The first substitution

[BillyStubbsTears]

Fascinating.

A few years ago, we'd regularly get other clubs' fans saying "Yeah, they beat us because we were absolutely shit," when we beat them.

Now, when we win, our own fans say "Yeah we won but only because the other side were shit. Yeah we're top of the league, but only because the league is shit."

We are a rock solid side with the ability to step up the pace and hurt opponents. That us precisely what happened last night. Woods did not have a single serious save to make.

Yes we didn't delight the eye. We looked sluggish at first and we sputtered badly up to half time after Woods went off and we played a way too deep 4-5-1. But Saunders re-arranged them at half-time and the introduction of Syers transformed the dynamic of the game. Barring a superb save from their keeper, a goal-line headed clearance and a poor miss from Brown we could easily have had another 2-3 goals while never looking remotely threatened at the other end.

And STILL, all I heard were moans behind me, from an old get who said that we only beat Scunny because of 4 defensive mistakes by them.

I don't much like Radiohead, but Thom Yorke summed it up nicely in an interview a few years ago. "It's easy being miserable. Being happy and optimistic is far tougher."

[BillyStubbsTears]

Drfcsteve.

I realise that you have an agenda to peddle, but, to be polite, you are talking bullshit.

1) We'd seen a superb save by the Oldham keeper and a goal-line headed clearance in the minutes before we scored.
2) you appear to be complaining that we could "only" score because we have arguably the cleanest striker of a ball and most quick witted player in the division - one who has continually under-performed until Saunders signed him, and who is now living up to his reputation. How shit, eh? How unfair of us to rely on a player like that, when everyone knows you're supposed to play the game by having 50 passes in front of a massed defence before trying a speculative shot from 30 yards.

3) Go and check the offside rule.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Thing is we gave nothing away in the way of chances.  Lacked balance on the left but before Wood's injury we had all the ball.  What I noticed last night was a crowd that made a difference.  Second half the crowd got right behind them and you could visibly see us upping the pressure at the same time which then led to the chances and the goal (where their keeper and defense were certainly keeping us out).  Not the biggest crowd (but better) and the atmosphere is definitely improving and Saunders also mentioned the difference we made second half.

[The Red Baron]

I'll tell you what lifted the crowd- when Hume made that run and put in that tackle to win the ball. It seemed to lift the team as well and it sparked off our best spell of the game- ending with the goal.

As for the goal- perfectly legit. Cotts asked the ref if he could take it quickly. The ref said yes (as they're supposed to do) and the fact that the goalkeeper was still fannying around sorting out his wall is his lookout. Wish it happened more often.

[dickos1]

DrfcSteve, you've done nothing but moan since Saunders arrived. We're 2nd in the table, our best start to a season almost ever, the best away record in the whole country, yet you still come on here pissing and whining about something different every other week.
Just enjoy the success were having instead of spoiling it for yourself by failing to admit you were wrong, and constantly trying to prove you were right which is making you look daft

[BillyStubbsTears]

TRB

Bang on. I said to our kid at the time that it is little things like that that turn matches. We dominated from that moment on.

I 'kin hated Hume when he was at Barnsley. I thought he was a whining, diving, cheating shit. What I didn't see was that he never stops working and harrying defenders. Must be a nightmare to play against. He reminds me of the Blundell, McIndoe, Green wolf pack that terrorised Div 4 defences into mistakes in 03/04.

[GazLaz]

Oldham looked like we did on a lot of occasions under SOD. Passed it quite nicely but didn't create anything. Deano thought he needed to put an extra man in the middle to sure things up a bit and fair play to him for being proactive. We are sent out just to keep things tight, the centre mid players just sit and hardly ever support the front men and the full backs rarely venture forward. It's poor to watch but it seems to be working. With time I think more fluidity will come into the attacking play.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

TRB

Bang on. I said to our kid at the time that it is little things like that that turn matches. We dominated from that moment on.

I 'kin hated Hume when he was at Barnsley. I thought he was a whining, diving, cheating shit. What I didn't see was that he never stops working and harrying defenders. Must be a nightmare to play against. He reminds me of the Blundell, McIndoe, Green wolf pack that terrorised Div 4 defences into mistakes in 03/04.

So did I and to be honest he is a moaning, whining little shit, but he's our moaning whining little shit :D

[hoolahoop]

Completely agree. Hume and Brown were linking up well, then Martin Woods goes off and we decide to go 4-5-1 leaving Brown completely isolated all game. As soon as we did that I thought we had no chance of scoring. We got that bit of luck/quick thinking to get us a goal, but I think a better team would have beat us easily today.

Amazing how "LUCKY" we have been this season isn't it. 

Were you actually at the game?? If you think we can score by kicking the ball in the net when their keeper isn't looking and our player is offside and get away with it every game you are mistaken. The only chance we had before that was a header from a set peice. We created absolutely nothing from open play until we went ahead and Oldham had to chase the game and put their big centre half up front. The chances that fell to Brown, he missed. So yes we did have luck on our side last night.

That's exactly how I saw it too , we were huffing and puffing up until the goal and the game looked as though it had 0-0 written all over it. Yes Oldham came for a draw with perhaps a chance of a fluke win but we still made the job a lot tougher for ourselves than it should have been.
Anyway a win is a win and hopefully we will have learned a few lessons from it ; it couls so easily have been a draw/defeat.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hoola.

Thing is, we are having our best start to a season since 1949 (Dutch Uncle will put me right if I've missed one). We have the second best ratio of wins per game in the entire Football League (Cardiff is the only club with a better record). I simply do not believe that this is down to luck. we all have our own opinions, but it seems blindingly obvious to me that we are doing something very, very right at the moment. Even if we are not raining in shots on the opposition goal, we have the ability to press on when required and hurt the opposition. From the moment that Syers came on and (as TRB says) Hume put in that tackle to lift the side, there was an air of inevitability about the outcome. We pressed, we applied pressure, we scored. Job done. A thoroughly professional and clinical job.

I would also like to see wonderful flowing football, have free ale, have my every carnal wish attended to at half time by that lass who used to be on the Bradford & Bingley adverts with the bowler hat, and have Nick Clegg hung up on a meat hook outside the stadium so I could punch him on the way out. But I'm not going to criticise the club for not providing all those things, when they are doing the core thing better than we have done for 60-odd years.

[dickos1]

No point in me posting anymore billy, cause everything that I think, you put down on here before I get chance.

[DearneValleyRover]

Although the Clingan sub was strange, after he came on Keegan and Harper did move slightly further forward to try and close the gap to Brown who apart from his miss was immense last night. Unfortunately Harper doesn't appear to be able to play that role but I would imagine it was too early to bring Syers on leaving only 1 sub left for 60 mins. Oh and to add to BST's conformation of attempts on goal, Hume was put through in the first but sliced his shot wide when really he should have hit the target.

[Dutch Uncle]

Hoola.

Thing is, we are having our best start to a season since 1949 (Dutch Uncle will put me right if I've missed one).

My dear friend BST, you cast me as the critical moaning schoolteacher before I even play  the role..........which I literally learnt from my Dad, and by the way isn't that what the term 'Dutch Uncle' actually means.... 

But in this case although your points and analysis are, as always, impeccable - your memory must be deserting you.   Dave's Penney's very team you refer to earlier in the thread won 12 and drew 4 of their first 20 games to be one point better than we are now.

However - as I am sure you were referring to    - only twice in our whole 86 seasons of League/Conference football have we won more than 12 of our first 20 games. In 1946-7 our record was an amazing W17-D2-L1 on our way to the all clubs all time  record breaking season total of points, and in 1927-8, as you clearly remember well, when our record was W14-D3-L3 (we went on to finish 4th in Div 3 North).

The only other seasons where we won 12 of our 20 opening games were in 1953-4 (12-2-6) and 1935-6 (12-3-5). Both occasions were in the old Division 2, and we tailed off badly and finished 12th and 18th respectively.

After 20 games in 1949-50, on our way to winning the Div 3N Championship, our record was W11-D7-L2 - so indeed slightly better as you point out. 

School Report: Must try harder 

[donnievic]

People who was wanting a defender on,maybe Saunders didn't want to change the defence with the way we have been playing while also wanting them to pass the ball through midfield.Maybe he also wanted Cotts and Hume to get up closer to Brown when we had the ball which didnt work so who knows.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bloody Hell Dutch, I'd clean discounted the 03-04 side - I'd not even thought about them because they had such a poor first 7-8 matches. I forgot the epic winning run that they went on after that.

Just shows how spectacularly good the start to this season has been because, back in 03/04, I thought we were seeing a once-in-a-generation run of form.

PS: I've just checked that run of form in 03/04. The 20th game, where we are now, was an epic at Carlisle. It was horrific weather, blowing a gale, horizontal rain - the sort of game where goal kicks can go out for corners.

It wasn't pretty, but we dug in and ground out a result against a poor side. I came home that night knowing for sure that the side had the resolve to see out the course.

I haven't quite yet got that feeling about this year's lot, but it's growing slowly.

[graingrover]

When DS is whisked away to Sheff U or Wales we will  be realising he was (IS)  the best Manger we hae had since Doherty , Bremner . AND the best MAN Manager we have EVER had .

[bedale rover]

I was saying all game that going to one up front was a mistake. Brown up to win all the headers for no one, and Hume wasted on the left. It's no coincidence that when he brought Syers on for the diabolical Harper and Hume was pushed back up front we took over the game. Saunders made a mistake and then corrected it, and we've won 1-0 so let's applaud him for seeing where he went wrong and be happy it paid off.

In his defence yes, Woods goes off and we're left with no real option for the left wing. I would have brought Blake on myself, or failing that Syers but he was poor on the wing in previous games he's played there. Husband going up wasn't an option because neither Martis or McCombe were fit enough to come on and play for 60 minutes or whatever it was.

i was hoping that blake would have come on for woods it would have helped with the forward momentum
but syers did make a difference

[bedale rover]

Bloody Hell Dutch, I'd clean discounted the 03-04 side - I'd not even thought about them because they had such a poor first 7-8 matches. I forgot the epic winning run that they went on after that.

Just shows how spectacularly good the start to this season has been because, back in 03/04, I thought we were seeing a once-in-a-generation run of form.

PS: I've just checked that run of form in 03/04. The 20th game, where we are now, was an epic at Carlisle. It was horrific weather, blowing a gale, horizontal rain - the sort of game where goal kicks can go out for corners.

It wasn't pretty, but we dug in and ground out a result against a poor side. I came home that night knowing for sure that the side had the resolve to see out the course.

I haven't quite yet got that feeling about this year's lot, but it's growing slowly.

that game at carlisle is still firmly fixed in the memory
we were 2/3rds of the way up the big stand and were still getting wet
there was a picture of andy warrington under the floodlight with the rain going sideways
tom biltcliffe was in my car going over the A66 and right at the top he decided to be sick so we had to get him out whilst fighting the wind and rain  *fun*

[BillyStubbsTears]

Bedale

I got a bloody flat tyre at the top of the A66 that night. No torch in the car. Changing the wheel in the dark, pissing down rain, 50mph wind, with 40 tonners whizzing by 2 foot from me arse.

Great day.....

[bedale rover]

Bedale

I got a bloody flat tyre at the top of the A66 that night. No torch in the car. Changing the wheel in the dark, pissing down rain, 50mph wind, with 40 tonners whizzing by 2 foot from me arse.

Great day.....

it was we won!

[DonnyBazR0ver]

We must be a nightmare to play against and one of the things Deano said in his post-match interview last night was about the importance of improving out home record as teams will become more intimidated about coming to the Keepmoat and the pressure that it puts teams under leads to mistakes.

He also acknowledged the crowd getting more vocal and how this helps, playing a part by willing the ball in to the net and to keep noisy to make sure the away team feels that pressure.

I've stopped over analysing Deano's subs now simply because they work more often than not so whatever he decides to do is ok with me. I'm fairly sure he thinks beyond the first substitution in order to change the shape.

Not for one minute do I think Deano thinks he's got the finished product. We're evolving and improving and I'm enjoying watching his work in progress in front of my very eyes.

[RedJ]

May be shot down for this but I also think the football's coming along too. It's there in fits and starts, and it was evident in the second half v Scunny, but we are starting to get it down and play a bit more than we did, which is encouraging.

[BillyStubbsTears]

He said something very, very big last night, and Graingrover has picked up on it.

On Radio Dee Dah, before the match, he was musing on why Cotterill has serially failed to live up to his basic ability at every club he has played for before us. Saunders said that the lad has many, many faults, but he also has many strengths. and the strengths far outweigh the faults. And the lad needs reminding of the fact on a regular basis.

We are seeing the result of that approach. Saunders may well have quiet-quiet man-management skills that O'Driscoll could have only dreamed of. And if he HAS got those skills, he may well be getting the very, very best out of a player that I thought was dog-shit in the Championship. And he may well be leading us to promotion through that.

[hoolahoop]

Hoola.

Thing is, we are having our best start to a season since 1949 (Dutch Uncle will put me right if I've missed one). We have the second best ratio of wins per game in the entire Football League (Cardiff is the only club with a better record). I simply do not believe that this is down to luck. we all have our own opinions, but it seems blindingly obvious to me that we are doing something very, very right at the moment. Even if we are not raining in shots on the opposition goal, we have the ability to press on when required and hurt the opposition. From the moment that Syers came on and (as TRB says) Hume put in that tackle to lift the side, there was an air of inevitability about the outcome. We pressed, we applied pressure, we scored. Job done. A thoroughly professional and clinical job.

I would also like to see wonderful flowing football, have free ale, have my every carnal wish attended to at half time by that lass who used to be on the Bradford & Bingley adverts with the bowler hat, and have Nick Clegg hung up on a meat hook outside the stadium so I could punch him on the way out. But I'm not going to criticise the club for not providing all those things, when they are doing the core thing better than we have done for 60-odd years.

I stand by my post and I don't believe the word ''lucky'' was mentioned in that post. Incidentally, I would much prefer to see the weak members of the shadow cabinet strung up from the car park flagpoles .......I would give them a kicking but your very mention of Clegg was to illicit a response so there you are now your needs are met.
For all your apparent intelligence it seems surprising that you have such an obsession with Clegg when most if not all of our current politicians (of all political persuasions) appear to be stealing from the public purse, capable of lying to the public and generally breaking their promises.
Why have the double standards or as I suspect are you a disaffected Liberal Democrat deep down

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hoola.

Clegg held the balance of power in 2010. He had the future of the country in his hands. He made the wrong call. He deserves buggering by John Holmes for all eternity.

I make no bones about it. I despise the man with a vengeance.  But my opinion is nothing compared to what historians will say about him in 50 years time.

A student politician who ended up so far out of his depth that it would be hilarious. If he hadn't been complicit in f***ing up a generation's prospects through his utter incompetence.

Tell thi what. I've never been as chilled in my life as I was after the win against Southend in the play-offs. But if that c*** were strung up outside the Keepmpoat that night, I'd have eviscerated him with a lolly stick.

The c***.

EDIT:

PS. For the record, I have never and will never vote for his party. They are a bunch of smug, complacent, middle class c***s who built a facade by appealing to smug, complacent middle class c***s. They deserve no support from anyone who ever things about politics.

But I did move into Clegg's constituency last year so that I can personally hold the f**ker to account at the next General Election.

[BobG]

Oh come on Hoola... You may or may not be right about the  morals of our elected leaders, but which one of them, exactly, is it that has betrayed his constituency? Historically, people who commit betrayal often come to a very sticky end indeed. As they, and he, should.

BobG

[hoolahoop]

  :lol:That is the biggest load of nonsense I've read on here for years. Come on then remind me what should have been his call again and why ?

[hoolahoop]

Oh come on Hoola... You may or may not be right about the  morals of our elected leaders, but which one of them, exactly, is it that has betrayed his constituency? Historically, people who commit betrayal often come to a very sticky end indeed. As they, and he, should.

BobG

Remind me of any leader that has been bang on true to his constituency Bob  ? Billy would have had Clegg with Labour but truth is they didn't want the Lib/Dems + others to attempt to form a government.

[RoversAlias]

Clegg is a fool for how he handled 2010 but if Labour were still in charge now we'd be in an even bigger mess. Let's borrow until the end of time is their mantra it seems. But that's going wildly off-topic.

RedJ is right, in bursts and in little spells we're playing some very good football. It's just nailing that consistency and if we can do that nobody in League One will be able to stop us.

[BillyStubbsTears]

:lol:That is the biggest load of nonsense I've read on here for years. Come on then remind me what should have been his call again and why ?

Hoola. we had this discussion 2 1/2 years back. I predicted then that the LD's support for Osborne's economic policies would be catastrophic for our prospects of growing out of the recession.

You reckoned he had made the right call.

Who was right?

I said back then that a competent politician would have given qualified support to the Tories, refusing to follow economic policies that his own party had rejected at the Election in 2010. If he had done that, he could have wielded some proper stick behind closed doors. He could have held Cameron and Osborne hostage, pulling their economic policy closer to that proposed by the LDs in their 2010 manifesto, and he would have won electoral support as a result.

Instead, he was bluffed into unqualified support of  the Tory Govt because he was bullied into thinking that we would have ended up like Greece if he hadn't lent confidence to the Tories.

He was made a f***ing prick of by the Tories. The result is that he has f***ed up the LD's electoral prospects for 50 years. What an epitaph for a useless flaccid cock of a politician.