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.



Quotes from Paul Trollope and Chris Lines - One for the team

Following last Saturdays game against Rochdale, Rovers boss Paul Trollope was delighted with the win and said:

“We were pleased to go two up and creating a second goal and it was a cracking finish. We made a few poor decisions at 2-0 going towards injury time. The last ten minutes we stared giving the ball away a little bit cheaply and they launched some swift counter-attacks which we knew they would be dangerous on. Obviously the own goal led to a nervous finish when we should have been playing it out when we should have made a few more better professional decisions like taking the ball to the corner and seeing the game through. But it was a good three points for us.

I was very please with Charlie (winger Reece). He’s making very good progress. He showed glimpses last year in starts and subs appearances, but his strength is coming now and his game management, in terms of his positional play, is good and he provided a link down the right-hand side with Carl Regan and provided energy. He can be pleased with his contribution.

As far as the penalty was concerned, Trollope said:

"It was one from where I was. From my angle Jo (Kuffour) got there first and was taken. I didn’t think there was any question.

He’s a young referee who’s trying to make his way in the game and go up the levels. Considering the others we’ve had this season, I think he performed pretty well."

Of man-of-the-match Will Hoskins and his side in general, Trollope said:

“He lifted us out of a little bit of pressure that was on us in the first half with some good skill and spread the play. His linking and movement are very good and he was unfortunate not to get a goal. He worked hard and we asked a different question of him in recent weeks which served a purpose to a certain extent, but he is an out-and-out striker and his movement behind is probably as good as anyone in his position. He’s got six already and possibly could’ve had a few more.

We’ve got a decent squad and, touch wood, they are fit at the moment. People are waiting in the wings patiently for chances to show what they can do. We’re having a lot of reserve team friendlies to ensure they’re up to speed and ready and we’re pleased at the moment ticking along and in the top half of the table again ahead of some very big clubs. We’re okay, but it is still a work in progress as I’ve said before. The three points was important after not getting what we deserved on Monday (against Swindon).

We said in the week how tight the division was and it’s still tight when you look above us and immediately below us, but we want to look upwards and we want to make progress and it’s good now that we’ve got a clear week. There have been a few mid-week games, but now we can have a good week’s training when we can work on the issues that we need to and make sure we can work on the issue that have been highlighted today and go up to Hartlepool in a positive manner.”

Trollope also defended midfielder Chris Lines who has been receiving criticism from some fans. He said:

“The shape and the personnel we had playing meant we had a lot of attacking players on the pitch – Will Hoskins as a third striker and Jeff Hughes with basically a free role and so you can’t have Chris Lines going forward as well. I’m not going to sit here and justify things, but we’re pleased with players’ levels. There’s more to come from Chris. Everyone’s expectation of him went up dramatically at the start of last season. I thought he played a major part in the second half in us getting back into the game. He scored a cracking goal and he’s a major player for us who’s got all the attributes of a modern player so we’re pleased with his contribution.”

Midfielder Lines, 24, sealed the win for Rovers and said:

“Rochdale were very difficult to play against with the amount of players they packed into midfield especially in the first half and at times it looked as though they had more players than us, but we worked on that in training and limited them to the chances they had. Even though they had the possession, I think it was us who had the best chances in the first half.

We were a bit disappointed with a bit of the play in the first half, but at the end of the day we went in 1-0 up at half time and in the second half we were a different team and pretty much dominated it.

In the second half today that’s the most I’ve been able to get forward in the last few games in the slightly different formation we’ve been playing, but in the second half I was able to get forward and make some of the runs I was doing last year and getting myself goals and I think with that happening I got my first league goal today.

Reecey coming in on the right gave us real width on the right hand side and you can’t really say Will (Hoskins) does that naturally because he’s a striker and he naturally going to come inside and I think Hughesy the same. But today when the game was stretched it let me run into the holes where maybe in the last few games Will’s been running into those holes so I’ve maybe had to go wide or something like that. In the second half I was getting a lot of the ball in areas where I was getting a lot of the ball last year.

I set my standards high last season by having the best season I’ve had for scoring goals and I’m quite happy to try and live up to that. Now I’ve got my first league goal hopefully I can get a run together like I did last year and get up towards ten again.

I guess quite a lot of people have noticed that I’ve played quite a lot deeper at times, but in the last few games – even at Swindon where I won the penalty with the type of run that was getting me goals last season – I’m getting into those areas that you know with those two up front (Hoskins and Kuffour) they’re going to hold it up and link it which gives me the chance to just drive forward. They didn’t seem to want to track back with me today and so that’s obviously why I got the goal.

You’ve just got to be disciplined at times and sit back. That’s what we work on in training and maybe people on the outside don’t quite realize that I can’t keep bombing into the box when Will and Hughesy are doing the same thing. I don’t like doing it, but sometimes you have to work for the team rather than for yourself.

If we can go to Hartlepool and get a win – and we’ve played well up there in the last few seasons – we’re going to be well up in the table.”

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!!

Oxford versus Rovers – Keep your eye on the money

I’m off to watch the 'big one' tonight in the Carling Cup and while the Premiersip sides seem to increasingly see this tournament as a bit of an inconvenience, for the cash strapped smaller clubs, it could be a way of easing their financial pressures.

Arguably both of these clubs need the money as well .

Having done well last season to get back into the league, Oxford have every chance of making it two promotions on the trot in what is a fairly even division and so any extra cash would be welcomed by boss Chris Wilder as he looks to strengthen.

Paul Trollope is in the same situation at Rovers.

The Memorial Ground fans have backed him for the last few seasons, but are becoming more demanding and the pressure will build if they aren’t in the play-off places come May. The problem is that the crowds at the Mem don’t bring in enough revenue to underwrite big money signings and so a win against Oxford - and therefore the chance to get one step nearer to meeting a ‘big’ club later in the competition - is certainly something the bank manager would be keen on!

I suspect that Trolls would love to buy (or loan) a target man to act as a foil for striker Jo Kuffour and I believe this could help spur them on. Certainly another 3-0 drubbing like the one they received at Peterborough (managed by former Bristol City boss Gary Johnson) won’t help with finances or morale.

Money aside, the game will be a good test for Oxford. It’s an opportunity for them to pit their wits against an established League One side.

Personally I see it going to the wire and penalties … so – as my predictions are usually crap - put your money on one or other side being three-nil up by half time!!