Rotherham-mered by the Gas!

Wow.

Disappointingly, it's been 9 days since I last posted on the blog. Work and A-Level assignments have dictated that most of my time has been focussed on other things recently, but now I have a chance to go through my overriding thoughts and emotions from the past week at Rovers.

In my last post, I was looking forward to our trip to Oxford and was hoping we could turn on the style in front of the travelling army of Gasheads. Clearly, that didn't happen, and we got comfortably dispatched by an Oxford side that, in reality, didn't look much better than ourselves. The difference was they could finish and we couldn't. We were on top and should have scored when debutant Scott Rendell hit a right-footed effort straight at their goalie Ryan Clarke (ex-Gas) but in typical Rovers style, we gifted the opposition a goal and from that point on we collapsed and rarely had a look in.

It's hard to put your finger on why we concede such silly goals and are then unable to play once we've let one in. I can understand the frustration aimed at Paul Buckle, because he is the man in charge of the team and the tactics the side carry out. In saying that, I completely sympathise with him, as we've rarely been able to put out our strongest side this season. When we have, we've won matches. Had our strongest side been fit and went out against Oxford, I genuinely think we would have played a lot better. But we didn't have our best side out. That's no excuse though. We lost comfortably and a hard week's training was required ahead of the Rotherham game.

The week went by in rather unspectacular fashion. Happily, no new injuries were picked up and Buckle was delighted to announce that Matt Gill and Danny Woodards had recovered from their knocks and would be available to play against The Millers. That really was superb news. Both players have been outstanding when they have played for us so far this season - they do the simple stuff incredibly well and stand out further by bringing real attacking quality to the side. It was the first time in quite a while we could play our strongest XI (in the gaffer's eyes)... I wonder how we'd perform?

By absolutely hammering a side tipped for promotion at the beginning of the season 5-2. They'd lost their last four matches, but we hadn't exactly been in blistering form ourselves, so the nature in which we dispatched of Rotherham was fantastic. From the first whistle we were playing at pace and at a high tempo, which Rotherham just couldn't handle. We looked incredibly dangerous when we attacked, so it was nice to see that we kept piling on the pressure in the opening minutes. The 4-3-1-2 formation that was deployed worked perfectly and Rendell, who was playing in the hole behind the forwards, was showing real class on the ball. The whole team looked lively so it was no surprise when we took the lead.

I was pleased to be watching a positive Rovers performance where there was real desire and urgency to upset the opposition and score goals, and we were duly rewarded when Scott McGleish swept home Craig Stanley's miscued shot from just inside the area, following Lee Brown's cross. The pressure on their back-line was relentless (happily!) and we almost doubled the advantage soon after, but Brown's stunning 30 yard strike cannoned back off the crossbar and away from danger. We did soon get the second though and Rendell - making his home debut - was the main man involved in the build-up. He ran on to a nod-on from Harrold inside the penalty box and was barged over by Johnny Mullins, giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty. It can be argued that Rotherham were co-architects of their own downfall, but that would be extremely harsh on Rovers, who put so much pressure on their visitors that mistakes were inevitable. McGleish, fresh from his first goal at The Mem, duly converted the penalty, sending Andy Warrington the wrong way from the spot.

Just 3 minutes later and Rovers made it three! A stunning free-kick by Matt Gill was met by the head of Cian Bolger, who glanced home past Warrington. Rovers were in complete control and if they had kept playing as they had done, a real hammering could have been on the cards. But we took our foot off the gas slightly, and the visitors got a goal back. Lewis Grabban sent in a cross which Jason Taylor converted well from just inside the 18-yard box and that reinvigorated Rotherham somewhat. Early in the second half and The Millers pulled another goal back and you just got that horrible feeling that Rovers were going to throw away all their hard work from the first half. Danny Schofield sent a powerful curling effort in off the far post from 19 yards and Andy Scott's men were back in it.

But, Rovers kept going and were relieved when Rotherham debutant Guy Branston was given a straight red card for a two-footed lunge. No complaints from anybody in the ground gave the impression the ref got it spot on and it meant Rovers had a great chance to extend their lead. From the resulting free-kick, Bolger chested in to the path of Stanley, who's cross was only half cleared towards Brown, who then struck a sweet left-footed half-volley in to the bottom corner. 4-2 and Rovers were cruising. A Harrold header was saved by Warrington but Rovers did get a fifth goal in the final minutes. Substitute Joe Anyinsah had yards of space down the right and the winger struck a stunning effort over Warrington and in to the top corner - breaking the net in the process!

It was a truly stunning win for Rovers who, yes were aided by the red card, but showed real quality and conviction when going forward, which must offer real encouragement to Buckle and all other Rovers supporters. I'm certainly more confident now. I think a corner may well have been turned, but the proof will be in the pudding - our next game away at Burton Albion next Saturday.

Hopefully the next week's training will spread confidence throughout the squad, resulting in a nice away victory next weekend. Let's keep the faith Gasheads!