‘A short-term boost but not a quick fix’

Saturday was Groundhog Day for anyone who follows Rovers away. Defeat by three goals to one at Highbury Stadium, Fleetwood, represented our fifth away defeat on the trot in the League. 

Our away form is posing a clear and present danger to our play-off hopes now. While the deficiencies in the squad aren’t just a problem away from the Memorial Ground, we’re still getting results in BS7 and we absolutely aren’t getting them anywhere else.

Obviously it’s harder to get results on the road, everything from scientific research to blokes down the pub would agree. But it’s hard to work out why our away form has gone to pieces. It’s a real conundrum for Darrell Clarke if this season isn’t going to peter out. (Not that I’m demanding a third successive promotion you understand – I’d have shaken hands on avoiding by the drop on goals scored at the start of the season)

He’s addressed the obvious defensive issues with two signings since your correspondent wrote last. Joe Partington was highly rated at AFC Bournemouth before a sickening knee injury coincided with the Cherries’ meteoric rise up the ranks of the game. He’s been in the Conference (I can’t call it the “National League”) with Eastleigh for a couple of years and has been rated highly by all of the south coast since he signed. – he’s the proud owner of all the Spitfires’ end-of-season awards and was their captain until he joined us.

From what I’ve read he seems a typical Clarke signing – a man with something to prove. Given Peter Hartley’s long-term injury, Jake Clarke-Salter not being back to match sharpness, Tom Lockyer’s patchy form and Mark McChrystal being short of game time, Partington is a short-term boost but don’t think he’s just a quick fix. Darrell prefers to make signings for the long-term and this deal looks just that. His mixture of relative youth, pace and leadership ability will help ease the burden on Lockyer, who has great talent and can become a legend for this club, but is in a tricky patch at present.

Additionally, Joe Lumley has come in on loan from QPR this week. I know many are disappointed with yet another loan goalkeeper, and the new boy’s lack of game time in his career so far. It’s fair to say that the Number One jersey is probably Clarke’s standout failure in his glittering managerial reign with the Rovers. But it’s important that the supporters give the young lad a chance – I know it’s a cliché but once he pulls on the shirt he deserves our support, whether we wanted a more experienced shot-stopper through the door or not. Darrell was clear that another loan keeper was not his first choice but it’s encouraging that he and the chairman won’t sanction a permanent deal for anyone but a player they see as a perfect fit for the club. Anyone who recalls John Ward building the least balanced squad ever in the relegation year or Paul Buckle’s machine gun approach to transfers a few years back ought to know that caution and pragmatism are the orders of the day in the transfer business of successful, well-run football clubs.

Lumley is bound to start at Walsall on Saturday after another Will Puddy error in Lancashire. I’m happy for the Wiltshire lad to play a part, as a backup keeper, but it’s becoming apparent that while his shot-stopping is good, his all-round goalkeeping may not be up to scratch for a regular first-team place at a club with Championship ambitions. I’m happy to be proven wrong, naturally any true fan wants anyone wearing the shirt to do well, but despite a few competent displays in the last six weeks or so, when what appears to be a one-off howler ends up happening twice or three times, confidence in the player begins to ebb away somewhat.

Saturday’s trip to the West Midlands is absolutely the last thing we needed – another away trip, to a side that has just spanked the title favourites 4-1 on their own patch. Three players to watch our for if you are one of the 2000 or so Gasheads going up the M5 are: Erzhan Oztumer, the Turkish midfielder who scored a stunning 20-yard effort past Kelle Roos at the Memorial Ground in the Autumn, Amadou Bakayoko, a highly-rated giant young centre forward who is lacking in goals to date but has bags of ability, and Joe Edwards, familiar mainly due to his previous association with Bristol City and Yeovil Town.

I’d celebrate a long-awaited away point manically, but I can’t see it happening sadly. Hopefully when our new boys have had time to bed in, this slump on the road will end, but I fear that Saturday has come too soon for that.