ROVERS FANZ VIEW COLUMN
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Thank god for that. Rovers are off and running, finally, and there could hardly have been a more rousing kick-start than the performance we saw on Tuesday night. After the goalless draw up at Carlisle on the Saturday, a decent point gained against a resurgent team, we just needed to break our duck to settle everyone down. This also applied rather more personally to Paul Tait, who had seen his strike partner get off to a flyer and had started to look a bit short of confidence against Boston last week. Then he won a penalty on the weekend and he had a twelve-yard chance to open his account. I don't think Tait would have been first choice to take a spot kick had we been trailing 1-0 in the last minute of an LDV final, but I'm sure the rest of the lads gave him the ball here hoping he would shrug off the proverbial monkey from his back. Unfortunately he missed, and I doubt the front cover of last week's Green Un will be mounted over the fireplace in the Tait household, as it carried a full-length picture of the forlorn forward with a load of Carlisle fans smirking in the background. The Swansea game could not have come quick enough, and when Vitalijs Astafjevs blazed through the defence just after half-time and forced a save from the goalkeeper, there was Tait to bundle in from less than a yard. You can imagine the relief, and not just on the part of the striker himself; the fans knew that this goal lifted him out of the Owusu/Hammond bracket of non-scoring forwards, and now he must get another to leave the one-goal wonders like Clinton Ellis and Jon French behind in the Rovers record books. For me however, the outstanding performance of Tuesday night was that of 'The Latvian'. That ranked as one of his best displays in a quartered shirt, right up there with the 6-2 win at Brentford, when he scored two and made two in a whitewash at Griffin Park. I said last week that perhaps two out-and-out wingers weakened the centre of midfield, and with Vitas coming in off the left flank in place of McKeever, we had much better balance across the middle. He's not a quick player, so he uses his guile to beat people, and Swansea's right-back did not know what to do. The way he surged into the box to create the opening for Paul Tait's goal was fantastic, and he capped it off with a beautifully hooked half-volley to win the match. His mere presence always gets the crowd going, and it is true that most of us love him. He is like a talisman for us, and coming from overseas, he brings an exotic flavour to the team. I'm not the only one who was happy when he turned up for another season at the Mem, and when his contract expires next summer, I urge everyone concerned to keep him here. It is no secret that his wages are pretty sizeable, but seeing that he loves living in Bristol and the vast majority of the paying public adore having him here, I'm sure he would take some sort of pay cut to stay. Playing in Division 3 has not harmed Astafjevs' captaincy of Latvia, and if we are looking to get out of this league, then he is the sort of player that will make it happen. Look at the facts, he was worth two points on Tuesday alone, because without him we would have drawn 1-1 and still been stuck at the bottom. At the end of the day, the supporters are the ones who keep this club going, and we pay to see players like him.
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