retired_jennie

Meantime, I had a visitor; Joanne Taylor from the Evening Post had called in unannounced, looking for a comment of some kind on tomorrow’s game and by the looks of it on life in general. Thankfully Laura seemed to have accepted I wasn’t desperate to get into the girl’s knickers, and she even managed a smile as Jo walked into the office.

“Sorry to drop in like this, but I just wanted to know what your thoughts are on tomorrow’s game? I mean, a lot of clubs see the LDV Vans trophy as a waste of time, treat it with contempt even. How will you be approaching the match”.

“Well, Joanne, I’m not going to pretend we’re treating it like a top priority, ‘cos we’re not, and to be honest it’s a headache I could do without. But we’ll still give it our best and we’ll still be out to win, just like with every other game we play.”

“So, you’re not planning to put out a weakened side, then?”

“There’ll probably be a couple of new faces who weren’t involved on Saturday, but otherwise, no, I won’t be making wholesale changes.”

“Yeah, congratulations on the win on the weekend; back into the promotion places again! D’you think you can stay there?”

I just laughed, “Thanks, it wasn’t the best of games but we did what had to be done, as for promotion, well it’s still early days. Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but I really do have to get on.”

That was a lie; I was worn out and thirsty, and I actually wanted to get to the pub. Plus I guess I didn’t want to come across as over-friendly with Jo; things with Laura had been good since we’d come back from Rio, but I still felt guilty, deep down, over the night I’d spent with Sarah the other Saturday.

As for tomorrow’s game, really I needed it like I needed a hole in my head. We should at least get a decent crowd down at the Memorial Stadium, though - Ratty’s had a Eureka moment, and has decided to slash prices at the gate. Kids under 16 can come for free, and for adults it’s a flat fee of a fiver. Personally I’m all for it, building relations with the local community and all that.

retired_jennie

Tuesday 22nd November 2005

Bristol Rovers vs. Lincoln, LDV Vans Trophy 2nd Round from the Memorial Stadium

Bris R (4-1-4-1); Scott Shearer, Jean-Christophe Cesto, Adam Green, Souleymane Bamba, Mark Earnshaw, Johannes Djourou, Jeroen van Staveren, Sebastian Larsson, Dean West, Franklin Salas, Francesco Milano

Though on my scale of importance the LDV Vans Trophy ranked somewhere between taking a crap and cutting my toenails, I resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes and instead stuck with nine of the 11 who’d done for Macclesfield on Saturday gone; Scott Shearer came in to give Stiel a rest, and as promised Mark Earnshaw would get his chance to show why he thinks he should be in the team.

Ratty’s price cuts had had the desired effect, and on a wet and windy Tuesday night there were the best part of 6,000 inside the Mem at kick-off - more than at the bloody Macclesfield game! And early on they were royally entertained too, as the game started in dramatic fashion.

Nine minutes in Dean West made a probing run through the middle and slid the ball into Francesco Milano, defender Che Wilson (a former Pirate, apparently) nearly removed Milano’s ankles and the referee pointed to the spot. Franklin Salas stepped up to do the honours, and Salas showed his heroics up at Rochdale were no fluke by slamming the ball into the top left corner from twelve yards - the Lincoln keeper didn’t move, and we had an early lead.

Even so it was clear the visitors were the better side, their own promotion ambitions were in tatters after a dreadful start and, sensing this could be their last chance of glory, they just seemed to want it more than we did. Up front in Freddy Eastwood they had one of the best strikers in League One, Shearer had already saved twice from him but, with the help of the referee, Eastwood would not be denied.

This time it was Johannes Djourou who made the needless rash tackle in the area, the ref evened up the penalty score and Eastwood’s spot kick was just as emphatic as Salas’ had been earlier - it would be all square at the break.

Half time: Bristol Rovers 1 (Salas pen 9), Lincoln 1 (Eastwood pen 34)

retired_jennie

I must confess that such was my disdain for this competition I found it bloody hard to find some half time words of inspiration, what came out was more Churchill the dog than Winston Churchill and what transpired was a truly terrible half of football.

Freddy Eastwood came close to doubling his tally in the 55th minute, but apart from a long ranger from Johannes Djourou that almost killed a spectator in Row Z we never remotely looked like coming up with a winner. In the end, it was actually an injury to Eastwood that proved decisive; his replacement was none other than Shaun Goater, the former Bristol City striker is a hate figure in these parts and was loudly booed every time he touched the ball (which wasn’t often, the fat bastard looked about as elegant as an overweight elephant on a one-wheeled skateboard).

But Lincoln hadn’t signed him for his ballet skills, and the tubby Bermudan would have the last laugh. Eight minutes from time Che Wilson burst forward down the left, Cesto just wasn’t close enough to him and couldn’t stop the cross, captain Kevin Maher flicked it on and there was Goater waiting at the far post for a tap-in.

The “Goat” had well and truly been fed, that was the end of the scoring, and I kept up my 100% record in Cup competitions - played three, lost three!!

Full Time: Bristol Rovers 1 (Salas pen 9), Lincoln 2 (Eastwood pen 34, Goater 83)

retired_jennie

Friday, 25th November 2005

A week at the Memorial Stadium wouldn’t be complete without a few of those little problems called injuries to keep us all on our toes!

This time it’s Souleymane Bamba who’s retired to his sick bed with a rather nasty sprained ankle that’s turned as blue as the air in Gordon Ramsey’s kitchen - for someone who’s built like a brick s**thouse, Bamba tends to pick up more than his fair share of niggling injuries, which makes you wonder exactly what we employ two physios for.

Anyway, it means Mark Earnshaw will keep his place in the team; he didn’t play badly against Lincoln in the week and maybe the fact he knows he needs to prove himself might work in our favour.

“Hello, you’ve reached the voicemail of Gary Smith. Sorry, I’m not available to take your call at..”

If I heard that bloody message one more time, I think I’d have to kill someone! I’d been trying to get in touch with Gary for the last couple of days, I needed him to work on strengthening my threadbare defence, but all I’d got was his damn answer machine. Not that I was surprised; Gary had a heart of gold, but he was about as reliable as a Florida election result as far as being on the end of a phone went.

Laura came over with a cup of tea and a hug. “Maybe he’s on holiday or something?”

“Yeah, perhaps. I’ll try again Monday, it’s not like it’s desperately urgent. Anyhow, what’d you fancy doing tonight?”

retired_jennie

Saturday 26th November 2005

Bristol Rovers vs. Notts County, League Two from the Memorial Stadium

Bris R (4-1-4-1); Scott Shearer, Jean-Christophe Cesto, Adam Green, Ryan Hartslief, Mark Earnshaw, Johannes Djourou, Jeroen van Staveren, Sebastian Larsson (Ryan Williams 68), Dean West, Franklin Salas, Francesco Milano

Notts County were another side who’d started the season with play-off ambitions but now found themselves facing Christmas in the wrong half of the table. I’d watched them a couple of times on video, though, and I knew all too well they had the quality there to hurt us if we weren’t on top of our game.

I’d demanded far more fight from my players than they’d showed against Lincoln, but I didn’t mean the kind of fight Mark Earnshaw showed on the quarter-hour. To swing a left-hook at County midfielder Stacy Long was stupid enough, but to do it right under the nose of the referee was utter bloody madness; even the fact that Long had a girl’s name was no excuse, and Earnshaw took the inevitable early bath.

That didn’t seem to affect us unduly, though, Dean West and Franklin Salas were on fine form and it was thanks to my two creative maestros that we took a half time lead. Johannes Djourou started the move off by winning a crunching tackle on the halfway line, Salas took the ball forward, rolled it into the path of West and he beat onrushing keeper Kevin Pilkington with the coolest of chips from the edge of the area.

Half Time: Bristol Rovers 1 (West 38), Notts County 0

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The second half started with much the same story; though pacy teenager Liam Davis, on loan from Coventry, was beginning to ask questions down the left wing, so far we’d come up with the right answers and West and Salas were still dictating the midfield.

On fifty minutes Salas played in Milano but the Italian’s touch was a mite too heavy and Pilkington was able to come and collect, Salas himself forced the veteran keeper into an excellent diving save not long after, but just past the hour we finally unlocked the door.

Once again it all emanated from the boot of Franklin Salas; his vision picked out Jeroen van Staveren free on the left, the Dutchman’s drilled cross caused havoc in the County defence and there, lurking around the penalty spot, was Francesco Milano to make it 2-0 with an emphatic finish; surely the game was safe now?

Actually, no. Right after that goal County boss Gudjon Thordarson made a triple change, and though I replied with a switch of my own (Ryan Williams came on for the subdued Sebastian Larsson) it wasn’t enough; the fresh legs gradually weakened our grip.

Even so we made it into the last ten minutes with our lead intact, and I immediately sent out orders to shut up shop. Was that a mistake? Maybe, but what was most certainly a mistake was the ****-up of a backpass Ryan Williams made a few moments later - it was woefully short, substitute Glynn Hurst’s fresh legs were always going to get him there ahead of Scott Shearer and Hurst calmly rolled the ball into the empty net. My language on the touchline was unrepeatable, if Id had a gun right then Williams would have been a dead man!

That gave County, and especially Liam Davis, confidence, and the teenager’s limitless energy was driving him forward at a time most of my lot were running on empty. We never looked like we were going to hold out, and in the end we didn’t; the fourth official had just signalled three minutes of stoppage time when Davis wriggled past Cesto down the left, swung in a perfect cross and there at the back post was 19-year old sub Pat Sneath to well and truly ruin my afternoon with a last-gasp equaliser. That was Sneath’s first ever goal in League football, and that was two home points thrown away.

Full Time: Bristol Rovers 2 (West 38, Milano 63), Notts County 2 (Hurst 80, Sneath 90)