So there we were on a cold Saturday afternoon sitting at home to “concentrate on the league”.
After all the glory that the FA Cup brought us last season it was tough to be missing out at only the second round stage this time, and just to rub it in the main televised game on Saturday night featured our bogey team, AFC Bournemouth, only drawing against Blyth Spartans.
That should have been us vying for another chance to take on the big boys in the third round, not to mention the big money available for television coverage. But the truth is that we have not performed in any of the cup competitions this time, and the positive reaction is always that we are now able to concentrate on the league.
Critics say our cup run last season had a dramatic affect on our league form as we slumped quite badly once we lost against West Brom, so we cannot use that excuse this time.
It has been a strange season so far. I cannot recall seeing a poor game at home (apart from the 0-0 against Crewe) and we have played some really good stuff.
But how much are we concentrating on the league? The truth of the matter is that despite some entertaining football (a 6-1 win against Hereford and a 4-2 victory over Southend) we sit 15th in the Division One table, just four points off a relegation position.
Since Paul Trollope deservedly picked up the Manager of the Month award we have gone five games without a win and only scraped a draw against struggling Swindon in the 94th minute.
It was another two points dropped at home against a side in turmoil when we didn’t show a positive enough attitude until we went 2-1 downagainst a poor side that we should have beaten.
So often this season we have conceeded an early goal, just as we did at Hartlepool on Tuesday night, where congratulations go to the Football League for giving us a midweek fixture 275 miles away.
So where do we go from here? I am confident the only way is up. Rickie Lambert is having a fantastic season, Jo Kuffour is showing a lot of potential and, as I said earlier, we are playing some good stuff.
It will be interesting to see what side Trollope puts out at Millwall on Saturday after Byron Anthony came in for Craig Hinton at Hartlepool while Joe Jacobson played wide in midfield as Jeff Hughes moved inside for the suspended Chris Lines.
Sean Rigg made an impressive appearance against Swindon Town and would give us more penetration on the left than Hughes, who has yet to justify his £100,000 price tag.
Once again the Supporters Club Share Scheme has come up trumps to bring in Jamaican international Richard Langley. Let’s hope he can make our concentration on the league prove worthwhile.
Comments
by Alan Edwards, Gold Coast Australia
Monday, December 01 2008, 3:45AM
“Reading through the comment, it seems that acceptance of mediocrity is a given. The facts are the facts. To date Rovers have underperformed. Knocked out of all cups in the first round. 3 Points from relegation zone. Cannot beat teams that everyone else seems to beat. What happened to challenging for playoffs. The only challenge apparently is playing teams in the same league. A good cup run?? The challenge being to accept that TV may have shown Rovers on a Saturday afternoon, if they had won a game they lost. Whilst always a Rovers fan and have been for the past 40 years, my acceptance level of performance is not obviously at the level put forward. The sad part is that the lower acceptance value and that of mine will never change, as the Rovers of today, at player and management level have underperformed and this is acceptable.”