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York City's 2-1 defeat at home to Yeovil on Tuesday all but cemented our league status for next season, coming on the back of our rousing 2-1 win over Swansea three days previously. That victory against the Swans took Rovers beyond the 50-point marker that almost always signifies safety in this Division and it would now take a freakish sequence of events for us to fall through the trap door, seeing as there are currently seven clubs between us and the relegation spots. In the end of season run-in, Swansea at home appeared to be the most likely source of points and thanks to Junior Agogo's incredible goal in the last few minutes, we took all three on offer. Again we looked the better team but a breakaway move saw the visitors draw first blood on the counter-attack early on. However, we did not have long to wait before Bo Henriksen picked out Graham Hyde for the equaliser with a clever pull-back from the by-line. The game seemed destined to end with honours even but the introduction of a rejuvenated Agogo from the bench changed everything and the livewire split open the Swansea defence all on his own before slotting past Roger Freestone. Within seconds of that memorable goal, Junior nearly surpassed it when controlling the ball on the run before cracking an audacious volley that cannoned back off the inside of the post. Whatever was weighing him down earlier in the season looks to have disappeared from off his shoulders and further excitement beckons on this display. I'm sure that everyone hopes his sparkling form continues and that we will see more Agogo heroics under Ian Atkins, whose reputation for rather more unsavoury football precedes him into the job as Rovers manager. He liked what he saw on Saturday, judging by the reports of his presence in the home dressing room before, during and after the game, so we cannot possibly judge Atkins before he has even sat in the dugout. Let us see what he can do before people start condemning him as a one-dimensional long-ball merchant. His expected arrival on Monday is a good move by all concerned because it will give him a bit of time before the end of the campaign to assess the squad that he has inherited from Ray Graydon and latterly Kevan Broadhurst and Russell Osman. One player he won't be given a chance to utilise is Kevin Austin, who has seen his four-match ban upheld despite the fact that the FA's Video Panel cleared him of any blame after reviewing the fracas against Doncaster. I find it astonishing that the Disciplinary Committee should overrule the Video Panel in this particular case, seeing as they always seem to go along with the panel's observations in the Premiership. I wouldn't mind so much were it a one-game ban but four matches is a harsh punishment for an innocent man, especially when you consider that Austin's contract is up next month and this decision could effectively cost him his job. Atkins would be mad not to keep Austin though and the new boss does like his defenders to be big solid lads. Meanwhile his old club Oxford have collapsed since his enforced exit and the fact that Graham Rix has failed to win a game yet with the same bunch of players just shows how much of an effect Atkins must have had on them. Maybe Oxford's chairman Firoz Kassam should take on Russell Osman up there to help them out of their slump. Osman's input helped Rovers no end in the past few weeks and the fans' opinion of him has been transformed.
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