It’s time to take a pause for breath about Bristol Rovers after a more than half-decent game against Milton Keynes. (Drop the Dons moniker, please, eh?) Yes, it was disappointing to fail to win but even the most biased neutral would be hard-pressed to argue that a draw was the least today’s visitors deserved. I’m not at all despondent.
Rovers supremo Darrell Clarke made a shed load of changes for today’s game and in the first half it showed, but in the second half, after a shed load more changes and it was a very different game. Most people I spoke to after the game weren’t in the least bit bothered by the result, or even the performance for that matter. Nor should they have been.
I have said this before but we none of us know why Clarke made so many changes for today. However, we do know the emphasis on sports science in today’s game is part of the new regime at the Gas. Who is to say that the manager knew some things we didn’t? I’d say that the manager knows more about his players than everyone else in the stadium combined.
The pause for breath is because of where we have come from. It was not that long ago Rovers were in the Conference and many of the players from that time are still here. How amazing that so many of them have raised their game and, in the case of someone like Stuart Sinclair, actually played beyond their potential, if that’s possible (it probably isn’t but so what).
Happily, the doom and gloom about the manager’s selections and tactics are confined to a very few people. Most of us are happy just to enjoy the ride for as long and as far as it takes us.
My feeling with the current team is that top ten would represent a satisfactory season and the play offs major success. The league table does not lie as we reach the end of November and we are not where we are by accident.
Once we have drawn breath we can enjoy the rest of the season. Don’t believe for a second that not making the play offs would represent failure but I don’t think it’s impossible.
