Premier League Villa may not be having the smoothest of rides this term, but they definitely had more class than Rovers and with Bulgaria international Stiliyan Petrov pulling the strings in midfield, they never looked bothered by their League Two opponents.
It was interesting to note that when Scott McGleish scored and missed his penalty right at the death, Petrov had already been subbed.
McGleish looked down in the dumps after his penalty miss, but the truth was that, even if it had gone in, there wasn’t enough time for Rovers to earn a draw and Villa would have played ‘keep ball’ for the remaining few seconds.
I had half expected Rovers to roll over given their recent form and the fact that manager Paul Buckle had been sacked only days before, but they worked hard and played with a fair amount of pride. If they can take this attitude into the game at Hereford on Tuesday evening, it could prove to be the turning point in their season. As McGleish told me afterwards: “We just need a lucky 1-0 win to get the ball rolling."
McGleish has his ‘B’ licence and also told me he was interested in the managerial vacancy. He said:
“I’ve told my agent that I’m interested if the club are looking for applications, but I think they want someone with more experience.”
Well, as I’ve said on here before, the board at the Mem don’t always get it right when it comes to going for ‘experience’. In my view they missed a trick by not giving Stuart Campbell the job in the summer after he nearly rescued the club from relegation despite being given the thankless task when Rovers already looked doomed.
Campbell is now plying his trade in the Florida sunshine for Tampa Bay Rowdies while the gloomy, dark winter is set to go on for some time in the blue half of Bristol.
My piece from this morning’s paper
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