ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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I can't remember the last time we weren't involved in a battle at the end of the season, whether it was fighting for promotion or as it is now, to avoid relegation. No doubt a great many of you have memorised the remaining half-a-dozen fixtures, both for Rovers and all our rivals, or at least stuck them to the fridge so you know exactly who is going where, and when. One observation is that the Gas are the only one of the bottom seven clubs who do not face a relegation rival in the run-in, and only time will tell if this turns out to be a good thing. The only certainty is that it is impossible for all our fellow strugglers to pick up maximum points, as they will have to take them off each other at some stage. Shrewsbury Town are perhaps the pivotal side in this scrap for survival as they must play four of the other candidates, all at home too. And with eight more games to play after this weekend, the Shrews are already fixed up to contest two games a week, and that is before considering what the April showers might do to the notorious Gay Meadow pitch on the banks of the Severn. Everyone is still managing to average more than a point per game, apart from Exeter, and in my view it looks like we will need at least 48 or 49 points to stay up. Rovers are certainly capable - if we can beat leaders Hartlepool, then there is no reason why we should not take points off mid-table sides like Rochdale, Cambridge and Darlington, who hopefully will not need them as much as we do when we meet them. Aside from our own cabbage patch, the surfaces we will be playing on when we go away all seem to be very good from memory. Oxford's pitch in particular is superb at the Kassam Stadium, and we played some lovely stuff last year in a nil-nil draw. We have done well on decent turf recently, with commendable wins at Bury and Leyton Orient, so our remaining trips should give us the ideal platforms to show what we can do when we are allowed to knock the ball about. 'Decent turf' is not how you would have described Lincoln's pitch at Sincil Bank last week, as it appeared as though a tractor had gone round before kick off with a plough on the back. It seemed to suit the Imps, because the ball spent most of its time in the air heading towards the tallest player in the League, 6'6" Ben Futcher. It is not the most aesthetically pleasing tactic in football, but there is nothing in the rules to stop you playing that way and if you have got the tools, then why not use them. Our defenders were giving away at least six inches and when Futcher went up to head in Lincoln's eventual winner, he hardly had to jump off the ground. To be fair, Rovers ran them close at the end and Andy Rammell nearly marked his debut with a goal at the death. Before that, Vitalijs Astafjevs had done ever so well to make space to score our solitary effort, replying almost immediately to Lincoln's opener. I'm hoping this is just a blip in our recovery and had Sonny Parker connected properly right on the whistle, then we would have grabbed a draw, so we weren't that far away. Sonny's in good company though - Michael Owen swung and missed one in the week against Turkey, and he has not done too badly for himself. It may have been a worry to see Carlisle and Boston earn another point each in midweek, but judging by reports both teams should have won these games. Carlisle hit the bar and were well on top at Oxford only to fire a blank, while Boston threw away a 3-1 lead at home to Wrexham, which means that the pair remain tightly shackled to the pack.
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