R5 vs Western Sydney Wanderers | Friday 7th Nov | 7:30pm | ROF

Called it!

LOL

First clean sheet in 17 matches since we dicked the tards 5-0. Think Ernie will be just as happy with that as he is with the 3 points. 

Who were our subs today?. I didn't hear  at start of game. Yf was awesome 2nite. Friday nites are great!.

1-0 was my pick, came through. Don't even worry about that one.

Subs were Brockie, Boxall, Krishna, Italiano.

I couldn't understand why we'd gotten into the Lia-bashing again. He has been playing noticeably better this season, making some dynamite long passes. But then it's hard to give up habit of scapegoating, isn't it? As someone else mentioned - if Brockie had missed that penno the cries of SACK HIM SACK HIM would be loud, but Wee Mac seems to get away with merely a couple of grumbles. And Krishna is nothing but shit until he sets up a great goal (apparently... missed the second half due to watching a music video launch).

Anyway, in the half I did see there was some good scrapping for the ball in the midfield; and some good rugby tackles from the WSW, who must have thought "When in NZ, do as the Kiwis do".

YF were outstanding, looked/sounded great on the telly especially when you consider how small the crowd is/big the stadium is. Nice work.

Good atmosphere at Bethel Woods, had a deep and meaningful conversation with a couple of gentlemen about the future of Cunningham and Brockie in the men's room

just beaten ACLU Champions

Doom and Gloom merchants F**k off for a couple of days eh

Always thought it was a terrible call to give McGlinchey the penalty.... realise he's scored many this season and could've been a great call to go on form that didn't work out, but really, I hope McGlinchey doesn't try taking more for us, he isn't a penalty taker.

Give it to Moss. Revenge.

We are the best team in Asia/Oceania.

*giggles in a Finbar Saunders way*

surprised burns didn't take it. Cheers re subs. Grond announcer must have got it wrong. Roly has great control and poise. A-rod hmmm. I'm not convinced anymore.

Meow!

Racist

Horrid but we won.

Like to see Boyd on bench next game. Must be well fired up.

A good result. We won and kept a clean sheet at that. This was always a game where we probably should have got 3 points but this result does keep us in the top half of the table. 

I see Reira was the official MotM but I thought Bonevacia deserved it. Our midfield including Lia went well but I still think we need a genuine striker. Our defensive depth is going to be tested in the next few weeks with Fenton perhaps out for a while. Fenton was very industrious when he was on the pitch. I still don't think he is a natural defender but I don't have too many problems with how he did in the role. 

Adelaide next week will be a tough ask.

Despite the win - and it was a good one in the end - I still don't think we are set up right. Roly was pretty obviously more effective in the middle of the park; perhaps Krishna will get a run in the team as a reward? Really think that Burns and WeeMac need that support to be effective. Also think that Rod and Lia seem to be getting in each others way half the time. Ernie doesn't yet trust A-Rod out there without 2 experienced heads next to him in Riera and Lia.

Credit to Burns, though - he had a pretty shocking game overall (too many heavy touches to count) but he popped up when it counted. 

Shocking penalty - much worse than Brockies. Dadi-esque, you could say.

Good win, but doesn't paper over the cracks we've seen these last couple of games - hopefully it will give us confidence to move forward.

Yes Adelaide will be a tough ask but I'll say now I will be bitterly disappointed if the Phoneix do not make the second weekend of finals

It's all there bar the polish.

Still confused about Mac not putting a ball through to Roly. He was wide open. Mac has the vision for it, so strange he didn't put him through.

Wish our midfield could transition from defence as quick as what WSW did at times.We seem very laboured  when coming out and thats without commenting on some of our passing which at critical times is to often going astray.

I thought Boxall looked much more composed on the ball than Fenton.  Something to do with bigger bulk? Louie is rather slight of build. Feel sorry for the bloke.

On One News just now...

"Coming up, the Phoenix take on the champs of Asia, and the result might suprise you...."

Fuck Off.

Fenton was terrible. Missed at least one clear cut chance and was schooled all night by their guy. 

Roly was amazing.

McGlinchey was average.

A wins a win though.

Saying he was 'terrible' is going a bit far. I thought he was one of the only players, especially in the first half, who genuinely took players on and got past them. That miss was horrid and I screamed at the TV when he got past a player, skillfully scooped the ball into his path and then stopped/watched it roll out because he was expecting a whistle. (Durante also did this at the start of the first half when he kicked the ball into a WSW players hand in the box; just watched the ball roll out while he screamed at the ref. Stupid.)

However I think we will be alright when Doyle gets back  Manny is really struggling at left back for mine.

Absolutely disagree.  That was his best game at RB, got involved, beat his man a number of times (who was a good player) - yes he missed chances but I have been critical/dubious in the past but that was a lot better from him

Piney mentioned on twitter that Fenton dislocated his other arm.

Will take it.

I was thinking if it was the same one it would be pretty much the end of his career?

Would they risk playing him after last season? Is he susceptible to it or just a bad coincidence?Feel for the guy.

I have just read through these threads and it has proved to me just how misleading TV coverage can be. Sure we weren't brilliant out there but Fenton had a bloody good game. Yes, he should have nailed the header and even the shot but he is a right back. What he was doing away from the play was good and he kept their  striker in check and was enjoying a lot of space because wsw didn't have a midfielder out there. 

Their new left back was bloody good. Manny was getting skinned in the first half and sorted it in the second. The midfield did well. Being at the games one gets to see the whole picture and what players do off the ball and away from the main play. We kept our shape.  Siggy and Durante had good games and dealt with most of it nicely. Moss only had to pull off two class saves. One from point blank. Krishna coming on was good. Burns saw Krishna was causing them problems and was giving Krishna every chance. The goal was supurb and the penalty was harsh.

The referee was decent, he let it flow as much as he could. The lino on the aisle 12 side of the field fucked it up 3 or so times, it was not the refs fault.

we now have 9 points, 6 more than the team two places below us. This really could be a decent season. I feel for Fenton though. He had a decent game and this injury was undeserved.

Fever zone was in goof form and so too was the fever bar. I even got the barman, i asked for the cider I saw there and asked him if it was better than a Dickens. He didnt even twig to it. Tee hee

Yes. Claiming he was 'schooled' is total nonsense as even the most casual of observer would realise. Considering it was his debut Adeleke was very good at LB but he and Fenton had a great tussle all night, literally to the last tackle. On the other wing Castelen ran Manny ragged but luckily he was given good cover by Durante and co.

Just f**kn awful if. Didn't look good. So young. So much promise.

What was great about that was in the past 2 seasons we would have drawn or lost because of a poor defensive mistake.  We kept it tight, stayed in the game and when we sensed they were flagging we went for them.  The boys will be very pleased with that result tonight I'm sure - the beers will taste very sweet

The midfield still doesn't look right.  Lia and Gorrin on either side of Riera is too flat and we get nothing out of either of the other two guys in an attacking sense.  There's a slightly predictable passing pattern where Riera gets the ball, shuffles it wide to one of those guys who then shuffles it wider still to either an overlapping fullback or Burns out wide, they either take on the fullback, but even if they get past him we're generally out numbered in the middle, or they pass it backwards back to the same midfielder and the other team still has men behind the ball. At this stage Gorrin doesn't look like much of an upgrade on Lia - both put in a good shift but it's 6/10 stuff.

It also nullifies a lot of the best stuff from Bonavacia because he's ahead of the ball, when he comes back looking for it we end up too crowded and we end up with 2 attackers against 4 defenders plus def midfield.  I'd still like to see him as one of the three striding forward like he did for the goal, it was Yaya Toure-esque.  He looks like a player who wants to start attacks rather than finish them.

Really good start to the season though and wins at home will start to get the crowds back on board.  Nice cameo from Krishna too, he's definitely got something to say at this level

7008 was the attendence. Not bad for a Friday night game.

Ifill needs to talk to these guys IMO.