Bristol Rovers sent a message to the rest of League Two with two wins from two in a pivotal week for The Gas. The play-off train rolls up the league and the top seven are now within sight.
It was elation and progression in equal measure on Tuesday as Rovers sunk the ship of Sutton. The latter hadn’t lost in 12 league games, but that did nothing to dent the expectations heaped on Rovers in advance and they stepped up to that task.
Finally, we got at a team from the off. The pace was set from the first whistle and we reversed the trend of not getting out of the traps quickly and taking the game to teams. The very reason you do just that in football was obvious just moments later, when the Andersons combined to grab the lead.
I’m chuffed for Elliot Anderson with his first assist for us, but even more so for his namesake Harry. He’s put in some serious hard yards this season, playing out of position at wing-back and now has his reward following a spell out of the team.
He’s finally in his favoured position and doing a great job of it . His best assets are his tenacity and direct running, both of which suit him playing on the wing. But his stint as a wing-back will have inadvertently strengthened the defensive facet of his forward game too.
It could have been a cricket score. 2-0 flattered Sutton and Rovers know it should have been more. I’m not blaming Paul Coutts here either, it was a well-struck penalty and the keeper just guessed the right way. These things happen. Come the end of the season, I hope we don’t rue our missed opportunities to strengthen our goal difference.
Our attacking flair was built on a solid foundation. It was a night for quietly efficient performances and nobody typified that more than James Connolly.
It’s easy to forget that just a month ago, he hadn’t kicked a ball in senior football, let alone featured for the Gas. But here he was, doing the dirty work well and winning the physical battle. Connor Taylor deservedly gets his plaudits, but Connolly warrants his fair share too.
Aaron Collins. What can I say? He was brilliantly described recently as that maverick type, who doesn’t fit the normal mould of player and has that ability to change games from nowhere. We’d be lost without him, which seems crazy looking back to his goal drought at the start of the season.
We knew the goals would come though and what a finish that was for the second. Dean Bouzanis has a lot to answer for after his ill-judged run, but to score from there whilst running away from goal close to the touchline is incredible. If Mohamed Salah scored that, we’d be hearing about it for weeks.
That’s not what impresses me most though. He’s a number 10, someone who runs between the lines and in the channels to create and score. But he has learnt the number 9 role so effectively in such a short space of time.
Look no further than the Sutton game, where he won so many aerial battles and take-ons that Matt Gray was forced to change a centre-back mid-game. Collins is now our first-choice 9, and as for Gray… I’m not sure what he was on to see a hill on the Memorial Stadium’s pitch!
That was a game in hand won, three points in the bank and points taken off our rivals. We were finally in the top-half of the table, seven points away from the play-offs with a game in hand or two on our rivals. But that was just half a job done.
Sensational at Stevenage
On to Stevenage then and one that doesn’t stick out in the fixture list for many, but another short trip for me and another new ground. It turned out to be a cracking away day too. Friendly opposition fans, great people and of course a resounding Rovers result.
Make no bones about it, that was some performance from Rovers. It was men against boys out there and at times resembled a training match against a youth team. That their goalkeeper was their best player in a 4-0 defeat tells you everything you need to know.
Most pleasing though was the fact that we progressed again and have found another gear. Barton has often said we’re nowhere near our best and that is genuinely exciting. Our play on Saturday oozed cohesion and class and the thought of that improving is mouth-watering.
Our brand of football is taking shape now. It’s an attractive one too, with swift and neat passing drawing out gaps in opposing defences. We also make good use of the full width of the pitch, something which we do so much better in a 4-2-3-1 than an exposed 3 at the back. Coutts and Finley are as integral to our play, stationing themselves either side of opposition midfields, moving the ball around quickly and pulling the strings.
But Elliot Anderson has added a new dimension to that. He is a player that thrives on the ball, and is always finding space to ask for the ball from his team mates. He turns players so easily and made two former Gas greats look average at best at The Lamex Stadium.
The relief on his face when his first goal arrived, despite that only coming a handful of games into his spell here, tells you everything you need to know about the high stands he sets for himself. He’ll be quite the player at the highest of levels.
There were far too many good performances to go through them all but a mention has to go to James Belshaw. Stevenage made it easy for him and he might as well have pulled out a chair for most of the game.
But he pulled off some outstanding saves at the end, and that is seriously impressive. To stay sharp and keep your concentration when you have had nothing all day shows his professionalism.
Watch him intently and he is always moving, stretching and keeping himself ready for action. That in itself is evidence of the standards and professionalism Barton has worked hard to instil around the club.
A little under two weeks ago, the play-offs looked a tough ask. We’d just lost to Oldham with a below par showing halting a good run of form. But The Gas have ensured that was a mere blot in the copy book and stormed back into contention once more. Five points and four places are all that stands between us and our goal.
We have two games in hand on some of our rivals too as others continue to drop points. If Rovers carry on winning, we will make up that ground quickly. We’re second in the form table over the last 10 games with 2.1 points per game in that period. Carry that on and the unlikely looks likely. Can we do it? Time will tell, but what is football if we don’t dare to dream?
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