Football Hack: Bristol Rovers 0 Fleetwood Town 0

Neil Etheridge can finally add a league debut to his THIRTY-SEVEN international caps.

Enfield-born keeper Etheridge, 22, has signed a one month loan deal from Fulham and kept a clean sheet in his first Rovers appearance, but he has already notched up a good deal of experience playing for the Phillipines.

Former Chelsea youth prospect Etheridge explained:

"My mum is Filipino which allows me to qualify and I've played in some pretty big fixtures for them since I was eighteen.

We played two semi finals of the South East Asian Cup in Jakarta against Indonesia in 2010 because we didn't have the facilities in the Phillipines at that time. There were 85,000 at the first leg and 100,000 in the second leg. Our support was just family and friends - about ten people!

There aren't many stadiums anywhere that can hold those numbers. It was frightening, but a great experience."

Etheridge was supported in his debut by best pal, injured Manchester United and England defender Chris Smalling, but Etheridge said:

"People take different paths in life, this is mine and I'll take it. I was on the bench for the majority of last season with Fulham. The season before I had slight knock backs with injuries. Now is the time to go out on loan to gain experience and I'll grab it with both hands to help Bristol Rovers as much as I can."

Opposite number Scott Davies shut out Rovers with three great second half saves as Fleetwood continued their good form following promotion from the Conference last term.

One minute after the break Davies blocked striker David Clarkson's powerful twelve yard drive with his feet and five minutes later pushed away midfielder Oliver Norburn's shot at the near post.

In the 64th minute Clarkson was denied again.

German-born winger Fabian Broghammer teed up the former Bristol City hitman from the left, but Davies produced the pick of the bunch when he palmed away Clarkson's shot from just inside the box.

Fleetwood were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty in the 53rd minute when midfielder Matt Gill seemed to handle, but referee waved away protests after discussing the claims with his assistant.

Striker Andy Mangan had the first effort of the game in the fifth minute, but his 25 yard shot just cleared the Rovers bar.

And Broghammer came close to breaking the deadlock twice in one first half minute.

Broghammer nodded a cross from fellow winger one yard wide of the far post in the 16th minute and then curled a shot onto the roof of the Fleetwood net from the edge of the box.

Rovers chief Mark McGhee was delighted with his team's defensive performance, but said:

“That's the first bit of luck we've had this season and Gilly was delighted. It was a strange one because the linesman had has flag up and we assumed there must have been a push or something, but the referee eventually gave a throw in.

If there is any criticism it will be in the forward department where we were not able to score a goal. We will try and do business before next week and try and get someone who will help us put the ball in the back of the net."

Fleetwood manager Micky Mellon was happy with Davies's role in the draw and said:

"He's developing into one of the best keepers in the league.

If you said to me before the game that we'd take a point off Bristol Rovers, I'd have taken it."

A tale of two keepers ...