Even though I am at least a million miles away from what is going on at Bristol Rovers, I still have a gut feeling for some things. We all do, or at least we all think we do. My latest gut feeling is that the Gas are going up.
I was busy miss-hitting a golf ball around Thornbury Golf Club this afternoon, pretty well all one my own (this may have had something to do with the steady rain and the 3c temperature) so I missed out on the game at Oxford which was, officially, a six-pointer, but the result did not surprise me one jot. Under Darrell Clarke, I can tell, even from a distance, that the team has a certain desire, confidence and belief that, when you add ability and fitness, provides the necessary ingredients for success.
I cannot over-emphasise the words desire, confidence and belief. If you are wondering what I mean, then look at Jamie Vardy. Yes, I know that he is playing in the top tier of the game and Rovers are, currently, in the fourth tier, but it all means the same thing. If you want something bad enough, you can get it. This applies in real life as it does in football.
At Oxford today, Rovers had the opportunity to close the gap between the automatic promotion positions and the play off positions. Lose and the gap would look massive, draw and it would be the same as it was before; win and anything is possible.
Clarke’s team has the belief to win late on. The very best teams do that, again with a combination of physical and mental strength. Don’t let up, don’t lose concentration for the entire 90 minutes and glory can be yours. When you have confidence, as anyone who has ever played football at any level will know, you do not think you will ever lose.
Now the gap between Rovers, fourth, and Oxford, third, is down to two points. Forget games in hand – they hardly count for anything in January – and remember points in the bag AND the psychological advantage of having turned them over at their place. This matters and every Oxford player will know it.
You might question my very sanity – and you wouldn’t be the first person to do that – but not even the league title is not beyond Rovers’ capabilities. The owner, Nick Higgs, has already shown that he will back the manager by signing Gaffney and one would assume that if the manager wanted to bolster his squad ahead of the run-in, a few more quid might be available to him.
It might require a little bit of luck, here and there, for the Rovers to achieve automatic promotion, but by the same token luck cuts both ways. You don’t make your own luck, otherwise it wouldn’t be luck, but you can earn your success. Maintain the momentum – and why not? – and League One could be a realistic possibility.
And don’t worry about resuming local derbies with the City, no matter how appealing that is. I have the feeling that City might just save their skins this season, in which case keep building Bristol Rovers to meet them the year after in the Championship. Stranger things have happened.
