Bristol Rovers v Colchester - Essex Dogs

Back to the Mem again tonight to watch Rovers take on play-off chasing Colchester.

The Essex boys haven’t won away from home since October 30th when they beat Bournemouth and so that should encourage Dave Penney’s team tonight.

Despite the fact that they are sniffing around the play-off spots they form hasn’t been too consistent in recent weeks either and they’ve managed two wins and one draw in the last six games.

The two leading scorers are also midfielders. Dave Mooney has seven and Anthony Bond has six, although striker Ian Henderson has also weighed in with five. There doesn’t appear to be a Will Hoskins in their ranks though and the Rovers hit man will be hoping to add to his tally of fifteen league goals for the term.

A win tonight could see Rovers move out of the bottom four. Walsall (currently one place above them) have a tricky home game against Southampton and Swindon, who are fifth from bottom and seem to be imploding, don’t have a game.

Victory would give Rovers thirty-three points and should Yeovil lose at home against league leaders Brighton, move them to within three points of their West Country neighbours.

All in all, tonight could well prove to be a defining point in the season for the Gas. They have shown signs in recent games of being more than capable of winning games and definitely have the players to survive in this division.

Penney told the local media:

“It's more important to be out of the bottom four at the end of the season, but we need to get as many points on the board as quickly as we can. Three tonight would get us out of it and give us something to aim for on Saturday. Not that long ago, we were bottom of the league and six points adrift. Then we got a result against Oldham, Plymouth had 10 points deducted and now we're a point adrift. We would have loved to have got something on Saturday to make up more ground, but there's a chance to come out of the bottom four tonight so there's plenty to play for."

Added spice for tonight’s encounter will be the return of U’s boss John Ward. Ward was in charge for 155 Rovers games winning 65 of them and drawing 42. Not a bad record and he’s one of the game’s nice guys too … but he’s also wily and knows his stuff.

He’s also a former Bristol City manager which will endear him to the home support.

After Saturday’s defeat to relegation strugglers Plymouth, Ward said:

“It’ll be easy to pick them up - they’ll be ok. They were disappointed with the Plymouth defeat as much as I am, but they’re also very honest and they’ll know that they could have done better than they did. I didn’t say much to them immediately after the game, because I wanted to think about what I said to them.”

This is the first league game between these two sides this season and Rovers will be hoping that by the last day of the season on May 7th when they are due to visit

Bristol Rovers 1 Oldham Athletic 0 - All For One

Credit where it's due. It's now all for one and one for all down at the Mem.

Readers of this blog will have noted that on several occasions this season I have been critical of some sections of the Memorial Ground's home support for getting on the backs of their team to readily - on Saturday though they backed them and got their reward.

Dave Penney's side dug deep and kept plugging away at an Oldham team who were fighting for the right for a play-off place and Rene Howe eventually grabbed the winner after converting Will Hoskins's cross in the 73rd minute.

Howe, 24, is a confident lad who may well have put immature teenage arrogance behind him (see report below), but has still retained a self-belief that could prove invaluable come the end of the campaign.

The pitch is now cutting up badly and must be strength sapping, but it could prove to be a bit of a leveller when more confident footballing sides come to visit.

My clipping for this morning's copy of The Sun

At half time I had a long chat with Jerel Ifil who was sitting just behind me in the stands. Former Swindon centre back Ifil, 28, is a free agent following his departure from Aberdeen earlier this year and admitted he had talked to Penney about a move and the addition of another experienced defender to add some competition for places won't do Rovers any harm at all.

Jerel told me that as his young family and his church were in the area he was hoping to find a club close by. He was also spotted at the training ground the day before and so it looks as though an announcement will be made early this week.

Penney was understandably delighted with the win and said:

"It was nice to get three points and a clean sheet, which has been long overdue, but we are still down there and we still need points. We have got 30 but we probably need another 20 or 22 – and that gives us something to aim for. The win is massive. We didn't like losing all those games on the trot and it was nice to come into a changing room and see players with smiles on their faces. The spirit and togetherness is coming and we are gradually getting there."

Oldham boss Paul Dickov was left fuming though after seeing his side slip further away from the play-off positions. He said:

"We had enough opportunities to win three games and we have to start being more ruthless at both ends of the pitch. We believe we are a good side but we are on a dodgy run of results because we are not taking our chances.

I have warned the players about the need to concentrate for every minute of games, yet we switched off for a moment in the second half and Rovers capitalised with the winning goal. I don't think it will take much for us to return to winning ways but we have to capitalise when we're on top and make sure we stay tight at the back."

Scouser Carl Regan, 30, left Rovers today to join up with former MK Dons boss Paul Ince at Notts County.

Bristol Rovers 2 Walsall 2 - Impact

Jo Kuffour took just a minute to make an impact on new bass Dave Penney during a relegation scrap at the Memorial Ground last night.
Former Arsenal youth team forward Kuffour came on as a half time sub and showed the experience Rovers will need if they are to beat the drop.

My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun

In the 53rd minute Kuffour picked the box up on the right side of the area and then hit a low hard cross across the face of goal for co-striker Will Hoskins to tap in his 14th of the season from about six yards.
Seventy-nine seconds later (according to the guy sitting next to me from the Walsall website) Hoskins picked out Kuffour on the left side of the area and he buried a volley from 14 yards for his seventh of the campaign.
Kuffour had been left warming the bench while caretaker Darren Patterson ran the side for a couple of games and seemingly had also fallen out of favour with former manager Paul Trollope, but showed he is still up for the fight.
I left the ground with Jo after the game and while I told him that whatever we said was off the record, I can reassure Gasheads that he is keen to prove himself to new boss Penney and is up for the fight that Rovers are facing.
The game couldn't have had a worse start for Penney's boys when Northern Ireland U-21 international striker Will Grigg, 19, converted a cross by winger Alex Nicholls from six yards for his first senior goal in only his third start.
And the match didn't finish too positively from Rovers point of view either.
In the 83rd minute Aaron Lescott was fed the ball by wily striker Jon Macken on the edge of the box and the former Rovers defender drilled home a low shot through a crowded area for his first Walsall goal since leaving the Memorial Ground in the summer.
Lescott doesn't get many goals and seemed as surprised as anyone after he had scored. He started to celebrate and then realised he was standing in front of the Rovers fans and stopped, but was promptly mobbed by his team mates.
Penney is keen to add experienced faces to his squad. He intimated that there was no point in bringing anyone in for this game as they wouldn't have had time to get to know their team mates and "... clubs don't like to release a player just before a game. They like to give them a couple of days to bed in ..." which suggests a loan deal or two and he and said afterwards:
"I saw from the second-half performance against Plymouth last week that we need to strengthen and what I saw tonight hasn't changed my mind. We only have two experienced strikers at the moment in Will and Jo. Eliot Richards can play up there and will be a good player, but he is only young. For where we are at the moment, we need some experience in there and I'm certainly going to add if I can. I'd like to think we could get somebody in for the weekend – Thursday or Friday morning at the latest."
And Gasheads may have to wait a little longer for things to turn around as Penney revealed:
"It's going to take 3 or 4 games to get the players up to the tempo I want. I would like to pick points up quickly but it's important I get my message across on how I want us to play the game. I want to squeeze from the front and force the other side to make mistakes. Three points would have been nice and I wanted us to push on and get the third goal to kill them off rather than sitting back, but it wasn't to be. I want the players to be fit, mobile and committed and that seemed to be a bit lacking."
Walsall looked like a side that is on the up. True they threw away the lead, but they didn't let their heads drop and fought back to steal a point that could ultimately be very valuable.
Caretaker manager Dean Smith has now overseen two draws since taking over and also hopes to bring in players to boost his team's own survival chances and revealed:
"We're trying to bring in new players. I've the best interests of the football club at heart and will do what I can to win games.
I felt this was a game we could've won. The first half was as well as we've played in a while and we need to treat every game with the same work as we have in the last two. The lads are showing they have the bit between their teeth though.
I'm not happy with a point as we need to win football games to stay in this league. I'd earmarked three points from the last two games, but still believe we can stay up."
A final word about the home fans (see my post yesterday). Once again the Bristol City Supporters Club (Undercover Division) were in attendance and booed the team when they were one down at half time. When you looked at the squad on show it included kids such as Richards, Pell, Clough and Reece and I couldn't help but wonder how much they will be adversely affected by the jeers. Penney is right to want to bring in experienced players ..,. and they better come along with Kevlar for skin if this is the support they are going to get.



Bristol Rovers Appointment - The Penny Drops

Former Doncaster Rovers, Darlington and Oldham boss Dave Penney has taken on the job of managing Rovers following Paul Trollope's sacking in December. Penney guided Doncaster back into league football and also won the League Two title the following season. He spent six years as Donny before moving on to Darlington and Oldham Athletic, but left his Latics role in May last year.

Penney told the local media: "It is nice to get back in and straight down to it, which is just what I need. I made a conscious effort when I left Oldham to try and choose the right football club and I have been in a fortunate position to wait a bit.


This felt right when I had the interview. The club has great tradition and I don't think it is in the position it should be. I have watched the team and there are certainly things to build on. It is an exciting time for myself and something for me to get my teeth into. When you get the club moving in the right direction, the fans will be right behind you.

There is half the season left and plenty of time to turn things around. We need to get the players back at it and with a couple of additions we'll be a lot stronger. First and foremost we need to make sure we are in this division next season. Long-term the aim is to build on what we started."

The Bristol Evening Post (link below) carried the following on its website: "We are delighted to welcome Dave to the club," said Rovers' chairman Nick Higgs. "There were over 60 applications for the job and Dave quickly emerged as the top candidate. The interview process took slightly longer than anticipated as a number of candidates were in employment and we had to seek permission to talk to them.


During his interview Dave showed an understanding of what we need to do as a club to move forward, and an extensive knowledge of the lower divisions and lower league players. We believe we have a nucleus of good players, but the aim is to sign two or three new faces before the end of the transfer window."

More news to follow as it comes out of the Memorial Ground, but I've been told to get along there tomorrow evening to cover the relegation clash against Walsall ... who still haven't got a boss since Chris Hutchings recent sacking.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/sport/Penney-takes-charge-Bristol-Rovers/article-3082212-detail/article.html