0-0 vs Macc...

Okay, I've seen a number of teams come to the Mem over the years. Good teams, average teams and a decent share of poor teams - it's absolutely fair to say that yesterday's Macclesfield side fall in to the 'poor' category, arguably one of the worst ever.

It may be a harsh statement as they came and did a job on us but it's wholly frustrating to see a team as poor and defensive as they were prosper. Don't get me wrong, the basis of winning games is having a strong defence - Mark McGhee has already worked on that with us and to great effect so far - but whilst we're solid at the back, we also harbour our own attacking intent. Okay, so we don't commit 5 or 6 forward in to the opposition box every time we venture forward, but we do go in to games looking to score as well as defend. As McGhee declared a couple of weeks ago, we are becoming very 'hard to beat' without restricting ourselves solely to sitting back, which is very pleasing. Macclesfield achieved a clean sheet but simply as they were set up not to concede.

I understand they are in the lower reaches of the league and want to pick up points, but from my experience, Macclesfield have always been the same. I suppose it's just the way they are and, with plenty of luck, they've stopped any Rovers side from ever defeating them at the Mem. Doesn't make sense does it? One of the worst sides to visit Horfield have always prevented us from winning. One of the many wonders of the modern world.

The game itself yesterday was as you would expect from a negative away side; one-way pressure for practically 90 minutes. We peppered their goal several times but were just unable to break their rearguard, largely down to the fact they have lower league journeyman Ben Futcher at the heart of their defence on loan. The 6ft7 defender dealt with every cross that was fired in, limiting the number of opportunities Matt Harrold had of getting on the end of them. Aside from that we had to try our luck from shots in and around the box with Muzzy Carayol stinging the hands of Macc keeper Richard O'Donnell, whilst Lee Brown forced a great save from the Sheffield Wendesday loanee when his left footed strike almost won it for Rovers.

It wasn't to be though and the visitors did enough to nick a point. We can look at a couple of situations where a penalty could have been given, but they weren't exactly stonewall incidents so it would be harsh to blame any refereeing decisions. We passed the ball pretty well on what is a truly awful pitch but with 10 Macclesfield players sat deep behind the ball at all times, there wasn't much chance to thread a pass through to Carayol or Zebroski who came on as a substitute.

Zebs, Joe Anyinsah and Eliot Richards were left on the bench for the game, really enforcing McGhee's stance of wanting to take a look at all of his squad in order to assess whether they should be a part of next season's plans. Nobody really stood out but there were good performances from Matt Gill, Danny Woodards and Michael Smith, with the latter really looking to impress the manager with a view to next year. It'll be interesting to see over the final 13 games how we line-up with so many big games looming. We're safely in mid-table which is incredibly pleasing considering where we were around Christmas, but with local away games coming up this month at Torquay, Plymouth and Swindon, the fans will be hoping to see our strongest 11 out there trying to win the games for us. I'm intrigued to see how McGhee will find a balance but the Scotsman knows what he's doing and I trust him to get things right.

A busy March lies ahead of us with our second game of the month coming in 2 days time at Northampton Town. The Cobblers are bottom of the league and desperate to climb away to safety, so it'll be another difficult game for the Gas. Nonetheless, if we can stay resolute to the threats of Adebayo Akinfenwa and co. we are in with every chance of winning the game. Let's hope we can do just that.

Up the Gas!