These last few weeks of the season are going to drag, every game will feel like it lasts 180 minutes, the tension at the Memorial Stadium is going to be at an unbelievable level. Every point that Rovers pick up between now and May 7th is a step in the right direction as they fight for their lives to survive in League 1 for another season and on Saturday the players took all three points from Meadow Lane to beat Notts County by one goal to nil.
After the performance against Huddersfield last weekend there was an air of confidence among Rovers fans that the team could go to Nottingham and get a result and that was proved to be well placed as Rovers put in a solid performance, though they did ride their luck at times, Conrad Logan making numerous saves which included a penalty, his second denial of a spot kick in eight days. The penalty decision itself was rather soft, former Manchester United youngster Febien Brandy getting ahead of Jeff Hughes before tumbling over under little pressure from the Northern Ireland international but Logan's save from Alan Gow's penalty was excellent, flinging himself to his right.
I'll admit, when I first heard we had signed Logan on loan I was sceptical, having seen him play once before at the Mem for Stockport and catching little excerpts of him on Football League highlights I wasn't at all convinced but that was two seasons ago. Until joining Rovers he hadn't gone out on loan since finishing his spell at Stockport in May 2009 and has spent his time playing a season in Leicester's reserve team and made seven appearances at the start of this season, conceding twenty goals during those games.
Despite that spell he is clearly confident in his own abilities which is just what was needed at the Mem when he came in. Luke Daniels was having a tough time in goal and was struggling with the defence in front of him. Logan is much more talkative than Daniels and appears to be much more of a character which no doubt helped in the dressing room as well.
He made his debut against Oldham Athletic at the Mem, keeping a clean sheet in the process and the signs have been good ever since. There was one mistake against Colchester, a poor drop kick rebounding off of Jerel Ifil, eventually falling for Kayode Odejayi to slot home, but that aside he has been solid and of the other four goals he has conceded one came from the penalty spot after a contentious decision, one was a blasted free kick from Danny Green and a free header for Romain Vincelot was followed up by a well struck volley against Huddersfield.
It could have gotten worse against Huddersfield, had he not saved his first penalty when up against Jordan Rhodes. The penalty stop against County at the weekend, one of many other saves that he made during the game will have Rovers fans thinking that they have someone in goal who is worthy of the goalkeepers jersey, not only becayse of his shot stopping and reflex saves but also his kicking abilities, much improved over Luke Daniels during his period in the side.
There have been a couple of heart in mouth moments, mostly due to his willingness to attack the ball from corners, but these have proved few and far between and Gasheads will be pleased to have a keeper who has great command of his area.
Monday came the news that Logan has extended his loan spell at Rovers until the end of the season which was met with due pleasure by Rovers fans.
When Mikkel Andersen went back to Reading there were big shoes to fill, Luke Daniels failed to live up to the hype that surrounded him following his spells at Shrewsbury and Tranmere. Conrad Logan, however, has stood up and made himself counted and looks to have the number one spot tied down for the rest of the season. He has proved himself to be an excellent capture for Rovers and he will be key to their survival chances and I'm quite happy to admit I was wrong on this front.
The weekend win over County kept Rovers in the hunt for survival but there is still a long way to go until the end of the season which leaves a lot of room for the shape of the bottom four to change. With a defence that finally looks solid and a goalkeeper brimming with confidence Rovers look as though they have turned a corner.
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