Man U.

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