In the aftermath of Saturday's 2-2 draw between Bristol Rovers and his Fleetwood Town, Scott Brown repeated the assertion of one of his contemporaries. Fleetwood had weathered a second-half storm and pulled a 99th-minute equaliser out of the fire to rescue a point at the Mem.
But it was a chastening experience for Brown's players, who seemed overwhelmed after the break. In the first half, the atmosphere was subdued as Fleetwood took the lead and Joey Barton's side failed to find a rhythm, but after the break, the Gas and the Gasheads were playing in unison.
With Rovers still trailing and chances going begging in front of a throbbing Thatchers Terrace, the volume rose and the pressure started to pay. A back three that was assured early doors was shoved onto the ropes and they were struggling to hold on.
Josh Coburn and Aaron Collins ought to have been a tad more clinical, but they both converted a chance apiece to put Rovers in the ascendancy and on course for victory until Shaun Rooney made it a brace with the latest of levellers in stoppage time.
Brown was delighted with a point; he knew his players were not just facing 11 players in blue and white but more than 8,000 Gasheads, who are working in tandem with the team to make the Mem a cauldron of chaos in those second halves when their team attacks northbound towards the Thatchers.
“It was a game of two halves if I am being honest,” Brown said. “I thought in the first half we controlled the game, we created a lot of chances and put Bristol Rovers under a lot of pressure.
"In the second half I think the home fans frightened our lads a little bit and I have to be honest and say they were fantastic (the fans) but our lads didn’t deal with it well and we caused our own problems with sloppy defending and switching off."
There were echoes in Brown's comments of what Plymouth Argyle boss Steven Schumacher said after his league leaders clung on for a 2-2 draw last month. Not only was he pleased to leave with a point despite letting a two-goal lead slip but, according to Barton, in their post-match chat in the Rovers boss' office, he admitted his players struggled to survive in the atmosphere once the Gas had built a wave of momentum.
Thinking back to earlier in the season, the crowd was less of a factor. Rovers, short of several starters due to injury for a number of weeks, were not playing well and Barton said it was his players' responsibility to excite the crowd. Three and a half months into the season, Rovers have certainly completed that task.
The Fleetwood and Argyle atmospheres were among the best at the Mem in the past two or three seasons – with Scunthorpe in a different stratosphere, of course – and of Barton's achievements at Rovers, re-engaging the crowd – with more than 5,000 season-ticket sales in the summer and home crowds consistently breaking through the 8,000 and 9,000 barrier – is among the biggest.
And if the Mem felt a bit anxious earlier in the season as Rovers' return to the third tier got off to a difficult start, it has been at its booming best in recent weeks.
Many of the Gasheads behind the goal are being fuelled by Thatchers but the same can be said of the team itself. Attacking towards that end of the ground has made a marked difference on performance levels and in the past two games, they have been irresistible in the second half with only their profligacy denying them an extra four points on their tally.
The Mem has never been a pleasant place for visiting teams and it is proving to be the case once again in League One, only Rovers have not gained the number of points they ought to have on home turf, with frustrating draws with Shrewsbury Town and Morecambe and dispiriting defeats to Forest Green Rovers, Lincoln City and Accrington Stanley earlier in the campaign leaving Gasheads fearing a season of struggle.
Recent performances have allayed those fears. The Gas have lost just once in 11 games in all competitions since the start of October, and in that run, they have gone toe-to-toe with some of the league's strongest contenders for promotion.
At the start of last month, Rovers occupied the final relegation place with eight points from 10 games and in the seven matches since they have added 13 points to their tally – an impressive run but they have left some on the table through the concession of soft goals and an untimely lack of ruthlessness at the other end.
But they are trending upwards and although 17th place in the table is unglamorous, they are now seven points clear of the drop zone and positioned well to continue their climb up the standings. If they are to achieve that, the Mem crowd is sure to play a huge part.
Barton always believed the COVID lockdown hurt teams like Rovers – with humble facilities and smaller budgets compared to other League One teams, but intense atmospheres – more than most, and the value of the fanbase to this club has been on display yet again in recent weeks.
The players feel it, too. Collins said of Rovers' resurgence after half time on Saturday: "Shooting towards the Thatchers helps massively. We score that first goal and you hear the fans and you're thinking 'Here we go', and it puts a downer on the other team as well."
Midfielder Jordan Rossiter said similar after the Plymouth game last month. "That Thatchers end sucks the ball into the net sometimes. Credit to them, they really got behind us after going 2-0 down. There were no boos at half time and the lads repaid them for their faith and that’s all we want to keep doing."
The chaos created by the terraces has sparked and powered comebacks against Fleetwood and Plymouth and the odds are more visiting teams will fall victim in the months ahead. That noise is as valuable as a 25-goal-a-season striker.
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