ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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Last week saw the first of our vital double-headers with relegation rivals as we travelled up to Boston to play at York Street for the first time in a League game. Although revamped in the early 1980s after they were denied election to the League in 1978, the ground seemed to be showing signs of age already, if the comments of Jamie Shore on the radio were anything to go by. Then there was the pitch, which looked like a ploughed field on the brief TV highlights I caught on Football League Extra. In fact ITV's twilight round-up only showed one highlight in the end, which was a superb save by Scott Howie, and the radio commentary conveyed his importance in the game pretty well as he sounded like the man of the match to me. Rovers appeared to control the first half without taking their chances, while Boston were stronger in the second and were only denied by Howie's heroics between the sticks. Perhaps we could have won it had Paul Tait successfully lobbed the goalkeeper when he came charging out, but instead the handball was only punished with a yellow card. Ray Graydon had no arguments with that decision, but many Gasheads certainly thought he should have gone for an early bath. I cannot really comment having not seen it myself, but surely blocking a shot at an empty net constitutes a clear goalscoring opportunity. Left-back Richard Rose will be returning to Gillingham shortly, leaving us with a big hole to fill after his impressive month on loan. His was a really worthwhile loan signing, while the uninspiring stint from Brighton's David Lee earlier in the season showed the flip side of having another club's player in your team. With Trevor Challis suffering another injury set-back, we desperately need cover to avoid sticking square peg Simon Bryant in that round hole again. Kevin Austin used to play there but doesn't look mobile enough to get to grips with tricky wingers, so the arrival of Brentford's Ijah Anderson on trial is a promising development. Billed as a pacey, attacking full-back, Anderson certainly started with a bang as he scored for the reserves in the week, and with his contract up very soon, he will be looking for a permanent deal and so we should not lose him like we have Rose. Another issue raised this week was Rovers' kit. Carlisle got very stroppy when we refused to wear orange at home for our clash this weekend, as their home strip is blue and change kit white. Surely they should be complaining to their kit manufacturers Umbro as the game with Rovers won't be the only time this will happen - both Hartlepool and Southend also have blue and white shirts that could clash with either of Carlisle's kits. Rovers' own ill-conceived 'stone and black' quarters looked almost the same as the home kit under murky floodlights and we were forced to invest in another orange strip to play Wycombe in the League Cup last season. Despite the year '2003' being embroidered into the collar, the stone strip has already been relegated to the status of third kit and I doubt will ever be worn again. Strikeforce released their latest designs for the home and away efforts for next year on the club website this week, and once again simplicity was the last thing on their minds. Those little stripes between the quarters may be gone, but now we will have mesh side panels and a thick hoop for the sponsor which breaks up the quarters a bit too much for me. The mock-ups look pretty good though and we may even have plain backs to the shirts like we did in the glory days of the late 1980s and early 1990s, so that at last we will be able to see those awfully designed Nationwide League standard-issue names and numbers properly.
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