I guess it was only a matter of a time before we unveiled a new striker, what with all the recent media speculation, but when the news came through a week ago Friday that we had signed two of them, the names concerned were a bit of a surprise. Not Robbie Matthews, Barrington Belgrave or Armand One, but a Southern Italian who had cut his teeth at Sheffield Wednesday in Michele Di Piedi and Welsh International Chris Llewellyn from Norwich. Judging by the sound bytes emanating from the club over the past few weeks, I gathered that we were hot on the trail of a big six-foot powerhouse, and the arrival of Matthews and One on trial appeared to back up that theory, but it seems that the management had other ideas. Di Piedi may be 6'2" (or 6'6" depending on which source you trust) but aside from the odd phenomenon like Christian Vieri, Italian football rarely serves up many 'old fashioned' centre-forward types, which is why Serie A has had to buy in the likes of Luther Blissett and Mark Hateley to give their teams an aerial threat over the years. Llewellyn meanwhile had been playing more as a left-sided midfield player of late, but guess who started up front against Macclesfield last Saturday ahead of 11-goal Giuliano Grazioli. As it turned out, the two-cap Welshman was probably the best player in a quartered shirt, and having moved back to the left flank at half-time, he struck an incredible shot to save the game for us with just ten minutes to go. Yet again the match as a spectacle was pretty dire with two terrible teams struggling to string two passes together, so when we fell behind in the 77th minute to a soft goal (would we have it any other way?) I half-expected a vulture to drift over the Mem and start circling. Our exotic new 'target-man' had been introduced at the break to pair up with an off-key Paul Tait, and Ray Graydon had certainly pulled off a masterstroke by removing the one player who could feasibly supply them with crosses, Wayne Carlisle. Therefore the rest of the team reverted to Plan B - if in doubt, lump it - and Di Piedi got an early taste of how we play the game down in the depths of Division 3. To his credit, he set about his unenviable task with gusto and caused a few problems, not least when he was able to bring the ball down and use his feet, and the flowing shoulder-length hair and trademark alice-band certainly set a few hearts fluttering in the 6,000 crowd, helping the noise level up a little. While we have severely missed a real big ugly brute in defence over the past few years, it is also the case that Rovers have lacked a flash, cavalier showman who can ignite a crowd with sheer bravado, and who possesses the bottle to wear silver boots for more than just five minutes. Indeed, there were murmurs of Paul Randall around the terraces on Saturday, and I know this may not be the time or place for such a flair player, but on the other hand he might be the iconic figurehead that the fans have been desperate to get behind in this sea of mediocrity. And if he is anything like his countrymen, we could get a few dodgy penalty decisions out of him too. However, it was the man from South Wales and not Sicily who provided the spark of ingenuity to rescue a point, and how vital that could prove to be. Had we not drawn with Macclesfield, we would have been left three points adrift of safety along with Exeter in the relegation zone. This weekend's battle of the basement therefore takes on monumental significance, and I'm sure that all of the sides above us are hankering for another draw. © Chris Chappell - Friday 28th February 2003 Back to Index