Crewe 1-1 Rovers analysis
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00:00Hello, good evening, welcome along to the Free Press Rovers Facebook page. I haven't
00:06done one of these for a while, so I thought we'd give it a go. I'm with Tom Bulcliffe
00:11from Radio Sheffield. Tom, how do we reflect on that 1-0 draw?
00:15Bonkers game, Ricky, to be quite honest with you. Rovers down after 10 minutes, not fearing
00:20the worst, but crew poured it on that first half and Ted Sharmelow has made a couple of
00:25decent saves, one in particular from Hemmings to claw out. If that goes in, it really was
00:30an uphill task. You said it half-time, you just sensed that rovers weren't out of it
00:35by any stretch of the imagination, but they would have to change maybe personnel and maybe
00:40their plan of attack and the shape. They did both of those things. Ironside on for Gibson.
00:45It just changed the way, the dynamic and the pattern of the game. Crew, they were good
00:51for an hour or so, but the longer time went on, you sensed that rovers were just going
00:55to inch their way back into things and they did that. Cracking header from Owen Bailey,
00:59proper. He'd taken on the skipper's armband from Richard Wood and Wood didn't disgrace
01:04himself by any stretch of the imagination today, but from that moment, once that header
01:08goes in from Bailey, thinking there's only going to be a one-winner and then the game
01:12just... It's hard to summarise because it's just basketball, wasn't it?
01:17Yeah, it was. End of that end-to-end game, basketball, schoolyard stuff, whatever you
01:23want to call it.
01:24I thought Ennis, Ethan Ennis with five to go. He had a chance actually, it comes back
01:30to him and he's had another sighter and it's deflected off at least one player and it's
01:34hit the outside of the post. And rovers look in front of goal when it comes to hitting
01:38the woodwork. I think that's 19 out of probably 30-odd games now. You're just cursing your
01:43And there's a free kick, last kick of the game. Luke Molyneux, and people have practised
01:48that a hundred times in training. Dotting the ball down, 25 yards out on his favoured
01:52left peg. Just couldn't quite force it on time.
01:55Yeah, it just wasn't meant to be, but I mean, you would have took that at half-time and
01:59that first half performance was...
02:00It's funny, isn't it? I said to Graeme just there at the end, you know, half-time last
02:04week, there's no way you'd have taken a point against Swindon. Half-time today, you're biting
02:08your hand off. So, contrasting draws in a week where rovers haven't had a draw since
02:14I think it was Colchester away in December. They've had two on the spin and now have two
02:18weeks off to kind of reflect on it. I'm sure we'll get to it in the next piece, but rovers
02:23possibly, through no fault of their own, could have had three points.
02:27Yeah, well that's it. Like you said there, we spoke to Grant afterwards and he usually
02:31kind of plays down refereeing to the instancy, but not today.
02:35Well, yeah, he's getting a bit tired of it, isn't he really? You know what, he said, I
02:41think this quote was, people talk about swings and roundabouts, we're on a lot of swings
02:45at the moment. I know what he said. Things aren't evening themselves up at the moment.
02:51If that's in October or whatever, you kind of shrug your shoulders and go, right, fair
02:55enough. Nine games from the end of the season, you need to... He's highlighted three decisions.
02:59One was the offside for the goal and a potential handball. It did seem a bit too easy for Willy
03:05Williams to get round the back. Anyway, O'Reardon stuck it in. And then there were two penalty
03:10shouts, I think one of them from... I mean, we're way up in the gods here at Crewe. These
03:15are only small stands, but this one's a giant of a stand. The one on Patrick Kelly, he goes
03:21down and he had no reason to, and I've asked Grant about this. He's being kicked to the
03:26floor by Tom Lowry, who apparently was laughing at the absurdity the Crewe midfielder hadn't
03:31been given. The other one on Sabara, not so sure, bit of a 50-50, but that's one unhappy
03:37manager. He was late, well, by his standards, out for the press conference. I think he's
03:41been having a few shouts. Absolutely. I can't actually remember the last time I was a part
03:45of a penalty. Joe Ironside, for one and only penalty this season at Swindon. Right, well,
03:50there you go. It plays into the narrative, I guess. How do you reflect on it then in
03:55terms of, well, we're stood here at 20 past three, games are going on as we speak, who
04:02knows where they're going to be. It's horrible. Next time, if they go to the field against
04:06Carlisle. Well, yeah, it's horrible. Looking at Wimbledon's a goal up, and Port Vale are
04:10a goal up, and screw it, I hope that Rovers are within, not touchy, they will be within
04:15touch of crikey. These teams can't get that many points over the next couple of weeks.
04:20But I don't think, certainly not being the automatic spots when they take to the field
04:23against Carlisle, they will have players back, we think. So, Oluwu, Sterry, better
04:28news on them. Maxwell, I think, as well. Not so sure about McGrath. Obviously the two outfield
04:34lads, Kelly and Crewe, are going on international duty. We'll have to wait and see how they
04:39fare. Sharman Lowe has done his hand no harm at all. I thought he was good today. But yeah,
04:47it's just wait and see. Grant, I think, was pressing Salford for that game to be off.
04:54So it gives Rovers a bit of breathing space, but it's going to be a bumper eight games.
05:01We keep saying it's a shootout to the finish. It's going to go to the wire, isn't it?
05:04Absolutely. I think everyone is kind of consigned to the fact that it's going to
05:08be Notts County away last day. I've said it for a few weeks now. I think if you were to go there,
05:13you'd snatch your hand off if you were to be told, Rovers, go there. As long as you don't lose,
05:20you're up. And it's less than eight weeks away. Exactly. Yeah. So, yes, we press on. Thanks for
05:27watching and tuning in. And we'll attempt to do another one of these, if not at the game,
05:33then during the running. So, yeah, thanks.