ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
|
We all know that football is played on grass, often on mud, sometimes on astro and never on paper, unless of course in extreme circumstances. Last week's trip to Swansea certainly looked to be a daunting prospect 'on paper', but luckily we kicked off on turf at the Vetch and in the end their lofty league position carried little weight on the day. It helped that their two best players, Lee Trundle and Roberto Martinez, missed the game with injury problems, but they still possessed other threats in the shape of the tricky Leon Britton and midfield dynamo Andy Robinson. And while the Swans were missing their top scorer, so in fact were Rovers, as seven-goal Paul Tait also sat out the match, and with this in mind it was probably odds-on for the goalless draw from the outset. Lewis Haldane had the only Rovers shot I can remember when he just cleared the bar with an acrobatic overhead kick and it was definitely Swansea who appeared the more likely to score. Only a combination of good fortune and committed defending kept the wasteful hosts at bay, and that last-ditch block made by both Chris Edwards and Adam Barrett on the six-yard line was the defining moment of the game. It was our third successive clean sheet away from home in Division 3 and the lessons from Doncaster seem to have been learnt in no uncertain manner. However, it is our attack that now requires a bit of attention as we have only scored once in the last four games. Worries over Lewis Haldane's bout of flu have raised some tricky selection posers for this weekend's FA Cup tie down at Bournemouth and we could see Dave Gilroy come in from the cold to lead the line. It was like seeing an old forgotten friend over at Swansea last Saturday when watching Gilroy knocking the ball about in the warm-up. And if he makes it onto the pitch this week, it could be a timely return seeing as his only Rovers goal to date came in the Cup at Runcorn almost a year ago. Another man who's been suffering from the flu recently is our manager Ray Graydon. He was forced to miss the Swansea match and was reportedly still in bed on Thursday, which sounds like a nasty dose. It must be all those hours he spends working for the club - his immunity is suffering from lack of sleep! Let's hope that he will be back down at Bournemouth, as long as he doesn't pass it on to me. Every year we tend to get through a few rounds in at least one cup competition, and after limping out of the Carling Cup and the LDV Vans Trophy at the first hurdle this season, maybe we can make some progress in the FA Cup. Brighton proved why they are a level above us in the former, while Southend accounted for us in the Vans. Incidentally, had we beaten the Shrimpers, then we would have faced a second trip to Swansea in four days as they met in Round 2 last week. Recently we have done quite well in the FA Cup though, and twice in particular in just the last five years. In 1998-99 we made it all the way to the last 16 before losing to Barnsley, while our unlikely run under Garry Thompson in 2001-02 saw us knock out eventual Third Division champions Plymouth and then play Premiership Derby County off their own park on our way to the 4th Round. If you looked at the league tables at the time, those results should not have happened, and this weekend Bournemouth should beat Rovers. But we have had enough recent experience of the unusual to know that anything could happen, especially when the games are played on grass and not on paper.
|