Fan's view by Dennis Payter.

Another miserable away performance for Bristol Rovers means we are having to start looking over our shoulders again at the scramble to get away from the foot of the table.

There is a danger that complacency has set in at the Memorial Stadium.

We shot up to 12th in League One following the win over Cheltenham Town, but our defeat at Southend United on Saturday means we are only seven points above a relegation position, which is very little at this stage of the season.

I'm sorry to harp on the same theme as last week – when I urged Paul Trollope to show a more positive attacking attitude, following us not registering one shot on target in our home draw with Colchester – but we were stuck in a rut again last Tuesday night. It was not until we were losing at home to Cheltenham – one of the poorest sides in the division – that our coach threw caution to the wind and made some attacking substitutions.

It was great to see Craig Disley back where he belongs in the centre of midfield, supporting the frontmen, and his strength in the air almost brought immediate dividends when his towering header was touched on to a post by the Cheltenham goalkeeper.

His appearance as substitute along with Darryl Duffy, who replaced Jeff Hughes (I'm fed up of moaning about him), changed the whole character of the game and also gave the crowd a much-needed boost.

We then looked great going forward and it was only a matter of time before we clinched the three points, but what a struggle it had been before those substitutions.

It seems we have a death wish and can only play well when we have to chase the game.

So we came to Saturday and a visit to the Shrimpers, who could not have been looking forward to facing Rickie Lambert after his four goals against them at our place, especially as they had only won one of their last 13 games and had not kept a clean sheet for seven matches.

Our boys must have been full of confidence after that late flurry on Tuesday but what did Trolls do at Southend? He stuck Duffy back on the bench and preferred Hughes, although he did start with Disley.

I think it was right to leave Chris Lines out. He is obviously a young player with a lot of promise, but I think it is time he took a breather in the same way they rest players in the Premier League.

Leaving Duffy out sent the wrong message to our opponents and could have done nothing for the young striker's confidence or the mindset of our team. He got on with six minutes to go and it was a pity he did not put away the chance he got late in the game.

If only he had been on earlier...