ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
|
Have we been here before? If you think I'm referring to the bottom four in the league, then yes you are right, but there seems to be a more complex pattern emerging that corresponds with last season. Under Gerry Francis, an old hero who came back in the summer, Rovers nosedived after a promising start and suffered a November goal drought which included a hapless display against non-league opposition in the FA Cup. The famine finally ended when Vitas Astafjevs poked in the winner in the replay with Aldershot on a dark Tuesday night. Maybe this was a sub-conscious reason for the madness in travelling three hours up to Widnes on a dark Tuesday night last week, for an FA Cup replay with non-league minnows Runcorn. Under Ray Graydon, a returning hero, Rovers fans had again seen their team collapse into a November free-fall where no goals were scored by players in quartered shirts. A turgid performance against a team we were half-expected to at least score against, set up a rematch up on Merseyside and amazingly we find our scoring touch again. Our blind faith in attending this fixture was handsomely rewarded as Giuliano Grazioli flicked home a lovely deft header from the Latvian's cross after just a quarter of an hour, and both Graz and Rovers badly needed that one. It was the striker's first proper goal since Shrewsbury in September, with only a penalty in the Lincoln win coming after that. But what happened seconds later was typical Rovers. Runcorn hit a hopeful long-ball into an empty box and the black comedy resumed as Adam Barrett nodded past Howie as the Scot ran out to claim it. Barrett has been our most consistent performer so far this season with his powerful heading and strong tackling, and is notably one of only two to have played every minute of every game, the other being Rob Quinn in midfield. It appears as though Barrett is just going through a funny five minutes at the moment, where everything he tries goes wrong. He slipped over and only just failed to block Andy Morrell going through for Wrexham's second on Saturday and then was bamboozled by an amazing piece of trickery from Lee Trundle for the third. They say things come in threes, so let's hope the own goal at Runcorn is the end of the matter. During pre-season a few of the lads noted that Graydon's regime had been the most gruelling they had experienced, and that this superior level of fitness would show through later in the campaign. First of all we saw a very settled team which suffered no injuries up until a month ago, and being properly fit helps keep muscle strains and tears to a minimum. Then on Tuesday, extra-time certainly separated the professionals from the part-timers as Runcorn literally ran out of gas. Trevor Challis bolted down the left to set up Paul Tait and subsequently Carlisle for Rovers' second, and when Tait sped away to square for Gilroy, Runcorn were visibly dead on their feet, especially having lost a man to a red card. I was ever so pleased for Dave Gilroy to score his first senior goal. He netted a great goal against West Brom in pre-season but grabbing one in a full fixture was the next step, and it may prove particularly vital with his contract up for renewal in January. Bradley Allen's arrival means there is now extra competition in attack, and what with Kevin Gall's recent goals for Wales and the reserves in the week, things are hotting up in a recently redundant attack. Personally I would like to see them all get a game, especially Gall, who is real trier, quicker than anyone else in the squad and was noticeably the only one smiling before the Runcorn game - heads up lads! The wealth of experience brought by new signings Allen and Graham Hyde, a destroyer in the middle, is exactly what we need at the moment. Hopefully Hyde can provide the bite to midfield in the same way Ronnie Maugé did in his first season and likewise we can rise up the table away from danger.
|