Simon ‘Sprout` Phillips excellent Something
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant and welcome to the latest edition of something for the weekend. Another fantastic win on Friday night followed by a good away point at Cheltenham have boosted our survival chances even more and if we keep that up we will be safe before we know it. We are now up to 19th and 3 points above the relegation zone. We still have to look over our shoulder a little, but hopefully only to see other teams disappearing into the distance.
I missed Friday night and am I gutted. I gather there was a great atmosphere and not least it would have been cheaper than the day I ended up having. Mind you it was worth it for what I ended up with (I Think). Anyway the game. I was constantly checking the score and after Fabian Broghammer put us in front I was certainly hoping we could hold on for the win, before I checked back and saw that Barnet had equalised right at the end (almost). The score line still said latest. I wouldn`t have been disappointed with a point, but as the result wasn`t confirmed I thought it was worth a look and if anything I had the horrible feeling Barnet might have snatched a winner. Thankfully and rather brilliantly we had managed to score a later ‘last minute` goal to take the three points. Certainly capped of a great day as I staggered back home.
Judging by the forums and conversations I had with friends, everyone seemed buoyed by the Barnet game and it seems to have come across as a watershed moment. Hopefully it will be a real turning point in the future of the club as we start to look onwards and upwards.
We rolled into Cheltenham on Tuesday night, hoping to keep our great run going and in some respects this was the best result of the lot. Heading towards half time I am sure John Ward and each one of us would have settled for 0-0 and to concede in injury time was a blow and you wondered what effect that might have had in the game. For all our good recent results, it might only have taken a knock like that to dent our confidence. Alas since John Ward has taken charge we seem to have been made of sterner stuff. We kept battling from what I could make from the commentary and were going to go down with a fight until Ollie Norburn gained us another valuable point with a great distance strike.
Saturday we travel to Oxford and I guess Gasheads will be in good number again. If I could afford it, I would love to be there as I have generally enjoyed the Oxford away game, but this saving for a house is a bit of a pain in the behind at times. Hopefully we can build still further on our great run and maybe stretch our advantage over the relegation zone. Whilst we should be confident with our recent form we cannot afford to be complacent (not that I think John Ward would allow it). We are not out of the woods yet and other clubs have also been picking up points so we need to avoid any slip ups as much as possible.
It is also good to see Rovers extending the meal deal offer from Barnet to all home games to the end of the season as well as happy hour incentives at the bars. It`s easy to do and hopefully it will mean we spend a bit more. Hopefully we will see the quid a kid at a few more games on top in order to encourage mums and das to bring the next generation of Gasheads along and to catch them while there seems to be uplift in fortunes. (Then they can suffer later on in life)
If you are making the trip to Oxford, have a safe journey and I hope you are treated to another great result. If you aren`t I hope you are glued to the radio and/or Soccer Saturday like I will. Whatever else you are up to this weekend, have a good one.
Up The Gas!
Simon ‘Sprout` Phillips
