Voting was locked for this match at midnight on Sunday 11th October but you may still add your mini match reports. Note that members and non-members alike were able to vote.

Your Lincoln City v Bristol Rovers Match Reports

Sindre94 added 21:40 - Aug 14 Good win this, not the biggest club we beat but a solid victory against a team that really put an effort into this. Sounded like Luongo and Hyam did their jobs well, while Martin had a decent match down the wing We need to get one winger in by saturday for me, either Davies or someone else. And I am buzzing my favourite player got a goal (Super Aaron) I am not exactly getting carried away but a decent win and performance this... Kick on from here, and beat our second Rovers of the week on Saturday! COYB!!!

0

Sindre94 added 21:43 - Aug 14 Who was the guy screaming and shouting every time their keeper kicked the ball out ? :P
0

BlueJewells added 22:29 - Aug 14 Not a bad performance, but one which only gives confidence and momentum for Saturday - COYB!
0

ITFC4daprem added 22:31 - Aug 14 Good win but can't understand not playing byron
0

StowTractorBoy added 22:32 - Aug 14 A satisfactory win and at times we again moved the ball around very well. Chopra looked sharp and once again Luongo and Hyam linked well. My biggest concern is still the centre of defence where we do not not always look commanding and against bigger and better teams than Bristol Rovers I think we could stuggle. Scotland gets my man of the match as he worked tirelessly scored a decent goal and played up top as well as dropping into midfield. Suspect we will go back to 4-2-3-1 on Saturday against sterner opposition. Still need at least 3 more decent players in before then which is unlikely.

0

Dennyx4 added 22:32 - Aug 14 Good win against poor opposition. The second half saw us dominate possession and the attacking players had more time on the ball. Martin & JET were more involved 2nd half after a quiet 1st half for both. Luongo looked a class act, but still think we need a central midfielder to play alongside him. Hyam for me had a poor 1st half, but like the rest had an improved 2nd half. Scotland and Chopra both looked hungry, with some good movement from both. Bench was very inexperienced, certainly need some players to bulk the squad up - fingers crossed for Edu - think he would be excellent alongside Luongo. All in all a good run out, which hopefully will set us up for Saturday.

0

runaround added 23:01 - Aug 14 i thought we dominated the play and should have won by a bigger margin. We kept possession well but were let down by the final ball far too often. Chopra & Martin are more useful in a 4231 formation & whilst both worked incredibly hard neither were on top form tonight. However Scotland and Hyam were outstanding tonight whilst Luongo was also impressive. He seemed to always be available when we had the ball which is a sign of a good player. All in all a good win but we need to sharpen up our final ball Saturday

0

willrigs16 added 23:14 - Aug 14 Good performance, good result. Think Mr.Jewell got his selection and tactics spot on for this after last year's embarrassment. Can't base opinions on tonight's performance for Saturday or the rest of the season though, we were playing a League 2 side. Luongo stood out for me - looks a very talented player. Nice to see Scotland get a goal and give Jewell something to think about for Saturday. Pity Chopra couldn't score but the goals will come soon enough. Like a few others, I'm a bit concerned about the lack of strength in depth at the club at the minute....get signing Jewell....stop the excuses and get on with it! COYB

0

budgieplucker added 23:20 - Aug 14 Crisp movement of the ball for long periods of the match switching play from side to side. No panic when we went a goal down, the young lads in the engine room kept going and sticking to a passing game rather than hoof ball. Young Loungo gets my man of the match simply because he makes things happen, keeps the team revving, always available even in tight situations and also gets stuck in. Dare I say he reminds me very much of another antipodean i.e. Colin Viljoen (I think South Africa qualifies for that label in addition to Oz& NZ) and outstanding midfielder one - nicknamed ACE who wore the Town shirt with distinction for many years and went on to be fully capped by England. Hyam was excellant too and seems to be extended the range of his reportoire and him Loungo looked a very good combination together - with Andy Drury to come back as well!!!. I do though think Lee Martin looks wasted on the left wing and needs to be returned to the position of hassling the two centre halves and sitting behind the striker. Good performances from Chops and Jason and whilst they were lively I can;t just help sensing that their reading of the game needs to improve alot as Brizzle should have been dead and buried well before the 86th minute from the football we played. Unless we start to punish teams we will be back to a couple of seasons ago when we outplay teams for 90 minutes and lose it or throw it away at the death.

0

unstableblue added 23:53 - Aug 14 Twas a lovely warm night at Portman Road, and a very good value performance and win at only £14. A twenty minute spell in the second half was easily the best passing seen at Town for some time - and there was warm applause and cheers form the small 8,500 crowd as the ball fizzed around the pitch. Importantly the new Portman pie is excellent, quality pastry and gravy. It was disappointing to see the 4-4-2-3-1 formation that has served so well in pre-season changed in favour of a traditional 4-4-2, and Jewell admitted afterwards this was due to Josh Carson''s absence. And it really was an orthodox 4-4-2 with Jet and Martin out very wide, and for me this made them both less effective initially. Rovers were not poor, they passed quite crisply early on and closed well, but the form of luongo, Scotland and chops meant we still had some bite. The passing quality and off the ball movement of town improved and grew through the game. Luongo is class and Hyam and he link well, Hyam probably had a weaker game because he is often passing sideways and not able to get the ball forward quick enough. But his offering of an outlet can not be doubted. And really one of the highlights of the game was the compete lack of hopeless long ball. If you look back to the Keane era we watched such dross, and today was a million miles from this. This had a lot to do with loach and the excellent smith and chambers, and the outlet of luongo and Hyam. Loach is constantly throwing or passing, and this is what I want. Yes this was made easier by rovers sitting deep and it meant we were less attacking, but it is easier on the eye and eliminates turnover and wasted ball. Edwards was again excellent and his breaking gives us a real option. Scotland and chops were bright and the ball was really sticking to their boots which was crucial. But with jet and Martin so wide and well marked and with a little congestion in front of luongo and Hyam it meant we lacked many chances in the first half. Rovers lead was basically a good long shot from a player who should not have been allowed so much space. At first I thought loach may have been out of position but the half time highlights showed he could have done nothing about it. Still it's a shame for his confidence and the defence not to have achieved a clean sheet, especially against such unadventurous opposition. Chambers and smith look switched on and vocal, and perhaps this is a good partnership in the making. But aerial dominance at set pieces is a flaw and perhaps we need to work JET better into our defensive formations at corners. So as the first half moved on and concerns for jewell of an unwanted extra time grew, town scored, and it was no surprise it was Scotland. Rovers keeper was a colossus and he had thwarted en earlier Scotland low bending shot with his considerable reach. But jasons goal was so perfectly accurate Walker had no chance. Into the second half and town's passing went up a gear and at times was sublime. Cresswell and Martin started linking and also Edwards and JET. JET had several rasping shots - how on earth does he get so much power? - but alas tonight all his efforts were rising and went over the bar. One great Martin run when he broke inside and came central, showed why his best position is down the middle. Why I enjoyed it so much in this spell was the sheer number of passing options and the tenacity of luongo meaning we were just so dominant and had real energy. It was good for Hyam to earn the penalty on a rare run into the box after some nice interplay of passes, including Scotland and chopra. Chopra seemed to hesitate in the run up to the spot kick, and with the size of the keeper you had to get him to go the wrong way. JET's resultant corner was superb and smiths run and header were quality - we want tommy and chambers to be getting these set piece goals. It was great for cresswell to get his first non deflected goal - a close range header after great footwork from jet, whose shot ballooned up nicely for our full back - he seemed delighted. So all in all a good work out for town, good to able to come back from behind and to show character. But to be fair to rovers, although they were not poor, they offered little threat and allowed our young central midfield duo the time to dominate the game. Blackburns midfield will be a completely different proposition. So for me we should revert to Martin behind chops and jet and Carson tucked in a little tighter on Saturday. We also need more from JET week in week out. I was also concerned about the ball over the top of our defense, which chambers and smith struggled with early on. But overall a great display and for me if we can consistently deliver the energy, movement and close passing seen tonight and also against west ham, then perhaps this is an exciting new style for Ipswich. But currently town do not have the strength in depth to keep this momentum going for long, and the quality of the bench tonight really highlighted this.

0

toforoge added 00:49 - Aug 15 and now for an indepth sensible report. Jason Scotland has his had up the keepers bum for Smiths goal! big assist.
0

toforoge added 00:51 - Aug 15 hand!
0

unknownicr added 07:37 - Aug 15 Was much like the first game of a pre-season tour. No one looked fit and the lack of structure is worrying. JET needs to understand that a goal doesn't have to be 100mph from 25 yards out and Edwards needs to put the back into right-back. If anyone was scouting last night they would come away with the same: "exploit their right-hand side." If we stay up this season I will consider it a success.

0

TheMysteryTownFan added 09:15 - Aug 15 Went to the game last night and enjoyed the experience of another game where Town seemed to gather more confidence and in the end their quality over a League Two side shone through. There was a good buzz about Portman Road even with only a small attendance. I suppose this represented the new season optimism which wasn't disfigured by this game. Their goal was an odd one and I haven't been able to see it on the box again yet. It was a shot which sort of lobbed Loach even though he wasn't that far out. In the grand scheme of things though I suppose that doesn't really matter that much in the end. Jason Scotland was superb tonight and worked really well. His goal was meticulously accurate but I reckon a better keeper could have saved it. In the second half we used the ball far better and got into far more goal scoring positions. Tommy Smith really is such a powerful player in set-pieces and with him and Chambers in the mixer I think we could prove to be quite a threat from corners and free kicks this term. JET worked hard to get a goal but his shot ultimately led to Cresswell getting on the end of it and by then it was game over. The first half was a bit of a non-event really but the second half livened things up a bit and this kept the intially jubilant Rovers fans (made a good amount of noise for their numbers) quieten down a bit. In terms of player performances I thought that Scotland was very strong and I'm confident that again he can supplement Chopra this season. Chopra was a bit off key tonight for me, his touch wasn't really there and it was a pretty poor penalty for me akin to Daniel Sturridge in the Olympics. Although a goal did come from it eventually from the corner I'd like to see Martin take them again or Jason Scotland for sure if he's on the pitch. Martin and JET were quite strong out wide and as the Rovers players tired they became too much for them and they started to impact the game more and they got into some dangerous positions. Luongo and Hyam looked fairly comfortable and Luongo is always willing to go and help the wingers and forwards giving them a give and go or another option. Defensively we were good, Bristol did about nothing apart from a brilliant goal which you can forgive. Overall a strong performance and I think that the fact Edwards and Cresswell were acting more like secondary wingers always in the Rovers half tells how dominant we were. The Blackburn game this weekend should be a more lively affair with hopefully a big crowd and a good away support to drum up an early season atmosphere and hopefully us Town fans can spur us on to go out and get a good result against a fairly strong side. Things are looking positive ahead of the new season. COYB!!!

0

dirtydingusmagee added 11:14 - Aug 15 a win is a win , is a win .Well done lads. COYB
0

brainbox added 17:08 - Aug 15 Good win and some promising football by Town. Liked the look and balance with good movement especially in midfield in contrast to last years pedestrian performances. However, for me the clearest take home message was the need to bring in 3 or 4 additional players to the squad as the bench last night was very young and inexperienced and I think we will be found wanting in the coming weeks with many fixtures ahead if we don't stregthen fast

0

philpott2 added 19:43 - Aug 15 Apologies for the number of words that follow-for a change an feeling positive. Took my kids to a game for the first time in a while and they were buzzing before, during and were still so afterwards. itfc dominated, plenty of action, some goals and we won......not what we were used to before we gave up to watch rugby whenever we could (but supporting the town from afar.) Luongo was excellent, more in the dos Santos class than Townsend and Livermore. Loach was okay, not much to do, a good kick, but his control of the thru balls and backpasses when he used his feet were a bit worrying. Chambers was solid enough when facing opposition. But wasn't impressed when facing his own goal. JET and CHOPS and Scotland were impressive, as was Carlos and cressie too. Martin didn't quite look match fit but worked hard for most of his game time. Tommy S and Hyam were more than okay too. Overall, we are hopeful for the new season. Passed it around well, but some fairly aimless crosses at times. On another day we could have scored more so quite encouraged........and the kids have marked off some other games in the programmes fixture list. Could be like the old days and back to Portman road a dozen games a season rather than just the once since Keane the destroyer turned up.

0