ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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I'm sure that many Rovers fans thought that a home Cup tie with Unibond League Runcorn would be the ice-breaker for us. Being a welcome distraction from our outstanding Division 3 campaign, surely we could beat these semi-professionals, right? Sadly not. Whereas visits by Yeovil and Dagenham & Redbridge to the Mem last year provided us with confidence-boosting wins in the LDV, albeit on penalties in the first one and against a weakened Daggers in the second, this time our non-league opponents failed to roll over for us. And it wasn't as if this was a case of the 'plucky underdogs' playing well above their level with an inspired performance. Runcorn were pretty poor and only posed a viable threat when their manager Liam Watson brought himself on at the end, but Rovers were quite abysmal. The 1,500 or so Gasheads who stayed away after coming to our previous home game with Southend made the right choice as it was one of the worst spectacles I have seen in recent years. The visitors played with five at the back and only created token half-chances, while Rovers laboured to break them down. The sarcastic cheer that greeted Paul Tait's botched 67th minute lob, our first shot on target, briefly lifted the gloom and served to raise a weary smile or two around the ground - well, you've got to see the funny side, haven't you. Although crowds are falling in line with our league position, I don't think people should read too much into the big drop from the 5,700 gate for Southend to the 4,100 who watched Runcorn. The fact is that season ticket holders were able to save themselves a tenner and another bout of depression by skipping this fixture, and with Christmas fast approaching, there are presents to be paid for and afternoons to find in which to get them. There were a few moans about the meagre reduction of just £2 for advance purchase tickets for the Runcorn match, but the fact is that the non-leaguers only get crowds of a few hundred and therefore did not want to lose vital revenue by having their shared gate receipts slashed. Rumours about the replay being switched to the Mem for that same reason would never have been realised anyway. The FA recently changed the ruling so that little clubs could no longer switch venues to maximise income, and personally I think it is better this way. I remember Buckinghamshire club Marlow being drawn at home to Tottenham in the FA Cup in 1993, but they were allowed to switch it to White Hart Lane where they lost 5-1. Fair enough, the players had a chance to play at a legendary stadium and in front of a big crowd, plus the club made a killing, but any real chance of a shock with the big club falling at the pokey little non-league ground was gone the moment they moved it. Now you are only allowed to relocate if there is a serious safety issue, and only to another venue in the local area of the home club. Nowadays Marlow would have had to play at Wycombe, while Runcorn's new stadium is Widnes' 11,000-capacity Rugby League arena, and so there is no need to move the game. Likewise City's clash with Harrogate Railway in Round 2 could only be relocated to somewhere like Bradford, not Ashton Gate. While we scratch around praying for a goal from anywhere, two of our youngsters have been finding the net with their national teams. Scholar Ryan Weisberg came off the bench to score for Northern Ireland's U19s against Hungary in the week, and while it may be a bit early to throw him into the first team, maybe Kevin Gall deserves a go up front after his exploits. Gall, who was not even in the squad to begin with, suddenly got a starting place with Wales U21s in Azerbaijan when the first choice striker from Man United fell ill shortly before the game. Then with twenty minutes left he found the net from just inside the box to become a national hero and give the Welsh their first win in five and a half years! Now if he can end their barren spell.....
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