Our 'old friends' Donny.

[gazan]

What is it about Donny? It could be our shared heritage of railways. It could be the shared underachievement of my younger years. It might also be epic and not so epic (El Crapico) duels between the clubs. Whatever, there has been something about this match that excites interest.
However, I wish it was away from home as we seem to have lost our way at Gresty Road. Away games are 'safe' and familiar in terms of team set up and approach but at home , I think Lee Bell equivocates. Teams at home usually expect to be on the front foot at home but LB seems to be uneasy on the front foot. It's easy to see why when our worst performances/results have occurred at home (Chesterfield and Fleetwood) and our defence (particularly since MickeyD's injury) has seemed a little suspect at times.
Donny have one of the best away records but have had very few clean sheets on the road. Does that mean their style of play is quite open? I certainly hope so as this would give us a chance to play and compete.
Who's going to play? Big question is between Hemmings and Bogle. In the last game, the latter seemed a little ponderous whilst the former appeared more dynamic. However, knowing Bell's inclination to be cautious I suspect he'll start with Bogle. Or he could be really radical and start with both of them!!
That brings us to formation. As it's one of the 'bigger' clubs I suspect a 5-3-2. So will he stick with Billington or go with Cooney (hopefully the former)? Will Sanders get the nod or Thomas. Thomas looked quite up for it when he came on last week and Sanders is clearly not LB's favourite.
Tabiner did well again playing on the wing so will cause a selection/formation headache.
Although I am very pessimistic about this game, it is one that we really need to win. We have a run of games now where the Alex are playing there promotion rivals so we need to be winning points at their expense. Draws are not going to be helpful (unless we also win a few) so this poses a challenge for the management.
My prediction is 1-3 based on recent home performances. Hopefully some of you will come back and pick holes in my comments. Or at least, offer alternative predictions.😃

[MikeSB]

Interesting post re history etc. I worked for BR for 40 years and was railway through and through. We in Crewe and In Doncaster had probably the biggest railway workshops alongside Derby and possibly Swindon. Crewe works went from the North end of Crewe Station all along the west end of Crewe to Merrills Bridge by Rolls Royce as it was back then. Doncaster works was somewhere where I visited often when I was promoted and the offices were huge like they they were in the GO at Crewe. anyone that has visited Doncaster recently will see the big office derelict and damaged. The GO General Offices at Crewe were designed on a curved railway track was magnificent and was knocked down years ago. Politics is to blame as usual but we'll leave it there. Doncaster built some great Locomotives like the Mallard who held the speed record for quite a long time. Its still preserved and is in use occasionally.

I am pleased with the Alex this season and in some ways over performed but having FIVE full backs in the side does not impress me one bit and virtually gives up on the attack and why we can go some games without having a direct shot on goal. I would be more impressed with five forwards and that would keep the opposition team occupied more of the time. I don't think we have the quality of strikers to get promoted automatically but may squeeze a place on the play offs because other teams around us are not doing that great.

I think the score will be 1-1 ie another draw.

[gazan]

Hi! Nice to hear from you, MSB! I remember a lot of what you write, history-wise However, I have to ask about the 5 full-backs cos we only have 2 specialist full backs and 3 others who can cover those positions. Cooney and Conway are the only real full backs. Billington and Williams are CBs and Finney is originally a midfielder and all have covered for full-back.
What we do have a lot of are CBs. We have 7 on the books but 3 of those are injured at the moment. We have actually, at one point, played with 5 (I think!) in the the starting line up.
I would also suggest that having 5 forwards, in the manner of pre-Revie plan, would leave any team vulnerable to a ball over the top.
I have to say, though, that I'm not a fan of the recent version of playing from the back - it can be laborious and counter-productive. So I know what you mean.
Your prediction is more optimistic than mine! Let's hope you're closer to the reality than I am.

[LordK]

I only caught the game from the 30-minute point. Lots of effort but looking vulnerable. 2md half roller coaster, their goal came from 2 x players bundling over and the spare man put it away with a free header. Down the right second half, Doncaster continued to have 1 on 1 situation. We had enough chances, but all at their keeper and both teams hung on to the point. Worth 3 at Doncaster, 1 x point is not enough where we sit with Grimsby and Colchester possibly going above us later on. Over the next few games, we need 3 x points, not 1 x point games. Nice to see injured coming back, but needing actual playing time to gel. Notts County (cannot see more than 1 x point and the Vale again I think a point, which will have us sitting outside the playoffs! Thoughts

[gazan]

Yep another 1-1 (how many is that?). Second half in particular Donny moved the ball more quickly and nearly always picked up the second ball. The stats are misleading in that we created lots of opportunities but the final ball to the forwards often didn't arrive. Tabiner, though playing well down the right wing, was often the culprit for the final poor ball.
Our midfield was often overloaded by Donny so that's why Bell rejigged the side. However, it didn't make much difference as the opponents were always quicker and knew where the ball was bouncing. Lowery battled hard I feel he's being played too deeply.
Still, we didn't lose even though we needed to win. It's looking increasingly like playing-offs are our only hope.
MOTM for me was Holi?ek.

[MikeSB]

You all will know how we played and whether we deserved a point or not'?

I find it perplexing that LB again had three strikers on the bench and didn't start them and then once again left it far too late to change the team. Doncaster made 5 changes to try and get a result while we did nothing. Maybe LB is far too cautious in overloading the defence and midfield and not giving much to goals needed. It's why we have so many draws this season. When you are one up after 10 mins you have to pile the pressure on for another goal otherwise you know what will happen and we could have lost this game. What was the purpose of leaving a proven goal scorer ie Long on the Bench for so long and playing someone at CF who had hardly played a game this season? LB should not have signed him if he knows he cannot play 90 mins...or have players on the Bench who cannot play 90 mins either.

On reflection, I think we will not finish in the playoffs as the management team don't seem to be up for it. Lunt is a nice feller but we should not be paying all these non players while we desperately need some better players in the team eg Strikers.