ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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There we were, cruising to a useful draw against one of our promotion rivals, when with two minutes left the referee blows for a penalty right under the intimidating gaze of the Vetch Field's North Bank. If you are going to award a spot-kick, which is obviously a crucial decision in the course of most matches, I think you need to be in no doubt whatsoever rather like the LBW rule in cricket, yet in circumstances like those last Saturday you often find that the baying cries of a boisterous home crowd can unsettle the nerves. He may have got a slight touch on the ball but Robbie Ryan must have known he was taking a huge risk by lunging in on Lee Trundle from behind, and I knew the ref was going to point to the spot as soon as I saw it. You can't go diving in there and expect to get away with it in a place like the Vetch, and regardless of how unfair it is, you see officials getting influenced by crowds all of the time and we will no doubt see such a decision go in our favour at the Mem this season. The linesman running the touchline in that corner had already required police protection earlier in the match and he was never going to challenge the ref's decision, despite being a lot closer to the incident. Once everybody had accepted that a penalty had been awarded, we had to hope Kevin Miller would guess the right way and get some part of his anatomy in the way of Trundle's kick. Certain goalkeepers have a knack for such situations and I remember that Miller had saved a penalty from Giuliano Grazioli when playing for Exeter against us a couple of years ago. He has always struck me as more of a spot-kick specialist than the likes of Andy Collett, Scott Howie or Lee Jones, who never seemed to get anywhere near penalties when playing for Rovers. Trundle looked a bit sheepish as he strode up to take the kick, which probably had a lot to do with being marked out of the game by Liam Burns and Christian Edwards up until then, and his lack of confidence showed as Big Kev dived to his left to divert the ball over the bar. The Swans' talisman seemed to have no qualms with Miller's positioning as he merely put his head in his hands, so I don't know what prompted the order to retake. After the final whistle, the Rovers camp revealed that there had been confusion between the officials as to whether it was down to the keeper coming off his line or players entering the box too soon, and I've got no idea as it is so hard to catch what is going on in the background when your eyes are fixed firmly on the ball for those few seconds. What wasn't very nice was the reaction of Andy Gurney to the decision to take the kick again, as he waved his fists and gestured in delight right in front of the away end, which only served to stir things up even more. Unless you're playing Southend, you don't expect to see two penalties fluffed in one game and Trundle found the corner of the net at the second attempt. This was obviously a sweet moment for him and all the Swansea fans in the ground but the prolonged and over-the-top celebrations by the player, first towards us in the away end and then right along the North Bank, received no word of warning from the officials to keep a lid on things, when cards have been shown for much less. We did not deserve to lose that game at all but maybe there should be more emphasis on attack on our travels because it's been a while since we last looked like winning away.
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