ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
|
A draw at home against Leyton Orient may not be the result of the century but in the context of our recent form, it was a relief to notch up a point. The lifeless offering served up by Rovers in Saturday's defeat to a mediocre Cambridge team was a massive disappointment and there was a strong vocal tirade aimed at Ray Graydon as he walked across the pitch at the end. John Taylor always gets a clap when he comes back to Bristol but it was a bit embarrassing to see him causing our defence problems at the age of 39 in what was his first start since April 2001. The game was a bit of a non-event until Lewis Haldane was pulled off with more than half-an-hour still to play - a decision which was greeted with plenty of disagreement on the terraces. Seconds earlier he had lashed a super shot past the Cambridge goalkeeper from the edge of the area, only for an offside flag to rule out his effort, and his withdrawal immediately relieved the visitors of any pressure from that moment on. Instead of having to worrying about Haldane's pace, Cambridge then switched their efforts to attack and proceeded to score two soft goals that won the match. Twelve goals conceded in five games is about as blatant a signal as you are likely to get that your defence needs attention and the back four got a major overhaul for the visit of Orient three days later. Graydon played four centre-halves at the back as Kevin Austin and Sonny Parker tasted precious first-team action, although the manager had little else to choose from seeing as Ijah Anderson was forced up field into a left midfield berth. Lee Hodges was still injured and Graydon had let Kevin Street move to Shrewsbury days before, leaving our left flank very short of options. The reshuffled Rovers team actually looked quite good early on and a confident run by Sonny Parker led him through an opening in the Orient defence, before he let fly with a low shot that rebounded perfectly for Paul Tait to register goal number seven for the campaign. Tait has already equalled last year's league tally and we are not yet into November, so hopefully he can beat his seasonal best of 15 goals, which he got for Northwich Victoria in the Conference five years ago. His manager later praised the contribution Tait has made so far with seven goals and four assists to his credit and even his harshest critics must agree that he has been a lot better this season. Our second most productive player is Wayne Carlisle, having scored three times and set up four other goals for the team, yet Tuesday saw him left on the bench, a casualty of Graydon's ultra-defensive starting eleven. Dave Savage was the only attack-minded player in the midfield, and while you can understand the cautious approach in the wake of recent results, it was nevertheless frustrating to see the flair option ditched once again. If Saturday's defeat hinged on the removal of Lewis Haldane, the turning point on Tuesday was undoubtedly the sending-off of Ijah Anderson thanks to two quick bookings. As soon as we found ourselves reduced to ten men, Orient pegged us back and finally pierced our rearguard with an amazing goal - an unstoppable rocket right into the top corner. It could very easily have been our seventh defeat in the last nine but for a tremendous save from Kevin Miller late in the game, when he managed to tip a viciously curling free-kick onto the crossbar. That faint touch ultimately saved us a point, which is why I was more relieved than disappointed on the night.
|