ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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There is something about Aggborough that doesn't agree with Rovers. For on each of the three occasions we have set foot in the place, we travelling fans have been subjected to nightmarish performances from our team. We were shocking there in November 2001 when Kidderminster easily won 2-0 and it was not long after that Gerry Francis made his excuses and left the club the following month. It was lucky that we had already secured our safety from relegation before visiting on the final day of last season because Rovers looked turgid and went behind before remarkably snatching an undeserved equaliser through Paul Tait late on. It couldn't happen again could it? Well, those of us who went up last Sunday saw another horror show take place. Rovers didn't start too badly in all fairness and whenever Ryan Williams managed to get hold of the ball, he was making things happen and getting the crowd going in the process. But as the afternoon progressed, Rovers got worse and worse. Kevin Miller made a brilliant one-handed save to stop Kiddy taking the lead just before the interval and somehow we reached half-time with the scores still level. There was no sign of an inspiring team-talk from Ray Graydon during the break and it took only two minutes for the home side to break our weak resistance in the second half. The marking was all over the shop as both Barrett and Anderson got mixed up and Dean Bennett had an easy tap-in. With a tactical move reminiscent of our recent clash with Yeovil, Graydon's master plan to get us back into the game was quite an unorthodox one to say the least, as one of our strikers (Agogo) was taken off and the inexperienced Shane Hobbs was thrown into the fray to play on the left wing. As if putting on a fifth midfielder was not a strange ploy for a team supposedly trying to become more attacking, our best performer Ryan Williams was moved out of his favoured position on that left flank and into a central role - presumably to utilise his 5'4" frame to knock down the long balls. How it remained only 1-0 is a mystery to everyone in the ground and apart from Williams, the only players who weren't completely awful were Dave Savage and the vibrant Hobbs. The absences of Lewis Haldane and Graham Hyde, due to suspension and illness, were sorely felt in the Kidderminster game, but both had been involved a couple of days earlier on Boxing Day against Northampton at the Mem. While the result may have been the same, it was an entirely different performance and we had taken the lead from the penalty spot thanks to Wayne Carlisle, after Haldane had been chopped down in making a smart turn inside the box. Rovers were on top and cruising with a second goal seemingly inevitable as we approached the final half hour, but then Cobblers' boss Colin Calderwood brought on Derek Asamoah and the whole game changed. Within seconds he had gone on a weaving slalom through our back line and nearly scored, so it was no surprise when he latched onto a pass played in behind the defence to unleash a terrific volley soon after to equalise. Right at the death another ball over the top, this time a hopeful header, left Miller exposed for the winning goal and after being in such a commanding position for an hour, amazingly we had lost all three points by the end. A happy Christmas it definitely was not, and since peaking in third place after beating Boston in September, Rovers have lost 12 of the next 19 matches. I think the stats speak for themselves.
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