We are now a quarter of the way through the season, and by and large, things are okay. Before last week's let down against Kidderminster, Rovers had lost just once in seven games, and that was put down to our live Sky TV disease - I think if we had played Macclesfield without the cameras up at the Moss Rose, we would probably have won that one. And blame for our subsequent defeat last Saturday can be pinned to another long-standing Rovers illness: the inability to perform in front of big crowds at home. There have been exceptions to this rule over the years, such as the return of Gerry Francis against Torquay 14 months ago, but even then our 1-0 win was laboured and drawn out like some sick form of torture. The slashing of admission prices for the Kiddy game was a brilliant idea as hopeful projections of an 8,000 gate were blown away by the 9,500 who packed into the Mem on a lovely afternoon. Unfortunately most of those new fans will probably stay away after the lacklustre performance they saw from Rovers. Having hammered Shrewsbury 5-2 the week before, the next game against a team just below us in the league was set up perfectly for a big attendance; could we smash this lot too? Of course not. Our passing was sloppy and balls went everywhere but the intended target. The artistic players in the side forgot their brushes and creativity was therefore at a premium. Kidderminster's record of one defeat all season suggested they were very hard to carve open, and our bluntness was such that it was like trying to slice an orange with a stick. At least we got ourselves a goal, Paul Tait glancing a beautiful header from Astafjevs' curling corner to make it four in four home games for the former barn door merchant. We weren't celebrating for long though, because we literally let the Harriers go up the other end and retake the lead within a minute. One shining light did creep through the gloom of that ignominious defeat, and that was the first public sighting of Kevin Austin, whom I had only previously encountered riding a bicycle round and round the fields at the University of Glamorgan. In the first tactical masterstroke we have seen from Ray Graydon thus far, Austin came on for his debut and lined up in a back three, which then immediately led to Rovers forcing the equaliser. Any high ball aimed near Austin was won comfortably by the huge defender, and to be honest Kiddy's 6'3" Drewe Broughton had no chance after he was introduced. Austin also backed this up with a couple of long throws which I'm sure delighted parts of the home crowd who have grown used to greeting Rovers throw-ins with groans. The new man has had terrible injury problems in the last few years, including rupturing both achilles tendons, and a bad toe kept him sidelined for two months as soon as he had signed for Graydon. But apart from Kevin Austin, I don't think our physio Phil Kite has had anyone to rub this year. Amazingly, nine of the starters at Torquay on the opening day are ever-presents and the two that have been in and out, Bryant and McKeever, have only had one replacement each - Hogg and Astafjevs respectively. Incredibly, Gerry had named 21 different starters by this time last season, compared to Ray's thirteen, and if you recall what came out about the lack of training under Francis a year ago, it just shows you what a decent pre-season regime can do for fitness, and therefore the number of injuries. © Chris Chappell - Friday 4th October 2002 Back to Index