‘We’ve improved, but we still need quality and experience in key areas’

A month is a long time in professional football.

Just four-and-a-bit weeks ago, when the shops were still playing that annoying music, we would have thanked sweet, merciful Jesus for an away point and a clean sheet at the home of a fellow mid-table side.

But, here we are, unbeaten in four games, three of those played away from BS7, and feeling a bit like we should’ve – gasp – won an away fixture. In front of a three-quarters empty Bloomfield Road (full solidarity to Blackpool’s fans for their boycott by the way), it looked like the game was passing without major incident. Well, save for Gaffney’s offside goal (the much criticised VAR not needed on this occasion), and their number 23 almost scoring a fluke just after half-time with what was surely intended to be a cross. I feel like I’ve seen that player before, y’know.

Gaffney deserved a bit more luck as the game sparked into life in the final quarter of an hour. On another day, his side-footed finish not only beats Joe Lumley, the Seasiders’ keeper, but nestles inside the far post. But what a ball from Marc Bola to set him up. A 40, maybe even 50 yard through ball along the ground into the Irishman’s path. Delicious.

Bola, the Arsenal loanee, has been getting a bit more first-team action of late and he’s not looked out of place. In fact, he seems to offer us another option going forward, which we’re crying out for. I know that when someone is involved in an iconic moment for a club, criticising them, however fairly, is akin to high treason. However, I beleive Bola deserves to be starting ahead of Lee Brown at the moment.

Back to Blackpool, and it’s fair to point out that the hosts were clinging onto a point at the end after a late flurry of Rovers chances. Gaffney had another, Tom Nichols could’ve broken his worryingly long spell without a goal, and Joe Partington was robbed of his first Football League goal in nine years, not once, but twice, by his namesake Mr Lumley. Blackpool’s number one showed exactly why so many of us quite fancied having him back after last season’s successful loan spell. Indeed, Saturday was the first time he’d ever cost Rovers any points. I sincerely hope Joe finds a club that will make him a permanent first-teamer, as a boy of his obvious talent deserves better than to languish in QPR’s reserves or be out on permanent loan.

Saturday was a good foundation for what looks a potentially tricky home game this weekend against Bradford City. The Yorkshire side well and truly pulled Rovers’ pants down back in August, in front of nearly 20,000 people and the Sky TV cameras. Manager Darrell Clarke will, of course, be saying to all and sundry that the past is unimportant and that we take each game in isolation, but I’d be stunned if a few of those who played that day aren’t itching to put one over on the Bantams.

It’s hard to know for sure what Bradford will do tactically on Saturday; manager Stuart McCall has been in the local media up there, talking of an injury crisis. It’s pretty much part and parcel of the modern game, though, to say player X or Player Y won’t be available, then, hey presto, he’s miraculously fit.

Charlie Wyke is the man I expect to see in the visitors’ starting XI, despite McCall’s protestations. He’s by far and away their main goal threat, as anyone who travelled to Valley Parade knows. However, at least one of his three goals that day was down to abysmal defending, and – touch wood – we appear to have cut that out lately.

Other than Wyke, Shay McCartan is their other player to watch. Only the width of a crossbar stopped him from robbing us of our last-minute promotion the other year, when he was at Accrington Stanley. The Ulster man always proved a handful at League One level and, while never scoring prolifically, has broken into Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland setup.

Aside from three home points and an extension of the unbeaten run, I’d quite like to be talking to you about a new signing or two by next week. We’re all anticipating start of Bernard Mensah’s career in blue and white, and we have improved of late, but we’re still lacking in a bit of quality and/or experience in key areas. Hopefully the manager’s aim of bringing in more permanent signings with proven records at this level can come to fruition, and he can rebuild the double promotion winners into a unit that could have a right old go next season (barring either a miraculous or disastrous end to this campaign).

On the subject of signings, a special word for whoever runs Rovers’ social media. Thank you,  so much, for not getting involved in the current trend of long-winded signing announcement videos. They’re annoying. On that slightly ‘Old man yells at cloud’ note, see you next week.