ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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It's hard to know whether to be happy or disappointed at the moment as Rovers bounce from one extreme to the other. The disillusionment experienced by most Gasheads after the crushing 5-1 defeat to Doncaster soon made way for utter delirium as Darlington were dispatched on their own turf by a comprehensive 4-0 scoreline. I'm not sure what it is about newly built stadiums, but Rovers have an uncanny knack of heralding their maiden visits with stupendous wins, and the Reynolds Arena was no different. Our first visit to the Madejski Stadium in 1999 saw an unforgettable 6-0 thrashing of Reading, then shortly after we came away with a 4-1 victory from Stoke's Britannia Stadium. Let us not forget the first time we set foot inside Pride Park either - Derby certainly won't! Ray Graydon stuck with the same defence that had leaked eight goals in the previous two games and they rewarded his faith with a welcome clean sheet. The margin of victory was particularly satisfying as we managed to cancel out the huge goal difference we had incurred at Belle Vue a week earlier, and this gave us a healthy goal cushion over York in the table, who were level on points with us after Saturday's match. Such trivialities may not seem important at this stage of the season but if Rovers find themselves mixing with the play-off contenders come the end of the campaign, our goal difference may decide whether we end up inside the top seven or just outside. Top scorer Paul Tait must be looking over his shoulder quite cautiously as Andy Rammell and Lewis Haldane are now banging in the goals. It was an amazing return to action for Rammell after such a lengthy lay-off, as he powered in two identical headers to boost his astounding goal ratio for the club. That makes it six goals in eight league matches now - not bad for a 36 year old! Haldane marked his first start in a quartered shirt with a sweet volley to open the floodgates at Darlington and followed that up with another Jason Roberts-style solo goal at Southend in the LDV Vans on Tuesday, which was similar to his strike in the Doncaster rout. Comparisons are already being made with Marcus Stewart, who was the last homegrown striker to make an impact after coming up from the youth team. On current form it would be impossible to leave Haldane out of the side, seeing as he has struck in each of the last three games, but let's not get too carried away just yet. Stewart scored three in his first two games for Rovers in August 1991 but then failed to hit the net again until January, however that was in a struggling team in the First Division. I hope Lewis can continue to score at a goal-a-game for the rest of the season but inevitably he will hit a barren spell and it is how he copes then that will be the real test of his mettle. Despite his effort at Roots Hall, Southend came back to win the LDV tie late in extra-time and no doubt many travelling fans hit the sack very late that night. Nobody seems to shed too many tears when their club gets knocked out in the early rounds but that is not to say that it isn't an important competition for us lower-leaguers. If you can hang in there and get a bit of luck, soon the mouth-watering prospect of a Millennium Stadium Final appears on the horizon and it is great to put a bit of silverware in the cabinet. Blimey, we have been clinging to the Watney Cup and a rather small Third Division Championship trophy for years, so it would be nice to blow away the cobwebs and add something else!
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