Honours Even

Rovers returned from their trip eastwards with a point following a goalless draw with league leaders Swindon Town at the County Ground. It was a tight affair with chances at a premium for both sides, although the home side came closest when Alan Connell somehow hit the crossbar from 5 yards out. Resolute defending was the key part of Rovers armoury on the day and as I've been saying for a couple of months now, we are becoming incredibly hard to beat.

So hard to beat in fact that the high-flying Robins have failed to record a win against us in our two meetings this season. Draw number two came frustratingly for Paolo Di Canio who, as you come to expect, made himself look a fool for the entire game. His antics at the end of the game were laughable, but we'll get to that in a minute.

The game started with the hosts attempting to gain the advantage as early as possible, but the Rovers defence stood firm to everything thrown at them. Jim Paterson let Matt Ritchie know who was in charge early on to stifle the threat of the League Two Player of the Year, whilst Cian Bolger and the returning Tom Parkes got in the way of everything Alan Connell and Ronan Murray offered up top. It was a committed Gas performance that only lacked one thing - a more threatening attack. Mustapha Carayol wasn't on form and felt his hamstring midway through the first half which was a blow, whilst Chris Zebroski and Matt Harrold were getting little to live off with no link up player in the middle. That's not to say our central midfielders were anonymous though. Matt Gill and Matt Lund were all over the park closing down the ball and keeping possession with the blue and white quarters. We were workmanlike and completely nullified the home supporters who were giving it large prior to kick-off.

We got them to sit down and shut up with a couple of renditions of 'We've won at Wembley!' - that was the end of any home atmosphere! Second half was similar to the first yet although we replaced Muzzy and later Zebs, we looked a little more lively going forward. We put a few crosses in to the penalty box but they all evaded Harrold who was isolated in the middle. Michael Smith did well on the right of midfield when he came on and certainly kept Swindon loanee Jay McEveley on his toes, but there was never quite enough support to be able to cause that much trouble down the side. Swindon pushed on occasions but we were much more comfortable during the second period and withstood all the likes of substitute Paul Benson, who has a freakishly long neck, and Raffaele De Vita could muster.

Myself and Mark McGhee pre-match.

Right at the death sub Andy Dorman found space towards the right hand side of the box but instead of taking the ball on towards goal he shot early and saw his volley sail harmlessly wide. Had the Crystal Palace loanee the confidence and composure to stride towards goal he could either of got in to a better position to shoot or seen that Lee Brown was free across the other side of goal. It would have been euphoric if we'd scored a winner in stoppage time, but harsh on Swindon. It wasn't to be and the game finished 0-0. The boys played well and more than matched the reds which stands us in great stead ahead of next season. Mark McGhee admitted we've set a 'benchmark' for next season's big push and if we can add quality up front and keep the loanees we already have, I'll be very excited.

On to Italian fruit-loop Di Canio who provided a bit of post-match entertainment. After going down the tunnel with his players and staff alongside their Rovers counterparts, Di Canio then stormed back out in to the dugout and held aloft a Swindon scarf. He waved it in the air towards the home sections where the fans were going mad for their exuberant gaffer before aiming it towards the away end. The Gasheads who were leaving their seats for the exits saw it and began unleashing a barrage of chants and gestures towards the inciting former Lazio striker. What the guy was trying to prove I'll never know? Perhaps he felt he needed to do something to gee the fans up after they were held again by Rovers and out-sung for the duration of the game? I think it was a personal thing as well to make himself feel better. Either way, at this point he started pointing towards his scarf and then pointed in the air, before pointing at us and then down at the ground - suggesting they were (as we know) were likely going up and we were staying down. That was never going to go down well with us and we made our feelings clear. He was trying to cause trouble and yet the police weren't interested. Fair enough. They were however interested in banning one Gashead for dropping paper on to the pitch... ridiculous.

Regardless, Gasheads and the Rovers team deserve plenty of credit today. 1500 away fans travelled and considering we had nothing riding on it that's a great turn out. We saw our side look strong, competitive and committed which will more than do for me at this stage of the season.

Signing off, bring on the Gills on Good Friday!

Up the Gas!