Better Luck Next Time?

It was all looking positive for Bristol Rovers a week ago, new signings that were of supposed 'championship class', a close 2-1 loss to an established premiership side and an air of optimism among the majority of fans, then it all started to go wrong.

First up was a 3-0 loss to Peterborough following a poor second half performance, chances were created in the first period but there was still nobody confident enough to finish them off, not since the departure of Rickie Lambert last August. Following a well hit strike from George Boyd for the first goal a mistake from loan keeper Mikkel Andersen meant the gas went 2-0 down and a miserable day was rounded off when a poorly placed wall allowed Grant McCann to place the ball into Andersen's bottom corner for a third. But Peterborough have a potent strike force, a well versed manager and should be challenging for the play-offs this season, so some of the more optimistic Rovers fans wrote it off as a minor blip, but there was nothing minor about the next match.

Almost a year to the day that Rickie Lambert left for Southampton, and still with no replacement, Rovers travelled to lowly Oxford, who had only been promoted back into the League thanks to last seasons conference play-off triumph over York, no fan from either side could have predicted what they were about to see. A spell of five goals, four of which were from the home side, in eleven minutes meant that Rovers went into the break 4-1 down, and things got no better in the second half as they leaked two more to end up on the wrong side of a 6-1 scoreline. It was the first time since an away game at Cambridge in February 1992 that the pirates had conceded six goals in a single match and meant that, including the end of last season, they hadn't won in eight games, with the only stalemate in that sequence being a 0-0 draw with Brentford.

The inqusition that followed led to manager Paul Trollope issuing a warning that any of the playing squad who "haven't got that fire in their belly" will quickly find themselves frozen out of the team. That threat in itself can be seen as a sign that Trollope was distraught by the result as he is a manager that always seems to be able to keep a cool demeanour. It also wasn't the best of introductions for rookie keeper Mike Green, though he can't be faulted for the goals themselves his kicking throughout the game was poor.

The only positive to come out of the game was the first gas goal of the season from Chris Lines, though it will give Paul Trollope a selection issue, does he remove Lines, a la the first league game against Peterborough or does he reinstate a 10 goal a season midfielder to the team. It will also be interesting to see if he sticks with the new 4-2-3-1 formation, thats yet to yield any great results so far.

Two games in and Rovers should be reading from the average students proverbial school report card, 'must do better'.