Bristol Rovers 2 Plymouth Argyle 3 - Stunned and Amazed

I was sitting next to a local Plymouth reporter for last night’s encounter at the Memorial Ground and at the break he was bemoaning the fact that Mikkel Andersen had made a superb save low to his left to ensure Rovers went in for their half time oranges two Will Hoskins’s goals to the good.

Even though the home side were head and shoulders above Argyle for most of the first 45 minutes I told the journo that if they scored before Rovers got a third, panic would set in and that’s exactly what happened.

My clipping from today's paper

Bradley Wright-Phillips pulled one back in the 58th minute and then co-striker Joe Mason prodded home an equaliser eleven minutes later as the Gas deflated and imploded.

Midfielder Stephane Zubar stole all three points in the 81st minute poking home from about four yards after team mate had pumped a 45 yard free kick forward to the unmarked Frenchman.

The ‘oles’ that greeted Rovers passing game in the first half we replaced with jeers of derision as the game wore on and the only round of applause was saved for keeper Mikkel Andersen who appeared to be saying goodbye before returning to parent club Reading as his loan deal has now expired.

I left the ground with Mikkel and while he wouldn’t be drawn as to what his plans were, he did say:

“I want to be playing regularly and will be hoping to start against West Brom in the Cup on Saturday.”

It appears he now has is eyes focused on making a claim for involvement at Reading, but he did see some positives for Rovers.

“There are some very good younger players here,” he said “And I thought Elliot Richards was great tonight. In fact a lot quicker than I thought.”

Rovers caretaker boss Darren Patterson saw his own career path fade before his eyes in the second half and groaned:

“We are obviously very disappointed. From probably playing the best football we have done all season we gifted the game away. That’s what we did, absolutely gift it away.

We had to work pretty hard for our goals, but we simply don’t do the ugly side of the game very well and it’s simply killing us.

We have lots of technically gifted players at the club, but maybe we need people who can do the horrible things when we need to protect a two goal lead.”

Patterson understandably refused to even discuss the vacant manager’s position given the result and - after the first question on the subject – made a point of telling the rest of the assembled reporters not to ask it again.

If the players did want him to take on the job full time I’m afraid that they really didn’t do him any favours at all with their second half collapse and with 81% of readers in a local paper stating that they do NOT want him as manager, any interview the board grant him now will be given as a mere courtesy.

Why the board sacked Paul Trollope with no fallback position though remains a key question. With no game this weekend, the board better sort out an acceptable replacement in the next few days before the Gas faithful turn their frustration on them.

Argyle’s players haven’t received their wages from the club now for two months, the club is under a football league transfer embargo and it is selling key squad members to clear debts and so manager Peter Reid praised their fighting spirit after the game.

"The players deserve every bit of credit," said the Argyle boss. "Away from home, 2-0 down and then to get a result speaks for itself. We started slowly. They dominated us early on and we could not get out of our half. But towards the end of the first half we were threatening and I felt if we could get one goal, a foothold, we would be back in it and I was right. It was fantastic. The second half was so exciting.

It’s a balancing act at the moment. We have to sell players to pay off our debts so that we can get the transfer embargo lifted and then try and bring in loan players, but it is what it is and we just have to get on with it and the players have shown a great spirit after what they’ve been through.”

Mikkel Andersen – Crew Cut

Danish U-21 keeper Mikkel Andersen showed what a class act he is when he kept a clean sheet against Brentford on Saturday.

Ben Hamer was in goal for Brentford and both keepers are on loan from their parent club Reading.

Rovers were down to ten men after defender Gary Sawyer picked up his second booking in the 70th minute and after the game, Mikkel was asked to come down to the bowels of the stadium where the press conferences are held. He said:

“We played well as a unit. It’s always difficult when you go down to ten men, but I think we stuck together and when had a decent result when we could’ve lost the game. Everyone’s pleased with that, but of course we wanted three points at home in front of our fans so there is a little bit of mixed feelings. StilI think everyone’s proud we kept our first clean sheet of the season.

In front of goal we just need a little bit of luck. I think the goals will come and I think in John (Akinde) we have a very good target man. You can see John is ‘a player’. He gets himself in and about (the opposition) and it’s a pleasure for me especially to have him to win the balls and flick-ons and so I think he will do us a lot of good.

I don’t remember which was my favourite save as I had so many! To be fair, that’s what I’m there for. I’m there to save the ball and that’s what I did today and so I’m happy with that.

I’m glad to be here and glad to be playing games and so hopefully I can step it up this season.

I’m still young and every season I want to step it up. I push myself every day. Mike Green (second choice keeper) and I push each other on and we have a great little unit. We’re good friends and enjoy our working relationship. Green has come on really well and I heard he played really well last week.

It was important for the confidence of the team that we showed we can keep a clean sheet. We showed great concentration and focus in the last part of the game when we’d had a man sent off.

Ben and I had a chat before and after the game. We’re good friends and he’s a good lad and I’ve known him since I went to Reading and I enjoy working with him as well.

Finally (and just so the song title above makes sense – sort of) Andersen also joked about his new crew cut hairstyle:

“I’ll think I’ll have to keep it like this for a while now. Maybe I’ll grow a beard instead.”

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!!

Mikkel Andersen – Hand in Glove

Stoke City’s World Cup keeper Thomas Sorensen has tipped Bristol Rovers rookie Mikkel Andersen for the top.

Keeper Andersen, 21, agreed a one month loan deal after spending much of last season at Rovers and will face Peterborough in Saturday’s opener at London Road.

Sorensen, 34, is Denmark’s first choice stopper, but watched his young countryman at close quarters during the midweek friendly at the Memorial Ground and then said:

“He’s definitely a talented guy and I think that he’s doing all the right things at the moment. He’s secured his future at Reading with a three year deal, but has also opted to go out on loan to gain experience which is the smart thing to do and something I did earlier in my career. I know that he was highly thought of by Rovers last season when he was there last season as well and that helps.

I must admit though that was surprised to see him standing next to me in the tunnel before the game and had to do a double-take as I had no idea he’d just signed for them. But I got a good look at him and he played well. Even though we beat them 2-1 he was really unlucky for the first goal because he made an excellent save from Tuncay before he knocked in the rebound. And he had no chance with Ricardo Fuller’s second either.”

Former Sunderland and Aston Villa keeper Sorensen is still hoping to add to his haul of 90 international caps after performing well in this summer’s World Cup Finals, but had his eye on the next generation as well when Denmark’s kids were runner’s up in the Toulon Tournament. He said:

“Mikkel played well for our under-21s there and I think he started something like four out of the five games which is pretty impressive.

I may not ready to give up my shirt just yet, but it’s good to know that we have has some very good keepers coming through. Apart from Mikkel there’s Martin Hansen at Liverpool, Kasper Schmeichel at Leeds and a few others and so he has to keep working hard, but I’m sure that he’ll do well if he carries on the way he has.”

Bristol Rovers 1 Stoke City 2 – No Jacket Required

A late call up from The Sun saw me off to cover the friendly game at the Memorial Stadium last night.

Unfortunately I was in my car miles from home when I took the call and didn’t have a thing to wear. Well, more specifically, I didn’t have a coat with me and by the time the final whistle blew I was sitting shivering in my shirt sleeves - having been reacquainted with the West Country wind that whips around the Mem. I won’t be making the mistake on a cold winter’s evening next February that’s for sure!

The match itself was usual pre-season fare. Nothing on the result and so a nice relaxed atmosphere in the ground as both sets of players stretched their muscles and built up stamina before real hostilities begin.

Rovers first game is on Saturday away at Peterborough United and – even though the game was meaningless – they were obviously keen to impress and they did.

Chris Lines (who will probably be in Paul Trollope’s staring eleven) sat the first half out on the bench while Dominic Blizzard, 26, took his place in the centre of midfield alongside skipper Stuart Campbell and the former Watford man caught the eye with a roving, all action performance and even grabbed a goal.

In the 45th minute Blizzard took advantage of a mistake by Stoke keeper Thomas Sorensen – who flapped and missed a Wayne Brown corner – to bury a header from about eight yards out.

Former Fulham winger Brown, 21, also caught the eye and it was interesting to see him take some of the set pieces which have been the sole preserve of Campbell in recent seasons.

Rovers had re-signed keeper Mikkel Andersen, 21, on a one month loan deal from Reading hours before kick-off and the Denmark Under-21 star – returning to the Mem following his lengthy loan spell last season – looked commanding and was unlucky for Stoke’s opener.

Tuncay fired a low shot in from 12 yards in the 38th minute which Andersen did incredibly well to get down to and block, but the Turkish international left him with no chance when he followed up and buried the rebound.

Stoke’s winner came on the stroke of half time. Ricardo Fuller picked up a Michael Tonge pass into the box and side stepped Andersen to poke the ball past two Rovers defenders manning the line. It was Jamaican striker Fuller’s only real contribution to the game and manager Tony Pulis said afterwards that he is “definitely looking to add another striker” to his squad along with three or four other players.

Rovers on the other hand look to have a decent crop of youngsters backing up the first team and when Trollope made the usual friendly game wholesale changes on the hour, kids like Charlie Reece, Ben Swallow and Eliot Richards came on and looked far from overawed by the Premiership opposition – although some of their cheeky flicks and back heels might have seen them get a good old fashioned kick up the arse had it been a more competitive game! Still, it was good fun and showed they are a confident bunch and the Pirate’s future might be brighter than some Gasheads had thought.

Paul Trollope was also pleased with the effort put in by his kids, but said: “I’m more pleased that we came through the game without any problems and can now look forward to the first game on Saturday.”

N.B. The attached clipping was published in The Sun this morning and obviously welll worth freezing my nuts off for :-)
A link to The Sun's football pages can be found here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/