ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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There is something about Northampton that makes every Gashead feel very uncomfortable. Perhaps it is the cold, featureless steel stadium that lets the wind blow in at the corners, maybe it's the ritual of being made to buy a ticket from that cabin just yards from where it will then be ripped up at the turnstile, or then again it might just be the horrible car park that takes ages to get out of. These grievances are no doubt magnified by the fact that we have never won at Sixfields, except for a penalty shoot-out in the Auto Windscreens when we had Brian Parkin in goal. Add to this the events on that harrowing night in 1998 when we surrendered a 3-1 first-leg lead in the play-off semi-final, and you can't help but form an opinion of the place that makes you wonder if there is some mystical force at work. The excitement of Phil Bater's new regime made no difference to the demons and sure enough Kevin Miller jumped over the ball after half-an-hour and that was the end of our afternoon. You have to say that it was a massive howler by the keeper and what made it worse was that everyone in the away end had a perfect view of it - had it been up the other end, then he might have been able to save a bit of embarrassment. Some people may have been doing cartwheels when Ray Graydon left but the team's fragility cannot be changed overnight and going behind like that was a big blow to the players' slowly increasing confidence. Just before Northampton took the lead, Lee Matthews ran through into the box and should have scored with just the goalkeeper to beat and nobody challenging him, and had that chance been taken then we may well have broken our jinx. Further attempts in the second half were thwarted, mainly due to some questionable decisions by the linesman and overly fussy refereeing. Paul Tait twice put the ball in the net, while Junior Agogo was denied a penalty, although his tumble to the deck looked like more of an afterthought from where I was sat. It appears as though Matthews' time at Rovers has come to an end after his unfortunate ankle injury suffered in training last week. He proved a useful signing for us and set up our goal at Macclesfield on his debut a month ago with a super shot that came back off the bar. He possesses a deft touch for quite a big man and got into some good positions during his time here but when you play at the sharp end you need to score goals to warrant your place in the team and Matthews returns to Ashton Gate without adding to his tally of four for this season - two on the opening day for City and another in the FA Cup, plus one on loan at Darlington. We could move to snap him up permanently when his contract expires in the summer but for now we have an opening in the squad for a fourth striker and it sounds like Bater will get the chance to make his first signing in charge at the Mem.
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