Bristol Rovers v Scunthorpe United

Friday, November 14, 2008

Football League One

Bristol Rovers :
Phillips, Ryan Green, Hinton, Elliott, Lescott, Lines (Duffy 69), Campbell, Disley, Hughes, Lambert, Kuffour (Hunt 69)
Subs not used:
Mike Green, Parrinello, Reece

Scunthorpe United :
Murphy, Mirfin, Iriekpen, Byrne, Pearce, Woolford (Morris 79), McCann, Togwell, Sparrow, Hayes, Hooper
Subs not used:
Lea, Hurst

SULSESC REPORT

by Dave Farrell at Memorial Stadium

LAST time I was here, in November, 2004, I witnessed the best Iron performance in my 30 odd years of following the team.

A Paul Hayes brace was the highlight but all over the pitch there were superb performances, not least from Beagrie showing off his full box of tricks. Oh, and it's the wettest I've ever been at a football match thanks to the truly appalling away 'facilities' and Bristol's best weather!

Hoping for a repeat - the performance, not the weather - and encouraged by the form and league position, I made the short journey from South Wales in the company of Welsh father and brother-in-law. To be honest, apart from the shorter journey, I rather wish the game had been played at Rovers' original home ground for this season, Cheltenham - decent boozer, nice town, roof over the away fans, everything Bristol ain't.

Any road up, got parked, walked to the ground, paid the admission... yep, still a hole; crap view, awful coffee, no roof and, amazingly enough, rain. Watching the back four warm up revealed the first surprise of the night, Pearce at left back; otherwise the line-up was as expected with Sparrow keeping his place on the right.

Whistle blows and off we go. It's quickly apparent that the Iron are the better side but struggle to truly dominate the game, a pattern that continued for the 90 odd minutes. The Iron had the best of the possession and rattled the Rovers woodwork without ever looking that comfortable. Indeed a wicked free kick hit the bar with Murphy beaten. Rovers' little striker, Jo Kuffour, looked especially lively, giving Izzy a real nightmare.

A deflected free kick from the excellent McCann opened the account and the hope was that we would go on and win comfortably.

However Rovers came out for the second-half firing and with Izzy having a 'mare, we somehow contrived to potentially throw two points away.

The Rovers' goal - and Trollope's inexplicable decision to substitute Kuffour - seemed to shake the Iron out of their sleepiness and they finally began to gain the upper hand. It was only a matter of time before a second goal came and when Izzy scored - his only meaningful contribution all night - there was a line of three or four players waiting to convert Hooper's cross.

After that, the Iron weathered a late charge but, apart from a couple of spectacular if routine saves from Murphy, we were never really threatened even when the game continued into four minutes of added time - from where, only the rubbish referee would know!

So, no, this game didn't live up to the expectations I had for it; instead, it was a business-like performance, another three away points and back to the top of the table. Bizarrely enough, the highlight was the spectacular fireworks display over the back of the cricket pavilion-like main stand - they clearly do things differently in this particular backwater!

There were lots of take away thoughts from this game. The most obvious is that Izzy needs to be dropped; I didn't rate him when he played for Swansea against the Iron in February '07 and I don't rate him now. If Mirfin hadn't played a blinder, we'd have lost this game thanks entirely to Izzy. Pearce, clearly not a left back after this performance, and Mirfin are a far more assured pairing. I'd bench Izzy and make the superb Byrne captain; he barely put a foot wrong and leads by example.

Ian Morris looked hungry and lively when he came on. He really made a difference to the side though the man he replaced, Woolford, also played well, it was just his final ball letting him down.

I've always liked Paul Hayes and tonight he was a handful for Bristol, being a part of our best plays; a little more selfish and he'd have repeated his feats of four years ago. I was concerned by Ben May's reaction after the final whistle; he ran straight past the team huddle in the centre circle and down the tunnel without a backward glance to the away fans or his team-mates. I'll be charitable and suggest he was bursting for a pee (!) but if his frustration at being benched is growing, Adkins needs to act.

Okay, man-of-the-match. Actually a difficult one because there were a number of good performances on the pitch. Sparrow was solid, if unspectacular, Byrne, as mentioned, was superb, Togwell simply into everything, McCann looked good. But for me Mirfin was head and shoulders above everyone on the pitch - as he was at Cheltenham, my last match. One challenge, in particular, in the first-half after Izzy had been turned again by Kuffour was text book; won the ball in the area without giving the awful ref the opportunity to point to the spot. Brilliant!

So onwards and upwards. My next game is likely to be Yeovil, January 3rd, by which time we'll have a better idea of where we really stand. Just hope there's a bloody roof on the away stand.