ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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Sometimes it can be difficult to know which way to react, and the nil-nil with Bournemouth last weekend was quite an ambiguous result really. On one hand we earned a point against real promotion candidates, but at the same time they were there for the taking and we failed to beat them. They totally destroyed us in the away game at the start of November and it was incredible that we only lost by a single goal that day. Simon Bryant was torn to shreds as emergency left-back and how wave after wave of Bournemouth attack failed to muster more than one, I will never know. Three months on and the confident Cherries side that had been flying back then looked a lot less sure of their talents, and last Saturday's performance showed just why the Dorset club were flitting around the play-off positions and not out in front with Rushden and Hartlepool. Bournemouth looked a weak shadow of their former selves this time around and Wade Elliott, the electric right winger who had made Bryant's trip to the seaside absolute hell, was a passenger and I had to keep searching for him to see that he was still on the pitch. Maybe the fact that we seem to have sorted out that troublesome left-back position snubbed Elliott's threat, and my first impressions of the new incumbent Ijah Anderson are very good indeed. The arrival of Gillingham's Richard Rose on a temporary basis plugged the gap sufficiently for Rovers to improve their defensive form, and Ray Graydon has now brought in Anderson, who unlike Rose shouldn't be going anywhere just as he gets settled in. Ijah impressed in a couple of outings for the reserves and then gave a solid account on his debut at Southend, so he had already built himself a bit of a reputation by the time I saw him in the flesh for the first time last week. Thankfully he didn't disappoint and for me he was man of the match by a fair distance. He tackled well and relished a chance to surge up the line, and only the reborn Rob Quinn came close in terms of performance level in an otherwise forgettable match. With those two joining Kevin Austin and Danny Boxall in the side, we are fast becoming a Brentford old boys brigade, bringing back memories of our big QPR connection during the 1990s when we had loads of their ex-players in our squad, and they likewise fielded the likes of Yates, Holloway, Penrice, Devon White and Dennis Bailey. As for the game, only when Mark McKeever came on did we really pressurise the Bournemouth back-line as a stream of crosses rained in from either flank and the crowd at least saw something to get their voices behind during the 90 minutes. That draw means it is only two defeats in nine games up to this weekend and we just need to keep up with our rivals for now. Teams who get relegated tend to suffer a demoralising run of defeats at some stage in their season, and I only hope we have already had our dose through October and early November when we lost eight league games in a row, despite punctuating that spell with a few good Cup results. Hopefully someone else will experience a nightmare loss of form, and preferably two teams at that, but it could happen to us again unless we stay as tight as we have been lately and pick up valuable scraps on a regular basis. Eleven points from nine matches is hardly setting the pulses racing, but it is better than a few others down here at the bottom and while there are still points to play for, there is always a chance of making that Third Division league table look a lot less horrible.
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