Rotherham Away and Torquay Sell-Out!

It's been a relatively uneventful week for Rovers since last Saturday's home draw. The players have kept somewhat of a low-profile with few interviews being done with the local press, except for the compulsory back-page stuff you get the day before a game. 

It's the first time in a long while where everyone connected with the club has been able to sit back, relax and take stock of everything that's happened over the past couple of months. With the changes that have occurred in the playing squad, management and results, it's been a hectic time for everybody since Christmas. But this week was an opportunity for us as fans to take things steady... hopefully the players have too in preparation for the game at Rotherham tomorrow.

It'll be the first away game I've not gone to since Gillingham in December and that day we got pummelled. That's clearly not a good omen, but things are different now and I firmly believe tomorrow will see a different outcome. We've beaten the Millers already this season in a 5-2 spanking at The Mem, but they will be a different proposition tomorrow having improved gradually under Andy Scott since that defeat. They have benefitted from the loan system recently with the arrival of Bury striker Shaun Harrad and the former Burton player has performed well since joining, scoring 3 goals in 4 games so far. Alongside Lewis Grabban the pair are likely to cause us many problems tomorrow afternoon with their pace and intelligence around the box a real threat to sides at this level. Grabban had been linked with a Championship move in January but despite the rumours, a move failed to materialise. He has continued to impress for the Yorkshire side and will be looking to add to his tally against a much-improved Rovers defence.

Cian Bolger, Tom Parkes, Danny Woodards and Jim Paterson have been very solid at the back over recent weeks and prevented the likes of Morecambe, Oxford and Shrewsbury from slicing through us like they would have done in the Buckle era. There's another secret to our recent defensive revival though and that's Michael Poke in goal. The loanee clocked up an appearance in the League 2 team of the week following his outstanding display against the U's and that, along with his other solid outings, has prompted Mark McGhee to seek an extension to his loan. As I think I've touched on before, McGhee confirmed that we are only able to extend his loan by one final month, taking the entire duration of his stay with us to 93 days. McGhee explained he wanted to sign him until the end of the season and was disappointed that he would be unable to, although he offered Scott Bevan a Rovers lifeline by saying he was going to meet with him next week and find out whether he wanted the chance to play in goal for us again, or whether we'd have to find another loan goalie. He'll take the chance to play, I'm sure, but I'd much prefer Poke and hopefully we can sign him, or someone else, permanently over the summer.

Muzzy Carayol and Matt Harrold with be hoping to earn recalls from the start following injuries and on a better pitch at the Don Valley they may be granted their wish. Aside from that we had no other injury concerns heading in to the game, so we should see a more settled side from now on in.

Aside from the big game, the club today announced that ALL tickets for the upcoming away trip to Torquay had been sold out! The game has captured the imagination of Gasheads and tickets have been snapped up very quickly. I'm pleased to say I got my ticket on Monday, so I shall be among the army of Gas that descends on the English Riviera on March 10! It should be a cracker of a game and it's one I'm sure we're all thoroughly looking forward to.

We have teams to beat before then though, beginning with Rotherham United tomorrow. 3 points please Rovers! 2-1 Gas...