ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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"Ooh, the goalkeeper's saved it... but it's in the net!" I can't remember the exact words, but that is what sticks in the memory of Mike Kay's commentary from Scunthorpe on Radio Bristol last Saturday afternoon. Things didn't start well. Sixteen minutes: dodgy defending, "That's one-nil," declares Kay. Twenty-five minutes: a pot-shot from Stanton, "It's taken a deflection!" Need I say more. "It went in off Carruthers' backside," reports Kay. Half-time at a game and you can read the programme or bemoan the lack of marking with the next man. Half-time stuck in your own living room, and all you can do is flick through Ceefax. This time we need a quick goal if we are to have any chance. Forty-eight minutes: prayers are answered by Rob Quinn. "Rovers are back in it," retorts Kay. The game peters out, and even our influential playmaker Vitas is hauled off - it must be all over now. His replacement McKeever embarks on an injury time run… "And it looks like a penalty to Bristol Rovers!" Blimey! But Grazioli has come off, who's going to take it? Tait might get the jitters after last week, and don't let anyone 'brave' have it, who hasn't scored for three years but still thinks he can shoot. Carlisle hits our free-kicks, so please give it to him... "And it looks like Wayne Carlisle who's going to take it." Thank god for that. You know things have changed when Rovers come back from the dead. The last time I remember us doing that was about five years ago up at Oldham, when we collapsed to 3-0 down midway through the first half. Then up stepped Beadle and Hayles and we soared back to level the game at 3-3 before the interval - that's one match I'll never forget, as we finished tied at 4-4. It must be a mental thing to rise from the ashes, and you need everyone involved to believe that you can do it. Ian Holloway was always banging away on that drum, and look who also came back from 2-0 down last Saturday - Ollie's QPR. When we surrendered a strong position in the Division 2 promotion race back in 1999-2000, the group of players we had then must have lost a lot of belief. The fact that the next two seasons saw many of those men go through the motions, was evidence that they never really recovered from everything exploding in their faces. The mental attitude needed to be changed, and the only way to do it was to blow away the cobwebs and start afresh. Unlike a lot of other clubs who perhaps need a new beginning, it was fortunate Ray Graydon had the chance to release a lot of unwanted players upon his arrival in the summer, and the Scunthorpe result showed that he has made a difference, however small. Rovers fans, like me, had grown used to watching teams throw in the towel before the end of the fight. My apologies if I seem to be going on about mental power and mind control too much - it must be the forthcoming visit of Uri Geller's Exeter City next week that is affecting my thinking. Hey - I'm not going to knock it; if he can get the Grecians up, I'll believe anything is possible. Now, where's that spoon...
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