Off to a good start......

It's always good to get your first 3 points in the bag, especially when it's away from home. I know Doncaster came up from league one last season but this game could have gone either way. We started off ok, plenty of pressure and possession, got an early goal via a tap-in by Steve Davies and went in at half-time 1-0 up. Paul Dickov must have given his lads a talking to because they came out determined to change things. Disappointingly they equalised from a header straight from a corner. I say this because our defence has looked a lot more solid since Paul Ince/Alex Rae took over. I had a horrible thought Richie Wellens was going to be our nemesis again. But fortunately we ended up 3-1 winners in the end.

One thing which concerns me is Tom Ince's form since his dad took over. He seems to be trying too hard to impress his old man. I've noticed too he looks straight over at the bench if he's fluffed a chance, knowing his dad will give him what for. I know it's getting to Tom because of the way he's reacted when fans have said things to him. Instead of taking it on the chin he's reacted angrily to their comments, even though they've not been nasty comments. I also think he finds it awkward when his team mates think he has a say in team affairs, which I'm sure he doesn't.

 

Well, as per usual we went out of the League/Carling/Capital Card Cup in the first round last night, which is no great loss to me because it's a distraction we can do without. Unfortunately it was at the hands of that lot at the end of the M55. What made it worse was they are now managed by Simon "I can't get to Leeds Utd quick enough but Preston will do" Grayson. Used to have a lot time for this bloke but the way he left etc changed my mind. Still, league status has no relevance when it comes to results in cup competitions, more so in local derbies. We can't really complain because we dominated most of the play without causing them many problems. Again last night Tom's form was very poor, but so was Davies and Chopra's, the latter missing a sitter in the second half. Yet again our defence was unlocked late on by a set piece header, very disappointing. I do think Gilks should at least be coming out for some of the balls instead of staying on his line and relying on the defence to win the headers. But apart from that he had a good game. Young Robinson on loan from Liverpool started off well but seemed to get the jitters later on. But the defence look a lot more confident on the ball than Ollie's defensive line up ever were.

 

Next up is Barnsley managed by David Flitcroft, who if I remember rightly turned us over last season, so I'm taking nothing for granted. It'll be our first run out on the newly laid Bloomers pitch, just hope it lasts longer than the previous one, only winter will tell.

 

One thing which makes me laugh, is how betting seems to be taking over as though it was an acceptable way of life. We're constantly bombarded with bets for this, that and everything, including annoying bingo sites. Now I see it's the Skybet Championship. Two things I detest more than anything is betting of any description and Sky in all it's forms, the two together makes it even worse.

You can follow me on twitter.com Brian@truetangerine

End of my summer slumber.

Well another summer of sport makes way for the start of the footy season. I've enjoyed Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, with one day to go I was preparing to celebrate Lee Westwood winning this year's Open, but had to make do with Phil Mickelson taking the jug instead. Pity I couldn't watch the Lions win or England getting off to a good start with the Ashes, because of Sky pinching these from terrestrial TV.

So, with little or nothing happening down at Bloomers to report about apart from how the playing surface is growing, I found it difficult to put pen to paper, so to speak. Yes, I've visited the fan's websites, but to be quite honest all that happens there out of season is a bad case of in-fighting. Nobody seems to want to agree with one another, which usually leads to some of the keyboard warriors threatening to settle their differences "outside".

Anyway, here we are the day before the big kick-off. As I write the Dark Lord, Koko or whatever has agreed to 5 signings to date, which by his standards are par for the course. He always waits until the season starts before plunging any deeper into the transfer market. Yet again he promises to sign more players shortly, yawnnnnnnnnn, forgive me if I sound a bit sceptical, but hey, we go through this every year and it gets no better.

Well we're at Donny tomorrow, so how we go on is anybody's guess, but I won't be surprised if it ends in a 1-1 draw. Do I feel optimistic? It would be nice to say yes, but my pessimistic side says, no.

You see, this is what being a 'Pool fan does to you, you expect the worse and when it doesn't happen , a strange feeling starts to come over you, you start to think we might have finally turned the corner and the bookies might consider us as promotion candidates instead of Preston failures.

Anyway enough of my ramblings, here's hoping we get off to a good start and stuff that lot on Monday night in darkest Deepdale.