Last week's comprehensive victory over Lincoln City was a fitting climax to Rovers' revival under the new management team of Russell Osman, Kevan Broadhurst and more recently Ian Atkins, who publicly trod the turf for the first time on Saturday. After dispatching York with a crushing win in late March, we have comfortably dealt with bigger and better opponents as the campaign has gone on, with champions Doncaster the only exception in a contest that could easily have gone our way as well. Facing Lincoln, who arrived on the back of an unbeaten run of 10 games and needing the points for a play-off position, you would have been forgiven for thinking that the Rovers players might take their foot off the gas having just secured their league survival for another season. As it happened, we were the ones who seemed on the verge of promotion as the best defence in Division 3 was swept away by Paul Tait, Lee Thorpe and Junior Agogo. A week ago I suggested that Tait could be on the way out with his contract expiring in the summer but if ever a performance was needed to secure a new deal, Tait's display on Saturday was certainly it. His nerves were settled with a clinical tap-in just a couple of minutes into the match and the burgeoning partnership with Thorpe eventually yielded another goal in the second half when Tait raced clear to slot past the goalkeeper at the near post. The 'Thorpedo' has worked tirelessly since his arrival from Leyton Orient in mid-March and deserved to net the third near the end to open his account for us against his old club. He has been a super signing and his goal return of just one from nine games does not reflect the huge effect he has on the team, not least on his fellow strike partners and in particular, Junior Agogo. In just a few weeks, Agogo has been transformed from a wasteful underachiever with no confidence into a prolific nightmare for opponents, and virtually unstoppable. When he picks up the ball these days, there is an electrifying buzz around the Mem because he can beat defences all on his own if he chooses, as we saw with that wonder-goal against Swansea. All of a sudden, Rovers have gone from worrying about relegation to sitting in the top half of the table and the fact that we are now competing with the likes of Lincoln, Mansfield and Doncaster gives me genuine optimism for a better position next season. The ten-point gap behind 9th placed Oxford appears to mark the mediocrity line in this Division and with a few more runs like the one we are enjoying at the moment, we can hope to be frolicking on the fringes of the play-offs this time next year. This season's Player of the Year award went to goalkeeper Kevin Miller when the prizes were dished out last week, ahead of defenders Kevin Austin in second and Adam Barrett in third. In a year when we were hardly feared for our attacking threat, I suppose it was inevitable that defensive players would gain most of the votes and Miller has been generally consistent between the sticks with by far his best performance coming at Oxford in October. Lewis Haldane was the only real choice for Young Player of the Year and his six goals since bursting through from the youth team promises an exciting future, although sadly he was the only youngster to establish himself in the squad this season. Finally, good luck to Jane Browne and Kim Stuckey, who were voted in as Director and Associate Director by the Supporters' Club on Tuesday night. © Chris Chappell - Friday 7th May 2004 Back to Index