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.
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