Not the ideal result...

After having a couple of days to reflect on Saturday's result, I must admit I feel little better about it. Yes there were positives as we kept a clean sheet for the second league game in a row and looked solid defensively, but the fact of the matter is we didn't defeat a side who had only gained 1 point from their previous 4 matches and were shipping goals left, right and centre.

We created very few clear cut chances and when you have 4 strikers on the pitch, you have to question why things didn't seem to happen in the final third. It was always going to take time for the lads to gel, but having looked decent going forward against Northampton, we've looked rather poor attacking-wise against Macclesfield and Hereford. To be fair, I think it was just one of those days, but if we want promotion, we can't afford to have too many of them. Scott McGleish missed a decent chance early on when put through down the right and if there was one man in the side who you would want that sort of chance to fall to, it would be the 37 year old marksman. He dragged his shot wide of the far post though and in truth, that was about as good a chance as we had all game, until the very last attack. We were approaching the end of stoppage time when a back post cross was delivered from the right wing, in came full-back Lee Brown who just needed to head across goal to net a winner, but the young defender attempted to nod it in near post. Needless to say it went wide and we had to settle for a point.

Chris Zebroski really isn't impressing at all so far. It would be incredibly harsh to write him off though after just 6 games in all competitions, but he's offered little to encourage fans so far. The decision to substitute off Jo Kuffour ahead of Zebs was bewildering and it clearly didn't work. He is not a natural winger and he looks very uncomfortable on the ball. The sooner Joe Anyinsah returns to the side, the better. Matty Harrold had little going his way on Saturday, but still worked incredibly hard and I think it's fair to say he's been a consistent performer for us so far. A goal at Orient in midweek from him and ex-O's man McGleish would go down very well.

I'm excited at the prospect of Danny Woodards coming in and making his debut too. It seems likely he will get a starting place on Tuesday, not only because of his obvious quality at right back, but also because Michael Smith got injured against Hereford and is unlikely to be risked. Hopefully his pace and attacking threat will provide more goalscoring opportunities for our front-line.

A disappointing weekend then for Rovers, but the division is wide open. Crawley have finally lost a game, Rotherham have lost star play Adam Le Fondre and Swindon lost again so remain near the foot of the table. Rovers will hope to progress through to the third round of the Carling Cup in midweek and set up an intriguing tie with Premier League side Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

A good win vs Orient sets us up nicely heading in to the massive clash with Crawley on Saturday...