Bristol Rovers 2-1 Barnet (League Two)

Rovers recorded their third consecutive victory with a tremendous 2-1 victory over relegation rivals Barnet at the Mem courtesy of a stoppage time winner from Ryan Brunt. The Gas went ahead with 13 minutes of normal time left to play through Fabian Broghammer but the away side equalised in the 89th minute to seemingly rescue a point. But Rovers didn't settle for a draw and reclaimed an advantage in the 92nd minute to lift themselves out of the relegation zone for the first time in 2 months.

The lads celebrate Brog's opener

The atmosphere around the ground was buzzing pre-match and 8500 fans packed inside it to watch what was a good League Two match. Unusually, but happily, fans were queueing up to get through the turnstiles right up until kick-off and there was a real air of anticipation as 7.45pm approached. John Ward stuck with the same formation that saw us defeat Rotherham United a week earlier, although Broghammer replaced Eliot Richards who has been suffering from tonsillitis recently. Barnet were boosted by the return of their influential Head Coach Edgar Davids in midfield and Gasheads, as well as Seanan Clucas, Ollie Norburn and John-Joe O'Toole, were thoroughly looking forward to seeing him play in person. It was Friday night under the lights and that always makes for a special occasion, would the game live up to the hype?

As a spectacle I think it's fair to say it did. There weren't many efforts that tested either Graham Stack in the Barnet goal or Steve Mildenhall in Rovers' but the football on display was superb. To their credit, David's Bees kept the ball wonderfully well and had some good periods of play. They were fast, organised and liked to keep the floor on the deck - somewhat unusually for smaller clubs in the fourth tier. But for all their passing they rarely got beyond our back-line and we were pretty comfortable. We put them under pressure ourselves with a series of corners, one of which led to a powerful O'Toole effort, but we didn't look like being able to break the deadlock. It was an even first half and the very thing we had last week at the New York Stadium, a cutting edge, was missing from our attacking this week. Still, there was no reason to think that we couldn't discover it in the second period and trouble the Barnet defence a little more.

To be fair Barnet probably thought the same and the second half began a little tentatively with little to report in either of the final thirds. We didn't seem able to get Broghammer in behind on the left wing and Brunt was probably a little too isolated to have much of an impact on his own. O'Toole was playing in a more advanced midfield role to combat our visitors preference to pass it out from defence, but it wasn't enough for us to enjoy any sustained period of pressure. Barnet were just as guilty as new signing Harry Crawford was at this point unable to muster any sort of opportunities for himself, despite patient build-up play. You'd have been forgiven for thinking that the game was going to remain 0-0 until the very end but the 8500 Gasheads got exactly what they were hoping for with just under a quarter of an hour left. Broghammer was released inside the penalty area by Lee Brown and calmly rounded Stack before slotting home coolly beyond Andy Iro who was covering the goal-line. The stadium erupted and there was a crescendo of noise to greet the celebrations of the players. Mildenhall was running around in front the Blackthorn End with sheer delight and the outfield players mobbed Broghammer in front of the travelling Barnet supporters, of which there was a very respectable band of 200+. This encouraged even louder singing from Rovers fans and all that was required was more of the same solid defending to see us claim the important 3 points on offer. We were under little threat until the final minutes and were given a huge let off when Crawford blazed over from 6 yards with the goal at his mercy. You quietly thought that that was their final chance gone but we were sadly mistaken. For the first time in the game Rovers failed to clear the ball in the penalty area, allowing a Barnet player to miss-kick a shot towards Crawford in the box, and the young striker calmly passed the ball in to the bottom corner to make it 1-1. For the first time all game the Mem fell silent but for a couple of hundred pleased Bees fans who took great joy in directing 'You're not singing any more!' at the Blackthorn End. I felt crushed and I've no doubt everybody else felt the same. 

Ryan Brunt congratulated by Danny Woodards

As the game wasn't one with many clear goalscoring opportunities I just didn't believe we could go and find a winner. We had reached stoppage time and I thought a point was all we were getting for our efforts. The players though had other ideas and pushed forward looking to find a breakthrough and, with 60 seconds left, we found the magical finish. A Danny Woodards strike was blocked in to the path of Brunt to the right of the penalty area and the striker, on his home debut, struck home a wonderful effort off the near post to kickstart wild scenes in Horfield. The noise was incredible and Gasheads just couldn't believe it - it was the perfect night. Mildenhall was sliding on his knees, the dugout was jumping and the players launched the length of the pitch to join the celebrations. We'd done it. 

The referee Trevor Kettle, who had a decent game, blew the final whistle following a goal kick and that signalled the end to a draining 'six-pointer' at the bottom of League Two. The football on display from both teams was a credit to both Ward and Davids but I'd have settled for a scrappy game if it meant we won. Fortunately for us we had the quality in the opposition penalty box to score 2 goals and overcome the challenge of a sturdy Barnet outfit. The players and of course Ward himself received a magnificent applause from all corners of the ground and revelled in the noise being generated for them. It was brilliant to be a part of a night like that at the Mem: John Ward has rejuvenated our football club and brought us all back together, just as we should be.

On that showing I've no doubt Barnet have enough about them to stay up and retain their league status. I hope they do. More importantly though we found our third consecutive win and have rocketed to 19th in the table and have stayed there following the results this afternoon. What we need to do now is stay out of it and we have the chance to do that with 2 big away games this coming week. We face Cheltenham Town on Tuesday evening where a Gas invasion is gearing up to take over Whaddon Road, whilst on Saturday we face an appetising trip to Oxford United. There are smiles on the faces of all Gasheads at the moment and long may that continue. 

I love Bristol Rovers.