Piratic Rovers Steal Yeovil Win

The faces of the Bristol Rovers squad could easily be seen on Crimewatch next week after they criminally nicked all three points in a game that was dominated by Yeovil for large spells before making their getaway from south Somerset.

The home side missed at least four gilt-edged chances to take the lead during the first period and hit the bar at the start of the second, but it was Rovers who won their third consecutive away game thanks to former Yeovil favourite Gavin Williams, giving Rovers their first ever league double against their local rivals.

Both managers named unchanged starting line ups for this crucial west country derby.

The first chance of the afternoon fell to Yeovil and their on loan Norwich striker Oli Johnson. The youngster ran through on goal but Conrad Logan raced towards him to reduce the angle and was able to smother his final effort.

Andy Welsh was the next Glover to test Logan, hitting a stinging effort into the keepers palms following a well worked free kick before Paul Wotton's shot from the edge of the box fizzed wide of the upright.

Will Hoskins had Rovers first shot on goal, failing to get the required whip to bend the ball into the net but it was Yeovil who were soon back on the front foot, Johnson not getting the required connection on the ball from a low pass when anything more would have seen the ball rippling Logan's net.

There was to be more work for Conrad Logan as Dean Bowditch received a pass and looked to beat the Irish keeper but Logan was able to get behind the ball and keep the forwards shot out.

Harry Pell tried to force the issue, attempting to drive through the Yeovil backline only to be tackled on his way, the ball eventually running out for a goal kick.

Wotton was to hit the target with his second shot of the match but Logan once again denied the home side, getting down sharply to his left to stop the low effort, clutching onto the ball at the second attempt.

A Stuart Campbell corner was half cleared by Yeovil, looping towards Harry Pell who connected well with his forehead to send the ball goalwards but, alas, there was a green and white body on the post to hack the ball away.

Rovers fans went into the half time break fearing the worst, a goal for the Glovers looking inevitable if the pattern of play followed the same as the first, and shooting towards the travelling Gasheads in the second Yeovil really looked to rub their dominance in Gashead's faces.

After Will Hoskins blazed a shot high over the bar Yeovil earned a corner at the other end. Dean Bowditch turned the ball into the area and Craig Alcock jumped highest, thrusting his head through a ball that crashed back off the underside of the Rovers crossbar before being hoofed well clear of the penalty box.

Jonothan Obika, scorer of Yeovil's winner against Carlisle in midweek, tried to curl a ball inside Logan's right hand post but failed to get any bend on it whatsoever and Johnson tried another shot, failing to get any height on a chip which Logan gleefully caught.

Rovers finally tested Yeovil stopper Stephen Henderson through Chris Lines, the Rovers home grown midfielder driving a free kick from a speculative distance that had Henderson's hands ringing as he palmed it away.

Logan was forced into perhaps his best save of the game minutes later, tipping a close range Adam Virgo header around the post, but with just under a quarter of an hour to go Rovers attacked once again and it was then that the decisive moment of the game arrived.

James Tunnicliffe brought the ball out of defence and pinged a well weighted ball out to Hoskins who was loitering on the left wing. The Pirates top scorer moved first into the penalty area, turning his defender inside out before reaching the edge of the six yard box, knocking the ball across to substitute Gavin Williams who prodded it into the back of the net.

It was the midfielders first goal for Bristol Rovers and could be crucial to their season as the relegation battle wears on.

As the home side pushed forward for an equaliser Rovers twice found themselves in a three on one situation but with a chance to take their goal difference above it's current -30 they failed to beat Henderson on both occasions, Hughes forcing him into a save for the first before Williams looked to double his personal tally, hammering a shot over the bar and into the home fans in the Blackthorn Stand.

There was to be one more last gasp chance for Yeovil to take a point but former Bristol City man Alex Russell's free kick cleared the crossbar to great cheers from the Rovers fans behind the goal.

Five minutes of added time passed by and Rovers held firm to take all three points. After the final whistle the players celebrated in front of their fine, joyful support who stayed long after referee signalled the end to clap their heroes off.

Stuart Campbell, caretaker player-manager of the victorious Rovers, was philosophical about his sides fortune but praised their application throughout the second half, saying:

"You see the chances they missed and you start to believe it might be your day. I'm a big believer that, over the course of the season, things even themselves out and I think that was the case today.

"I think we got the ball down and passed on a number of occasions in the second half and there was some really good quality from Will in the build up to our goal.

"As I've said all along, we are going to try to go out and win every game we play and we'll be doing that again on Tuesday when we face Bournemouth.

"We won't get carried away and start looking at other results because we know we have to win as many games as possible between now and the end of the season."

Yeovil manager Terry Skiverton wasn't quite so steady in his post-match interview, clearly unhappy with the final result, ranting:

"We've been on a fantastic run but I am sick to the stomach to lose this one as it was a local derby.

"When I walked off one supporter said 'disgusting', and he was right. That supporter was 100% right. I can't lie. I am sick.

"We're still playing well and in the first half we should have scored several goals. The second half was disappointing, we just couldn't break them down.

"We have to lick our wounds, get ready to go to Hartlepool next weekend and hope to set off on another winning run. We are well above the relegation zone but I want to win three or four more games."

It was by no means a classic performance from the Gas who will need to up their game when promotion chasing AFC Bournemouth come knocking on Tuesday night. The confidence gained from the win, however, will go some way to boosting their chances of getting another win in front of a partisan atmosphere at the Memorial Stadium.

Yeovil face a long trip to Hartlepool in a weeks time looking for the three points that would take them to the fifty point mark, all but signalling survival, but with three home games in a row afterwards they really should be safe, all bar the shouting of course.

Make Or Break Derby For Rovers And Yeovil

Bristol Rovers versus Yeovil Town is a rivalry that is still in its infancy, a local derby that only first appeared in 2001, but this weekends match up between the two clubs could be the most important yet.

A win for the Glovers would take them to the 50 point mark, a figure that means almost certain safety, only one point being needed to reach the figure that would have meant survival in League 1 last season, and with seven games to play after this weekends clash they would almost certainly remain in the division for another year.

Rovers don't have that cushion, still four points off of safety they need to gaining points sooner rather than later. They have picked up since the appointment of Stuart Campbell, earning seven points from a possible twelve, but failure to beat Yeovil, one of the lower ranked teams in their run-in, would put the club in real danger of the drop.

The home side are a team in good form, losing only once in their last six games, that defeat coming against high flying Southampton, winning their last three and scoring nine goals in the process, the 5-1 thrashing of Leyton Orient in East London being the standout result from the sequence. At home, however, Yeovil haven't been doing as well as their overall form suggests.

Prior to Tuesdays home win over Carlisle you have to go back to February 1st for a victory at Huish Park, losing three in a row at home over February and the start of March, though these did come against teams who all currently occupy the play-off places.

Rovers are a much improved side since Campbell's appointment and had the side still been under the stewardship of Dave Penney, who failed to win any of his five away games in charge of the Gas, then coming up against an in form Yeovil team would most likely have resulted in another dreadful loss on the road.

But it's all changed now, Rovers have won their last two away games at Tranmere and Notts County. The Pirates only other two away wins this season also came in consecutive fixtures on the road, Dagenham and Huddersfield the victims of those results. Prior to the last two wins Rovers had lost seven away games in a row and hadn't won since that Huddersfield win in early October.

The problem Rovers have faced is conceding goals away from home, Swindon are the only other team in the division to concede as many, 42 in total, twice as many as the Gas have scored on the road. Three times this season Rovers have leaked six in a game, twice in the league and once against Oxford in the League Cup, and under Dave Penney's brief reign 18 goals went in away from the Mem.

One man who will know Rovers better than any other member of the Yeovil squad is striker Andy Williams.

Despite having three years with Rovers Williams never lived up to the hype that surrounded his arrival. After the failure of Richard Walker to step up to League 1 level Williams was thrust into the Rovers team and struggled under the pressure, scoring just six goals in 52 appearances. A season on loan back at former club Hereford was followed by another 45 games for Rovers, most of which came out on the wing, with another three goals scored, most memorably an exquisite curling effort from outside the box to earn Rovers a 3-2 victory away at Southampton.


Williams accepted a contract offer from Yeovil in pre-season, officially joining on August 1st. He has made a successful start to life in Somerset, moving back to the top end of the pitch, and has scored eight goals, though he did have to wait until his sixteenth appearance for the first.

One man Yeovil will have to watch out for is Jo Kuffour who looked to be getting back to his best last time out against Peterborough. The former Arsenal trainee has scored three goals in five games for Rovers against Yeovil, including goals in the last two meetings. If Kuffour does score then it really could see Rovers take something from the game as they are yet to lose when Kuffour has been on the scoresheet for any of his nine goals thus far this season.

Rovers and Yeovil have squared up a total of twelve times, the first meeting ending up in a win on penalties for Rovers in the LDV Vans Trophy while their opponents were still in the conference. Since the Glovers have joined the Football League there have been a number of tasty encounters between the sides, one of the best remembered games finishing 2-2 in 2004. Paul Terry and now Rover Gavin Williams put Yeovil 2-0 up at the Mem, red cards for Steve Elliott and Dave Savaged sandwiched in between, but the Gas fought hard and goals from James Hunt and Junior Agogo levelled the game and saw the Gas run out with a point.

It wasn't until the ninth meeting between the sides that Rovers finally claimed a victory, David Pipe, Darryl Duffy and Rickie Lambert on target in Bristol. Rovers have since won two of the last three games between the sides, the last two going their way. 2010 saw a first victory at Huish Park for Rovers, the away side taking home the points with a 3-0 win, going some way to bury memories of heavy defeats at the ground in previous encounters.

The referee for Saturday's game will be Neil Swarbrick. Swarbrick has previously taken charge of a game Between Rovers and Yeovil, that being the last time the Glovers won against the Gas. The last time the Lancashire official was at a Rovers game he sent off Jeff Hughes in a 3-1 Pirates defeat at Carlisle last April while he also saw Yeovil beat Swindon this January, sending off Robins full back Michael Rose in the process. This season Swarbrick has shown 89 yellow and 5 red cards and has often found himself officiating high scoring encounters.

Bristol Rovers player-manager Stuart Campbell talked about approaching every game in the right manner and believes that his squad can go out and take the points, saying:

"Yeovil have had a great run of form, three wins out of three have propelled them up the league, and that is something we are aiming to do.

"We are going to try and win every game between now and the end of the season, that is our mentality. Every game we approach, we will be looking to win it.

"We are not going to start this game with four or five men up front, but we are going to approach it with a winning mentality.

"We have players with naturally attacking instincts, so it will be normal for them to go out and try and win the game."

Yeovil manager Terry Skiverton spoke of his apprecition for the Rovers management team but thinks his team have a point to prove on Saturday, telling thisissomerset.co.uk:

"I think Saturday is a massive game. It is a massive game for us, our supporters and for the town to see how far we have come to compete with Bristol Rovers and to have overtaken them.

"I like [player-manager] Stuart Campbell and [assistant manager] Craig Hinton, they are good people and they are in the same situation as we were when we took over.

"They will be looking to turn us over, they have got really good players, they are in a false position and they are fighting for their lives as well."

Yeovil will be able to choose from a fully fit squad, though Terry Skiverton will most likely stick with his starting line up from Tuesday's win over Carlisle, playing a 3-5-2 formation.

Rovers are also likely to name an unchanged side with no fresh injury worries to deal with.

Gary Sawyer will serve the second and final game of his suspension for collecting 10 yellow cards in the league over the season. Dominic Blizzard remains injured after returning from a one game loan stint at Port Vale.

Rovers Add Kalala To Their Ranks

Bristol Rovers have confirmed the signing of Jean-Paul Kalala from Yeovil Town.

The Congolese midfielder will be with Rovers until the end of June.

The 28 year old started his career in Europe with Nice, spending four seasons in their B team before being promoted to the first team squad. He never made it in Ligue 1 and was brought over to England by then Grimsby manager Russell Slade, making 21 league appearances during his single season at Blundell Park. He is best remembered by Grimsby fans for scoring the goal that knocked Tottenham out of the League cup in 2005. Kalala fell down the pecking order with the Mariners who made it to the play off final, losing to Cheltenham at the Millennium Stadium.

Kalala then followed Russell Slade to Yeovil Town where he spent a season playing regularly for the League 1 side in the season that they famously made the play off final at Wembley, losing out to Blackpool. From Yeovil he joined Oldham and was with the Latics for two seasons, though he spent the second half of his final season back on loan at Grimsby. After being released by Oldham Kalala once again linked up with Yeovil Town where he would remain for a further season and a half before signing for the Gas.

Kalala has made seven international appearances for DR Congo and has twice been a squad member at the African Nations Cup in 2004 and 2006.

The battling midfielder will add some edge to the Rovers midfield who have often been overrun this season.

Rovers manager Dave Penney is pleased with his new signing, saying:

"We have been looking for a combative midfielder with a bit of experience, and JP fits that bill.

"We need a bit more of a competitive edge and a bit more bite, and I think JP can provide that for us.

"He will complement what we already have here, and I welcome him to the squad."