‘A tough place to go’

If I had a pound for every time a footballer has described an away ground as “a tough place to go”, I would probably have several thousand pounds by now.

Darrell Clarke, by no means the only manager who uses this well known cliché, will doubtless describe the upcoming trip to Accrington Stanley as “a tough place to go.” It might even be a “very tough place to go” by next week. Who knows?

Personally, I avoid clichés like the plague, but I sort of understand why the expression is so popular and well-used. It is a mark of respect to the opposition who may well be “lowly” in comparison to your team and it may be a way of ensuring your own team don’t take it easy. It’s also a way of getting your excuses in first, but let’s not go there.

The mark of Bristol Rovers’ true and full recovery will be when there is no need to say things like “Accrington Stanley is a tough place to go” because 16 years ago we were top of League Two and poised to reach the Championship as champions.

In the meantime, we are where we are (oh, no: I am descending into cliché) and we are reaching the part of the season known as the important bit. Rovers’ next six opponents are Plymouth, Accrington, AFC Wimbledon, Portsmouth, Morecambe and Wycombe. Win that lot and my prediction from last week that the mighty Gas would go up automatically as well as being champions would not look quite so far-fetched.

I wasn’t surprised that Rovers won at Oxford because, as we have previously noted, Darrell’s team is flowing (not overflowing) with confidence. They do not think they will lose and even when they are trailing no panic buttons are pressed. There is always a late goal in that team.

Securing Gaffney from Cambridge seems as wise a signing the Rovers have made in recent times. With the team powering along very nicely thank you, it’s the best time to strengthen. And to sign a player who likes scoring goals, and is quite good at it, strikes me as a wise move.

The scorer of last week’s winner at Oxford, young Ellis Harrison, is now in Hartlepool on a month’s loan, which seemed like odd timing to many. The manager said it was not his decision to let the player go, meaning that either the Rovers need to balance the books or that the player himself was desperate to live in Hartlepool for a month.

With the greatest respect to the citizens of that outpost way up in the north east and Jeff Stelling, I would be amazed if it was the latter. Have you ever been to Hartlepool? To describe it as cold is to do the place a massive disservice.

A few years ago, I was there in the month of June. It might as well have been December. But if Rovers are making a decision to balance the books by bringing in one player by letting another leave, I am 100 per cent in support of that decision and such a change from the old boom and bust days when Rovers decided they would “speculate to accumulate”, which was another way of saying they were having a potentially expensive punt by spending a lot of money they didn’t have.

It’s fair enough for Gasheads to dream now. After years of underachievement, things are on the up and beating Plymouth would see the club within striking distance of the top of the league.

I don’t see the Rovers losing this week and by the time the players leave the pitch at Wycombe when the game is finished (and let’s hope the floodlights don’t fail again), they can look forward to having a dream come true for the second year running.