Bristol Rovers' fans view with Dennis Payter

OUR season is gradually cranking into action thanks to a good away point against a side occupying a play-off position.

We also picked up three points at Exeter when they were third in the table, so it is encouraging to see we are not getting rolled over so easily any more.

It is hard to believe we had been thrashed 3-0 on four occasions in the first six weeks of this campaign.

We were paying for having a very thin squad at the start of the season, but I now hope we can make up for lost time.

Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk

myprint-247

View details

Print voucher

Our heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.

Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk

Contact: 01858 468192

Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013

The upturn in form is due to the arrival of Garry Kenneth to organise the defence and Neil Etheridge between the sticks.

They have both given much-needed confidence at the back and suddenly we are much harder to beat. However, it was very disappointing to concede the soft equaliser at the Pirelli Stadium in much the same way as Adebayo Akinfenwa scored against us last week for Northampton.

He converted a long throw into the box virtually unchallenged in the air and this time it was a free-kick which left the Burton scorer with a free header.

We had started in such a positive way and it was ironic that David Clarkson again scored when not playing up front.

Tom Eaves played a big part in the goal in the way he got among their defenders in the air, something we have been missing until now. Clarkson put it away well and if only Eliot Richards could have converted a good chance when through we might have gone on to get the three points.

Instead, Eliot got booked for a poor dive, maybe he can learn something from fellow Welshman Gareth Bale who showed him how to get a penalty against Scotland in Cardiff on Friday night.

We were inevitably pushed back more in the second half at Burton and Eaves was often left isolated up front.

I didn't realise just how short we are of strikers until Adam Virgo came on up front for Joe Anyinsah.

Derek Riordan wasn't fit again. We were told to be patient before Kenneth finally made it into a shirt, so let's hope his fellow Scotsman is soon firing on all cylinders, although he does have a number of other things occupying his time at the moment and his wife and young baby are way up in Scotland.

Talking of strikers it was sad to hear last week that Lewis Haldane has been forced to hang up his boots at such a young age through injury. He was one of the first to wear multi-coloured boots which often matched the colour of his skin as he thrilled us with his dashes down the field.

It was good to hear that Etheridge, our first Philippines international, has agreed to stay with us for another month.

Now if we can get Riordan fit, or another striker in, then perhaps we can go on climbing the table.