Rovers Fan’s View: 8th Oct ’14

Bristol Rovers Fan’s View
8th October 2014

This is the first, of many, Rovers fan view articles from Wayne Collins. He is an exiled Rovers fan who regularly comes back to Bristol to support his local team, this is his first offering to the site:

 

Saturday saw Bristol Rovers play Dover for the first time at the Memorial Stadium. The game ended 1-1, although it felt like a defeat. Rovers seemed a little off the pace, and the performance was far from the good standard over the last few games.

I’m not going to be too negative as a point is a point and we seem to be continuing our impressive home form. Teams must worry about playing Rovers in front of the impressive Mem crowd! Over 6,000 fans were there on Saturday, incredible for non-league. Long may the support continue!

Rovers went into the break one up after Adam Cunnington scored for the second home game in a row, latching on to a cross come shot from the ever impressive Stuart Sinclair. Shortly before his goal the big front man headed onto the bar.

In the second half Rovers nearly doubled their lead on a few occasions but wasted all the chances they created. Matt Taylor almost scored a second for Rovers but the Dover keeper denied him a goal after rushing out to save his attempt. Tom Parkes was also unlucky when he headed the ball over the crossbar after a well worked corner.

However Dover equalised in the dying minutes of the game. The Rovers defenders just stood off the Dover attacker who played a ball into the box, and it was finished off nicely by their centre forward.

The game ended 1-1 and the crowd were silent at the end. As I mentioned earlier, it felt like a defeat. Rovers were creating a lot of chances but just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal. This can be frustrating to watch but I’m sure goals will come as we move through the season. We can’t fault the effort of the team – Taylor doesn’t stop running and it’s starting to look as though the others are much hungrier for it too. Much better than last season!

My man of the match is Neil Trotman. The big centre half won everything in the air and looked solid throughout. I think he is a really great defender and will be someone we can rely on.

In other Vanarama Confernece news – the former Rovers loanee Scott Rendell scored a hatrick on Saturday for the Surrey club Woking, taking his tally to 11 goals and helping to maintain the part time clubs’ impressive start. If only Rovers had a prolific striker….

Whilst I’ve been writing this blog post Rovers have beaten Dartford at the Mem thanks to Taylor scoring the only goal from the penalty spot. From what I’ve read and heard from people at the game we weren’t too strong and didn’t look too impressive this time. Nevertheless, this result adds to Rovers’ great start at home – winning 6 and drawing 2. As I mentioned earlier, the lack of goals is concerning but at least we are winning games!

Next up for Rovers is Aldershot away. I’m really looking forward to Saturday as it’s only a short trip from my home in Surbiton. Let’s hope we travel in numbers and let’s hope we play some good football.

Moving away from the Conference, what does every one think about the Mourhino and Wenger bust up? Surely this is bad for kids to see? Shouldn’t they know better? Grown men pushing each other on the touch line, yes they’re both passionate and emotions run high, but I can’t help thinking they should try to control themselves!

This last point gives us some good talking points and makes us grateful for the professionalism of our local managers here in the West Country. Do you agree? Get your views heard on our Facebook and Twitter accounts and please see some of Wayne’s past work on his blog site.

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