City 3, Rovers Nil

That was the strangest night at the Cross in a while.
Strange sight 1: Dan Murray making a run that would have done Paulo Rossi proud, giving a sweet pass to Flynnie who set up Gamble's goal.
Strange sight 2: Bringing Fenn on for Greg, when he was playing well.
Strange sight 3: McNulty watching the ball float over him, and reacting only when the ball hit the crossbar.
Strange sight 4: the family enclosure antagonising the Rovers fans
Strange sight 5: Two overweight Rovers guys chasing a kid across the St. Annes end just before the second goal.
I think we played badly for long periods tonight, and in between we were absolutely brilliant, if that makes any sense.
With Shels being held to a draw by Bray, that puts us 11 points ahead of them. If they hold their nerve, they should qualify for the Inter-Toto Cup, if it is still being played in 2006. :D

mc nulty was wrong footed for the shot off the ball due to a deflection,

city played very ell at times although flynnie got isolated at times up front when georgie dropped back a bit,

could have won by alot more,

flynnie 1 on 1
george header
george pen!!!
billy could have scored only he dived!!


on a sour note, rovers fans left there club down tonite,

not only did they cause trouble by throwing bottles etc at the st annes end but they were so quiet for long periods!!!

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Originally Posted by yan

On a sour note, rovers fans left there club down tonite,

not only did they cause trouble by throwing bottles etc at the st annes end but they were so quiet for long periods!!!

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Nio way ...... not a chance there fella !!

Rovers fans were grand tonight .... THE best support for a team bottom of the table this league has ever seen. .......... FACT

Rovers fans reacted to some 'jibbes' and 'tuants' made towards them but that was it (in the ground)

The problem was .... the guards .... if they thought there was going to be trouble then WHERE were they before hand ???

THe Rovers fans weregrand considering the trouble/strife they got from the home fans !!

Cork City fans would have bottled it if anything had happened anyway !!

a face you must have definitly had the blinkers on last night

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Originally Posted by A face

Cork City fans would have bottled it if anything had happened anyway !!

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You are some City fan with a comment like that.. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Fair_play_boy

Strange sight 2: Bringing Fenn on for Greg, when he was playing well.

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The team were on the rack for a while and needed another striker - I don't think it was Greg was poor, but Fenn's appearance turned the game in our favour again. He was superb again.

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Originally Posted by Fair_play_boy

I think we played badly for long periods tonight, and in between we were absolutely brilliant, if that makes any sense.

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When we were good we were outstanding!
The best team football I've ever seen in this league.
I've seen teams with some great players but so many City players played well last night, it truely was a brilliant display of what we are capable of.
Rovers offered so little resistance in the first half that is was no surprise the game went flat. Too many bodies in midfield and Flynnie isolated up front resulted in few clearcut chances.

While Greg had done well throughout, the introduction of Fenn gave us a real threat going forward. Gamble was brilliant when he had to be.
Georgie did well but he is too good a player to lack such composure from the spot. He got under the ball and appeared to be leaning back.

The run from Dan Murray was class! :)
Hope he doesn't get any ideas though, a better team will catch him out if he tries that too often.
He made his way into the box but was beaten to the header by Gamble.
A goal for Dan would have iced a neat passage of play from him.



Overall I though that Hancock did well. He let the game flow when he could.
A big worry for Rovers seems to be their lack of fight.
They'll be turned over by everyone unless they show a bit more aggression.

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Originally Posted by A face

Rovers fans were grand tonight .... THE best support for a team bottom of the table this league has ever seen. .......... FACT

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I agree 100% with this!
They were a credit to the club until a few allowed themselves to be wound up. They sang and chanted for almost the entire game.
Such a pity that it was spoiled by a few, with many home fans saying "sure what more would you expect from Rovers!?"

Must have been the most hardest 3 nil ever achieved.
We were terrible at times last night, and brilliant at other times.

Thought the Rovers fans were great to be honest, Biggest and best away support this season, puts the big pub and all the other pathetic support to shame, good support all the way through, and from the Shed, it looked like a few muppets in the St. Anne's end were doing their best to wind them up as much as possible.
Though the Echo did report incidents in the Horseshoe and Tory Top????
You'll always get a few arseh*les, and Rovers seem to have a few more than most, but their support was fantastic for a team that was shocking.

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Originally Posted by patsh

Thought the Rovers fans were great to be honest, Biggest and best away support this season, puts the big pub and all the other pathetic support to shame, good support all the way through, and from the Shed, it looked like a few muppets in the St. Anne's end were doing their best to wind them up as much as possible.
Though the Echo did report incidents in the Horseshoe and Tory Top????
You'll always get a few arseh*les, and Rovers seem to have a few more than most, but their support was fantastic for a team that was shocking.

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Yeah, I'd agree with that.

I always say that ourselves, Derry and Rovers are the only clubs who can be proud of their support. Bohs are good from time to time too but nearly all other clubs are a joke.

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Originally Posted by patsh

Though the Echo did report incidents in the Horseshoe and Tory Top????
You'll always get a few arseh*les, and Rovers seem to have a few more than most, but their support was fantastic for a team that was shocking.

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I was in the Horseshoe after the game and the only trouble was the gardai trying 2 get a rovers fan out of the pub. In fariness he did have a few 2 many drinks taken and was'nt doing 2 much damage just annoying but they just wanted him out incase he started anything.

Amazing turnout by the Rovers fans. Bottom of the league due to the point deduction. That has nothing to do with the players or supporters and they deserve sympathy and credit. But Flynnys fine volley meant 3 points to City and i defend the right of our fans to celebrate. The "going down" chant will be heard long after our lifetime and an element exists within the Rovers fans who react to goals against with nastiness. You wouldnt see it from Derry fans. So i wish them the best but given the obvious pride they have in their team maybe they should try and weed out the nasty element.

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Originally Posted by radar

Amazing turnout by the Rovers fans. Bottom of the league due to the point deduction. That has nothing to do with the players or supporters and they deserve sympathy and credit. But Flynnys fine volley meant 3 points to City and i defend the right of our fans to celebrate. The "going down" chant will be heard long after our lifetime and an element exists within the Rovers fans who react to goals against with nastiness. You wouldnt see it from Derry fans. So i wish them the best but given the obvious pride they have in their team maybe they should try and weed out the nasty element.

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credit where credit is due, rovers have a large loyal following (though i wonder how much of it is the attraction of green hoops), but as far back as i can remember they have been associated with trouble at games and after games. i pointed this out to a rovers fan on this very board and he reacted angrily as if i was talking shíte. whether or not they like to admit it, there is a violent element* if they actually admitted this element exists, ostracised themselves from it, and attempted to lose the appeal they have to Celt'c/IRA (not that they have anything to do with an armed struggle in the north but they bought all the wolfe tones albums) "hard boys", they might once and for all be recognised as a supporter body proud of their club and part of the eL community as a whole rather than a thorn in its side.

*(the only time ive been worried for my safety at a soccer game was at richmond when rovers fans crossed the stadium to come and basically scream abuse at us away fans & ignore the match in progress because their team was losing. a pint glass was thrown into our support; its fair to say the animal who threw it had consumed said pint & a few others.)

The only time i feared my kids saftey was our home game versus rovers last year, when we had to relocate to another part of the stadium.

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Originally Posted by radar

Amazing turnout by the Rovers fans. Bottom of the league due to the point deduction. That has nothing to do with the players or supporters and they deserve sympathy and credit. But Flynnys fine volley meant 3 points to City and i defend the right of our fans to celebrate. The "going down" chant will be heard long after our lifetime and an element exists within the Rovers fans who react to goals against with nastiness. You wouldnt see it from Derry fans. So i wish them the best but given the obvious pride they have in their team maybe they should try and weed out the nasty element.

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Thought the atmosphere in the ground was very good.Rovers supporters are extremely passionate and sometimes that turns nasty. Their reaction after the second goal was caused by a bottle thrown in their direction from the St.Annes end of the ground.The perpetrator was apprehended.

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Originally Posted by Fair_play_boy

Strange sight 2: Bringing Fenn on for Greg, when he was playing well.
:D

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This was a great move!! City took control once Fenn came on. I agree Greg was playing well but mainly in a defensive midfield role - we needed some creativity which Fenn provided in spades. Even Georgie started playing better after huffing and puffing for most of the game up to then. Some of the stuff Fenn did on Friday night was out of this world - a joy to watch.

on a sour note, rovers fans left there club down tonite,

not only did they cause trouble by throwing bottles etc at the st annes end but they were so quiet for long periods!!![/QUOTE]

You should write for the herag/echo. By bringing the biggest support this season and by singing throughout the game is letting our club down?????

We couldnt hear anything from the shed particularly when we had a good spell when Paddy hit the crossbar. Fair play to Damien for coming over at the end. Nice gesture from a true Hoop.

BTW in the programme Dave Galvin (a Dub) mentions that there have been 14 away victories in Europe and then bizzarely lists 13 of them leaving our Polish victory out :p


KOH

How many rovers fans were at the game?

And are we still missing kevin doyle? Seem to be doing pretty well without him...it's a nice luxury to be able to pick holes in a three-nil win...

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Originally Posted by kingcolers

How many rovers fans were at the game?

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over 100, I'd say 150 at least.

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Originally Posted by kingcolers

And are we still missing kevin doyle?

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:confused: Have you been living in a cave for the past while or something?!

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Originally Posted by Éanna

:confused: Have you been living in a cave for the past while or something?!

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I think he meant "were we missing his goals..."

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Originally Posted by kingcolers

How many rovers fans were at the game?

And are we still missing kevin doyle? Seem to be doing pretty well without him...it's a nice luxury to be able to pick holes in a three-nil win...

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Indeed - should've been 3-0 at half time [JOF's miss and the penalty] - and could've been 4 [Murphy's brilliant save form Georgie's header]. Could've been 7 by the end - we were lining up to score in the last ten minutes - Fenn, Woods, Georgie. We made a bit of a meal of it in the first 15 mins of the second half but once Fenn came on it was all one way traffic... Happy days...