The Opposition View

In the wake of Wycombe’s first win of the season against Bristol Rovers yesterday, here are some views on the game from Pirates’ boss Paul Trollope and a few of their fans.


Trollope was naturally disappointed to have lost after having taken the lead.

Speaking to his Club’s official website, he said: ‘It wasn’t a performance that was up to the standard we have set ourselves in the early weeks of the season.’

Trollope made particular reference to Rovers’ excellent win against Huddersfield Town last Saturday and said: “We spoke about the good things we did in that game and tried to replicate them in terms of passing and movement. But the competitive edge was an important factor and we didn’t produce that consistently enough to warrant getting anything from this game.’

‘Wycombe haven’t started the season as well as they would have liked and we knew that their motivation would be high and that proved to be the case. They were a threat to our back four and we had to defend resiliently at times,’ said the Rovers manager.

Talking about Wycombe’s two goals, Trollope confessed to being disappointed in the way they were conceded: ‘The system they played meant that we knew the two wide players would come inside to join Matt Harrold and we spoke about denying them space.’

‘They got inside for the first one and although it was a good strike, it was from a long way. For their second one their lad (Beavon) had a great touch down the side and the ball was cut back a long way. The lad turned and hit a great strike, but we expect to do better in positions like that.’



Some Rovers’ fans were honest, some disrespectful and some showed delusions of grandeur.


The following extracts are from BBC606, ‘Bristol Rovers Fans Forum’ and ‘Football Forums’.


LPGas wrote:
‘They had an easy day.’



SirBaselTote wrote:
‘Best team won. Rovers are in a false position.’



HobbitualGas wrote:
‘They brought two forwards on who were better than any we had. One of them eventually put us out of our misery with a turn and finish from 25 yards as good as any you’ll see this weekend.’




gashead79 wrote:
‘Wycombe were a poor side. We made them look better by playing into their hands.’



chrissy boy wrote:
‘Wycombe used their subs effectively which changed the game.’



WycombeGas wrote:
‘Wycombe only had two shots, both from outside the box and scored two goals.’



Rhinestone_Gashead wrote:
‘I think we were outfought, outplayed and outbattled all over the pitch yesterday. Wycombe were a BIG side (I think their No 6 is the biggest player I have ever seen!) They’re very physical and once they won that side of the game we were always gonna be second best.’



paperlantern wrote:
‘We played well for the first 25 minutes and then fell apart. The lack of options on our bench is frightening.’



Chelts wrote:
‘Our weaknesses were laid bare by a decidedly average side.’



Blackthorne Terrace Taff wrote:
‘Two very poor sides today with Wycombe the better of the two. They scored 2 screamers and they will not be allowed to score goals like that every week.’



JoeBananas67 wrote:
‘Today we were out-muscled and out-thought by a very very poor side called Wycombe. Scott Shearer will always be known as Lemsip (couldn’t catch a cold) and we never forced him to make a save. In the main, the first half was an entertaining game to watch. The second 45 minutes was embarrassing.’



Surreygas wrote:
‘We made Wycombe look like a good side today, and to be honest they will go down.’



Stamford Gas wrote:
‘They had five in midfield and we only had four. They always had three against two and played in triangles leaving us chasing shadows. This got them their first goal.’



smudgedogg wrote:
‘This is a massive wake up call for us I’m afraid. We really should be thrashing sides as poor as Wycombe.’



This chap clearly expected to win!

TrueBlue1 wrote:
‘Mediocre. Am I talking about Bristol Rovers? I could be but I’m not ..I am talking about Wycombe Wanderers. A team who on today’s performance should be plying their trade in non-league. I have little doubt that they will fill one of the relegation places and I just hope we don’t fill one of the others. This sort of opposition should have been played off the park but the trouble with Bristol Rovers is that we pay them the same respect we pay Cardiff City and play exactly the same way. Until we play further up the field and actually mark players then we will continue to lose to opposition that we should be destroying.’


Final score: Wycombe Wanderers 2 Bristol Rovers 1