Bristol Rovers 0 Brentford 0 - Hanging on the telephone

BBC coverage now online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/8992323.stm

A slightly embarrassing moment after the game on Saturday.

I left the ground with Brentford manager Andy Scott who was not travelling back on the team bus and as we were walking along he asked:

“Where are you parked?”

I then offered to give him a lift and gave a long rambling description of where I usually parked my car that went on for a good fifteen seconds. It was only when I paused to draw breath that I realized he had his phone to his ear and wasn’t even talking to me. He must have thought I was a bit of a nutter – then again, he would’ve been right I suppose.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

Scott’s side played well, as did Rovers, but neither got the goals they deserved.

In the first half, the Rovers midfield of Chris Lines, Stuart Campbell and Jeff Hughes seemed to find space wherever they wanted it and Lines, in particular, was picking out the front two of Jo Kuffour and John Akinde for fun, but the ball didn’t run for the strikers.

Akinde is on loan from local rivals Bristol City and was making his full debut. The Gashead faithful gave him a warm welcome - setting his background to one side - and he rewarded them with a display that was full of effort – if not end product.

Akinde is a big lad and has a great deal of pace, but is obviously short of match practice and, understandably, will take time to build a partnership with the smaller, gutsy Kuffour.

Jo has built a good reputation at Rovers and never tires of running. He’s also not afraid to stand up for himself and probably came off best in a fairly physical battle with Brentford’s skipper and central defender, Karleigh Osborne.

Two Reading loanee keepers were on show in Mikkel Andersen for Rovers and Ben Hamer.

In the first half Hamer made a good low save from Kuffour and, while he didn’t really have any other saves to make, showed good levels of concentration (and how aware he is) by clearing his lines and dashing from the box to thwart a Rovers attack.

In contrast, Andersen made four excellent saves in the second half that should have seen him pick up the man of the match champagne.

Brentford wingers Nicky Adams (twice) and Myles Weston both had goal bound shots saved by the Danish U-21 international as did striker Gary Alexander with a point blank headern from 10 yards. Afterwards Adams said:

“We all knew how good Mikkel was before we got here and so no-one was surprised.”

The Rovers sponsors gave the man of the match award to the excellent Will Hoskins ten minutes after the striker had been substituted and swapped for midfielder Wayne Brown.

Rovers defender Gary Sawyer had just been sent off for a second booking and when Hoskins number was shown the Rovers fans showed their disapproval by booing manager Paul Trollope’s decision. There’s no doubt that Hoskins had run his socks off and played well, but I couldn’t help but feel that the sponsors decision was a dig at Trollope’s.

Frankly though, when you lose a defender and go down to ten men, one of the strikers has to be sacrificed. As Trollope said:

“I don’t know a manger anywhere in the world who would carry on playing with three strikers after going down to ten men. Will had run himself into the ground and put in a good shift and so I took him off.”

I guess you could argue that Akinde could have been brought off, but even with ten men, Rovers were still looking to win the game and Trollope probably thought he was more likely to trouble Brentford’s central defenders than Hoskins – and as mentioned above, Kuffour was giving Osbourne a hard time of it.

For me, Trollope made the right decision.

All in all, a draw was a fair result, although both managers felt they could have won it and I’ll post their thoughts on here tomorrow’s blog once I’ve reviewed my recording of their interviews and made sure they were talking to me and not someone else on their mobiles!!

Andy Scott’s appointment and Greg Dyke – The Guardian

Watching Brentford play last weekend reminded me of the last time I saw them play at Griffin Park.

Andy Scott was looking after the team in a caretaker capacity at the time and a decision on his future was imminent.

Brentford won the game convincingly (I seem to remember it was by three goals against Chester) and it was obvious from talking to the players that they really had a lot of time for Scott and wanted him to get the job.

Scott had his playing career curtailed by a heart problem and – just like others who had faced similar scares such as Glenn Roeder – is able to put a game of football into perspective because of this. That’s not to say he lacks passion, he certainly does, but I guess when you’re staring at death’s door it’s easier to shrug off losing a football match and look forward to putting it right in the next game.

After the game I had the dubious pleasure of being “shadowed” by the reporter from The Guardian who was hanging on my shoulder while I talked to players and so, consequently, getting the same quotes I was. Not great when you’re looking for an exclusive.

Eventually I took to ducking and diving around the Griffin Park stands trying to lose the bugger and succeeded.

When I thought the coast was clear I came out of hiding and spotted the Guardian guy chatting to an opposition player just as Greg Dyke the Chairman walked past.

Dyke was – and still is – a big football fan and is Brentford’s non-executive chairman. He had been front page news on several occasions in the preceding three years following his resignation from his position as Director-General of the BBC. This followed the Hutton Report (an investigation the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.)

Even before this period, Dyke was a well known public figure having held key positions at London Weekend Television and even introduced Roland Rat to TV-AM!

I asked him what the chances were of Scott getting the job and he grinned and told me that “he hasn’t done himself any harm at all as the boys obviously love playing for him”. He told me that a decision would be made the following week, but he had put himself in a good position.

It wasn’t great stuff, but no-one else had talked to Dyke and it was the issue that most Brentford fans were talking about and so I smugly started to walk toward my car.

That was when Guardian man tapped me on the shoulder and asked: “Who was that old guy you were talking to?”

Crisis of conscience. Dyke was about twenty metres away and so could easily be caught and questioned.

I had been asked a direct question, but also wanted to protect my little angle.

“Some bloke who works in television.” I replied truthfully before saying goodbye and guiltily walking away.

Well, I didn’t lie. And frankly, if a Guardian journalist doesn’t know who Greg Dyke is …

Swindon Town 1 Brentford 1 – Still Searching

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun - left - and the same match in The News of the World (links to both papers can be found below) 

A score draw in this one, but neither manager will have had a sleepless Saturday night.

Both Danny Wilson and Brentford boss Andy Scott have brought in a few new faces in the summer and so it will take time for them to gel with their new teammates as they both search for their first win. But Scott saw his team chalk up their first point of the season and Wilson must have been encouraged by the marked improvement on Swindon’s first home game of the season – a 2-1 reverse to Brighton.

Brentford took the lead after Robin’s full back Michael Rose failed to connect properly with a header back to keeper David Lucas and striker Charlie MacDonald nipped in the score from a tight angle in the 8th minute. It was a bread and butter goal for someone of MacDonald’s experience, but the 29 year old took it well nevertheless. He said afterwards:

“That’s precisely the reason why you always need to stay sharp on a football pitch. Precisely for occasions like that.”

MacDonald hasn’t set himself any targets this season, but said:

“I’ve done well in the last two and so I’m just looking for more of the same.”

Rose was left with his face buried in the grass - presumably wishing it would swallow him up - but it was just one of those clangers that you see at every level of football from time to time. However, all the more embarrassing if you're a pro.

For the next 30 minutes Rose looked slightly shaky, but then redeemed himself with a hand in David Prutton’s equaliser.

In the 40th minute the former Stockport full back who signed in the summer, launched a long throw to the near post, Sean Morrison headed a looping ball across the face of goal and former Leeds and Forest Prutton nodded in from about two yards for his first Swindon goal.

It was noticeable that while Prutton celebrated with his some of his teammates, Morrison and a couple of the other lads ran over to Rose to pat him on the back.

Morrison himself was immense on Saturday and must have given Wilson food for thought.

The Swindon manager had already stated his intention to try and bring in an established central defender to replace former skipper Gordon Greer - who left for Brighton in the summer -  but Morrison certainly staked his claim with a man of the match performance.

However, Morrison 19, has a cool head on his young shoulders. He told me after the game:

“This was my first start since about March and I think I’ve learned a lot in the last year or so. I went out on loan and probably didn’t appreciate what was happening and what it was for, but I’m not the sort of person to throw his toys out of the pram if he doesn’t get picked. Obviously I want to start as many games as I can and I’m ready whenever the gaffer wants me, but I’m only 19 and so I have time on my side and I’ll continue learning.”

Links to The News of the World football website: www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/football/

And The Sun’s football website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football

Back to the County Ground - The Bird And The Bee

I will be reporting on the League One fixture between Swindon Town and Brentford tomorrow afternoon.

Charlie Austin seems to have picked up where he left off last season and has now scored two goals in two league fixtures, but Swindon have yet to pick up their first win (they also went out of the League Cup to Orient), but these early games are often deceptive and I suspect that many of the new players are still bedding in and Danny Wilson won’t know his best starting eleven for a while yet.

Good to see the Topgo striker Thomas Dossevi get off the mark last weekend against Hartlepool and the result was probably a good one for Swindon given that they had to come back from two goals down against the monkey hangers.

Brentford meanwhile managed to make it through the first round of the League Cup by beating Cheltenham, but have lost both their opening fixtures.

Former Oxford striker Andy Scott now manages the Bees and is sure of a warm Wiltshire welcome given his previous associations, but he really is one of the games good guys and up and coming coaches. Brentford have already been approached by other clubs for his services, but have gamely clung on to him since his appointment back in 2007. He managed to get the West London outfit promoted from League Two in 2009.

Scott suffered a life threatening heart disorder which ended his playing career at Orient in 2005.

Gary Alexander is the only Brentford player to have scored in the league this season (although defender Craig Woodman netted in the Cup) and he may be joined up front by former Newcastle hitman Carl Cort against the Robins.

All in all, this fixture looks like a great opportunity for one of these clubs to kick start the season.

I predict a win by Swindon and a two goal margin ... so that’ll be 0-0 then!