Ian Atkins came in for stinging criticism in the Green Un last week after the damning defeat to Scunthorpe seven days earlier. A result like that can sometimes fire a team into an immediate backlash but more often than not it only serves to batter the confidence and it takes a while to reverse the slide. Unfortunately for us, Atkins has experienced the latter and it has taken him three games to stop the rot. Victory over Wycombe in the LDV Vans Trophy last Tuesday may not have won any league points but at least we scored a goal and held on to beat a side who had left us on our backsides just a few days earlier. The League encounter on Saturday was very similar to the game that had preceded it at Carlisle, where we played quite solidly without causing much of a threat, only to suffer a sucker-punch that was enough to finish us off. On the one hand, you could argue that we only lost thanks to another dodgy penalty like at Swansea; on the other, we leave ourselves wide open to such hard luck stories due to the ultra-defensive policy that seems to be employed in away games. One strike and we're out for the count. You cannot change your whole mentality to management overnight and Atkins is certainly a man who likes to build from the back, which is a policy that provides a solid base to work from and has served him very successfully in the past. It's just that in thirteen away trips, the tactic of shutting up shop has only really worked three times with a couple of 0-0 draws at Rushden and Grimsby, plus a smash and grab 1-0 win at Darlington. How many times have we gone away and lost 1-0? Five is your answer. Only at Mansfield on the opening day and Leyton Orient did we set out to score goals on our travels and it was just a funny five minutes against the Os that denied us a maximum return for our efforts. We've only scored in one of the last six away matches and those goals came unexpectedly in injury time at Boston. It's something we've got to sort out. Jamie Forrester looks the man most likely to perk up our goals-for column as it was he who registered our first shot on target on Saturday, albeit in the 80th minute, and he was at it again on Tuesday night when his close range finish ended Rovers' agonising goal drought after five and a half hours of waiting. Whether this will secure him a starting berth for the next game is something only the manager knows, because Forrester joins the likes of crowd favourites Craig Disley and Aaron Lescott in the team selection lottery - in one game and out the next. Rovers were markedly better in midweek with Lescott impressive as a makeshift left-back and Dave Savage rejuvenated in midfield as he created the opening for our precious winner. Now we've reached the last eight of the LDV, things are starting to get interesting, particularly with bigger fish like Walsall, Northampton and of course Bristol City bowing out. Another home tie is all we can ask for at this stage of the competition. © Chris Chappell - Friday 3rd December 2004 Back to Index