Monday, 14 March 2011

Bristol Rovers 0 Huddersfield Town 1 - Spirit

Lee Clark hailed the spirit of the Rovers players and fans after the game and said that if they continued to show that sort of spirit, they'd be okay. I'm afraid I'm not so sure.

I think that Rovers (as a club - and especially the board) may have left it too late to stumble on the right formula.

There is no doubt that Stuart Campbell is the right man for the job. The players were all up for it and Danny Coles left no-one in any doubt after the game that Campbell had the full backing of the lads:

"He's not just respected in the dressing room, he's respected throughout the game," the central defender said.


My clipping from this morning's paper

You could also see Campbell's passion on the touch line after he had subbed himself. Several decisions went against Rovers as they pressed and pressed for a goal and I thought the usually measure player-manager was going to self-combust with frustration.
Tunnicliffe in particular was unlucky to see a long throw, that squirmed through the keeper's hands and into the net, chalked off for a push. Well there was a push, but it appeared to be a Town player doing the pushing.
The replacement referee was endearing himself to the home support even less than the rotund guy replaced - "he went off with indigestion" was the great line uttered by a local reporter after the game.
It's still not all over for Rovers, despite my negativity. Swindon don't seem to be able to buy a win and look doomed and there are about seven sides all with a chance of going down.
Rovers need to drag some of the closer to the mire and see whose nerves are strongest. If they can maintain the attitude they showed on Saturday, who knows? Lee Clark might well be right and I'd love to be wrong.

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