Hanging On In There

Somehow, someway Paul Trollope has a knack of holding on to his job. After a poor run where his head has been put on the block the man gets a result of some form and staves off the pressure for another game or two and, blow me, he has just about done it again.

It's fair to say Trolls has been in trouble this season. Before the Oldham game Rovers had conceded sixteen goals in five matches, most recently conceding four at home against Southampton in what was an appalling team performance and with Oldham lying in fourth coming into the match things could have been a bit hairy. Thank goodness for small mercies though. The first choice front pairing of Warren Feeney and Kirk Millar were away with Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland U21 teams respectively while the Latics had also been knocked out of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy by League 2 Shrewsbury earlier in the week, Rovers meanwhile were sat at home following a bye in the first round.

Rovers away form last season had been terrible, winning six and losing a massive fifteen on the road, while this seasons away results have been similarly poor, if not worse. So going into the game a match up of facts, line ups and omens left the game clearly in the balance. It was Rovers who took the lead, Will Hoskins sprinting past his defender and nonchalantly lobbing the ball over the head of Dean Brill. After that the Rovers tempo slowed and Oldham began a fightback, striker Oumare Tounkare wasting two fantastic heading oppurtunities during the match but it was just before half time that Oldham struck their way back into the match.

Byron Anthony gave away a free kick for a foul on Dean Kelly and Oldham used it to their advantage, taking a move off of the training ground as Dale Stephens squared the ball to Chris Taylor who had too much space, punishing Rovers by placing the ball in the bottom corner of league debutant Mike Green's goal. The second half started slowly but one of the Gas talking points was the first appearance of loanee John Akinde in a Rovers shirt. The big man gave his team a new dimension to their play and showed both strength and pace in abundance. The next big chance however fell to goalscorer Will Hoskins, though as he stretched for the ball he was unable to keep it down and prodded it into the underside of the crossbar.

One problem that Rovers will face against Brentford next week comes as a result of Danny Coles picking up two yellow cards, also taking him to five in total for the season. Paul Trollope has just three full time central defenders in his squad and will almost certainly be relying on Byron Anthony and James Tunnicliffe in the next match.

Oldham player-manager Paul Dickov, who later moaned about Rovers time wasting, brought himself into the action with four minutes of normal time left, though he in fact ended up playing for a twelve minute spell as the referee added on an additional eight minutes to the game and it was the home side who nearly took advantage of this, the ball bouncing off the top of the bar from a deep free kick.

1-1 will do for Rovers, it was a long trip against a team in decent form and especially after the trouncing the Gas received last weekend. despite not claiming victory manager Paul Trollope was pleased with the display, telling bristolrovers.co.uk:

"We came here with the intention of winning the game, no question about that, and I think you could see that by the way we started the game. What I was looking for, though, was a hunger and drive about the group, and the ability to defend with a discipline and an intensity, which we saw."

Paul Dickov was however dissapointed with Rovers time wasting, though happy enough with his sides work overall: speaking to BBC Radio Manchester he said

"Every time the ball went out of play, it was taking them minutes to get it back into play.

"I'm not making excuses, I never make excuses. I thought we were sloppy in the first twenty minutes with our defending but once we sorted that out going forward today I thought we were excellent.

"It's probably one of the best games we've played today, we kept the ball moving, we had a tempo about us, we created chances."

Another plus for Rovers was the performance of keeper Mike Green, making only his second ever Rovers appearance. After conceding six against lowly Oxford United his confidence could have easily been shot away but he put in a competent performace, making an especially tidy save from a free kick in the first half and Paul Trollope was satisfied with his performance:

"It would have been great for him to keep a clean sheet but we came unstuck just before half time by a good free kick. It was clever play and we had issues within the defensive structure but it was a good finish.

"It was a pleasing debut for Mike Green in spite of the fact that he suffered a little bit of cramp in the second half and he can be proud of his performance and he's shown that he's capable at this level."

Rovers next face Brentford at home, a side who have had a tough start to the season and, at the time of writing, sit bottom of the League 1 table. Can Paul Trollope give himself some more time at the helm? We shall have to wait and see.

Rovers New Arrivals

With the season well underway we’ll take a look at some of the new faces around Bristol Rovers this summer. Showing you their career matches played, goal tally and any previous clubs they have played for.

Harry Pell
Position: Midfield
Former Clubs: Charlton
Career Appearances: 0
Career Goals: 0

Harry Pell will come to Rovers as something of an unknown quantity, having made no appearances for Charlton before being released by the club. He started off at Charlton, growing up as part of their youth academy before a loan spell at Hastings United towards the end of last season. Pell impressed during his time at the Ryman League club and was handed a chance by the gas in an end of season reserve game against Hereford, impressing enough to be offered a contract. The tall central midfielder will be looking to make a few good substitute appearances to get Rovers fans licking their lips about the possible future this boy has at the club. Yet to make a competitive first team appearance for the Gas Pell impressed in the pre-season match against Stoke, but has a fair few players to get ahead of in the queue.

Wayne Brown
Position: Midfield
Former Clubs: Fulham, loan spells at Brentford and TPS of Finland
Career Appearances: 42
Career Goals: 10

Paul Trollope has already admitted that the signing of Wayne Brown on a two year contract was a massive coup. He had a short loan spell at the end of last season with Rovers, making a good impression on fans and the management alike before injury halted his time with the gas. Preferring to play in a Gerrard-esque role just of the striker Wayne’s best spell came at TPS in Finland, scoring 9 goals and creating a further 8 assists, a video of which is shown below. Used mainly in the wide areas during his previous loan spell at Rovers he will be hoping to get his scoring boots back and help the gas towards a promotion push. Most of Brown’s time has been spent on the right hand side of midfield, a position that Brown is unable to influence matches as much as he would than from the centre, but he has already shown his ability on the ball.

Will Hoskins
Position: Striker
Former Clubs: Rotherham and Watford, loan spells at Millwall and Notts Forest
Career Appearances: 165
Career Goals: 38

The first part of the top part of Rovers puzzle to join Will Hoskins is hoping to make a big impact. In his first interview with the club he came across as a confident young man, talking about his belief he can score goals at The Mem and reach a personal target for the season. After an electric start to his career at Rotherham, scoring 25 goals in 81 games he moved on to Watford, who had then just been promoted to the premier league. Hoskins had a slow start with the hornets and scored his first goal for them in a league cup tie, ironically an 88th minute winner against Bristol Rovers. He has also had short spells on loan at Millwall and his home town club Notts Forest. With a large amount of self belief behind him, as well as the support of loyal gasheads Hoskins should make a big impact on our league position this season. Will opened his account against Exeter and has shown signs that there is more to come, his first touch has been excellent.

Gary Sawyer
Position: Left Back
Former Clubs: Plymouth, loan spells with Exeter and Bristol City
Career Appearances: 180
Career Goals: 7

A west country boy by birth Gary Sawyer should prove to be a top quality left back, as well as adequate cover in the centre of defence for League 1 level. Plymouth Argyle are the team that Gary has made most appearances for, participating in 95 league matches for the Pilgrims and scoring five goals in the process. Sawyer has also spent time on loan at Exeter City, staying there for two seasons while the club were still in the Conference. Standing at 6 foot tall he should make a big physical impression on games as Rovers look to have a much better defensive campaign than last season. It is rumoured that Sawyer turned down a new contract at Argyle to play for the gas and goes to show how well Paul Trollope has done so far in this summer transfer window. Sawyer has been the best of the defenders thus far, putting in some tidy performances, although he has been caught for pace on a couple of occasions.

James Tunnicliffe
Position: Centre Back
Parent Club: Brighton & Hove Albion
Former Clubs: Stockport County, Loan spells at Northwich and MK Dons
Career Appearances: 82
Career Goals: 3

A season long loan signing Tunnicliffe is likely to get more than his fair share of match time, given he is one of only three central defenders at the club. Early in his career he turned down the chance to join Southampton, while also unsuccessfully trialling for Liverpool but following injuries to team-mates the young defender was handed a chance in the Stockport first team, which he grabbed by the horns. He did so well that a move to Brighton followed, however he was sent out on loan to the MK Dons when new manager Gus Poyet took over at the Withdean. Now due to spend the season with the Gas Tunnicliffe will add some much needed height to the Rovers side, standing as he does at 6’4”. It has been a nervy start to a Rovers career for the loanee, being part of a defence that has leaked 16 goals already.

Mikkel Andersen
Position: Goalkeeper
Parent Club: Reading
Former Clubs: AB of Denmark, loan spells at Torquay, Rushden & Diamonds, Brentford and Brighton
Career Appearances: 59
Career Goals: 0

Returning for a second bite at the Rovers Mikkel ended last season as a firm fans favourite, not only for his interaction with the crowd but thanks to some fine goalkeeping displays. He started his career at AB Copenhagen, becoming the youngest goalkeeper to play in at the senior level of Danish football before catching the eye of Reading. Having never played a first team game at the Madejski the youngster has been on loan to clubs at various levels of the English game but never made more than five appearances until his spell with the Gas last term. Also a Danish youth international he won the golden glove award at this summers Toulon tournament. He will be with Rovers until January 2011 before Reading take another look at their goalkeeping situation. So far this season Andersen has not had the best of starts, conceding 10 goals in four games and not having the same aura that surrounded him last year.

John Akinde
Position: Striker
Parent Club: Bristol City
Former Clubs: Ebbsfleet United, loan spells at Wycombe Wanderers and Brentford
Career Appearances: 72
Career Goals: 19

Rovers have finally found someone to fill the number nine shirt left by Rickie Lambert, John Akinde can certainly do a job that the Gas have needed for over a season now. Born in Gravesend Akinde found fame at his home town club, scoring 10 goals in 32 games as a youngster at Ebbsfleet, a spell that also saw him win the FA Trophy. He then joined Bristol City for £140,000, scoring on his debut before being shipped out for a loan spell at League 2 Wycombe Wanderers where he scored 7 goals including another debut goal. At 6’ 2” Akinde adds the height that Rovers have missed for a long time and should prove pivotal in his ability to change the gameplan for his new team. Likely to make his debut from the subs bench last Saturday Akinde suffered a recurrence of an injury picked up from a City reserves game and was unable to make the substitute list but hopefully Rovers fans shouldn’t have to wait too long to see their new front man in action.


Aside from players being brought in there have also been changes behind the scenes. Following Lennie Lawrence’s departure Darren Patterson will step up to assistant manager, a role he has been previously employed in at Oxford United. Former Cheltenham and Forest Green player Jerry Gill will take his place as youth team coach while Len Bond, formerly goalkeeping coach at the Bristol City youth academy will step into the same senior role at Rovers. Ken Oram has also been headhunted from Cheltenham Town to take over Stuart Naughton’s place at the head of the Centre of Excellence.

The Pitman Factor

It may have involved a little known player from the isle of Jersey but the mini transfer saga of Brett Pitman means that Bournemouth will be without the man who has been their top scorer for the past two seasons, but as big a blow as it may be I still have them down to stay away from the League 1 relegation zone.

It started off with interest coming from Ian Holloway's Blackpool, a team that had been linked with Pitman from early on in the summer, but nothing came of it, the young striker turning down the chance to take on the Premier League due to an inability to agree personal terms with the club, mooted to be down to Blackpool's unwillingness to offer any player more than £10,000 per week, still likely to be far more than what he was on at Bournemouth. Soon after the deal fell through there was to be more interest, this time coming from Championship club Bristol City and it ended up with a move for Pitman, for an undisclosed fee.

The Jersey-born striker set his stall out early, aiming to emulate Nicky Maynard, a player who moved to City from Crewe last summer, wuickly becoming a fans favourite, tieing up the clubs top scorers award as well as taking the vote for the Football League goal of the season for an effort against QPR. Pitman told BBC Points West:

"I want to challenge myself at a higher level and that's what I've come here to do.

"Both the gaffer [Keith Millen] and Steve Wigley are very good coaches, I'm led to believe, they can help me improve even more than I managed to do at Bournemouth."

Back to Bournemouth and it has been two games since Pitman departed and three since he last played for the club and in that time the Cherries have managed a win, a draw and a penalty loss. At first it looks like a particularly average run of results but those games have featured nine goals, six of them for Bournemouth and all have seen the south coast side dominate.

After the season started with a loss against Charlton and a dumping out of the cup thanks to neighbours Southampton some may have been looking down but a 5-1 home rout of promotion condenders Peterborough turned those frowns upside down, in part thanks to that man Pitman slamming three past Joe Lewis. Since Pitman's departure Northwrn Ireland youth international Josh McQuoid seems to have taken the mantle, scoring three goals in two games, both of them in the league. But in my opinion Bournemouth's strengths lie at the back.

The goalkeeper, Shwan Jalal, for a start has had much praise for his performances last season, helping the Cherrie's to automatic promotion from League 2. The centre back pairing are also just as strong. Ryan Garry, a product of the Arsenal youth system would have had a career higher up the league waiting for him had it not been for a long term shin injury and next to him will be Jason Pearce. Rising through the ranks at Portsmouth Pearce was unable to make it into the full first team and joined Bournemouth in August 2007. Since then the defender has never looked back, putting in 137 appearances for Bournemouth, a remarkable feat for a player who joined the club at the age of 19.

There should, however, be no problem scoring goals. Aside from Josh McQuoid Bournemouth have veteran Steve Fletcher, Michael Symes and Steve Lovell to lead the line, as well as exciting winger Mark Pugh who finished as Hereford's top scorer last season with 13 goals. Add to that the midfield abilities of Danny Hollands and Mark Molesley and you should find yourself a tidy enough side. The challenge, though, will be maintaing the form that they have shown in their last three games.

After an electric start to last season saw the Cherries topping League 2 at the end of September before things began to stagnate. Dodgy form between January and mid April saw Bournemouth drop out of the automatic promotion places at one points before a run of four straight wins was enough to seal second place, ten points behind Notts County. League 1 will prove to be a tougher challenge, there is less likelihood of teams being bunched together as they were towards the top of League 2 so once you've found yourself on a poor run of form it's far more difficult to get out of. Add to that the likes of Southampton, Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday in the division and things can get quite hairy, it's not the sort of division where anyone can and will beat anyone else like last seasons League 2.

One thing that Bournemouth can count on, though, is manager Eddie Howe. He's shown what he can do, keeping the club up in his first season before the promotion and has already shown that he knows how to outwit defences at this level. It is thought that he turned down the job at Peterborough last season but the real challenge will come now. He has been placed at 10/1 by the bookmakers to be the next manager at Southampton and though this may be a little bit of a long shot you can expect him to be pushing his way to the front of the queue if Bournemouth keep their current form up.

So all, it seems, is not lost for Bournemouth. The squad has a look of 16th place about it, if you can say such things, and with a bit of luck the club should be looking at another term in League 1. That being said, football isn't played on paper.