ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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They don't have to possess any skill. Come to think of it, they can get away without showing any co-ordination whatsoever. They are the Third Division giants. We have faced some brutes this season, and the last few weeks in particular have seen the Rovers defence struggle to contain some real heavies in our pursuit of survival. Recently at the Mem we witnessed the 6'4" battering ram Jon Parkin, who carried with him 15 stone and the entire burden of York City's attacking plans. Visitors to Lincoln will have marvelled at the 6'6" high tower otherwise known as Ben Futcher, and then last weekend another wonder of humankind came to torment us in the shape of 6'3" Onandi Lowe. At least Lowe has played in a World Cup, something Parkin and Futcher would only ever experience if John Beck were to take over from Sven as the next England manager. Rushden's powerhouse did look a bit more skilful than the Division's other giants, but that made him no less difficult to mark, and Kevin Austin must have drawn the short straw in the dressing room. I watched their tussle closely throughout the game and Austin did okay in dealing with the Jamaican international overall, even resorting to wrestling him out of the way at times. Unfortunately there were errors of judgement from more than one player in the box which allowed Lowe to score in the first half and yet more in the build up to his second goal, all of which contrived to throw away the superb advantage given to us by Vitas Astafjevs. Once again the Latvian showed his teammates how to shoot from distance with an amazing equaliser at Rochdale in midweek - his third goal in successive games. A tremendous run beat three men and then he had a crack at goal and got lucky with a fortuitous bobble which beat the goalkeeper. The old saying goes that if you don't shoot, you won't score and sometimes even a hashed attempt will find the net with a bit of help from the pitch or even the keeper. Too often Rovers have been guilty of attempting a fifteen-pass move before having a shot, overcomplicating things when the basic object of the game is to get the ball between the sticks at the other team's end by whatever means possible. We won't stay up by winning beauty points for presentation. It appears as though the all-knowing bookmakers have already decided that we are down, as the latest odds place Rovers as joint second favourites for the Conference. Exeter are understandably first, with us alongside Swansea for the remaining relegation place. Shrewsbury are quite far down the order, which is surprising as they have conceded far more goals than anyone else and squandered more vital points on Wednesday by losing in the last minute at home to Wrexham. They may have games in hand, but those are worth nothing unless you win the points on offer, as we found out to our cost at the end of our last relegation season in 2001 when we were similarly 'blessed'. The draw at Spotland may have seemed more like a defeat in the week but that point kicked our heads above water by moving us up two places, and if either Carlisle or the Shrews lose all their remaining fixtures then it will have saved us. Our goal difference is worth an extra point, and while we remain on level pegging with anyone in the bottom five, we will rank above them unless something disastrous happens between now and the climax to the campaign. If we do eventually drop into the Conference, it will be because we have failed to score enough goals and at least one of the strikers needs to start putting them away, as we cannot rely on Vitas to keep coming up with the goods.
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