Rovers End Saturday Curse

Bristol Rovers won a Saturday home game for the first time in eight months, beating Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 at the Memorial Stadium.

The visitors survived a goal mouth scramble in the opening period but could not hold out in the second, Joe Anyinsah mopping up from close range on 50 minutes before Matt Harrold scored a penalty in stoppage time.

Rovers third game in eight days saw manager Paul Buckle under pressure to set straight a run of four defeats from the last five, a segment of the fanbase already calling for his head after Tuesday's 3-0 home defeat to Port Vale.

In light of the previous two defeats Buckle reverted to a 4-4-2 formation, giving Mustapha Carayol his first start since October 1st, playing on the left wing, with Anyinsah stationed on the opposite flank.

From the off it was the home side who had their foot on the gas, Harrold heading a Matt Gill corner wide before Scott McGleish suffered the same fate from a Craig Stanley cross.

Rovers captain Gill then found himself with a yard of space in the penalty area, defying the tight angle and forcing Dagenham goalkeeper Chris Lewington into a sharp save.

The away side, managed by former Rovers assistant John Still, were hanging on by a thread, Scott McGleish's centre finding Anyinsah, whose shot was kept out, the rebound falling kindly for Gill. After the captain's effort was blocked by the desperate Dagenham bodies Carayol had one final chance to turn the ball in, but there was a visiting body in the way once more.

Though Rovers had the better of the first half exchanges there were few moments of quality, Dagenham's line-up looking bereft of any confidence, though that was not to be unexpected, the Essex club having lost their last four League 2 games.

What ever words of wisdom cane from Still had little effect on his squad as Rovers came out and scored within five minutes of the restart. Stanley was allowed space to run down the right hand side and found McGleish with a cross, Lewington keeping out the veteran forwards header, parrying straight into the path of Anyinsah who blasted his volley into the goal.

Seven minutes later the lead could have been doubled, Stanley again the man to break from midfield and whip the ball in, though Harrold's header ricocheted off the inside of the post to allow the Daggers to clear.

A Cian Bolger slip allowed substitute Brian Woodall to run in behind the Rovers defence, though his burst was ended prematurely by an emphatic sliding challenge from Danny Woodards, hurtling back to prevent the forward from getting a clear shot on goal.

Damien McCrory had to be on hand to clear a Carayol strike off the line, though the home crowd weren't to be denied a second goal for long. Abu Ogogo hauled down Harrold shirt first in the penalty area and referee Mark Heywood pointed straight to the spot. The former Shrewsbury man picked himself up to convert, push Rovers up to 15th in the table and lift the mood on the unnervingly tense terraces.

'We've Got To Pull Together' - Buckle

Following Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Port Vale at the Memorial Stadium Paul Buckle and his Bristol Rovers side left the field to a chorus of boos and jeers.

The Pirates boss didn’t attend his post-match press conference that evening, but spoke to press on Thursday, exasperating at the trying start to the season.


‘It’s so frustrating, we feel we’ve been picked off, we go a goal behind and it’s difficult for the players to turn it around. We try to be positive but it’s difficult, the only ones who can get us out of it are ourselves, it’s back onto the front foot, we try and put it right on Saturday.

‘I had a long conversation with Nick [Higgs, chairman]. If you look at the history of the players I’ve brought to the club they’ve been successful, we’re trying desperately to do it here but we feel a lot has gone against us, that’s not an excuse, that’s a fact.

‘This week we’ve lost Stuart Campbell and Danny Woodards and we’ve not been able to replace [Wayne] Brown or Virgo due to finances. It’s a difficult time for the club but we’ve got to get through it, like I said, nobody’s died, we’ve got to get our heads up and get on with it.’

When asked what his side needed to do to change their luck he pin-pointed one key factor.

‘We have to try and get the first goal, we did that away after our success at home but we slipped up. It’s not like we’re being battered in games, we look at the stats and we have 18 attempts on goal and more corners. It’s not lack of effort; the players are giving me everything in training and in the games. We have got to try and get on the front foot, raise the ground and get a good atmosphere in the stadium.

‘It’s been chop and change, it was again on Tuesday, Woodards went off ill, and this week, again, the squad is depleted. We haven’t got the finances to bring anyone in but we have to get on with it, it’s not a major problem.

‘The confidence is still there, if you lose a game or two you take a strong look at yourself. Fifteen games into the season the players aren’t bad players, I’m not a bad manager after fifteen games. It’s a good football club; we’ve got to pull together from top to bottom.’

One key omission from Tuesday’s squad was Stuart Campbell, missing out through illness Buckle, however, confirmed rumours that his name had been circulated amongst other clubs.

‘I discussed Stuart Campbell’s future on Monday but we’ve not been able to agree. He fell ill on Tuesday morning which threw everything, if he was starting or on the bench it would have been a plus. In the end we had to play Rendell in the middle of the pitch because we are short on midfielders.

‘He’s part of the squad and like any player or member of staff that’s being paid by the football club we expect them to give their all. It was a horrible coincidence we lost him on Tuesday because we could have done with the leadership. We can’t agree a contract, Stuart has an advisor he uses and we got an email that said if we can’t agree a deal we would have to look elsewhere.’

Mustapha Carayol has found first team chances hard to come by in recent weeks, though upon his arrival from the bench against the Valiants he showed Buckle what he had been missing. His manager praised the performance and gave the winger a boost ahead of Saturday’s game against Dagenham.

‘That’s why I brought him to the club; Zebroski, Mustapha, Anyinsah, [have] lots of pace, that’s what we set up to do. Mustapha came on early in the game and showed what he can do, he was outstanding; he has to do that every time he gets the ball, pick the ball up and run at people. Now he’s got every chance of starting Saturday.’

Buckle stopped short of criticising his recent tactics, instead insisting that it was the basics his side needed to work on.

‘We scored five goals against Rotherham and created untold chances, we created again away at Burton; it’s the fundamentals we’ve got to do better. If you tell me that Port Vale and Burton peppered our goal you would be lying, that’s what makes it frustrating.

‘But that’s why were in the job, the highs and the lows, at the moment we’re suffering some lows, but the league table is not running away, we’ve got to remain positive and pull in the right direction.’

Rigg Enjoys Rovers Return

A Sean Rigg stunner against his former club capped off a fine Port Vale win over an ailing Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.

Marc Richards and Doug Loft scored in the first half before Rigg finished off any hope Rovers had of a late comeback in the 3-0 triumph.

The game started at a frenetic pace, the home side making much of the early runnings, though they found themselves unable to get an effort in on goal. After the clock had ticked over ten minutes Vale began to exert control over the game, Rigg firing wide from the edge of the area, before Rovers resistance was broken in the 19th minute.

The visitors broke down the right-hand side, Tom Pope finding space in the penalty area, squaring the ball for Richards. The former Barnsley striker spun on the spot, sending Rovers defender Cian Bolger flailing, and beat Scott Bevan with a low effort.

Ollie Norburn, making his first start for the home side, found himself unable to adapt to the pace of the play and was replaced by Joe Anyinsah with just 32 minutes gone. The change, however, made little difference, a further Rigg shot preceding Vale's second, though it didn't come without a large slice of luck.

Central midfielder Doug Loft collected the ball in the middle third and was allowed to push forward unchallenged, his eventual long range shot taking a hefty deflection, helping it loop up and over Bevan's head for his fifth goal of the season.

Conceding the second appeared to kick Rovers into life as they ended the half on top, Scott Rendell seeing his strike blocked prior to each full back taking their chances from distance, Lee Brown and Dan Woodards forcing Stuart Tomlinson into making saves. Scott McGleish's header went wide of the left hand post to end the opening period with the Bristolians in the ascendancy.

Anyinsah and Matt Harrold tried their luck as the second half began, though neither could hit the target with a volley and glancing header respectively. The introduction of Mustapha Carayol, in place of Woodards, gave Rovers an added spark down the left hand side and the winger made an immediate impact, giving Tomlinson more work in the Port Vale goal.

The substitution did, however, mean that Matt Gill had to move from midfield to right back, taking away much of the creativity from the heart of the home side, gradually allowing the Valiants to wrestle back control of the match.

The ever-menacing Rigg continued to test Bevan while Anyinsah lashed a volley over the crossbar at the other end before the former had the last word, jinking inside of makeshift midfielder Rendell before driving left-footed into the top corner of the Rovers goal, leaving Paul Buckle's team to exit the field to a chorus of boos from the home supporters.

Fischer And Pedersen Ensure Danish Joy

The home fans had something to cheer at the Yonex Denmark Open as Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen claimed mixed doubles gold in Odense.

The pair claimed their third Danish Open title thanks to a 22-20 21-16 win over Chinese fifth seeds Xu Chen and Ma Jin. The first game saw a number of intense rallies, neither side able to break into a lead of more than two points, as they battled for control in the topsy-turvy opener, the lead exchanging seven times before the Danes took it on their second game point.

Nothing changed at the beginning of the game two, until, that was, the scores reached eight apiece, the Chinese taking three straight points to open up an 11-8 lead at the mid-game interval. It didn't last long, as the scores were soon levelled after the break before the home stars, ranked fourth in the world, secured five consecutive points, the longest streak of the match. That was a mark from which the Danish partnership never looked back as they maintained their lead right the way through, claiming the championship with their first match point after Ma Jin hit long of the backline.

Lee Chong Wei put in an abject performance in the men's singles final, falling to China's Chen Long for the second time in as many matches.

Chen's 21-15 21-18 victory means that he has now won the last three Super Series tournaments, following his victories at the China Masters and Japan Open, taking his career total to four top tier titles.

Chong Wei's erroneous first game gave his Chinese opponent an easy ride, the top seed scoring just eight winners throughout the opener. That is not to discredit Chen, however, who worked hard from back to front, the six point margin a fair reflection of each players efforts.

The scoring tightened up during the second game, the lead moving from one player to another before Chen finally made his lead stick at 16-15, closing out the match to secure a record equalling third consecutive Super Series win, Chong Wei himself and Sony Dwi Kuncoro the only other players to achieve that feat.

Jung Jae Sung and Lee Yong Dae clinched the men's doubles crown after a physically demanding win over Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China, their second consecutive win over the top ranked pair. For a match between two partnerships of such calibre there were a lot of expectations from fans, and the match lived up to the hype, finishing 21-16 21-17 in favour of the Koreans.

The first game started at a frantic pace, both sides ruthless in their exposition of attacking badminton and only playing clears when absolutely necessary. Quite typically it was the Koreans who coped better with the flat exchanges and an error on service from Cai gave them the advantage at the end of the first game.

What turned out to be the winning game picked up where the first had left off, the physicality refusing to be taken down a notch, though as with the first game it was Jung and Lee who held off the relentless attack the best, too many errors slipping into the Chinese play as the match drew to a close.

Though the final score, coupled with the fact that the final was finished after just 42 minutes, could lead you to believe this was a straightforward win for the world number twos. It was anything but; neither pair may ever get such a workout from a two game match.

Wang Xin claimed her second Super Series crown of the year, fending off the challenge of Wang Yihan 21-14 23-21 in an all-Chinese affair.

World champion Yihan was never able to settle into a rhythm and committed far too many errors, 25 throughout the match. The contest was cagey throughout, the teammates experts in one another's styles and tactics through training; Wang Xin restricting her nemesis to just one net winner in the first game, and no smash winners whatsoever.

The second was more open, though the quality of the badminton was still fairly low. It was, in fact, Wang Yihan who comfortably hit more winners, 18 in total, but the 23 year old was unable to land enough of her shots within Wang Xin's court, missing out on two game points at the death.

The women's doubles tournament churned out a rematch of this years World Championship final in it's own setpiece. The result ended up the same. Wang Xiaoli and Yu Yang took home the $31,600 prize money, leaving Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei with the silver medals, winning 22-20 21-16.

Game one could have gone either way as the Chinese rivals battled valiantly for the lead, Tian and Zhao wasting the first game before handing the lead to their opponents in a hard fought opener. The second game took a very different path, Tian and Zhao taking the first point before letting seven in a row slip away. They never so much as drew level, that despite winning seven straight points of their own, as Wang and Yu ended the match at the first attempt.

De Vita Breaks Pilgrims Resistance

Raffaele De Vita's 82nd minute strike lead his battling Swindon Town side to a 1-0 triumph away at Plymouth Argyle.

The Italian ended a flowing counter attack to leave the Pilgrims rock-bottom of the Football League, though it was not for a lack of trying on the hosts part, their eight shots on target finding determined Swindon bodies between them and the back of the net.

It was Plymouth, looking to extend their unbeaten run to three games, who started the brighter, a barrage of corners eventually leading to two efforts on goal. Curtis Nelson initially found the back of teammate Matt Lecointe, before the rebound looped up for Robbie Williams to volley into the arm's of Wes Foderingham.

Central defender Nelson was a constant threat when lurking in the Swindon penalty area, as two more of his strikes required blocks from visiting bodies, either side of Jake Jervis' header going narrowly wide at the other end.

With his side on the back foot Cristian Montano took it upon himself to take the game to the fragile Plymouth defence. The Colombian managed to skin two defenders before letting the moment slip, his final shot rolling comfortably into the grateful palms of Argyle custodian Jake Cole.

Robbie Williams late free kick, held by the strong hands of Foderingham, summed up the first half as the home side worked hard for no reward.

Paulo Di Canio's half time team-talk appeared to motivate Swindon for the second half as the visitors began to stroke the ball around more confidently, adding an extra yard of pace to the game.

Birmingham loanee Jake Jervis twice missed the target when well placed while two short-corner routines caught the Plymouth defence cold, though Jonothan Smith's header was the best chance to result from them.

Argyle were not done yet, however, as their best chance of the match came and went within the blink of an eye, Conor Hourihane's inswinging corner finding the forehead of Jamie Griffith. With the substitute's bullet header flying goalwards Foderingham instinctively threw a hand up, tipping the ball over the crossbar.

Five minutes later, with the home side pressing for the winner, Swindon broke downfield, the ball making it's way to Matt Ritchie on the right hand side, the ex-Portsmouth youth crossing for De Vita to beat Cole with a low angled drive.

With the game almost up Argyle fought valiantly for a route back in, but not even the presence of Cole in the Swindon area for a late corner could force the equaliser, leaving the Pilgrims five points adrift of safety, while the Robins move to just a point away from the League 2 play-off places.