Glorious Sunshine And A Footballing Carnival

For the first time since the World Cup I've had a veritable feast of football, three games in three days, could this long weekend have gotten any better?

Well, as it happens, it probably could have done had either Will Hoskins or Jo Kuffour put away the chances they had to beat Peterborough on Friday night but I'd have taken a point prior to the match so lets not be too downhearted, eh. Following that was England's comfortable win over Wales on Saturday and Scotland's friendly clash with Brazil at the Emirates, but back to the Rovers game.

Pre-match it looked tough against the Football Leagues top scorers who, despite losing 1-0 to MK Dons on Tuesday, had won five of their last six games, scoring 19 goals in the process, and so it was with a hint of trepidation that I headed to the Mem. My worries could have been far worse had Stuart Campbell not renewed the spirit in the Rovers dressing room and claimed two wins out of the three games he has been in charge for, and that spirit was on display almost immediately.

Jo Kuffour swivelled inside the opposition area and drove the ball across Joe Lewis for his ninth goal of the season. In the end Rovers managed to maintain their record of not losing when Kuffour has scored this term, although Gasheads should also remember the fact that the striker has previously been relegated from League 1 three times, firstly with Torquay and then with Brentford and Bournemouth in consecutive seasons.

Peterborough looked a decent side and the fact that they got an equaliser wasn't much of a surprise, neither was the scorer of the own goal, Byron Anthony, but the red card they received at the end of the first half galvanised the fans and gave the players a chance against a clearly superior eleven.

If Rovers had still been under the stewardship of Dave Penney then Boro's second would have been a killer blow and probably have seen the Gas concede another two on top but there is a passion in the eyes of the squad since Campbell's appointment and they began to take the game to the visitors. The equaliser was followed by two chances for Rovers to win it but it wasn't to be and the Rovers fans could go away retaining belief that they can beat the drop.

Next up for me was Englands triumph over Wales in Cardiff, not that I was in Cardiff and neither was I in my own house as I don't have sky TV available to me, so it was to the next door neighbours I went.

In truth it wasn't a great game. The two early goals could easily have lead to a rout for England as it killed off any hope the home side had of an upset but as it was England took their foot off of the gas and let the game stroll by. The goals themselves were all too simple for England, the second especially showed a weakness in Wales defence that dogged them in the first half, the fact that Danny Collins was often found too far away from his closest centre back Ashley Williams, giving Johnson the chance to beat a ball through to Ashley Young who rolled the ball across for Bent to tap in.


There were impressive performances from England, though. Jack Wilshere looked mercurial in the centre of midfield getting through countless amounts of work box-to-box while Scott Parker proved that he can do it on the international stage, biting at the Welsh as soon as they came anywhere near him but despite that he seems unlikely to keep his place for Tuesdays game against Ghana as Fabio Capello looks as though he may change his entire starting eleven for the Wembley game. Indeed five of Saturday's starting line up have already been released back to their clubs including Wayne Rooney and controversial captain John Terry.

For all the failings in his private life that saw Terry stripped of the captaincy the central defender, in my eyes at least, has all the qualities required to captain his country. He is a natural leader, big, bold and always gives 100% to the cause and as long as his fellow international squad members back him the public should too.

That being said the way it was handled by Capello was nothing short of slapstick, as leaks came out in the media, often undermining him and the fact that he had failed to speak to Ferdinand on the matter made things worse for the Italian, the United defender feeling rightfully miffed about the whole subject.

The final game of my weekend came thanks to ITV who provided live coverage of the friendly game between Scotland and Brazil. Before the game started ITV showed an interview with Ronaldo, one of the first international superstars I came across.

My first footballing memory was of the 2002 world cup in Japan and South Korea where Ronaldo showed why he was one of the worlds best, scoring eight goals to claim the Golden Shoe as he lead Brazil to the biggest prize in world football, including netting two goals in the final against Germany. Aside from his 62 goals for the Brazilian national team he also finished with 352 goals in 517 appearances in a distinguished club career that saw him take in both Milan clubs, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

During his interview with Gabriel Clarke Ronaldo mentioned how he believed Neymar would become key to Brazil's 2014 World Cup campaign in their own backyard while Adrian Chiles and the ITV pundits raved about the 19 year old starlet. Aside from reading about Chelsea's interest I didn't know much about Neymar and so this game gave me the chance to see what he was all about and form an opinion on whether he is as good as everybody says. I found out everybody was right.


I've never seen such a talented player at just 19, he has the great ability on the ball that comes so naturally to Brazilians and also showed good pace and movement as he tore the Scots apart, claiming the first goal with a neat finish after Gary Caldwell backed off in fear and also scored the second having won his own penalty after a trip from Charlie Adam.

He has four years on Lionel Messi, arguably the best player in the world, and if a big money move to Europe does come around soon he surely has the chance to become as good as the Argentine.

Having taken in three football matches in as many days I'd feel as though I was ready to go back to work, but alas, I have the week off which I will undoubtedly fill with the England game and other things football related before watching Bristol Rovers relegation tussle with Yeovil.

This weekend just seems to keep on going.

Rovers Show Spirit In Fight To Survive

Bristol Rovers battled hard to earn a point against fourth placed Peterborough, though they could have taken all three points if it weren't for United keeper Joe Lewis.

Jo Kuffour opened the scoring for Rovers before a Byron Anthony goal cancelled out his teammates strike. Ten man Peterborough took a brief lead through George Boyd but Jeff Hughes scored the nights final goal to see the game finish 2-2.

Rovers made two changes to the side that beat Notts County on Saturday, Byron Anthony returning from injury to take the suspended Gary Sawyer's place at left back while Jo Kuffour replaced Gavin Williams, partnering Will Hoskins up top. The away side also made two changes Grant McCann missing out due to international commitments and dropping Ryan Bennett.

It was the ever improving Gas who took the lead after just five minutes, a Byron Anthony throw in bounced off of a defenders head and looped to Jo Kuffour who turned on a sixpence before striking the ball across the outstretched hands of Joe Lewis.

Boro's big threat was Craig Mackail-Smith. The striker, a late call up to the Scotland squad this weekend, found himself with the ball at his feet in the area but Conrad Logan proved he was up to the task, blocking his goalbound effort. They weren't to be denied, however, and they soon found their equaliser.

George Boyd picked up the ball out wide and looked to whip it into the area. He found a head that converted it into a goal but unfortunately for Rovers it was Byron Anthony who turned the ball into his own net.

One of the games major talking points came when Joe Lewis drove a pass through the heart of the Rovers defence to put Mackail-Smith through on goal, only for the striker to throw himself down when Byron Anthony came sliding in, the referee was having none of it though, waving away the visitors protests, Joe Lewis charging up to the halfway line to berate the referee and receiving a yellow card for his troubles.

With half time approaching Peterborough found themselves down to ten men after full back Mark Little received a second yellow card for a needless foul on Stuart Campbell in the Rovers half. His long trudge off the pitch was greeted by jeers from the home faithful who really began to believe their favourites could pull a result out of the bag.

But the away side obviously hadn't been reading from that script at half time and came out fired up for the second half and, despite their one man disadvantage, looked to take the game to Rovers and this paid dividends eight minutes after the restart.

A throw in routine from the Pirates went awry and the ball was quickly picked up on by Mackail-Smith, his neat pass found Boyd in the area and the Peterborough attacker was able to lash a fine shot past Logan to send the visiting supporters into raptures as he celebrated with them.

A month ago that goal would have deflated the Rovers players but under Stuart Campbell there has been a renewed passion and resilience and this was once again on display as the home side came forward.

Will Hoskins nearly put Rovers on level terms, his strike looping off a Peterborough players leg and looping over Joe Lewis' head, the one time England squad member losing the flight of the ball only to turn and watch it drop onto his crossbar and away. It wasn't long before the game was to be squared up again, though.

A long ball out of defence found Jo Kuffour out on the right and he slipped a ball through for Harry Pell to chase to the byline. The youngsters cross flew across the face of goal and found the diving head of Jeff Hughes who nodded in his 10th goal of the season and his first in eleven games.

It was the home side who began to turn the screws and Will Hoskins saw the ball nicked away from him as he was about to shoot after the Peterborough defence failed to get themselves to a long goalkick from Conrad Logan.

After a weak shot from Rovers debutant Reggie Lambe trundled wide of the upright and Will Hoskins showed great agility to volley over Jo Kuffour found himself one-on-one with Lewis. The former Arsenal trainee wormed his way into a great shooting position but his attempt to put the ball in the bottom corner could only find the visiting keepers hands in fine form, Lewis getting down sharply to his left to keep him out.

With the games frantic pace starting to slow there was one last, great opportunity for a winner and that chance fell to the leagues leading marksman, Craig Mackail-Smith. It wasn't to be for Boro's 27 goal top scorer, however, as his attempt to place the ball past Logan rolled agonisingly wide of the post, the Watford born frontman showing his frustration by laying down, hands over face for a good twenty seconds before Logan restarted play and that was to be it for a game that either side could have won.

After the game Stuart Campbell talked about how his charges were unlucky not to take all three points from the game, telling bristolrovers.co.uk:

"The lads are all disappointed that we haven't actually won the game, which I think is a measure of how far we have come in the last few weeks.

"Unfortunately we were not able to take one of the many chances we created in the second half.

"A point tonight keeps our run going, and we will be going into the Yeovil game full of confidence and looking forward to it."

Peterborough showed why they are one of the most feared teams in the division, that despite losing a man, while Rovers showed the renewed spirit in the camp and the will that they are going to need if they are to beat the drop come the end of the season.