‘Developing players is the heart and soul of a football club’

There were a lot of positives coming out of the weekend for Rovers. Firstly, and foremost, a 1-0 win away at Milton Keynes, which keeps us, improbably, in the hunt for a play-off spot, despite the manager’s protestations that we couldn’t possibly be in the mix.

Plymouth, in sixth, are four points ahead of us, with a mildly better goal difference, and the three clubs that stand between us and the Pilgrims, namely Charlton, Peterborough and Bradford, all have at least one game in hand on us.

But keep taking points on the road like we have of late, and it’s possible. Since the turn of the year, we’ve played five games on the road, winning three, drawing one and losing to Wimbledon – a game we deserved a point from, for sure.

More performances like the one from Saturday are needed. In front of nigh on 800 Gasheads, a figure which would’ve been significantly higher if not for the horrendous weather conditions affecting the country last weekend, Rovers looked good without totally dominating proceedings. We were clearly the better side against a Milton Keynes team who are now doomed to relegation for sure.

Lee Nicholls turned in a man-of-the-match display to keep Rovers, and Liam Sercombe in particular, from turning the 1-0 scoreline into something altogether more comprehensive.

It’s harder to say once you’ve come away with the three points, but I’m still pondering whether games should’ve been on at all over the weekend.

Our supporter’s club issued the hosts with a bit of a barb in the build-up to the fixture, stating that the game should’ve been called off due to the conditions on the roads and advice from the authorities regarding limiting travel. This is misplaced; clubs have a duty to put games on but they don’t have the ability to call off games, this being the referee’s job. Any possibility that the host club could have a say in whether a game is played would open the doors to accusations of all kinds of wrongdoing. Whether the EFL could or should have stepped in, given that the police’s strong advice against travelling was nationwide, is another matter entirely, but if you’re waiting for strong leadership from the people who brought you the Checkatrade Trophy, you may be waiting some time.

Anyway, the other positives, three points aside, were the return of James Clarke from a long injury layoff, Sam Slocombe getting a first run-out for a while and being solid, a first clean sheet is six weeks (and the first for the new Lockyer-Craig central defensive partnership), and the debut of Luke Russe.

The eighteen-year-old put in a display full of confidence and energy, and if you didn’t know the Rovers squad, the only thing that would have left you thinking it was the lad’s League debut is how young he looks. I’ve just read that he was born in 1999, and, without revealing my age, he’s made me realise that my dream of being picked out from the East Terrace by Darrell and Marcus and told to put my boots on is now not going to happen due to my age, as well as the long-standing reasons of lack of ability and fitness, and the fact that no-one ever does this.

Russe was one of four players who featured last week to have come through the youth ranks at the Mem. Add in Olllie Clarke, missing on Saturday, and there’s a core of young, local (ish – yes, South Wales counts) talent, brought through by this manager. Youth development is a thankless task, when players travel around more than ever, talent from overseas even flooding the lower leagues, and the aforementioned EFL signing clubs’ rights away to their bedfellows in the Premier League when it comes to tribunals and the like, but developing your own players forms part of the heart and soul of a football club.

Young Russe’s next challenge is to cement himself into the seniors, and join the names of Clarke, Lines, Lockyer and Harrison, all of whom having donned the quarters over 100 times each. As a wise man once said, 100 games makes you a professional.

One of those names – Ellis Harrison – is the hot topic of the season. Scorer of the winner against MK, albeit one that looked on second glance to be a cross (but they all count), his story should be an inspiration to Russe; things haven’t gone well all the time for the Welshman but the season he’s having shows that with the right attitude and the right coaching, setbacks can be overcome. One day I’ll write a whole week’s piece on the boy.

Speaking of Harrison, he’s got six goals in the last two encounters with Northampton Town, our visitors this week. Both the 5-0 win at the Mem last January and the 6-0 mauling at Sixfields in the autumn will live long in the memory.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s reign at the Cobblers started with that, er, cobblers display against us, and, while it would’ve been harder to do any worse, the ex-Chelsea striker is slowly turning the side around. They looked like relegation certs up until the New Year, but as of right now they’re out of the bottom four. Whether they stay there depends on getting points against sides who are beatable at home, and for once we might be one of those sides.

Predicting Rovers at home this season is a fool’s errand, but if we play as we know we can, three more points should be in the bag, though we might not get spoiled with half-a-dozen goals this time out.