SO the road to Wembley was not filled with gold for us in this season of the credit crunch.

We have now been knocked out of all three cups in the first round this campaign after all the glory and success of reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup just seven months ago.

But the writing was on the wall for the Gas this time when we came out of the hat to play Bournemouth away. Even though they got relegated last season they still managed to beat us three times, including a 1-0 win in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at the Memorial Stadium.

Yet we cannot feel sorry for the Cherries current struggle for survival in the Football League as we have now only beaten them once in our last nine games.

Paul Trollope richly deserved to pick up the Manager of the Month title for October but his assessment that last week's unlucky defeat at Leicester City had laid the bogey of picking up that award proved false at Bournemouth.

Maybe we should have had a penalty when Craig Disley went sprawling in the area, if it was not a pen then you could argue why wasn't he booked for diving?

Trollope could not have anticipated losing Byron Anthony for two yellow cards, but it was still a disappointing performance against a struggling side which must be very low on confidence as they battle for league survival. That situation made defeat all the tougher for Gasheads to take as Cherries fans would probably have preferred three points rather than a cup win.

Everyone says the cup is a bonus and the league is our bread and butter but if that self-centred greedy northerner Phil Garside had his way he would cut off our lifeline.

Garside is chairman of Bolton Wanderers and he recently announced he wants to see the Championship become the second division of the Premiership _ with no relegation that division or promotion from the current Division One.

That would mean we at Bristol Rovers would have nothing to play for, nor would Leeds or Leicester for that matter. Hull would not be in the Premiership and both Crewe and Scunthorpe would not have had their day in Division One.

I have nothing against northerners _ my wife was born in Wigan _ but should I be surprised that Mr Garside is the Premier League representative on the FA Board, or that his views are nothing to do with wanting fewer clubs to share all the TV money.

So Mr Garside, us Gasheads now look forward to climbing the league.

All clubs and fans have to have goals to aim for and mine is that we can win promotion while Bolton get relegated from the Premiership. Then they would have to play us next season.

Who was it who said "I have a dream?"