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 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.”

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!!